Published 30 November 2018

Ambitious plans to create a swathe of forest in the north of England branched out today (30 November 2018) with Forestry Minister David Rutley planting the first government funded tree of the Northern Forest.

Minister Rutley joined the Woodland Trust, Community Forest Trust, government Tree Champion Sir William Worsley and students from St Andrew’s CE Primary School in Radcliffe, where they began the planting of 200 saplings as part of the government’s £5.7 million investment.

Over the next 25 years the Woodland Trust and Community Forest Trust are aiming to plant more than 50 million trees from Liverpool to Hull, connecting the five community forests of the north. Government backing for the project was announced by the Prime Minister in January during the launch of the Government’s flagship 25 Year Environment Plan.

Spanning more than 120 miles, the Northern Forest will help boost habitats for woodland birds and bats and protect iconic species such as the red squirrel – alongside providing a tranquil space to be enjoyed by millions of people living in the area.

Forestry Minister David Rutley said:

It is a privilege to be here to see the Northern Forest take root, and to plant the first of many government funded trees which will contribute to what will one day be a great forest.

This new forest will benefit communities across the north of England and deliver on our pledge to leave the environment in a better state for future generations.

This investment takes forward a commitment made in the 25 Year Environment Plan, and will contribute to the government’s pledge to plant 11 million trees, and one million urban trees.

With the Government backing growth, investment and jobs across the Northern Powerhouse as part of efforts to create an economy that works for everyone. The Woodland Trust and Community Forest Trust estimate this new forest will generate more than £2 billion for the country’s economy.

Simon Mageean Northern Forest Programme Director, Woodland Trust said:

A new Northern Forest will strengthen and accelerate the benefits of community forestry, support landscape scale working for nature, deliver a wide range of benefits, including helping to reduce flood risk, and adapt some of the UK’s major towns and cities to projected climate change.

The North of England is perfectly suited to reap the benefits of a project on this scale. But this must be a joined up approach, we’ll need to work with Government, and other organisations to find innovative funding mechanisms to ensure we can make a difference long term.

Iain Taylor, Community Forest Trust said:

Community Forests have been planting trees and woodlands in a range of communities across England for 25 years.

The Northern Forest programme and this new funding allows the five community forest initiatives in the Northern Forest area to work together with the Woodland Trust and Defra to accelerate the delivery of local forest plans and make a real differences in communities.

The Northern Forest will connect the five Community Forests in the north of England – the Mersey Forest, Manchester City of Trees, South Yorkshire Community Forest, the Leeds White Rose Forest and the HEYwoods Project – with green infrastructure and woodland created in and around major urban centres such as Chester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Manchester.

Millions of employees in the service industry could collect an early Christmas present from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).

Workers, including nurses, hairdressers, construction workers and people working in retail and food sectors, may be able to claim rebates.

Staff in these types of roles sometimes have to dip into their own pockets to pay for work-related expenses like car mileage, replacing or repairing small tools, or maintaining branded uniforms.

If they are paid through PAYE, they may be able to get some of that money back. And if they claim online now it could be in their accounts before 25 December.

Workers are urged to go directly to GOV.UK to check if they can claim extra cash back. And, rather than use an agency, in a few clicks they could be on their way to claiming their full tax relief entitlement for genuine work-related expenses.

If eligible, customers can log in to their Personal Tax Account to claim for their tax relief online and, if their claim is approved, be paid within 3 weeks.

Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Mel Stride MP, said:

We know what a difference tax relief can make to hard-working customers, especially at this time of year. HMRC is keen to make sure customers get all the relief they’re entitled to, by using the online service.

Tax relief isn’t available for all employment expenses, so the online Check If You Can Claim tool is very helpful – then if your claim is approved, your full tax relief will be paid directly into your bank account.

The majority of claims are for repairing or replacing tools and branded uniforms, professional subscriptions and mileage. Healthcare workers, people working in food and retail, and those in the construction industry are among the top professions to claim from HMRC.

Customers may be able to claim tax relief on the cost of:

• repairing or replacing small tools needed to do their job (for example, scissors or an electric drill)
• cleaning, repairing or replacing specialist clothing (for example, a branded uniform or safety boots)
• business mileage (not commuting)
• travel and overnight expenses
• professional fees and subscriptions

Employees can check if they are eligible for tax relief on their expenses online.

