CBI Annual Dinner Speech 2019: Philip Hammond Speech
The CBI Annual Dinner speech in full, delivered on 21 May, 2019.
Thank you, John, for that introduction.
It is a pleasure to be here once again in the old Whitbread building.
And if the CBI is trying to make a cheap point by literally organising your annual piss up in a brewery, I am going to pretend I haven바카라 사이트檛 noticed it!
Actually, this building has a fascinating history.
For more than a hundred years, the Speaker of the House of Commons바카라 사이트� carriage was kept here.
If you haven바카라 사이트檛 seen it, it is a spectacularly grand, gilded and polished affair 바카라 사이트� I am talking about the coach, not the Speaker.
This was a working brewery until 1976. The year before I started my first job, and a time when the UK economy was fast-approaching its post-industrial revolution nadir바카라 사이트�
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Visibly falling behind the other Members of the EEC, which we had just joined.
And with our politics polarising to reflect the radically different solutions of left and right to the nation바카라 사이트檚 challenges.
We have come a long way since then.
Our economy is transformed. Our manufacturing sector once again boasts global champions;
British design and innovation, derided back then, is now respected throughout the world;
Our services sector has been liberated from stifling regulation and short-sighted protectionism to soar ahead as a powerhouse of the new economy;
And the UK has become a magnet for investment, for entrepreneurship and for talent from across the globe.
Our recovery from the fiscal consequences of the financial crisis a decade ago has reached a turning point: our deficit is now lower than it was before the crisis and our national debt is falling sustainably for the first time in a generation.
Meanwhile, the UK has grown continuously for nine straight years, and despite domestic uncertainty and a slowing world economy, the OBR is forecasting growth for the next five as well.
Judged against our peers, the UK economy is robust: Since 2010, we have grown as fast as Germany, and faster than France, Italy and Japan.
On jobs, we have a remarkable story to tell, with the employment rate at a record high and unemployment at its lowest rate since 1975.
Over 3 陆 million net new jobs since 2010. And of the nearly half a million net additional people in work over the last year, virtually all are in full time jobs.
And there바카라 사이트檚 good news on pay, too 바카라 사이트� with the OBR forecasting wages to rise by 3% or more in each of the next five years바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트hile inflation is forecast to remain at, or very close to, the target of 2% throughout the forecast period.
This robust economic and fiscal performance is the result of nearly a decade of hard work by the British people, and of a clear economic strategy by the government.
My predecessor바카라 사이트檚 number one focus was, quite rightly, on fixing the public finances, inheriting, as he did, a record peacetime fiscal deficit.
But when I became Chancellor in 2016 I recognised that, as well as getting Britain바카라 사이트檚 debt down, our continued success as a nation depends on investing in our future, supporting our public services, and keeping taxes low to attract talent and investment.
This 바카라 사이트榖alanced approach바카라 사이트� is now delivering, with the highest sustained levels of public capital investment in 40 years바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트 Modern Industrial Strategy to respond to the long-term challenge of low productivity;
Income tax cuts for more than 30 million people;
바카라 사이트nd over 拢150 billion of new spending commitments since 2016, including a 拢34bn a year increase for the NHS바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트he single largest cash commitment ever made by a peacetime British 바카라 사이트바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트ut all of it anchored in a framework of fiscal responsibility, with our deficit now just 1.2% and our national debt falling sustainably for the first time in a generation.
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Because we must not undo a decade of hard work by the British people by making unfunded commitments that would send our national debt soaring; leave the economy vulnerable to future shocks; burden future generations; and waste billions on interest payments.
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So our economy and our public finances are in far better shape than they were 40 years ago.
Wages and living standards are dramatically improved since then.
And yet, there are worrying echoes of the 1970바카라 사이트檚 in the re-polarisation of the political debate today.
Populism is on the rise.
Globalisation 바카라 사이트� which has transformed the lives of hundreds of millions across the planet, and driven rising living standards here in the UK, has become something of a dirty word;
Free trade is under attack from all sides and the multilateral institutions which have upheld the post-war international system are challenged as never before;
Trade tensions and the rise of protectionism are now a real threat to world trade and economic growth.
On the left and right of politics, at home and abroad, the allure of superficially easy answers to complex problems 바카라 사이트� the political equivalent of the 바카라 사이트渇ree lunch바카라 사이트� - fills the vacuum created by frustration with the politics of the centre ground.
And Brexit continues to wrap our economy in a cloud of uncertainty 바카라 사이트� with the continued possibility of a 바카라 사이트淣o Deal바카라 사이트� exit remaining a real threat to our future prosperity.
So I want to say a few words tonight about how we can meet this growing challenge.
But it is worth noting that doing so today will be more complicated than it was in the 1970s.
Because underpinning, and to some extent driving, the political malaise in Britain 바카라 사이트� and in many other developed economies, are four major, unavoidable, structural changes that are shaping the context for this debate:
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The inexorable shift of economic power from the West towards the Emerging Economies of Asia, and its inevitable long-term consequence for the balance of strategic power as well.
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The need for rapid de-carbonisation of our economy, with huge implications for the allocation of capital and the sustainability of current business models;
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The ageing of our populations and the implications for our economies, for migration policy and for intergenerational equity;
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And finally, the unparalleled scale of the technological revolution on which we are embarked 바카라 사이트� a revolution that will profoundly change our lives, our jobs, our economy and our politics.
And all of these will be happening at once; all imposing huge demands for resources and attention 바카라 사이트� both in terms of political bandwidth and in terms of business management-time.
