{"id":59740,"date":"2015-07-29T09:52:23","date_gmt":"2015-07-29T09:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=7861800765c714e43631fb75820b87ec"},"modified":"2015-07-29T09:52:23","modified_gmt":"2015-07-29T09:52:23","slug":"speech-northern-powerhouse-pm-speech-in-singapore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=59740","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Northern Powerhouse: PM speech in Singapore"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Read about the Prime Minister\u2019s visit to Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia<\/a> on 27 to 30 July 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Thank you for that introduction, thank you for that welcome. Great to be here, great to be standing in front of our GREAT campaign posters. We are very proud of the Great campaign<\/a> advertising Great Britain, the United Kingdom. I heard yesterday that the French are now looking at their own version, and so what greater compliment could there be than being copied by our friends and neighbours.<\/p>\n

Minister Iswaran, David Kiu, ladies and gentlemen, it is really great to be here.<\/p>\n

The last time I was at Unilever actually was at your HQ in the north of England, the middle of January. Although it was called Port Sunlight, it is rather warmer here than it was in that January morning.<\/p>\n

Since I\u2019ve been Prime Minister, I\u2019ve taken trade missions to every corner of the globe. I\u2019ve loaded up planes with our innovators and wealth creators; I\u2019ve banged the drum for Britain from China to America to India.<\/p>\n

But today represents a real first. It\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve ever been accompanied by a Northern Powerhouse trade delegation.<\/p>\n

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Find out more about the Northern Powerhouse trade delegation led by the Prime Minister and the Business Secretary<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Northern Powerhouse<\/h2>\n

Let me explain what to me the Northern Powerhouse is all about. The north of England is home to 17 million people and 600,000 businesses. It\u2019s a driving force in the UK economy.<\/p>\n

We make more cars in Sunderland than they do in the whole of Italy. The county of Yorkshire created more jobs last year than the whole of France. The north is home to 23 of our top-notch universities. In the north of England we\u2019re creating a job every 6 and a half minutes. <\/p>\n

And our mission is this: to link up our great cities, like Leeds, like Manchester, like Liverpool, like Newcastle. To link them up with better transport, yes of course, but also to link them up to make them incubators for enterprise \u2013 creating jobs, improving lives and going for growth.<\/p>\n

We also want to link up our universities, our great teaching hospitals, our great science businesses in the North of England. To increase their strength, their ability to create wealth and jobs. We\u2019re basically doing what Singapore has been doing for half a century \u2013 reaching the critical mass that leads to success.<\/p>\n

We call it the Northern Powerhouse. And where better to bring its brightest businesses than Singapore \u2013 one of the powerhouses of the modern economic world.<\/p>\n

Old ties, new links<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s just a few months since President Tan made his state visit to the United Kingdom<\/a>. He spoke at length about the shared history of our 2 countries \u2013 about a relationship of what he called \u201cold ties, new links and more opportunities\u201d.<\/p>\n

And we see those old ties all around us. From the moment Sir Stamford Raffles landed on the southern tip of Malaya, Britain and Singapore\u2019s relationship has centred on trade. Half the investment that we make in South East Asia heads straight for Singapore. And when Singapore invests in the EU, three-quarters of that investment, three quarters of that investment comes to the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

In a city-state of just over 5 million people, there are over 1,000 British companies. You can drive a Jaguar here, you can bank at HSBC, drink Johnny Walker whisky. And in Britain, too, you can see Singaporean enterprise wherever you go. London buses, the RAC, the Bluewater Shopping Centre \u2013 they\u2019re all backed by Singaporean investment. And we can build on that \u2013 and we can do it with new links.<\/p>\n

And there is one new link I\u2019m focused on today: a link between our great northern cities and this great city-state.
\nNow people might ask: \u201cWhat\u2019s the north of England got to do with the southernmost tip of continental Asia?\u201d And the answer is: a lot.<\/p>\n

Look at Bentley \u2013 here since 1931, with the oldest dealership outside the UK \u2013 and still going strong. Look at Delamere Dairy \u2013 nearly 30 years ago, it started as a small company with a handful of goats \u2013 now it\u2019s selling all over Singapore. At Singapore\u2019s Keppel \u2013 which has invested over \u00a3230 million to eventually divert three-quarters of Greater Manchester\u2019s waste from landfill sites to an energy facility. And I\u2019m delighted that FutureEverything has won a \u00a3500,000 contract to bring its long-established festival for digital culture from Manchester to Singapore in September.<\/p>\n

Now look, too, at the businesses with us today. Look at Vernacare, whose science helps prevent infections from NHS hospitals to the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone; look at ATG Access, who, in just a few years, have become Europe\u2019s largest manufacturer of security barrier systems \u2013 both from the north-west of England \u2013 and both great examples of what the Northern Powerhouse has to offer.<\/p>\n

More opportunities<\/h2>\n

Now those new links breed the other thing President Tan talked about \u2013 and that is more opportunities. Singapore continues to restructure itself to meet its future vision of a knowledge-driven economy and to maintain its position as a regional centre.<\/p>\n

As you do so, Britain has the experience in areas like smart cities, cyber, transport, advanced engineering and finance that you want. And we are brimming with fantastic infrastructure and regeneration opportunities, many of them across the north of England.<\/p>\n

So my message to you today, if you\u2019re exploring exports, is this. Take a risk, sign that first deal, make those links, grab those opportunities. You have the full support and backing of this government. A business-friendly, investment friendly government that wants an open economy creating jobs.<\/p>\n

And I believe the foundation of a relationship between two countries, with such strong ties \u2013 old and new. And I really would encourage, as I would to Singaporean investors today, I really would encourage you to look at Britain in a new way. There\u2019s plenty of investment opportunity of course in London and the south-east. London is an amazing global city.<\/p>\n

But look again at the north of England. We\u2019ve brought with us today the new interim Mayor of Manchester, the Leader of Leeds City Council. Look again at these great cities, look at housing opportunities, look for retail opportunities, look at the investment opportunities. We want to rebalance our country and we want Singaporean and other south-east Asian investors to help us to do it.<\/p>\n

That is what the Northern Powerhouse is all about.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

So let today be the day we cement this link between our countries \u2013 this partnership between our great northern cities and this great city-state.<\/p>\n

From the North Sea to the Singapore Strait \u2013 let\u2019s get more trade flowing. From Bedok to Bradford; from Sembawang to Stockton \u2013 let\u2019s see more jobs created. That\u2019s what the Northern Powerhouse is all about. That\u2019s what this trade mission is all about.<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s something which would make Sir Stamford Raffles \u2013 a Yorkshireman by blood \u2013 very proud. And I\u2019m sure he\u2019s looking down at us today, and I think it\u2019s something that should make us all very proud, too.<\/p>\n

Thank you for coming, thank you for listening but above all, thank you for investing and trading.<\/p>\n

Thank you very much indeed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Prime Minister discussed the Northern Powerhouse at a business event in Singapore during his south-east Asia trade visit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59740"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59740\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}