Claims must be made within 4 years of the end of that tax year

Eligible employees will be paid tax relief at the rate of pay that they pay tax. For example, if they spend £60 and pay tax at a rate of 20% in that year, the tax relief they can claim is £12.

More information is available on GOV.UK

Workers need to have a Personal Tax Account

Customers can also claim by post by printing off a form from GOV.UK, or by phone if their total expenses are less than £1,000, or £2,500 for professional fees and subscriptions. Call 0300 200 3300 (Monday to Friday: 8am to 8pm; Saturday: 8am to 4pm; Sunday: 9am to 5pm).

It’s a pleasure to be here this morning at the Royal Portbury Dock.

As MP for North Somerset, as well as Secretary of State for International Trade, it’s fair to say I have a significant interest in the success of a venture that supports more than 500 jobs in my constituency.

And I can’t help but notice that business is booming.

At the time of the referendum, we were told that just voting to leave the EU would cause such an economic shock that we’d lose half a million jobs, our investors would desert us, and we would require an emergency budget to deal with the ensuing fiscal imbalance.

What’s happened since? We’ve added over 700,000 jobs to the economy, with more people finding work than at any time in the past 40 years.

This upward trajectory shows no signs of slowing. Indeed, the OBR has calculated that we can add another 800,000 jobs without creating inflationary pressure, because there’s still slack in the economy.

In 2017 we saw total UK exports rise by 10.9% compared with 2016.

And what did we sell? We sold almost £50 billion worth of mechanical machinery, £41 billion worth of motor vehicles, £16 billion worth of aircraft and £14 billion worth of medical equipment.

And, as I have to mention on St Andrew’s Day, some £4.3 billion of Scotch Whisky.

So much for Britain not making anything anymore. And that’s before we even consider our world-leading services sector.

Clearly, the vote to leave the European Union has not had the catastrophic effect on our economy that was predicted. Quite the reverse.

Now is the time to raise our sights, and acknowledge that there is a world beyond Europe, and a time Beyond Brexit.

My Department for International Trade exists to look to this world, and plan for that time. Perhaps more than any other part of government, we are mandated to look beyond the process of leaving the EU and to prepare for the open, global future that lies ahead.

The referendum settled the question of our departure from the European Union and our manifesto made clear that we will leave the Customs Union and the Single Market as we do so.

The IMF has predicted that 90% of global growth in the next 5 years will originate outside the EU. So the question is, where do we, as a nation, position ourselves to take advantage of the opportunities that this growth will produce.

Future relationship with the EU

The government has made clear that we want to take a balanced approach to the question of our future trading prospects. We need to maximise our access to the EU market but without damaging our potential to benefit from emerging trade opportunities in other parts of the world.

The 27 nations of the European Union constitute some of our largest trading partners. As a whole, some 44% of this country’s exports of goods and services still go to the EU, although that proportion has been declining over the past decade or so.

The withdrawal agreement, and the political declaration on the future relationship, have put us on the verge of securing a deal with the European Union.

It is a deal that delivers on the result of the referendum, ending vast payments to Brussels, and giving the UK control over our own borders for the first time in a generation.

Of course, the end of free movement does not mean the end of immigration. The UK is always open to those who want to work hard and build a life here. But now, we can offer a level playing field, ensuring that we can admit the people we need to meet business demand, wherever they come from – so it won’t matter if you were born in Marseilles, Memphis or Mumbai. The key difference is that we will set the rules according to what we believe is best for our own country.

Above all else, the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration provide the stability and certainty that businesses crave, as well as a firm foundation on which to continue to operate across the EU.

The political declaration proposes the creation of a free trade area for goods, combining deep regulatory and customs co-operation with no tariffs, no fees, charges or quantitative restrictions across all goods sectors.

This would be the first such agreement between an advanced economy and the EU, a recognition of the unique position of the UK and our economy to those of our European partners.

Ambitious arrangements have been made in the political declaration for services and investment, arrangements that go well beyond WTO commitments and build on recent EU FTAs.

