Prime Minister Theresa May today met with President Xi during her three-day official visit to China.

President Xi said that, step by step, China and the UK had elevated our relationship and he looked forward to further building on its success. The President quoted William Shakespeare, stating that: ‘What’s past is prologue.’

The PM said that, once Britain leaves the EU, we will be free to strike our own trade deals and pointed to the joint trade and investment review which will now take place as the first step towards delivering ambitious future trade arrangements.

President Xi said China’s markets would be further opened to the UK, including in sectors such as beef, dairy and other agricultural goods.

The PM and the President said the UK and China would hold further discussions on how best they can cooperate on the Belt and Road initiative, which offers significant opportunities to deliver further prosperity and sustainable development across Asia and the wider world. The PM and President spoke of the importance of international standards and transparency to ensure the initiative’s success.

The PM said it had so far been a very successful trip for the business delegation which had accompanied her to China, with deals worth at least £9bn expected to be signed.

The President and the PM discussed their shared commitment to protecting the environment, including their support for the Paris climate change agreement and determination to tackle the ivory and illegal wildlife trades.

The PM said the world had a collective responsibility to tackle plastic pollution on behalf of future generations. She pointed to the work which was being done in China to remove plastic particles from the Yangtzse river to stop them from flowing into the ocean.

The two leaders discussed North Korea and their shared determination to bring to an end DPRK’s illegal nuclear activity, agreeing denuclearisation was the objective.

They discussed Hong Kong, and reiterated the importance of and their commitment to “One Country, Two Systems”.

As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, they also discussed the importance of the Rules-Based International System.

The PM and President agreed the importance of having frank conversations in areas where the two countries do not see eye to eye, and looked forward to further deepening their ties in the ‘golden era’, including in areas such as culture and education.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has once again surpassed its record of completed tax returns with a huge 10.7 million customers submitting theirs before the 31 January 2018 deadline.

Proving increasingly popular with its handy tips and helpful advice, the department’s online service was used by 9.9 million customers – meaning more than 92.5% of total returns were completed online.

There were 758,707 people who completed their return on the last day before the deadline and the most popular hour for customers to hit submit was from 4pm to 5pm on 31 January with 60,596 returns received (1,010 per minute, 17 per second).

Thousands of customers avoided any penalties at the last minute as 30,348 customers completed their returns from 11pm to 11:59pm yesterday.

HMRC handled 195,260 calls over the course of the day but waiting times were kept at just 3 minutes and 6 seconds, meaning that hundreds of thousands of customers got the extra support they needed to meet the deadline.

Angela MacDonald, Director General for Customer Services, thanked customers for meeting the deadline and said:

It’s really fantastic to see that each year, more and more Self Assessment customers are getting ahead of the game and submitting their tax return before the 31 January deadline. But we’re not complacent, we want the number missing the deadline to be zero, and we’ll continue to adapt the process to make it easier and simpler for all our customers until every return is in on time and without avoidable errors.

If you’re one of the small number that missed the deadline, please submit your return now to avoid further penalties. We really don’t want penalties, we just want tax returns.

For anyone who still has not submitted their return, help and advice is available on GOV.UK or from the Self Assessment helpline on 0300 200 3310 (open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am to 4pm on Saturday).

Self Assessment summary:

• 11,433,349 Self Assessment returns were due
• 10,687,761 returns were received by midnight on 31 January (93.5% of total issued)
• Around 745,588 Self Assessment returns are still outstanding
• 9,916,430 returns were filed online (92.8%)
• 771,331 returns were filed on paper (7.22%)
• more than 4,852,744 returns were received online in January 2018 (44.8% of total received)
• 1,290,948 returns were received on 30 and 31 January (26.6 % of total returns received in January)
• busiest hour: 4pm to 5pm on 31 January – 60,596 returns received (1,010 per minute; 17 per second)
• 389,849 payments transactions were handled on 31 January

Penalties

The penalties for late tax returns are:

• an initial £100 fixed penalty, which applies even if there is no tax to pay, or if the tax due is paid on time
• after 3 months, additional daily penalties of £10 per day, up to a maximum of £900
• after 6 months, a further penalty of 5% of the tax due or £300, whichever is greater
• after 12 months, another 5% or £300 charge, whichever is greater

There are also additional penalties for paying late of 5% of the tax unpaid at 30 days, 6 months and 12 months.

