WEBVTT - Rachel Reeves 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.000 In the long history of the British government, only one 0:00:05.040 --> 0:00:08.000 woman has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer, in effect 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:10.600 the Secretary of the Treasury of the British government. That 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.680 woman is Rachel Reeves. Had a chance at Davos recently 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:16.120 to sit down with Rachel Reeves and talk about her 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:19.000 role as Chancellor of the Exchequer and the British economy. 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:22.360 In your position, Chancellor of the Exchequer, you're the equivalent 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:24.560 of the United States or the Secretary of Treasury. Yes, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:26.759 but also the head of the officer management and budget. 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.840 Do you not prepare the budget for the government? I do. 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:32.720 I do also prepare the budget. 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.919 We have an independent forecaster who provides the forecast and 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.839 costs the policies that we put forward. But what is 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:44.680 in the budget is my choice, the policies that I 0:00:44.760 --> 0:00:47.280 put forward, and we have an annual budget. I delivered 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:50.400 the last of my budgets in November last year in England. 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:51.960 Do you have to balance the budget or you can 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:52.640 borrow money? 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.480 You can borrow money, but we're reducing that. I don't 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.000 think that it is a good fiscal or economic policy 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:03.240 to just constantly borrow, especially to pay for day to 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:05.640 day spending, and for the last few years, like many 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.000 countries including the US, we've been running a budget deficit 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:12.240 of around five percent of GDP. We are now bringing 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:15.279 that down steadily. It will be just over four percent 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:18.280 I think this year, then falling to about three and 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.000 a half percent. We've got the fastest rate of fiscal 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:23.520 consolidation going on in the UK of any country in 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.640 the G seven. Our debt burden as a share of 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:31.600 GDP is not too far of one hundred percent. I 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.360 want to bring that down. I also want to bring 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.440 down the cost of servicing that debt because at the moment, 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.080 one in ten pounds of everything government spends is actually 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:44.800 on debt interest and so reducing government borrowing costs, which 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:49.200 we managed to achieve last year, and reducing the debt 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.280 burden as a share of GDP are two important priorities 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:52.560 for me. 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.480 In the budget you've proposed You propose a tax increase? 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:58.360 Is that very popular to doing? Will you get it approved? 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:00.400 Because you control the parliament. 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.320 We do have a big majority in Parliament. When I 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.680 became chancellor, I inherited a bit of a mess, A 0:02:07.720 --> 0:02:10.960 bit of a mess fiscally and in terms of economic performance. 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.520 And the cost of living, and the previous government had 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:15.800 made a number of spending commitments without saying where the 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:17.919 money was going to come from, and what is called 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.400 the reserve, which is set aside for emergencies, had been 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:25.040 spent three or four times over just three months into 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:26.000 the financial year. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:27.799 I had to put that right. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:32.000 That required a number of adjustments, both on spending and 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:35.120 indeed on tax. When you come in as a business 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:38.240 leader and you're taking on a business that has not 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:42.240 been working well, that is not living within its means, 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:43.640 does not have a clear. 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:45.040 Plan, you have to sort it out. 0:02:45.080 --> 0:02:47.240 And I had to fix that mess now on being 0:02:47.240 --> 0:02:50.120 able to pursue my plans, my plans for growth and 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.280 to ease the cost of living challenges. 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:53.200 But that did. 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.840 Require quite a big repair job to put the public 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:57.200 finances on a solid footing. 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:58.799 Again, as we look. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.280 In this calendar year, do you think the UK will 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:03.799 grow at two or three percent or so? What kind 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:05.760 of projections are you for GDP growth? 0:03:06.320 --> 0:03:08.840 Real GDP growth expected to be around one and a 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:12.520 half percent. Obviously nominal all that would be around three 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:16.079 and a half percent a year. I want growth to 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.200 be faster than that. Last year. I think we'll come 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:21.520 out as the second fastest growing economy in the G 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.960 seven when all the numbers are totted up. But none 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.280 of the economies in the G seven are growing as 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.880 fast as we could, as fast as I think our 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.120 potential is. And that's why as a government, growth is 0:03:35.440 --> 0:03:39.440 our number one priority for the Prime Minister Kirstarma and myself, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:43.960 and our industrial strategy backing sectors like AI and tech, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:48.840 clean energy, life sciences and our defense sectors focus on 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:54.520 stability to bring down interest rates and inflation. Investment both 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.600 public and private in infrastructure, including ambitious plans for Oxford 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:03.440 and Bridge and also in the North of England, and 0:04:03.480 --> 0:04:09.720 then deregulation, reforming our planning system to make it easier 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.200 to get things done in Britain. I think we'll start 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.360 seeing the benefits of that payoff this year now. 0:04:15.360 --> 0:04:18.839 Many wealthy people who are not British by birth, who 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.800 have moved to England in recent years, maybe to avoid 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:28.480 their local countries taxes, have found that recently the non 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:33.120 dom taxes have increased dramatically in the UK and they 0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:35.760 have left the UK. Has that been a problem having 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.360 wealthy people leave the UK or it's not a big problem. 