And an arrangement on financial services, grounded in the economic partnership, provides greater cooperation and consultation than is possible under existing third country frameworks.

But we have also been clear that our future relationship with the EU would recognise the development of an independent UK trade policy and not tie our hands when it comes to global opportunities.

We have set out an approach which means the UK would be able to set its own trade policy with the rest of the world, including setting our own tariffs, implementing our own trade remedies, and taking up our independent seat at the World Trade Organization.

FTA Consultations

Perhaps most importantly, during the implementation period, my department will have the freedom to negotiate, sign and ratify new trade agreements. . The Withdrawal Agreement means that, from the 29th of March next year, we can begun to build closer commercial relationships with our closest allies, such as the US, New Zealand and Australia, as well as laying the groundwork for improved market access for UK companies to key global growth economies.

As some of you may know, we recently carried out extensive public consultations on our future FTAs with those three nations, as well as on the UK’s potential accession to the Trans-Pacific Partnership – known as CPTPP.

Leaders across these nations have been clear in their endorsement of future trade agreements with the UK.

As Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan put it, we would “be welcomed with open arms”. Far from being isolated, Britain will be an ‘in-demand’ trading partner.

Over 14 weeks, we asked businesses, organisations and individuals to tell us what they needed from these FTAs, and how the Department for International Trade can help them to thrive internationally.

The response rate was phenomenal, far exceeding all expectations.

Above all, the exercise demonstrated the interest that exists in the shape of the UK’s future trade policy, right across the country.

How do we take advantage of this groundswell of interest and engagement from businesses and individuals?

The answer is to harness that enthusiasm to boost exports and attract investment to this country. Clearly, businesses the length and breadth of Britain are eager to move into new markets overseas.

If we want Britain to become a global exporting superpower, all we have to do is unlock that potential.

Even before we get to new trade opportunities afforded by new trade agreements there are still considerable export opportunities for British businesses to exploit in existing markets. We still have ground to make up on our international competitors in many of these countries.

Export Strategy

Our new Export Strategy, published in August, is an important first step to doing just that.

I won’t exhaust you with the detail. But suffice to say that the Export Strategy represents one of the most comprehensive export packages offered to businesses anywhere in the world, designed to inform, connect, encourage and finance exporting opportunities for businesses of all sizes.

There are currently over 24,000 live export and investment opportunities on our website. Put simply, the world wants what Britain is selling. Businesses large and small can find these real-time opportunities at great.gov.uk.

Royal Portbury Dock

And the Royal Portbury Dock where we now stand is a perfect example of the dynamic, global outlook that hundreds of thousands of British businesses have already embraced.

In 1991 the dock was owned and managed by Bristol Council, and it was regarded as a ‘white elephant’.

Since the port was privatised almost 30 years ago and reborn as the Bristol Port Company, over £500 million has been invested to turn this into one of the most capable and advanced ports in the United Kingdom.

Each year, the Bristol Port Company handles some 750,000 motor vehicles, 27% of UK aviation fuel imports, 10% of coal imports, and more than 6 million tons of bulk dry goods.

In all, the work done here at Portbury, and at Avonmouth, contributes over £1 billion to the British economy. Now that is something to be proud of.

Integrated imports and exports

This port, and dozens like it across the UK, shows that the UK’s global commercial footprint is not just about what we sell overseas, but also what we import into this country.

It is crucial in ensuring that competition provides consumers with greater choice and at affordable prices.

But in a highly integrated economy it would also be wrong to ignore the huge and necessary role that imports play in the production of goods and services for export – some 23% of all UK exports have some added value or component that originated as an import.

Less than half of this value added originates in EU countries. And it shows how the United Kingdom is already closely linked to global value chains, that extend far beyond the boundaries of Europe.

In the long-term, a global future for an economy as large, diverse and interconnected as ours was inevitable. Our departure from the EU, combining an open, comprehensive trade relationship there, with the possibility of creating new trading relationships elsewhere is the next phase of that journey.

WTO/The changing world of trade

Internationally, of course, a wholesale revolution in the patterns of trade has already arrived. The tectonic plates of global commerce are shifting under our feet. Our future FTAs are hugely important – not least because they are strategic as well as economic tools – but in the long run, it is not what we do unilaterally, or even bilaterally, that will make the biggest difference.

