Peter Kyle's speech at Labour Party Conference 2025

Secretary of State for Business and Trade Peter Kyle's speech at Labour Party Conference 2025.

"On behalf of my amazing ministerial team, thank you for such a warm welcome to Conference.

Now, let me start by making something absolutely crystal clear: I will implement the Employment Rights Bill in full.

And Conference, let me pay tribute also to the extraordinary work of Angela Rayner, not just on this Bill, but for so much more too.

We are eternally grateful to all that she has given to our movement.

Now, I believe in public services - it's what brought me into this movement.

And I also believe in the success of British businesses too. 

You see, I don't believe that you can have one without the other.

And Britain only succeeds when it gets the best from both.

Businesses and workers, public and private, manufacturing and services, traditional and new.

You see Conference, to be pro-public services, you have to be pro-business too.

This is why we have an industrial strategy, launched by Jonny Reynolds, which will make all parts of our country better off.

So when Jaguar Land Rover is hit by a cyber attack and I look at the countless businesses in the supply chain that are being affected, being pro-business means doing what we can to ensure that the automotive sector can succeed.  

Conference, last week I visited Jaguar Land Rover.

I met workers, unions, management and supply chain companies.

And that's why I've announced £1.5bn support - a huge amount of money to help a hugely important company.

Conference, that's the difference a Labour Government with a modern industrial strategy can make.

So, my dad grew up just two miles away from here in Wavertree.

He left school at 14, he was in the navy at 16, where he said that he learned about discipline.

He worked as a door-to-door salesman and then went on to run his own business.

So I understand. I know what it takes. I have seen the hard work it takes to run a business. I've lived it and that's why I will do everything I can.

I'll encourage and reward the entrepreneurs for building the businesses that are creating wealth.

That's why I know it's so important to have a Government that is on your side.

I stand fully behind our small businesses plan, which will make sure businesses are paid on time, so that they can grow.

And that means not just the people who run the businesses, but the people who work in the businesses too – including people who have come here and now have indefinite leave to remain.

So, on your behalf, let me say something directly to them: You are welcome. You are valued. And you do a great job for Britain. 

Whether you're a health worker, a management consultant, whether you're a social worker or musician. We thank you.

So how do I know I'm right about this?

Because Nigel Farage thinks I'm wrong.

And that's also why it's important that we have digital ID.

I don't need to tell unions that the undercutting of terms and conditions is not only wrong, but it damages the relationship between employers and employees.

Digital ID cards are part of the fight against cheap labour undercutting business and unions who play by the rules.

And to those employers who exploit people for a quick buck - let me be clear. Your days are numbered.

This movement is for fair work and fair pay.

Conference, no one said that Government would be easy and I know that sometimes we've made it look unnecessarily hard.

But governing is hard, and it's hard because you have to take difficult decisions.

Everyone knew that there was no money.

And the heart of my job is to help grow the economy, so that we have more money to deliver the services that we all want and our country deserves.

But at the beginning of this journey, we have to do things that are tough.

We have to deal with people that are hard.

We have to engage with people that don't believe what we believe.

We have to respect people with whom we have honest disagreements.

Because if we don't forge strong global relationships, our businesses cannot fulfil their potential, our economy cannot grow, our country cannot get better. 

Now, I want to thank the team at the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology. They will have found out by now how brilliant their new Secretary of State Liz Kendall is.

The opportunity to be fully immersed in the future technologies was eye opening and that experience will stay with me in this job too.

So I want to say a few words about AI and the impact I believe it will have on the future of businesses, the workforce and the country more generally too.

We cannot be the party that tries to live in the past.

That space is already occupied by Reform and the Tories.

We are the party of the white heat of technology, we are the party of progress.

So it falls to us to facilitate the future.

We cannot stop AI from changing our economy, no more than we can hold back the tide.

But we can use the power of government to harness it and to shape it.

And this Labour government will leave nobody behind.

When we came into office, we were the sick state of Europe, fashioned on a messy Brexit based on promises of better deals for farmers, better deals for businesses, better deals for workers.

Promises of trade deals galore and the golden prize of the US trade deal.

Now, in less than 12 months, Keir Starmer reestablished Britain back as a power house on the international stage.

And why's that important conference?

It's important because it allowed us to do the first USA trade deal.

A deal that meant safe jobs and greater opportunities to export.

It allowed us to do a new trade deal with Europe to begin to correct the terrible damage done by the Conservatives.

We have much more to do, but it's a good start.

It allowed us to do a new deal with India, opening up new and exciting export markets and opportunities.

And conference, it has meant that companies who would not look at this country 15 months ago are now investing in our future, our jobs, our people.

So we welcome the investments of:

Microsoft – a £22 billion investment, their largest ever into the UK;

Google – £5 billion;

CoreWeave – £1.5 billion;

Salesforce – £1.4 billion into our country.

And why are they coming here?

They are coming here because of a Labour Government.

And conference we are going to grow the economy.

And I can tell you why I am confident we will.

Firstly, as we all know, we have the best workforce in the world.

We also have the finest universities in the world.

We are a country full of curious minds that want to build and harness the new.

And conference, we have a Labour Government. 

A Government who recalled Parliament to protect the production of British Steel, and keep the blast furnaces open in Scunthorpe.

A Government that has given an annual pay boost of up to £2,500 to the lowest paid workers.

So I can say to our political opponents, stop running our country down. Celebrate the brilliance that is Britain.

The industries that have made us the greatest country in the world.

From fashion, television, film to steel and car making, from nuclear to renewables.

So let me say to the scientists, the entrepreneurs, the wealth creators – if your country doesn't want you, Britain is a country that does welcome the best and brightest.

Britain is on the march forward once again.

Conference, we are embarked on a new joint endeavour to rebuild the British economy, by the people and for the people.

Thank you so much."