Ensuring free markets work for everyone

Ensuring free markets work for everyone

As I argued at this Banquet last year, free market economies have delivered unprecedented levels of wealth and opportunity. But they are losing popular support because they are leaving far too many people behind.

The answer cannot be to turn our backs on the free market economy which – with the right rules and behaviours – is the greatest agent of collective human progress ever created.

For it is when countries make the transition from closed, restricted, centrally- planned economies to open, free market policies that we see life expectancy rise and infant mortality fall, incomes rise and poverty fall, access to education rise and illiteracy fall.

Indeed it is open, free market economies which are the only sustainable means of increasing the living standards of everyone in a country.

So our challenge is to ensure that is exactly what they do.

That is why, here in Britain, we are building a modern industrial strategy that will help to bring the benefits of our trade to every part of our country.

It is why we will act as a voice for free trade at the WTO. And also continue our efforts - including as I set out this year at the G20 - to reform the international trading system to ensure that trade is not just free but fair: fair between countries and fair for the poorest countries.

But as we all know global economic growth is increasingly being driven by emerging economies and powerhouses in the East.

And Africa’s population growth means its significance will also only increase in the decades ahead.

So the West cannot write the rules of this century on its own. It is our partnership with the countries of Asia and Africa in particular that will define the course the world takes.

That is why I have asked the new International Development Secretary to build on the work of her predecessor by making one of her first priorities a review of how the whole of government, together with the private sector, can best support African aspirations for trade and growth.

It is why we will use our relationships with the Commonwealth, and the Summit here next year, to work with partners in Africa, Asia and beyond in building consensus and taking practical steps towards a global economy that works for everyone.

And it is why I am also clear that we will continue to increase our investment in Asia.

I am committed to maintaining the Golden Era of our relationship with China – not just as a vital trading partner but also as a fellow permanent member of the Security Council whose decisions together with ours will shape the world around us.

And I am committed to deepening our partnerships with countries across Asia, where I believe that Britain’s global offer can have a hugely beneficial impact in ensuring that the region’s potential is fully realised.

That includes tackling the problems in the region today - such as North Korea, where we have played a leading role in securing sanctions in response to the regime’s outrageous proliferation of nuclear weapons.

And it includes continuing to step up our efforts to respond to the desperate plight of Rohingyas - brought home to us again on our TV screens so graphically today, with heart-breaking images of young children emaciated and pleading for help.

This is a major humanitarian crisis which looks like ethnic cleansing. And it is something for which the Burmese authorities – and especially the military – must take full responsibility.

The UK is already the largest donor in response to this crisis. And we will continue to play a leading role in bringing the international community together – working through the UN and with regional partners to do everything possible to stop this appalling and inhuman destruction of the Rohingya people.

And beyond the immediate challenges of today, we must also invest now in longer-term security partnerships in Asia, such as those which I have launched with Japan and India over the last year; and which we will look to develop further with countries across the region.