Jul132017

Statement to Parliament: Update on the Airports NPS and a decision on night flights

HM Government

In October 2016, the government selected a new north-west runway at Heathrow as its preferred scheme for delivering new airport capacity in the south-east.

In February a consultation on a draft Airports National Policy Statement (NPS) was launched, which set out the reasons for this preference, along with the mitigation and compensation measures the government expects the promoter to put in place if planning permission is to be granted.

The consultation closed on 25 May and the work to analyse the over 70,000 responses is progressing well. I would like to thank all of those who contributed their views.

This government is fully committed to realising the benefits that a new north-west runway at Heathrow would bring, in terms of economic growth, boosting jobs and skills, strengthening domestic links and – critically – increasing and developing our international connectivity as we prepare to leave the European Union.

The timing of the election, in particular the need to re-start a Select Committee inquiry into the draft Airports NPS means we now expect to lay any final NPS in Parliament in the first half of 2018, for a vote in the House of Commons.

I will provide a further update to the House after the summer recess on our next steps following analysis of the consultation responses.

Today (13 July 2017) I am also publishing a response to the consultation held earlier this year on a new night flight regime for Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted. I am fully aware that noise is a major concern for those living near these airports, and that night noise is widely regarded as the most disturbing impact of aviation. While advances in new technology mean that aircraft are generally getting quieter, the limits governing night noise at these airports has not kept pace with these developments.

The new rules we are publishing today will encourage the use of quieter aircraft at all 3 airports by reducing the amount of noise these airports are legally allowed to make, and will give local residents a 5 year guarantee about the level of noise that they will be exposed to. This decision strikes a balance between managing the impacts on local communities by locking in the benefits offered by recent technological developments, with the economic benefits of night flights.

This decision should be seen as a signal that this government takes this issue very seriously, which is why we expect a ban on scheduled night flights of 6.5 hours at an expanded Heathrow. We will also explore whether there is more we can do – including considering further legislation – to incentivise the industry more generally to invest in the quietest aircraft and operate them in the quietest way.

Strong international links are critical to the future prosperity of our country, with a world-class hub airport and thriving aviation sector central to this. We are committed to realising the economic and social benefits aviation has to offer, while taking seriously the need to balance this with managing the local and environmental impacts of aviation.

Jul132017

Press release: Historic State Visit celebrates depth and breadth of our longstanding ties with Spain

HM Government

Spain’s State Visit is an opportunity to celebrate our longstanding partnership with Spain and our shared, history, values and interests, the Prime Minister said today, as she prepared to host King Felipe VI at Downing Street.

The three-day visit by King Felipe and Queen Letizia is Spain’s first State Visit to the UK since 1986 and follows centuries of diplomatic relations. It highlights the close and vibrant links we have built through cooperation on trade and investment, security and defence, science and innovation, and on the world stage.

Ahead of the UK-Spain Business Forum at Mansion House today, the Prime Minister welcomed the scale of this investment as a sign of the depth of our commercial ties and Spain’s continued confidence in the strength of the UK economy.

Britain remains the number one European destination for Spanish investment.

Today’s business forum will highlight examples of Spanish investment in a range of sectors across the UK, including:

  • today’s announcement by Spanish manufacturer CAF that it is to start building trains and trams at a new factory in South Wales. The company will invest £30 million in the facility near Newport, creating 300 jobs and giving a boost to UK manufacturing and the Welsh economy.

  • today’s announcement by Spanish infrastructure company Sacyr that it will soon open a new London office close to Victoria Station, which will provide a base for further investment and job creation in the UK.

  • the ongoing expansion of Luton Airport, whose majority shareholder is Spanish airport operator AENA. Over £100 million is being invested in this major redevelopment which aims to increase capacity by 50% to 18 million passengers and is expected to create thousands of jobs, with the first phase now complete.

  • the construction of a £26 million factory on a Steel & Alloy Processing site in Oldbury, as Spanish steel producer Gonvarri Steel Services, part of the Gestamp Group, scales up its production capacity in the West Midlands. The project has been supported by the Department for International Trade and will create more jobs in the local area.

  • the recent launch of new clinics in the West Midlands and London by Spanish fertility specialists IVI as they invest in their UK expansion, creating jobs and supporting research.

The Prime Minister also hailed the enduring friendship between Britain and Spain and pledged that our relationship will continue to go from strength to strength as the UK leaves the EU.

