The UK now has the highest level of direct government funding and tax support for business research and development (R&D) of any country in the OECD.
We pioneered the fastest development and deployment of the Covid vaccine.
The UK has Europe’s leading tech ecosystem.
We have secured improved financial terms to join Horizon.
Recent changes worth £280 million a year have simplified and improved R&D tax reliefs, including by bringing more SMEs into scope of the relief.
and support research into its safe and responsible use.
We are proud to be the leading market for starting and growing a FinTech firm – part of our world-leading financial and professional services
which supports the employment of almost 2.5 million people.
We will build on the policies set out in the Edinburgh Reforms so that the UK continues to be the world’s most innovative and competitive global financial centre.
The UK car industry is the jewel of our manufacturing crown.
Last year the UK built over a million vehicles and secured £23.7 billion of private and public investment.
We secured a £4 billion investment in a new battery gigafactory to be built in Somerset, safeguarding the future of the Jaguar Land Rover plant in the West Midlands for decades to come.
Contrary to dire warnings that Brexit would lead to major brands leaving our shores.
Nissan is delivering up to £2 billion of new investment to produce two new electric vehicle models in Sunderland
and BMW made a £600 million investment to produce iconic all-electric Mini Coopers in Oxfordshire.
We stand ready to support domestic car manufacturers if there is evidence other countries are breaking global trade rules.
The UK is a global exporting superpower and is now the fourth biggest exporter in the world, having overtaken France, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Having left the EU, we have seized the opportunity to negotiate trade deals that suit the UK, boosting our exports
and creating jobs at home.
UK exports are growing, reaching £850 billion last year and service exports are at an all-time high.
We have secured trade deals with 73 countries plus the EU
and last year we removed £1 million of trade barriers every single hour.
Last year we signed a deal to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a modern and ambitious trade deal spanning economies across Asia and the Pacific.
With the UK as a member, it will account for 15% of global GDP and in time is expected to boost UK GDP by around £2 billion a year.
And we will continue to pursue free trade agreements with countries such as Israel and Switzerland.
We have always been clear the NHS and the services it provides are not on the table in trade negotiations.
All food and drink products imported into the UK, including those from countries we have trade agreements with, must comply with the UK’s high standards.
We will always stand up for UK agriculture in our trade deals.
The US is our single largest trading partner.
We have signed the Atlantic Declaration and deals with eight US states, including Florida and Texas, with a combined GDP of £5.7 trillion.
Conservatives believe in reducing the burden of regulation, freeing up businesses to thrive.
We want small businesses free to innovate,
balanced with proportionate protections for consumers and working people.
We will never introduce Labour’s package of Frenchstyle union rules, which are a threat to jobs, our competitiveness and our economy.
We will go further to transform the UK regulatory landscape, making sure regulators deliver the best outcomes for business,
consumers
and the environment.
Thanks to Brexit, we have taken back control of our laws and freed British businesses from unnecessary burdens.
We legislated to remove the principle of EU law supremacy and have undertaken a root-and-branch review of the more than 6,000 laws we had inherited from the EU.
Our Smarter Regulation approach has already saved 50 million hours of administrative time for business, saving them an estimated £1 billion.
We have also used post-Brexit tax freedoms, including introducing VAT-free installations of energy-efficient materials and replacing complex EU alcohol duty rates.
We will make government more efficient, cut waste and attract the best and the brightest, by:
Halving the amount of taxpayers’ money spent on external consultants.
We will introduce controls on all ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ initiatives and spending.
These reforms will allow us to achieve a significant productivity boost in Whitehall.
If we returned public sector productivity to prepandemic levels that would deliver up to £20 billion of annual savings.
The NHS Productivity Plan shows that the public sector can set out detailed plans for achieving a step-change in productivity, so we will require all Departments to deliver plans for 2% annual productivity growth at the next Spending Review.
As Conservatives, we believe in lower taxes because people, not governments, make the best decisions about how to spend their money.
But we can only ever cut taxes responsibly when we have a way to fund it sustainably, consistent with getting debt and borrowing down and in a way which does not send inflation spiralling.
Because of the support we provided to families and businesses through Covid and the energy shock, we had to make difficult decisions to pay down our debts.