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.080 We want Britain to be a magnet for wealth and 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:46.360 talent entrepreneurs from around the world. We did have quite 0:04:46.400 --> 0:04:50.360 an anachronistic system that if your father was born abroad 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.760 you could claim a non domicile for tax purpose in 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:57.240 the UK. That wasn't fair. It's not a rule that 0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:02.080 any other country has, so the previous government and now 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:06.760 this government have got rid of that. We also made 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:10.919 some changes around trusts and inheritance tax, although in the 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:15.640 budget just in November we relaxed some of those rules 0:05:16.279 --> 0:05:19.560 so that for a flat fee you could take trusts 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.640 out of your inheritance tax. So we have listened to 0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:28.360 feedback from wealthy individuals who perhaps want to make Britain 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:31.120 that home, or have already made at Britain their home. 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:34.240 We've also introduced a very generous scheme for people coming 0:05:34.560 --> 0:05:37.920 to the UK wanting to bring foreign income and gains 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.760 to the UK. Previously they were taxed at normal rates 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.599 of income tax. We have reduced that to try and 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.080 encourage people to bring not just themselves and their talent, 0:05:49.480 --> 0:05:52.800 but their wealth to the UK. Britain is an open 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:56.560 trading economy and we have to be to be successful. 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.600 Open to business, open to investment, open to trade, and 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:00.520 open to talents. 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:03.760 Now, the world has seen enormous amounts of growth in 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:06.920 the technology space, particularly AI, and you've mentioned quantum is 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.840 also coming along. But as you look back over the 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:13.839 last couple of years, if you grow up in the 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.880 UK or the EU, you don't really relied to get 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:22.320 through the day on European built technologies. The technologies that 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.839 are often the ones that people use are built in 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.919 the United States. Why do you think that the entrepreneurs 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:31.839 in the UK and the EU haven't yet built technologies 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.279 that the whole world says we need that technology, We 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:38.000 need to have Facebook or our Google product or something 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:40.680 like that. Is there any inherent reason you think it 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:42.560 is or just been bad luck for the last X 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:43.320 number of years. 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:47.080 Well, I think as a really good challenge, and your 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.360 amazing tech companies like Google and Facebook and Apple, etc. 0:06:52.120 --> 0:06:54.440 We don't have one of those in the UK or 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:59.719 indeed in Europe. Were very good adopting new technologies in 0:06:59.720 --> 0:07:02.880 the US and that spurs productivity growth, which is beginning 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.960 to pick up now in the UK. But we've also 0:07:06.160 --> 0:07:09.200 got some really exciting businesses on the frontier of new 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:14.240 technologies like quantum and digital processing. So I think there 0:07:14.240 --> 0:07:17.080 are some exciting opportunities and one of the things that 0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.960 we want to do with Oxford Cambridge is to create 0:07:20.000 --> 0:07:23.040 a big link between those two universities. There's sixty or 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.760 seventy miles apart, but there's no direct train link between them. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.119 There are some great towns and cities on that route 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:31.760 between those two cities. We want to bring them together 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.800 and create our version, a British version of Silicon Valley 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.360 in the UK, where we can really capture the creativity 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:43.320 and the imagination of British founders and help them grow 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:45.800 their businesses here. One of the challenges they've had in 0:07:45.800 --> 0:07:49.440 the UK so loads of startups, but as they scale 0:07:49.520 --> 0:07:52.600 up the drift towards America. There are forms we're making, 0:07:53.040 --> 0:07:57.720 particularly pension reforms, to unlock long term patient capital, to 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.640 back venture capital, to back private equity in the UK 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.679 that is really exciting. We'll keep more of those businesses here. 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.960 We're putting a load of tax incentives as well in 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.040 the budget to back founders and entrepreneurs, and we're increasing 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:14.440 the tax incentives to stay listed in the UK. So 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.200 we're doing some exciting things and I do think that 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:18.440 that will reap dividends too. 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.640 Now in the United States, there's been a well publicized 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:24.240 feud between the President of the United States and the 0:08:24.600 --> 0:08:27.720 chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, and in a fact 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:29.800 that the President is saying, I should have more influence 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.840 on what interest rates are. Would it ever occur to 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:34.840 the Chancellor of the ex checker to tell the head 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:37.040 of the Bank of England lower interest rates or you 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:38.760 just don't do that in this country. 