Prime Minister Theresa May said:

Britain’s longstanding relationship with Spain has been built over centuries on the deep and solid foundations of our shared history, values and interests.

Today, we work closely together in a range of areas to ensure the security and prosperity of our people, including through our military and law enforcement cooperation to fight international terrorism, our academic collaboration on science and innovation, and our growing trade and investment ties.

Indeed, the sheer scale of Spanish investment in Britain demonstrates Spain’s continued confidence in the strength of the UK economy, and shows that we can and will maintain the closest possible relationship.

This week’s State Visit is an opportunity to celebrate the historic bond between our countries and our citizens. We are firm friends, and I look forward to seeing our partnership go from strength to strength in the years ahead.

Speaking ahead of the UK-Spain Business Forum, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said:

As an international economic department over the past twelve months we’ve helped secure more foreign direct investment projects than ever before, supported thousands of UK businesses on their export journey, and continue to promote British trade values across the world.

I’m delighted to welcome further Spanish investment into the UK today, as we remain Spain’s number one destination in Europe for direct foreign investment.

Our diplomatic relations stretch back more than 500 years, and as we leave the EU we want to remain a good friend and neighbour to Europe and build a positive new partnership with each of its member states”.

There are over 300,000 Britons living in Spain, while over 130,000 Spaniards have made the UK their home. In today’s talks with King Felipe, the Prime Minister will welcome the valuable contribution that Spanish citizens make to Britain’s economy and society.

And she will pay tribute to the heroism of Ignacio Echeverría, the Spanish banker who was killed in last month’s appalling act of terror at London Bridge as he rushed to help someone who was being attacked.

Jul132017

Supporting start-ups locally to scale-up internationally

EU

Supporting innovative entrepreneurship and dismantling the obstacles to its development through improved access to finance and the single market, better connections between regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and raising awareness about the need to give failed but honest entrepreneurs a second chance are the objectives of an opinion drafted by Tadeusz Truskolaski (PL/EA). The members of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted the opinion during their plenary session on 12 July in Brussels where they also announced the three winners of the 2018 European Entrepreneurial Regions (EER) award.

The EU has been developing SME and entrepreneurship policy tools over a decade which has over the last years led to a small start-up revolution in Europe. However, compared to countries like Switzerland, South Korea, Japan, China or the USA, Europe lacks companies able to substantially scale up their operations or even grow globally. With its new start-up and scale-up initiative the European Commission (EC) wants to give Europe’s innovative entrepreneurs every opportunity to grow and become successful worldwide, paying attention to the need for regionally interconnected EU-wide clusters and ecosystems.

” We have to work together and be even more ambitious and proactive if we want to build strong entrepreneurial ecosystems in our cities and regions. If companies find the right framework locally they can be successful globally. That’s why we need to create the right circumstances to allow the next generation of success stories to grow in Europe, stimulating growth and development across the entire Union “, said rapporteur Tadeusz Truskolaski (PL/EA), Mayor of Białystok.

The rapporteur highlights the lack of sufficient access to affordable long-term financing and the heterogenic laws in EU Member States – in particular the fragmented tax systems – among problems constraining European start-ups to expand. He also welcomes European Commission’s efforts to tackle the problem of ineffective and excessively long business insolvency proceedings in some EU Member States and its aim to give honest but over-indebted entrepreneurs a second chance. The CoR opinion therefore:

Suggests to create new opportunities through:

  • Creating a start-up visa and a catalogue of conditions enabling a safe use of qualified intellectual and financial capital from third countries

  • Additional funding for start-ups to develop and protect intellectual property rights

  • Expanding the Enterprise Europe Network’s (EEN) range of services including advice on scaling up and cooperating more with local business incubators, science and technology parks

  • Creating a separate instrument dedicated to networking projects in less-developed regions

  • Encouraging new public procurement procedures exploiting the potential of start-ups and scale-ups

Welcomes the EC’s suggestions to facilitate access to finance through:

  • Establishing a European venture capital fund of funds

  • Creating innovation brokers linking buyers interested in innovative public procurement with innovative companies and helping them to access venture capital

  • Increasing the budget for COSME, the EU’s main instrument supporting the competitiveness of SMEs

  • Looking into the opportunities of and a regulatory framework for crowdfunding platforms

Welcomes the EC’s proposal on insolvency, restructuring and a second Chance and recommends to:

