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Speech to the CBI President’s Dinner

The Rt. Hon. John Hutton MP,  Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform
London,  09 July 2007

Martin, thank you for that kind introduction.

I am really pleased that my first speech as the new Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform is to you, the business leaders of our country.

Because you are the wealth creators. The entrepreneurs. The innovators. The people who make a difference. Your contribution to the success of our country should never be taken for granted.

And that’s why I am delighted to have been asked by the Prime Minister to lead this new department. I want to make it a powerful force for competitiveness and wealth creation in our country.

To help you to do what you do best: create, innovate, serve.

So over the next few minutes, I want to say a few brief words about what I see as the challenges and opportunities for the new department.

But I want to leave plenty of time for questions. Because the single most important message that I want to get across tonight is that I see this new department as your department.

It must reflect your priorities, your needs.

If we are to fulfil the Prime Minister’s mission for the department to be a strong voice for business at the heart of Government, then we will need to change not just what we do, but how we do it.

And if in 12 months time we are beginning to do exactly what it says on the tin – admittedly, a considerably large one in this case – the country will be better for it.

I understand if in one or two parts of the room, there is scepticism about whether we can deliver the mission. But I will give business every opportunity to influence and shape the agenda. To work with me and all of the Ministers in my new Department to make it a reality.

After all the speculation about whether the old DTI would still exist, we now have a period of certainty. The time for introspection and navel gazing is over. The hard business of change has begun.

This won’t be about a change of name. It will be much more fundamental. More than just the functions we discharge. Or the policy areas we are responsible for.

It will be about the culture of the organisation. Its empathy with business. Its enthusiasm for wealth creation. Its hunger to understand the challenges you face in the UK and overseas.

The creation of a Business Council for Britain comprising the CEO’s of some of the UK’s most successful companies, demonstrates the Prime Minister’s continuing commitment to giving business leaders a strong voice in Government.

My message is simple.

There is virtually nothing we can achieve as a nation without the dynamism and wealth that is created by business.

My view is that are living through a time where the forces of economic and social change are more profound than at any time since the industrial revolution.

Everything about our world is changing profoundly. If this is true, then our response as a Government and a nation, has to be equal to the challenge.

Businesses large and small are competing in new markets across the globe. From manufacturing and financial services to education, architecture and the Arts.

So I want my department to be ‘batting for British business’ beyond UK shores.

Doing everything possible to open up new business opportunities in emerging markets, creating first mover advantage for UK firms.

And I couldn’t have got a better champion for British business than one of your very own – Digby Jones.

But as well as promoting the best of British and leading the charge to reduce trade barriers, we must work harder to make it easier for companies operating in multiple overseas markets.

New technology and the growth of emerging economies mean that doing business in more than one country is increasingly becoming the norm.

I know many of you here are familiar with these issues. The challenge of different accounting standards in different jurisdictions.

Practical, time consuming, bottom line impacting issues that we need to both be alive to and capable of influencing. It’s part of making government – and not just business - fit for globalisation.

At home, we’ll be responsible for ensuring free and fair markets. I want to do more to help consumers get the information they need to drive better value from product and service markets. I want to develop a strong agenda for smarter, more intelligent regulation.

And we have the tools to do it.

In less than two years, the Better Regulation Executive, led by William Sargent, has already begun to have a real impact on the way that Whitehall regulates. I think the tide has begun to turn. But here too there is more we need to do, both at home and across Europe as well.

And how we regulate the labour market will test the strength of our resolve to put competitiveness at the heart of everything we do. The UK's flexible labour market has benefited business, employees, consumers and, of course, the economy.

To those who say a flexible labour market is incompatible with social justice, I say the fact that there are 2.5m more people in work since 1997 speaks for itself. Or millions more women with the opportunity to participate in every part of the labour market

Let me also make clear tonight, that in any future discussion about the UK’s labour market there should be 'no surprises' for business. We must be open and transparent. I will be a champion for business in all of these debates going forward.
When it comes to the Working Time Directive, Agency Workers Directive or the debates about 'flexicurity' – preserving our hard won flexible labour market must be front and centre of any engagement with our European partners.

Finally, the Department will be responsible for our country’s energy policy. Perhaps there is no single more important issue for our security and standard of living.

I want to pay tribute to the CBI for your leadership on this issue. You predicted its growing importance to the UK economy and you were right. Delivering clean, safe and secure energy supplies is vital for our future.

And maintaining the UK’s position amongst the top three most competitive energy markets in the EU and G7 is crucial.

Delivering the Energy White Paper and nuclear consultation document will be an important role that we will lead on. And, again, where we will need to work with you.

We need to build an effective carbon market too. Five years ago the carbon market didn’t exist. Today London is the pre-eminent location of carbon trading already worth over £1 billion.

This is because of business seizing an opportunity – not government intervention.

Developing renewable and low carbon technology is something that we need to invest in. And there are opportunities to be taken and there’s no reason why British businesses can’t be there first.

Conclusion
Let me conclude with a few words about what I think will make the real difference in the way this new department will operate.

I am determined that we will be the voice for business across Whitehall. Sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. Not just in the policy areas that we are responsible for but right across government.

If it has the potential to impact on economic growth, business competitiveness and wealth creation, I want us to be there. Shaping the debate.

On labour market supply, skills, transport, applied research, innovation, regulation, planning, taxation – if it affects UK competitiveness, we will have something to say.

I’m under no illusion how difficult this will be. But we have got to be outward facing.

Responding to you. Listening to business needs. Influencing others.

I want to spend the next few weeks working with you to be clear about the strategic priorities for the department over the coming SR07 period.

I can’t guarantee that we will always agree or that when we do I will win every argument.

But the Prime Minister has given me a mandate to be your partner, your voice, your champion right across government. And I intend to discharge this mandate to the full.

I look forward to working with you.

Thank you.