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:44.000 No. Since nineteen ninety seven, actually the previous Labor Chancellor, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.640 Gordon Brown, granted operational independence to the Bank of England. 0:08:48.000 --> 0:08:51.040 It's Parliament that sets the inflation target that's two percent 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.160 for the UK, and then the bank have the tools 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.000 of interest rates to meet that target. Now you know, 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:02.120 I've worked at the Bank of England. I have huge 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.160 respect for that institution and believe that the way that 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:08.800 we have good policy making is to take the politics 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.800 out of interest rate decisions. And I think that serves 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:16.200 the UK economy well. We set fiscal policy as a 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.679 government and then the Bank of England set monetary policy. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.800 And I think that operational independence for central banks is 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:26.240 one of the things that preserves stability and gives confidence 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:27.160 to people to invest. 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.560 Now ten former Chancellors of the Exchequer became Prime Minister, 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:35.000 including Winston Churchill among others. So if you ever thought 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:37.520 about the possibility that you might follow in their path 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.000 and be the first woman to be Chancellor of the 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:41.480 Exchecker and then Prime Minister. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:45.600 I know that politicians often say I don't want to 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:47.760 do that job, but I really don't want to do 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.000 that job. The job that I've always wanted to do 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.720 in politics is to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Before 0:09:53.760 --> 0:09:57.360 I became an MP, I worked in banking and financial services. 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.320 Has started my career as an economist at the Bank 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:04.160 of England and for me, being Chancellor is my absolute 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.480 dream job and it's the only job I want in politics. 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:09.559 Let's talk a bit about your background. Where did you 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:10.040 grow up? 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:14.679 I grew up in Lewisham in southeast London. My mum 0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:17.960 and dad were primary school teachers. I went to my 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.840 local state school and it was when I was at 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:26.120 school that I got involved in politics, and the reason 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.920 being when I was at secondary school, our sixth form 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:31.840 you know where we did, you know our final exams 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.080 was a couple of prefabricated huts in the playground, which 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:38.160 was basically freezing cold in the winter or baking hot 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.960 in the summer. Our school library was turned into a 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.440 classroom because there were more students than there was space, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:45.600 and there were never enough textbooks to go around. And 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.280 I felt very strongly that the governments that we had 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.320 then in the nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties in the UK, 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:55.000 conservative governments didn't care very much about schools like mine, 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.640 the community in which I grew up, and I wanted 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.160 to do something about it. And at the time, I'm 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:03.560 the leader of the Labor Party. The opposition party at 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:06.520 the time was Tony Blair, and I heard him say 0:11:06.960 --> 0:11:11.079 that his three priorities were education, education, education, and that 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:16.040 really resonated with me because I believe that talent is 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:22.000 equally distributed, but opportunity isn't. But education can give everybody 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:23.679 the opportunities that they. 0:11:23.520 --> 0:11:25.079 Deserve to fulfill their potential. 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.199 And so that's why I got involved in politics and 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:29.920 why I got involved in the Labor Party. 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:31.400 And you go to college. 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.800 I was the third person at my school to go 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:40.360 to Oxford University. It wasn't a traditional route for people 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.480 from my school to go to university at all. Let 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:47.440 alone to a university like Oxford. But I remember two 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.000 years before I applied to go to Oxford, my head 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.840 teacher at school giving an assembly and said, today two 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.920 girls from our school are in Oxford doing an interview 0:11:59.000 --> 0:12:02.080 to go to the universe there and we should all 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:03.800 keep our fingers crossed for them all day because it 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.120 would be an amazing achievement for our school. And I thought, wow, 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:10.560 I've never thought about something like that, but I'm one 0:12:10.559 --> 0:12:13.480 of the top performing girls in my year. Perhaps in 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.240 a couple of years time that might be something I 0:12:15.280 --> 0:12:18.520 could do. And it just so deceived in my mind 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.480 that that was a possibility for someone like me and 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:24.920 for a girl from the school I was at. And 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:27.200 so two years later I did put in my application 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:31.200 and I got a place to read philosophy, politics and 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.840 economics at Oxford University, and later I went on to 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.880 do a master's degree in economics at the London School 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:40.599 of Economics. So I've been very blessed to have a 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:43.280 very good education from some of the best universities and 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:44.600 colleges in the UK. 