Instead, it is working to update and improve the rules-based international system that governs global trade.

How the multilateral trading environment develops will almost certainly be the most crucial determinant of the degree of trade liberalisation that will occur and consequently the scale of future opportunities.

This is an area in which the UK will play a pivotal role. The world’s fifth-largest economy taking its seat at the WTO, as a powerful and unabashed defender of free trade, will be a key moment for the United Kingdom. It is one of the most important, if seldom mentioned, aspects of Brexit.

With 164 full members, the WTO is the home of the rules-based international system, and the crucible of free and fair global trade.

Yet even they will admit that their current rules are in need of updating.

The fundamental framework of the WTO’s rules has not changed substantially since 1995. A time before the widespread use of business email. A time before internet banking. A time before data became a valuable traded commodity, like cars and steel.

Consider this: back in 1995, if I asked you whether the digital code that I have sold you on the internet to make something on your 3D printer counts as a good or a service, you wouldn’t even begin to understand the question, let alone be able to answer it!

This is an example of how the real economy has moved and outgrown the rules and regulations that still attempt to govern it.

It’s not just the architecture of the WTO itself that needs reform, but also the regulatory framework, which must be flexible enough to move with the new realities of the global economy, updating itself in real time.

The Prime Minister acknowledged this recently in a speech at the Guildhall when she observed that goods as a proportion of UK and global commerce are declining.

This will be a priority as she attends the G20 in Argentina, where she will hold trade talks with world leaders including Argentinian President Macri. The leaders are expected to agree the first ever UK Trade Envoy for the country.

And as the proportion of trade in goods declines, the digital and knowledge economy are racing ahead, as new products and services emerge from the disruption that technology has left in its wake.

The future of world trade has already arrived, and the United Kingdom is ideally prepared to realise all the opportunities of the digital age and embrace the possibilities of communications technology as a commercial tool.

To take just one example, a higher proportion of retail spending takes place online in the UK than anywhere else on earth. More than China or the USA. More than South Korea. More than Japan.

Recent research by PayPal found that in the 12 months to July, 1 in 7 online shoppers globally had bought goods from the UK – more than any other European country.

In fact., overall, they found that the UK was the third most popular country in the world from which to buy goods online, behind only the US and China.

There are few countries that are as prepared for the coming digital economic revolution as the United Kingdom.

The world’s investors already know this – last year, the UK tech sector attracted more venture capital investment than Sweden, France and Germany combined.

The simple fact is that this country is already a genuine world-leader in fields from artificial intelligence, to digital and data trade, to e-commerce and FinTech.

In the knowledge economy, Britain’s shelves are already stacked with what the world wants to buy.

This is not to say that we are falling behind in goods. On the contrary, those same factors that have made us a global powerhouse of the digital economy have enabled us to retain the cutting-edge of advanced manufacturing.

For example, 17% of all the aerospace products sold in the entire world come from the United Kingdom.

Nearly half of the world’s planes are flying on wings that have been designed, engineered or assembled within just a few miles of where we are today, either in Filton or across the water in Wales.

And how do these wings reach their customers in every corner of the world? They are shipped on specialised ferries from right here in the Royal Portbury Dock.

The world beyond Europe, and the future beyond Brexit, starts right here.

And if you want to know if the world has confidence in this new Global Britain, then look at our investment record and see where global investors are choosing to put their money.

According to UNCTAD, in the first 6 months of 2018 the UK was second only to China in terms of FDI, ahead of the United States and data published by Ernst and Young showed that all parts of the UK and all England regions are benefiting with around 50,000 jobs created as a result.

In the 19th Century, Britain became the world’s first free-trading nation. In the 20th century, we helped to design and create the architecture of global trade.

And in the 21st, we will help reshape the rules-based international system through our independent trade policy.

Today I can announce that in April, when we become an independent trading nation once more, I will push for three key things:

Firstly, the UK will aim to revolutionise the rulebook on digital trade. The existing framework of international trade is vitally important to the functioning of the global economy. Yet, as we have seen, all too often its rules are outdated and unfit for purpose, acting as a brake on the digital economy.