  • Take greater account of related workers’ rights, proposing legislative amendments reflecting this recommendation

  • Support financially the specialisation of judges and practitioners involved in insolvency procedures

  • Raise public awareness what it means to fail, promote culture of rescuing businesses rather than liquidating

Central Macedonia, Ile de France and the Northern and Western Region of Ireland win EER 2018 award

Especially local and regional economies profit from strong SMEs that are able to establish themselves on the European Single Market. To support regional entrepreneurship the CoR has created the European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award that yearly identifies and rewards three EU regions which show an outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy, irrespective of their size, wealth and competences. For this edition Central Macedonia, Ile de France and the Northern and Western Region of Ireland convinced the EER jury with their credible, forward-thinking and promising plan for the year 2018. (EER) award that yearly identifies and rewards three EU regions which show an outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategy, irrespective of their size, wealth and competences. For this edition Central Macedonia, Ile de France and the Northern and Western Region of Ireland convinced the EER jury with their credible, forward-thinking and promising plan for the year 2018.

Contact: Carmen Schmidle Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2366

Carmen Schmidle
Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2366
carmen.schmidle@cor.europa.eu

Jul132017

SMEs will succeed through simple, clear and consistent rules

EU

Local and regional leaders call for smart regulation for SMEs

SME access to public procurement, the Single Market and finance, SME-friendly VAT and taxation rules and striking a better balance between SME needs and labour, consumer and environmental protection are critical factors behind SME success in Europe. The “smart regulation for SMEs” opinion of the European Committee of the Regions’ (CoR) rapporteur Christian Buchmann was adopted during the CoR plenary session on 12 July.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the main engines for growth and jobs in Europe, creating two out of three jobs and generating more than half of Europe’s economic production. Nevertheless regulation doesn’t always take into account the SME-specific circumstances, thus hampering local economic growth and innovation.

“Red tape reveals itself as high administrative burden, incoherent requirements and overlapping or contradictory rules – and they have a much greater impact on SMEs than on larger firms. Also compliance in taxation, reporting and information obligations, labour protection or other fields affect SMEs disproportionally. Therefore an SME-friendly regulatory environment is an essential precondition for establishing and developing successful businesses and generating more jobs and growth in Europe”, said rapporteur Christian Buchmann (AT/EPP), Member of the Styrian Parliament.

The CoR proposal represents a medium-term approach that is more ambitious than current EU efforts to reduce red tape, for example the Better Regulation Agenda or the Regulatory Fitness and Performance Programme (REFIT). The opinion emphasises the importance of further reducing obstacles to SMEs in public procurement contracts – a particularly important issue for regions and cities – and simplifying and harmonising tax rules, which are seen as the most burdensome area by a majority of European SMEs.

The CoR also urges action to make it easier for SMEs to tap into the EU’s long-term regional-development instruments, like the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), and highlights how a wide variety of national rules continue to prevent SMEs from profiting from the Single Market in services. It specifically calls for local and regional authorities to be given a role in the impact-assessment boards that scrutinise proposals from the European Commission.

” We need a coherent, visible and updated European SME policy, mainstreaming the “Think Small First” principle across all government levels and policies. The Small Business Act (SBA) should be revised and strengthened and cities and regions should have a stronger role in its revision and implementation. Instead of focusing on reducing regulations, we must stress creating a simple, clear and consistent regulatory environment for the SMEs – and here cities and regions play a key role “, stated rapporteur Buchmann.

Already since 2011 the CoR promotes the implementation of the Small Business Act (SBA) at regional and local level through its European Entrepreneurial Region (EER) award . The award is given each year to EU regions and cities that have the most promising, outstanding and innovative entrepreneurial policy strategies in Europe. It is an opportunity for local and regional actors to demonstrate how SMEs and entrepreneurs can increase the resilience of their economy.

Background:

The concept of smart regulation means delivering EU policies and laws that bring the greatest possible benefits to businesses, citizens and public bodies in the most effective way. It is a way of working to ensure that political decisions are prepared in an open, transparent manner, informed by the best available evidence and backed by the comprehensive involvement of stakeholders. Instruments include impact assessment, simplification, reduction of administrative burden and the full and correct implementation of existing legislation.

Contact:
Carmen Schmidle
Tel. +32 (0)2 282 2366
carmen.schmidle@cor.europa.eu