So the background is challenging, to put it mildly. And against that background, we face real and present dangers to our economic well-being from populists of left and right.
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But the truth is that a gap has opened up - in Britain and in other developed countries - between the theory of how a market economy and free trade creates and distributes wealth, and the reality experienced by many ordinary people바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트reating a dissatisfaction that is fertile ground for populism to grow in.
And since populism cannot be defeated by confronting one set of simplistic, undeliverable solutions with another바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트e have to be prepared to eschew simple answers바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트�.and make again the complex, and to some, counter-intuitive, case for well-regulated open markets, free and fair trade, fiscal discipline and market economics;
Explaining how, as we tackle the great challenges of our economy in the 21st century 바카라 사이트� ageing, technology, climate change and productivity바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트he mechanisms of the market and the benefits of openness will allow us to create enduring, sustainable solutions.
Solutions that deliver real results, not empty promises.
But defending the market economy means demonstrating how, specifically, it can meet the challenges that matter most to a generation who may be pre-disposed to believe that it cannot.
And it means showing by doing, not by telling.
It means delivering rising real wages and living standards year after year;
Building the homes that the next generation needs 바카라 사이트� at prices they can afford;
Supporting people of all ages to embrace technology change through retraining and re-skilling, so that technology means higher living standards, not higher unemployment;
It means closing the gap between our regions through sustained investment in infrastructure, including strategic projects like HS2;
Demonstrating that higher productivity can provide the answer to the challenge of an ageing population;
And harnessing market-based solutions to show that de-carbonisation and rising living standards can go hand-in-hand.
In short, it means validating the open, free-trading market economy system as 바카라 사이트渇it-for-purpose바카라 사이트� for the challenges that we face in the 21st Century
That바카라 사이트檚 necessary to re-build confidence in the politics of the Centre ground바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트nd it바카라 사이트檚 necessary to 바카라 사이트渞e-licence바카라 사이트� business to play the vital role that it must in our society.
And it can only be done by 바카라 사이트 and Business working together to deliver prosperity and opportunity in every part of Britain.
The immediate priority must, of course, be delivering a solution to the Brexit impasse. And we made a great step forward today.
Because the 바카라 사이트바카라 사이트檚, and Parliament바카라 사이트檚 seeming inability to do so is undermining confidence in our political system바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트nd because continued uncertainty is now having a real and damaging impact on our economy.
When I accepted this invitation to speak, back in January, I planned to speak about Britain바카라 사이트檚 future in the context of a Brexit deal that had been done!
And I didn바카라 사이트檛 even focus on the juxtaposition
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If we are to have any hope of re-uniting our country and repairing our politics after the divisions of the last three years, we cannot have half the country feeling they have completely won and the other half, that they have completely lost.
Britain needs a Brexit that feels like a compromise; a Brexit that delights no-one, but one that everyone, or nearly everyone, can live with.
And in a Parliamentary democracy, which this country is, the only sustainable Brexit solution is one that can command a majority in the Parliament.
So the right way forward is to build on what we have learned of the concerns and aspirations on the Labour side바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트nd add it to what we already know of the concerns and aspirations of our colleagues on the 바카라 사이트 side, and others across the House who are open to a negotiated exit바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트o craft a compromise that can deliver Brexit and settle this question, once and for all, in a Withdrawal Agreement Bill that will represent a bold, new proposal addressed to MPs on all sides of the House of Commons.
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바카라 사이트nd promote instead a clear plan to build on the strengths of the British economy as we tackle the challenges and harness the opportunities of the future바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트orking in a partnership with business바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트sing the authority of 바카라 사이트 to set the direction of travel바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트ut with the private sector as the front-line agent of change 바카라 사이트� mobilising private capital and harnessing the power of the market to ensure effective delivery.
Working together to raise productivity as the only sustainable path 바카라 사이트� not only to higher wages and rising personal living standards바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트ut also to delivering our social objectives, and our strategic goals, such as decarbonisation.
That means capital investment, both public and private, in infrastructure and technology바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트nd it also means a partnership to deliver the home-grown skills and training that Britain needs to prosper바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트nd a genuine collaboration to ensure a future immigration regime that supports the needs of business and the economy without unnecessary bureaucracy.
That바카라 사이트檚 why we embarked on an unprecedented year-long consultation on the post-Brexit migration regime: we said we want to hear the views of business, and I am sure you are not going to disappoint us!
There is no doubt that we are facing an unprecedented period of challenge in our public life.
Uncertainty over Brexit.
Anxiety over our economic model.
Anger about our politics.
All set against the backdrop of a long, and sometimes apparently conflicting list of urgent imperatives:
Decarbonising our economy; rescuing our environment; housing our population; adopting new technology; increasing our productivity, and adapting to demographic change.
No wonder the British people are concerned, and it would be an insult to ignore them.
The populists do not have the answers 바카라 사이트� but they are pretty good at identifying the grievances.
To trump them, we need an optimistic vision for the future 바카라 사이트� but one that is grounded in reality바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트ith solutions that work with the grain of our society and harness the power of markets, the energy of business and the resource of private capital바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트o deliver answers to these multiple, simultaneous, challenges.
And to allow us to harvest the tremendous opportunities that lie within them.
Solutions that address the future바카라 사이트�
바카라 사이트ot hark back to the past;
That promote unity, not further division;
That deliver real change, not simply rhetorical shift;
And that speak to our ambition for a country whose best years, we firmly believe, lie ahead of it.
Thank you.