There are too many innovative, rapidly growing companies who find it too difficult to operate overseas because of ridiculous barriers like unjustified server localisation requirements.

Our ambition is to negotiate agreements that go further on digital trade than ever before.

To join those agreements, such as the CPTPP, which take digital seriously.

And to work in coalition with other like-minded countries to drive reform on digital services at the WTO.

Secondly, we will put services at the heart of our trade policy.

The mass liberalisation that has reduced barriers on global goods trade, has never been mirrored for services. Yet the UK is an 80% services economy and has huge comparative advantage across the service sectors, from accountancy and legal, to science, research and development.

Services are a huge part of our present, and will be a larger part of our future, and we must play to our strengths, creating partnerships with countries around the world who want what we have to offer.

This is our commitment to the British SMEs of today, so that they can become the digital giants of the future.

And thirdly, we will continue to fight trade protectionism and improve international economic co-operation.

This is not something that Britain will be doing alone. As the political declaration with the EU says, our unique relationship with the EU 27 will ensure that we can work together to improve global trade, while continuing to develop and operate our own independent trade policy.

But our steadfast commitment to the philosophy and practice of free trade is an irreducible element of what we believe and who we are.

The withdrawal agreement and the political declaration will not please everyone, and we have had some tough choices to make. Choices which many in Parliament, on both sides of the House, are yet to face up to.

But the deal we’ve reached will give us a firm and stable base on which to leave the EU and build this country’s global future, a future that still encompasses Europe, of course, but also the wide fast-growing markets beyond, with all the opportunity that entails.

We will maximise our post-Brexit opportunities by helping British businesses take advantage of the considerable untapped potential of existing markets.

We will use our independent trade policy to negotiate new trade agreements and we will use our ability to act independently at the WTO to shape the global trade environment of the future, defending the open, free and fair trade that is crucial to the elimination of poverty, the nurturing of stability and the building block of our collective security.

We are well prepared for the future of world trade. We are embracing all the possibilities of the digital economy.

No other country has the same combination of fundamental strengths that will allow us to thrive in an age where knowledge and expertise are the instigators of success. Our recent export and investment performance show that sceptics have been wrong. Britain is flourishing.

The divisions of the referendum need to be consigned to the past. Now is the time to set aside our differences, and lead our country to a future of freedom, success, and prosperity.

In politics we cannot always have the luxury of doing what we want for ourselves, but we have an abiding duty to do what is right for our country.

It is a real honour to be here at this prestigious conference.

The Paley Centre for Media has done so much to set the agenda for developments in US and international media, and continues to support the growth of creative industries on both sides of the Atlantic.

And I am delighted that we are able to welcome this event back to the UK.

And in fact, William Paley, in whose name we gather today, lived and worked right here in London during the Second World War.

The exchange of talent and ideas across the Atlantic has lasted for as long as broadcasting itself.

Downton Abbey was the highest rated season premiere in the history of PBS.

And American shows, from Will and Grace to Westworld, have been a staple of UK TV schedules for many years.

And these trends are only intensifying as the digital revolution makes content even more global and more accessible.

These trends bring new challenges too, some of which were unheard of a decade ago. And they have turned many established business models on their heads.

I want to talk today about how we can navigate these changes, as media professionals and policy makers.

And how we can seize the opportunities that this new media landscape presents, and maintain a healthy media sector that remains free and prosperous in the digital age.

Because the media landscape is changing beyond recognition.

In the UK, British teenagers recognise the name YouTube more than they do the BBC.

And in 2021, it will take more than five million years to watch the amount of video that will cross global online networks each month.

This proliferation of content is in many ways a good thing, but as content moves online it does make it harder to get value from high quality journalism.

UK newspaper circulations have halved since 2001, and local newspapers are finding it especially hard to adapt.

We have seen over 200 titles close since 2005 in the UK and I know that there have been similar issues in the USA, where hundreds of local newspapers have had to either merge or close.

This should concern us all. Newspapers help to bring together local voices and shine a light on important issues – in communities, in courtrooms, in council chambers and in state houses.

And while specialist blogs and websites can sometimes fill the void, they might not have the time and resources to do the investigative journalism that can explain complex issues, provide new insight into national and international affairs and – dare I say it – hold the powerful to account.

