Pulse.Assent

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

This afternoon the Prime Minister chaired the latest meeting of her Business Advisory Council at Downing Street.

The Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Business Secretary opened the roundtable by updating on the Modern Industrial Strategy following strong support at the last meeting in March.

The business leaders gave their support for recent announcements, including the PM’s speech on science at Jodrell Bank Observatory last month. This speech set out four ‘missions’ associated with each of the Industrial Strategy’s four Grand Challenges – future of mobility, healthy ageing, AI, and clean growth. These missions will galvanise public and private sector investment in the development and dissemination of new solutions to global problems, positioning the UK at the forefront of the industries of the future.

The Prime Minister then provided an update on the negotiations with the EU alongside the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU, setting out plans to provide greater detail of the Future Relationship in a White Paper due to be published shortly. The business representatives expressed their support for this approach, which will build on information provided through the Prime Minister’s various speeches.

Finally, the Prime Minister invited the International Trade Secretary to discuss foreign investment into the UK and the opportunities and actions that Government and business should take to grow this in the coming years.

The meeting was also attended by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, Business Secretary, Greg Clark, the Brexit Secretary, David Davis and the Trade Secretary, Liam Fox.

Attendees

• Emma Walmsley, CEO, GlaxoSmithKline
• Jacqueline de Rojas CBE, techUK President
• Dave Lewis, Group Chief Executive, Tesco PLC
• Sacha Romanovitch, CEO, Grant Thornton UK LLP
• Robert Noel, Chief Executive, Landsec
  * Gavin Patterson, Chief Executive, BT Group PLC
  * Leo Quinn, Group Chief Executive, Balfour Beatty
  * Sir Roger Carr, Chairman, BAE Systems PLC
  * Dr Andy Palmer CMG, President & CEO, Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd
  * Dame Helena Morrissey CBE, Head of Personal Investing, Legal & General Investment Management
  * Paul Drechsler, President, CBI
  * Stephen Martin, Director General, Institute of Directors
  * Sir Gerry Grimstone, Chair, Standard Life Aberdeen PLC

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

The Prime Minister spoke to the new Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, earlier today.

The Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Sánchez on his new role, noting that Spain was a close ally and that we shared a long history of friendship and co-operation. She said we look forward to continuing our work together across the full range of our common interests and objectives, including our close security cooperation and commercial ties.

The Prime Minister paid tribute to the Spanish victim of last year’s London Bridge attack, Ignacio Echeverría. They agreed that his efforts to save others during the attack were truly heroic.

The Prime Minister said the UK was leaving the EU but not Europe, and our relationships with the EU and member states would always be extremely important to us. They agreed on the importance of protecting the rights of Spanish people in the UK as well as the many UK citizens in Spain.

On Gibraltar, the Prime Minister said the UK would continue to engage constructively with the Government of Gibraltar and the Spanish to address issues arising from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

They looked forward to meeting at the June European Council.

People living and working in Sparkhill and Selly Park are invited to meet the Environment Agency, Birmingham City Council and National Flood Forum teams working to support flooded communities in the West Midlands.

Following extreme rainfall across the region, communities in Sparkhill and Selly Park were badly affected by flooding.

The Environment Agency is working alongside Birmingham City Council and the National Flood Forum to support these communities, investigate the causes of flooding and identify what could be done to reduce flood risk in the area in the future.

A series of drop-in events are being hosted over the coming fortnight (6 to 12 June 2018) to give local people the opportunity to speak to the teams involved.

Emma Smailes, from the Environment Agency said:

Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by recent flooding. We’re continuing to work in the communities affected and our teams are working round the clock to monitor flood risk, issue flood alerts and warnings and keep waterways clear of debris.

We want to meet local people so they can share their experiences with us, ask us questions and so that we can work together to investigate what happened and identify ways of reducing flood risk in the future.

The drop-in events are planned for the following times and locations:

For people affected in Selly Park the National Flood Forum and Environment Agency will be around to talk to members of the public on the following dates:

• Wednesday 6 June 2018, 2pm to 8pm
• Thursday 7 June 2018, 2pm to 8pm

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For people affected in Sparkhill the National Flood Forum, Birmingham City Council and Environment Agency will be available to talk to members of the public on the following dates:

• Monday 11 June 2018, 2pm to 8pm
• Tuesday 12 June 2018, 2pm to 8pm