Media contacts

Press enquiries only, please contact:

• Patrick O’Brien: phone 03000 585 024, or email: Patrick.o’brien@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
• Thomas Channon: phone 03000 585 020, or email: Thomas.channon@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk
• out of hours: phone 07860 359544
• follow HMRC Press Office on Twitter @HMRCpressoffice

UK Minister for Africa Harriett Baldwin arrived in Harare on 1 February. This is the second UK Ministerial visit to Zimbabwe since President Mnangagwa was sworn in in November 2017 and Minister Baldwin’s first visit since her appointment.

Minister Baldwin wants to learn more about Zimbabwe and better understand the context and the challenges and opportunities it is facing as it emerges from 37 years of rule by former president Robert Mugabe. The Minister will hold meetings with business representatives, politicians, human rights groups, NGOs and other members of civil society.

She will also see some of the important development work supported by the UK, including visiting a school for children with disabilities. She will see how the UK is increasing its work on reaching the most marginalised children with education, including those with disabilities, in the run up to the UK-hosted Disability Summit.

Minister Baldwin said:

The past few months have seen momentous change in Zimbabwe and it is a privilege to visit at such a pivotal time.

I am looking forward to meeting a wide range of Zimbabweans and hearing from them about the huge potential their country holds and the challenges that must be faced ahead of elections later this year.

The UK has a longstanding relationship with Zimbabwe and we are committed to working with the government of Zimbabwe for a bright, prosperous and hopeful future for all Zimbabweans.

Notes for editors

Minister Harriett Baldwin is the UK’s Minister for Africa for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development.

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The plague, which causes fever, chills, head and body aches, vomiting and nausea within a few days, came close to affecting nine countries last year, including Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, Ethiopia and South Africa, and becoming a larger scale epidemic that could threaten health security and damage economies.

The disease – which can rapidly spread between humans through airborne droplets – affected more than 2,000 people and led to around 200 deaths.

Rapid response by the UK and international partners prevented the plague from claiming more lives and reduced the risk of it spreading internationally, including to the UK.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

Deadly diseases like the plague have no respect for borders. Preventing outbreaks like this, as well as Ebola and Zika, saves lives around the world and stops them reaching the UK, which is firmly in all our interests.

UK aid helped stop the potential spread of plague across Africa. Our support helped the World Health Organization send vital doses of antibiotics to Madagascar to deal with the crisis, making us all safer.

Cruel diseases like the plague have no place in the modern world and our rapid response with international partners stopped this from becoming a global health threat, which would have endangered more lives and destroyed economies.

With our support, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent out more than 100 international experts to deal with the crisis, along with 1.2 million doses of antibiotics, and also set up nine specialist treatment centres in Madagascar to care for those affected. The UK is a major funding partner for the WHO’s new Health Emergencies Programme, which has been successful in helping to contain this outbreak and others such as Ebola in Democratic Republic of the Congo and of Marburg virus on the Ugandan/Kenyan border.

UK aid, through DFID and the Department of Health and Social Care, funded a team of three public health experts who flew to Madagascar and provided advice in monitoring the disease, preventing further infection including through introducing border surveillance and safe burial practices.

DFID has also been supporting WHO’s regional office in Africa to help them prepare, prevent and respond to disease outbreaks rapidly in 21 countries at risk. For example, strengthening the surveillance systems for yellow fever in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo to enhance the detection of Zika.

Investing in health systems early helps the poorest countries stand on their own two feet and is great value for money, because it enhances the world’s ability to prevent epidemics, rather than reacting to the next crisis. Evidence suggests that for every £1 invested in preparation a £2 return can be achieved in terms of savings on future spend/investments.

Public Health Minister Steve Brine said:

Disease transcends lines drawn on a map—and we have a duty to share our expertise to fight outbreaks of deadly disease across the world. Our expert Rapid Support Team played a key role in containing this plague, as well as building the skills of local healthcare workers in responding to future outbreaks.

DFID will be investing more so African countries such as Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have the capability to respond quickly to disease outbreaks. The UK’s support will build African countries’ health systems to make sure they have well trained staff, and strong data and surveillance systems to prevent and address disease outbreaks quickly.

This will help prevent devastating epidemics that destroy lives and economies. During the West Africa Ebola epidemic $2.2 billion in GDP was lost in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, threatening not only the macroeconomic stability of the region but also food security, human capital development, trade and private sector growth.

While the plague epidemic has ended, plague is endemic in some areas of Madagascar and individual cases of the disease may occur until the end of April.

The WHO is demonstrating the results of reform efforts. It is working hard to mobilise quickly and engage with stakeholders to ensure a rapid and effective response through enhanced leadership, preparedness, monitoring, coordination and communication.