Lawmakers across the world need to see this as a policy challenge, and not simply a media challenge.

And they need to make sure that the structures are in place so news organisations can fairly monetise their content.

After all, media business are built on clear protections for intellectual property and its value, a principle shared by the UK and the US.

Politicians might not always get the coverage we’d like. But we would do well to remember that a healthy media is the beating heart of any civil society.

So the question of media sustainability is a particularly important one.

In the UK, we see it as so important that we have commissioned an independent review to look at how the production and distribution of high-quality news journalism can be sustained in the digital age.

It will look at what innovation and intervention may be needed to keep the press sustainable and vibrant.

And Dame Frances Cairncross, who leads the review, visited the USA to look at and learn from your media landscape.

Just like newspapers, in the UK our public service broadcasters have a vital role to play in our public life.

These PSBs – the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – work for the public benefit to foster shared experiences, stimulate learning and inspire change.

And these PSBs are joined by many other diverse and vibrant broadcasters who inhabit the same ecosystem and share their essential values. And I take Sky and Sky News as a particularly strong example.

I have been heartened in recent years to see broadcasters and platforms, including the likes of Sky, BT, and Virgin, investing in new, innovative technologies and formats to reach new audiences.

This includes catch up services, video on demand and streaming to mobile phones and tablets.

The UK and US are clear leaders here in terms of consumers adopting these new services.

Because now more than ever it is vital that a choice of high quality news and programming is accessible for all parts of society, wherever they want it.

And we have seen a lot of success here – for example Channel 4 News in the UK gets sixty million views per month on Facebook – the largest of any British news programme.

It is the nature of the news media to be difficult, challenging and to stray across boundaries in the search for news. In free societies that is inevitable but also essential to our democracy.

As Hannah Arendt said in one of her last interviews “What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed?

If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.”

Without a free and vibrant press we would be much less informed, less inspired and less able to hold those in power to account.

And we see Government’s role as an enabler – creating the right conditions for high quality journalism and broadcasting to flourish.

There is another emerging trend that should concern all of us that care about democracy and our public discourse.

Over the past few years, we have all witnessed an unprecedented assault on truth and accuracy.

Yes, news has always been a fast paced business and mistakes have always been made.

But we are currently witnessing an avalanche of disinformation online, with a corrosive effect on democracy and public institutions.

Some of the problem is state-sponsored. We know that the Russian state persistently deploys its state-run media organisations to manipulate democratic institutions.

And some of it is commercial. It is a sad fact that on many platforms, it is now more lucrative to post lurid and fake news than news based on the truth.

There have been a number of examples of well meaning bloggers who later discovered that the way to draw a revenue from Facebook or Google is to make up sensational stories.

This is a toxic cocktail that can have truly dangerous consequences.

I am sure many of you are familiar with ‘pizzagate’, a conspiracy theory circulated that some officials working on the Clinton campaign were running a sex trafficking ring from a pizza restaurant in Washington DC.

Despite the story being widely debunked, including by the police, the story was shared millions of times online by fake news websites.

Workers received abuse, suppliers were threatened and one man went to the restaurant and fired a gun inside.

And we have had our own cases over here, notably after the Manchester terror attack, where false reports made life far harder for our emergency services.

This is not a trend that is likely to be reversed any time soon.

A study from MIT showed that falsehoods are 70 per cent more likely to be retweeted than stories verified by fact-checking authorities.

The threats here are considerable. For democracies to succeed and for elections to be fair, we need to have ground rules that allow us to debate the issues, as far as we can, free from deliberate distortion.

And those with authority and influence need to be held to account when they deliberately stray from the truth – especially when they seek to gain a political advantage or seek to divide our society.

And most of all we all must fight back hard against those who seek to sow discord and distrust.

We as leaders have a vital role. To examine our own behaviours and how we approach the way we debate and communicate with the public. To set an example.

And media organisations too a critical role to play.

Let us not be afraid to say what is true and what is false. Blessed be the factcheckers.

And let us not put expertise, based on firm evidence and provable facts on an even footing with baseless conspiracies on the pretext of editorial balance.

I am proud that the BBC World Service for example is playing its part.

