Displaying items by tag: Theresa May

At the time of writing Theresa May is visiting Kenya. There is a desire for both countries to develop trust and trade in the future. On her visit the PM was joined by several ministers and 29 business representatives from various industries. We can pray that her visit will initiate and bolster improved post-Brexit trade and cultural ties between the nations. Many believe that in the past Britain has not treated Kenya with equality, but rather as a bully, while the Chinese have humbly generated business: statistics show that China has dwarfed UK imports to Kenya over the last three decades. Pray for the West to rethink foreign policy. One of the Kenya-UK partnership agreements was a commitment to improve lives of people living with disability.

Jeremy Hunt began his European tour in Berlin as he and Theresa May started a summer plan to visit all 27 EU capitals. The new Foreign Secretary previewed his trip by warning, ‘Our European partners must show much more flexibility and creativity in negotiations if we are to avoid a no-deal by accident scenario’. The PM visited Austria, the Czech Republic and Estonia this week to sell the Chequers plan. The Financial Times reported Barnier telling colleagues that he couldn’t accept the plans for City of London access to European markets. He claimed that the proposals would rob the EU of its ‘decision-making autonomy’. Talks on the future UK-EU partnership deal will be fraught. Pray for new networks of trade and financial services to open up in London, as the City prepares for positive changes.

Theresa May has welcomed the passing of the Brexit bill through Parliament as ‘a crucial step’ in delivering a ‘smooth and orderly Brexit’. Peers accepted the amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill sent to them from the House of Commons, meaning the bill becomes law. The important decisions agreed on 20 June give Britain a brighter future, in control of its money, laws, and borders. The PM promised more detail on the UK-EU's future relationship soon, and said that after a white paper is published with more details of a proposed future relationship with the EU, the Trade and Customs Bills will be brought back to the Commons. International trade secretary Liam Fox said that the option of a no-deal Brexit had been left firmly on the table. He said the Government has to be able to hold out in our negotiations with the prospect of no deal, otherwise the EU will get the upper hand in future negotiations.

A crisis Cabinet meeting failed to back Theresa May's plan for a ‘customs partnership’ with Brussels. Key Brexit sub-committee members tried to thrash out a model for the UK's future trade links with Brussels in two hours of tense discussions that ended in deadlock. Insiders said that Sajid Javid had been instrumental in rejecting her plan. Mrs May ordered ministers and officials to carry out ‘further work’ on two options and return with revised proposals at a later date. Whitehall sources reported that six ministers oppose her option and want a looser customs arrangement with Brussels. Boris Johnson urged Mrs May to stick to the principles of her keynote speech at the Mansion House earlier this year which clearly stated that Britain would not form any customs union with the EU after Brexit. International trade secretary Liam Fox said the customs partnership was ‘not compatible’ with Brexit.

On 28 March DUP MP Jim Shannon commented during PMQs on the return of many believers to the Nineveh Plains, and asked the Prime Minister to pledge her support to them. In her reply Mrs May said, ‘Easter is of course the most important time in the Christian calendar. It is a time of new life and hope. The message of the cross and the resurrection helps to support Christians around the world. We stand with those persecuted Christians. We will be looking to see what more the Government can do to support them.’

Downing Street said there was ‘some distance’ between what the UK wants for the Brexit transition and what the EU wants. Pray for grace and strength for all our politicians who are involved in the negotiations, both now and in the weeks to come. When the EU Bill was debated in the House of Lords it was said to be 'constitutionally unacceptable'. Pray for clarity of thought to replace confusion and God-inspired debate to replace controlling attitudes that dominate debate; also that the doubts about Theresa May’s leadership which have been expressed this week do not adversely affect the Brexit negotiations.

Theresa May is currently on a three-day state visit to China, to discuss expanding trade between the two countries. CSW says that while such talks are important, they shouldn’t come at the expense of challenging President Xi on his treatment of Christians. Mrs May’s visit coincides with new restrictions on churches. The government wants all churches to be registered, and to control the appointment of pastors and what they teach. Some Christians simply cannot do that. Christians who are not part of the official, government-sanctioned, church are branded as evil cults. This month in Yunnan Province, six members of an unregistered church were sentenced to up to 13 years in prison for ‘using an evil cult to organise and undermine law enforcement’, and a 500-member church in Shanxi Province was demolished with dynamite.

Theresa May’s speech at Davos spoke of the UK as a centre of Artificial Intelligence, stating that in the past few years a new AI startup has been created in the UK every week, and technologies like the internet were developed with a philosophy that connecting us together would improve people’s lives. She said that the UK is developing a digital charter, at the heart of which is a set of principles that the same rights people have offline should be protected online; the internet should remain free, open and accessible; people should understand the rules that apply to them when they are online; personal data should be respected and used appropriately; and protections should be in place to help keep people safe online, especially children.

The PM’s keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference was marred by a series of misfortunes: an incessant cough, interruptions by a prankster, and problems with the backdrop. She valiantly ploughed on with a speech designed to shift the focus from Brexit infighting to domestic policy on energy bills and council housing, but the accident-prone presentation made some people question how long she could carry on. Newspaper headlines made dismal reading the next day, with words like ‘ordeal, shambles, tragic, disaster’ on the front pages. Pray for God to give the Government a united positive vision for the future, and help the nation to recognise the vision as possible. Pray for the media to focus on the trustworthy character that those who know Mrs May give her credit for; may they focus on the positive words spoken by our leaders. Ask God to repair all that is broken in the Westminster community, lifting them out of a place of fear and disunity.

In a keynote speech at the UN General Assembly, the Prime Minister said Britain will continue to be the second biggest contributor to the UN, but warned that 30% of the annual £90 million funding for agencies would be ring-fenced for those showing ‘sufficient results’. She said the UN must change ‘in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century’. This echoed President Trump's earlier message that financial contributions to the UN were now under threat. Mrs May vowed Britain ‘will never let anyone destroy our way of life’, following recent terror attacks. She condemned the Assad regime's use of chemical weapons in Syria and North Korea’s controversial nuclear weapons programme, and warned Donald Trump that withdrawing from the Paris climate change treaty ranked alongside North Korea’s nuclear missile tests as a threat to global security.