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.559 After you got that education, did you sort of take 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:49.120 a job at the Bank of England? Is that what 0:12:49.160 --> 0:12:49.679 you did. 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:55.400 Yes, yeah, my macroeconomics tutor at Oxford. He said that 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.520 the Bank of England was a finishing school for economists 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.559 and I thought, yeah, that sounds like what I would 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:03.560 like to do. And so I had an offer from 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:05.840 an investment bank, and I had an offer from the 0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:08.040 Bank of England, and I chose the Bank of England 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:11.280 because I wanted to be a proper economist and also 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:14.640 I've always strongly believed in public service, and so we're 0:13:14.679 --> 0:13:17.400 working for the Bank of England. Was a great job 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.199 for me as my first job after university. 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:21.400 And how long were you there? 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:26.680 I was there for just under six years. In fact, 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.080 actually whilst I was there as well, I had a 0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:30.960 brief succonment to Washington, where I worked at the British 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.040 Embassy as the second Economic Secretary, and that was in 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.079 two thousand and two, two thousand and three, so again 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.760 a time of huge volatility in the world, not long 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:44.520 after nine to eleven when the UK and US went 0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.840 to war in Iraq, and so it was a fascinating 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:52.600 time to be in Washington and I was reporting back 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:56.640 to the UK Treasury and to the Bank and liaising 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.880 with the US economic team. 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.400 Well, so after you finished that tour of duty, you 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:06.000 ultimately decided to run for parliament. 0:14:06.320 --> 0:14:08.079 Yes, I went and worked in the private sector for 0:14:08.120 --> 0:14:10.400 a bit. I worked for Halifax Bank of Scotland, which 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.240 is now part of Lloyd's Banking Group. I worked in 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.240 retail banking, which is what took me to Leeds where 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.240 I'm now a Member of Parliament. 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.800 But did you win the first time you ran? 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:21.560 No? 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.200 No, No, it was the third time actually that I ran. 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.400 I ran in what is traditionally a safe Conservative seat 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.160 in the south of England, in Bromley, which is close 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.760 to where I grew up. But then I got this 0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:36.560 job up in Yorkshire, moved up there, a safer seat 0:14:36.600 --> 0:14:39.880 became available and I stood there. 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:42.040 Okay, so we after you ran the first time he 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:43.880 didn't win, and the second time he didn't win, you 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:45.640 didn't say maybe politics is not for me. 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:46.240 No. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:48.880 The first time I stood it was sort of like 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.520 it was like a for me. It was the first 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.840 time I had done anything publicly political. 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:56.160 Yeah. 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.240 I'd always been along to my local branch meetings of 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.480 my party, gone along to Labor Party conference, but I'd 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.640 never had a sort of public platform for my politics. 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.400 And I thought, well, I'll give it a go. I'll 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.400 see what it's like and see if it's something that 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.600 I would like to do in the longer term. So 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.520 I was very I was young when I first died 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.080 for parliament. I think I was about twenty six. And 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.000 then the following year, sadly the MPI stood against he 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:24.600 died suddenly and so there was a by election, and 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:28.320 so I stood again for my party. But it was 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:30.640 twenty ten that I first got elected to parliament. 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.240 So it was two hundred and fifty years ago that 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:38.840 my country issued a declaration of independence and said to 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.320 your country, we're breaking away. Do you think if the 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:45.920 British government had said, look forget the taxes were imposing, 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:49.800 let's be friends, the UK would still be part of 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:51.640 the United States, or the US would be still part 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:53.400 of the UK. And would that make the world a 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:55.680 better place? Or you're happy with what happened. 0:15:57.920 --> 0:15:59.560 I'm not going to go back to two hundred and 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.200 fifty he is and try and rewrite that period of history. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:07.240 But I am really proud that the strong ties, the 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.880 cultural ties, the family ties, the business ties, the military 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:15.520 and intelligence ties between our country. There's no greater partnership 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.600 in the world than that between the UK UK and 0:16:18.760 --> 0:16:22.560 the US, and that's been true under different prime ministers, 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.320 different presidents. We've got a very strong relationship between my 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.760 Prime Minister Kirstama and your President Donald Trump. I think 0:16:30.760 --> 0:16:33.720 that serves both of our countries well. Doesn't mean always 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:36.080 going to agree on everything, and that's the thing about 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.880 the closest of friends. You don't always have to agree 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:43.080 on everything. You can exchange views and that is a 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:47.320 healthy thing to do, but recognizing that you know what 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.800 binds us together is so much stronger. 