It is the world’s largest international broadcaster, providing impartial news, analysis and discussion in over 40 languages – including the Persian and new Korean service – to 249 million people every week.

As well as this, there have been some excellent projects from other news outlets in recent years to promote media literacy.

Governments and lawmakers from across the world should build on this and help people get the skills they need to separate fact from fiction and think critically about what they watch and read.

I am mindful of arguments about state control.

But that is why the American Founding Fathers were such visionaries. A clearly defined and safeguarded role for a free press, as the USA has enshrined so boldly in the First Amendment, is vital in uncovering truth.

A free press was at the heart of Western ideals of freedom and citizenship and also at the heart of debates – such as those between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson – that were instrumental in shaping America’s approach to Government.

And as online disinformation becomes more and more sophisticated, Governments need to think about the next frontier.

How governments, together with a free press, can help create a body of informed and confident digital citizens who can use debate constructively to advance society.

These are fundamental challenges and there is concerted work underway to tackle them.

But I don’t want to paint a bleak picture. There is so much to celebrate in this great industry.

The quality and diversity of content is as rich as it has ever been.

We are in many ways in a golden age, with Netflix and Amazon amongst those leading the way with vast new investments in content and with established broadcasters finding strong markets for high quality drama and documentaries.

And there are so many opportunities for nations who are willing to work together and cooperate on new programmes and productions.

After we leave the EU, we have no desire to pull up the drawbridge and try and go it alone.

We will remain a creative and outward looking country that wants to partner with like minded nations all across the world.

We already work closely with the USA on so many issues, from protecting world heritage sites to combating common security challenges.

And the media sector has been no exception. There have been so many successful ventures between broadcasters and publishers across the Atlantic.

The USA is the UK’s largest export market and we have many US firms with a presence here, including Viacom, Disney and now Comcast.

Indeed the recent bidding war over Sky was a clear vote of confidence in UK broadcasting and in our cutting edge technology in advertising and audience technologies.

The BBC and ITV have worked together to launch the Britbox player in the US, which has secured over 400,000 subscribers in just 18 months.

We have seen masses of successful co-productions like Downton Abbey and the Night Manager.

And one of this year’s most critically acclaimed BBC dramas, Killing Eve, was produced for BBC America and aired in America before the UK.

It has been an exceptional year for UK media and we want to go even further and faster.

Our media and broadcasting sector is thriving and is well and truly open for business.

Total revenues from our international programme sales in 2016-2017 were almost a billion pounds.

Hit shows like Sherlock and Planet Earth are being sold to over 230 territories across the world.

And as the line between the big screen and the small screen becomes increasingly blurred, our film and TV industry has been the fastest growing sector of the UK economy over the last five years.

The Government is determined to keep supporting these industries and to keep creating the best possible environment for them.

Last year, we made available almost 850 million pounds of tax relief.

This support has powered growth and created tens of thousands of jobs the length and breadth of the UK.

We have world-leading talent not just on screen but behind the screen from visual effects to carpenters, from animation specialist to sound engineers.

For the recent blockbuster film, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Warner Brothers were able to recreate the romantic streets of Paris at Leavesden Studios in Watford.

Work like this has cemented Britain’s global standing as world leading for talent and production facilities.

And since the birth of TV and film, our creatives have been at the forefront of acting, journalism and production.

From David Frost to Christiane Amanpour; from Alfred Hitchcock to Christopher Nolan; and from Laurence Olivier and Vanessa Redgrave to Daniel Kaluuya and Tilda Swinton, UK talent has shaped and defined these mediums.

The landscape and the technology might change but, like the USA, we will always be a nation whose energy and creativity shapes the world.

And we will always be looking to join together with your best and brightest to continue this great and unshakeable partnership.

Over decades and centuries, our nations have joined forces to address some of the world’s biggest challenges and to smash creative boundaries.

We are facing new challenges, that threaten the nature of liberal democracies and the civil society that underpins any healthy community.

High quality media and broadcasting remain some of our strongest defences against these dark forces.

They are the keystone upon which our freedom and discourse is built.

The Paley Centre’s work in bringing us together to preserve this has never been more important.

So let us act together to keep this thriving sector strong and sustainable in this digital age.

Thank you very much.