Speech by: David Lammy MP
Venue: Queen Elizabeth II conference centre, London

“I’m not just talking about the need for generic, transferrable skills to be learned alongside subject- or job-specific ones – important though that is, but about the active rather than passive attitudes that universities should foster in their students. Like refusal to just accept that the way things have always been done is necessarily the best way to do them now. Like eagerness to question received wisdom rather than just take everything on trust. Like openness to a wide range of different points of view and a forensic approach to assessing them. Like an ability to see the wood as well as the trees.”

Speech by: Lord Mandelson
Event: Trade and Industry Dinner
Venue: Guildhall, London

In this speech Peter Mandelson argues for reforms to Britain’s merger and acquisition rules to make it easier for shareholders on both sides to scrutinise and assess the merit of takeover bids. He argues: “The debate that is happening within business on business models, especially the reliance on debt over equity, needs to be part of a wider reassertion of the values of the long term, of organic growth and value creation over the temptations of excessive leverage and the fast buck”.

Speech by: Stephen Timms MP
Venue: BIS Conference Centre, London

Stephen Timms speaks concerning this initiative to highlight the growing need for skilled ICT users and professionals within to EU.

Speech by: Lord Mandelson
Venue: Sciences-Po, Paris

In this speech, Peter Mandelson sets out three arguments about the future direction of the EU, in terms of both the challenges it faces and the strategic response needed to address them.

First, that Europe’s long term economic strength is more vulnerable now after the banking crisis and recession than it has been at any point for a generation. Second, that to respond the EU must rethink some of the ways in which it uses EU policy to drive European economic growth. And thirdly, that a genuinely transformative agenda for the European economy has to be owned by the European Member States themselves.

“We as Europeans face a growth deficit that threatens our prosperity, our solidarity and our capacity to project our influence outside of Europe. This is the moment to question some of the basic ways we think about the EU’s strategic role in driving growth and innovation. This debate has started in Brussels. But this agenda, however much it is shaped and driven by the Commission, needs to be owned by national capitals. It needs to be driven by national politicians. It is, after all, our names that are at the bottom of the Lisbon Treaty.”

Speech by: Lord Drayson
Venue: Nairne annual lecture – St Catherine’s College, Oxford

“We’ve got UK science to full throttle. It’s taken more than a decade. And in that same time period, we’ve made it so much easier to get an innovative business up and running. The question is how to light the after-burners.”

Speech by: Lord Mandelson
Venue: University of Nottingham

In this 2010 Dearing lecture, Peter Mandelson pays tribute to the life and work of Lord Dearing and argues the importance of higher learning as both the foundation of a civilised society and vital for equipping British people for their economic future and social mobility.

He sets out the case for widening the range and type of HE courses available to meet the changing demands of students in the 21st century.

“We need…a higher learning system that is constantly testing its relevance against taxpayer value, the expectations of students, the demands of research and teaching excellence and the needs of our economy and society. It will build on state support but reach beyond state support.”

Speech by: Lord Drayson
Venue: QEII Centre, London

Lord Drayson welcomes a new report on the future of the UK space industry.

“The UK is firmly in the space race – a race to the top of the global space industry over the next 20 years.”

Speech by: Lord Mandelson
The 48 Group: “Icebreakers” London/Chinese New Year Dinner, London

In this speech, Peter Mandelson argues that issues of perception remain at the centre of the relationship between America, the EU and China.

“Europe and the UK want China to be “deputy sheriff”. China is understandably preoccupied with its own development and stability and still suspicious that the rules it is being asked to enforce were not written with its interests in mind. And there’s something in that – we should be honest about it.”

Speech by: Ian Lucas MP
Event: Business Perceptions Workshop
Venue: London

In this key speech on regulation Ian Lucas argues that the huge challenges of returning the economy to sustained growth, and tackling the deficit, mean we need to become even more disciplined about the way we regulate. He says we should always start from the premise that alternatives to regulation are equal, if not better, ways of achieving the outcomes we want. Regulation, in other words, should be seen as a last resort.

Speech by: David Lammy MP
Venue: Cavendish Conference Centre, London

“Ever since Roman times, one of the things that has distinguished the inhabitants of these islands is the links they have forged with the most distant reaches of the known world.

“The millions of international students who have studied here help to ensure that this tradition continues today, and that we continue to be bound by ties of friendship and good will to people in all parts of the globe.”