0:16:49.760 --> 0:16:52.240 Now in the United States, we often have a thing 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.640 called c Span, and on C SPAN we often show 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:58.640 the Prime Minister's I guess the debates are. 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:00.920 Prime Minister's questions questions Uh huh. 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:05.040 And I've always wondered does a prime minister really know 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:06.600 the answers to those questions? 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.280 So Prime Minister's Questions is a big weekly event in 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.520 our Parliament and every week, for half an hour thirty 0:17:13.560 --> 0:17:16.560 five minutes, the Prime Minister takes six questions from the 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.119 leader of the opposition, two questions from the third party, 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.320 the Liberal Democrats, and then questions from assortment of backbench 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:28.919 MPs on both sides, and some of the questions. The 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.560 Prime Minister will have an idea what the MP is 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:33.600 going to ask because it's one of his own MPs 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.320 the leader of the opposition, and the opposition MP's no idea, 0:17:37.720 --> 0:17:40.480 and so the Prime Minister has to be really well prepared. 0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:42.560 You can sort of have a guess of what the 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:45.199 leader of the Opposition is going to go on. We 0:17:45.320 --> 0:17:47.960 have got a pretty adversarial political set up in the 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.200 UK in the House of Commons, you've got the Green 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:53.399 benches on both sides, you've got big table in the middle, 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.719 and you are two sword lengths apart from the opposition. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.679 We don't have swords with us in Parliament. But the 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:03.560 idea is, you know, you spar with words, not with 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:08.120 not with physical weapons. And it does get quite heated 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:09.360 the exchanges. 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:12.960 In the US we have an aging population and without 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.600 immigration very much now our population is aging much more 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.080 than it has in the past. Does the UK have 0:18:19.119 --> 0:18:21.199 an aging population issue as well or not? 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.520 Yes, we do. I don't think it is stark as 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:31.600 in some other countries. I think that though immigration policy 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:36.000 it is a challenge for all Western countries to get 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.000 that balance right. And in Britain we are building an 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.639 immigration system and a visa system that is going to 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:46.919 be all about and is all about attracting the best 0:18:47.000 --> 0:18:50.520 talent into the UK because not just a numbers game, 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:56.200 it's the quality of the workforce that you're bringing into 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.960 the UK. And we believe if you're attracting the top packer, 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.240 demics and researchers, the top entrepreneurs, the people who went 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.639 to the best universities in the world, you're not displacing jobs. 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:12.960 What you're doing is creating more wealth and opportunity. And 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.400 so you know, we're doing a number of visa waivers 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:19.400 for fee waivers for the top talent in the world 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:20.960 to come to the UK and we want to send 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:23.679 out the message loud and clear that Britain wants to 0:19:23.680 --> 0:19:26.119 be a magnet for the best talent in the world. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:30.200 Respect to the economy, here is it your view that 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:35.000 the UK economy is going to grow somewhat like the 0:19:35.040 --> 0:19:38.360 EU economy. You're not going to outgrow we are. 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:43.880 We are outmat Last year we outgrew Italy, France and 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.879 Germany and I think that will continue to be the 0:19:46.920 --> 0:19:50.600 same this year. You know, we are an open trading 0:19:50.640 --> 0:19:54.679 economy with trade deals with emerging markets around the world, 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:57.000 the best trade deal with the US. 0:19:57.160 --> 0:19:58.280 We've got great. 0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:02.119 Innovation going on through our universeities and with our entrepreneurs 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:07.080 and founders. In the UK we are as services based economy, 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:11.119 but also with amazing advanced manufacturing as well, So I 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:13.280 think we are set up for success in the UK. 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.080 For foreign investors, people who live in the United States 0:20:16.200 --> 0:20:19.600 or on the continent in Europe or China or Asia. 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:23.000 Why should they invest their money in the UK? Is 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.760 the growth rates good enough to attract capital? Are the 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.600 regulations fair enough and easy enough? Why should somebody invest 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:30.000 in the UK? 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:33.000 Well, the UK stock market was one of the best 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.800 performing stock markets in the world last year. The foot 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.560 Sea one hundred went up by just over twenty one percent, 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:44.879 so pretty good returns on your investment. We have got 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.679 in the UK four of the top universities in the world, 0:20:47.840 --> 0:20:51.959 with some amazing businesses spinning out of those universities in 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:57.240 life sciences, in quantum in AI, increasingly in the defense 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:02.040 sector and dual use technologies. Tons of exciting stuff happening 0:21:02.520 --> 0:21:06.720 in the UK. We've got some amazing unicorn businesses that 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.160 have started and are now scaling up in the UK, 0:21:09.480 --> 0:21:11.800 and we're making it easier for businesses to list and 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.120