�* with coordinating ever more closely with iranian drones, fired on ukrainian cities and north korean troops now fighting against ukraine. we also need a whole new level of global engagement with our closest allies in the usa, europe and. our strategic partners injapan and south korea and with all those committed to the principles of the un charter. that is why we will engage with china, we have to challenge them, not to throw their lot in with vladimir putin and second to be taken seriously by our opponents and allies and we must put our money where our mouth is. that starts by facing the facts. donald trump and jd vance are simply right

when they say that europe needs to do more to defend its own continent. it is myopia to pretend otherwise with russia and the march and so this government will lay out a clear pathway to reaching 2.5% of gdp on defence. this is a figure unless we forget that the last labour government met and has never been met by the tories since david cameron's cuts and withjohn healy, we will lead and we will challenge to convince all of our nato allies that rising defence spending is a strategic necessity. and third, we must forge closer partnerships with the global south because the world is larger than the north atlantic and mediterranean, we cannot divorce

the euro atlantic from the indo—pacific and the kremlin has spread its tentacles across the world spewing out misinformation on every continent. dispatching mercenaries to africa seeking closer relations. a grim vision of unending competition is not compelling to the vast majority of states. we must avoid repeating the mistake of the early cold war period where the west lost ground to the so—called third world, from jakarta to kampala, this movement was a result and today many of those same states are structuring their foreign of those same states are structuring theirforeign policy of those same states are structuring their foreign policy to avoid harm from us competition. to shape 2035, we must offer a new vision of partnership, which approaches those countries have recourse working with pioneers to reform the global

financial system, pioneers to reform the global financialsystem, more pioneers to reform the global financial system, more climate finance, delivered faster and with greater impact and is not a luxury, but it is a geopolitical necessity and failing to deliver means failing the global south and that only advantages vladimir putin. when the world changes, you need to see it as it really is and the same goes for our institutions. again and again, realism has meant progressive reform. the reforms of 1905 created a modern policy bureaucracy which helped britain keep pace with its rivals in the years preceding the first world war. the eden reform of 1943 creating a modern diplomatic service during the world war made it open to women for the first time,

paid for the first time and fit to keep the peace and robbie cooke's foresight in 2000, first putting climate on the foreign office agenda, overthe climate on the foreign office agenda, over the last six months i have seen in the fcd oh the most dedicated public servants i have ever met in my life. and they are working all over the land to avert disasters and bring countries closer together. but we must do more to harness the strengths of the foreign office and deliver the government's plan for change and that is why we are sitting in train three reviews that we are grateful for martin donnelly, mary woods, and all others for their work into the fcdo's role and capabilities to look at particularly our economic capability

and this department at our global impact in the department and the fusion of development and diplomacy and in each case, ask how can we ensure the tools at our disposal provide maximum benefits to uk prosperity and security. the stories of the reviews is a world where the foreign and the domestic, the political and economic have blurred. vladimir putin has mastered this with his hybrid playbook and this department needs to reflect this reality. that is why diplomacy and development belong together, while poverty reduction is an end in itself, a narrative element work cannot be sigh load off from geopolitics and that is why i am reforming this department,

connecting it work better to two domestic priorities of the british people that cannot be solved without work abroad. tackling irregular migration and boosting economic growth. an irregular migration, the net fcdo is critical of trying to solve this issue. a realistic strategy involves transaction, hard—headed diplomacy and to agree with partners at every stage along the international people smuggling pathway, so together we can strengthen borders, smash the gangs and get those with no right to be her return to their countries. there are those who have told me that this isn't a progressive issue but i'm afraid they are wrong. there is nothing progressive about leaving

the most vulnerable exploited, living criminal gags get rich and committing more crimes in bridge street. the greatest failure of the last government was that the told britain they would take back control but the truth is they lost control of our borders and with it they lost and deserved to lose the confidence of the british people. make no mistake, this government from the prime minister down see the challenge for what it is and that is why i am working so closely with yvette cooper, using our departments newjoint irregular migration unit to deploy every tool at our disposal to deploy every tool at our disposal to restore control to our borders. improving cooperation on the turns, and this is how we. conflict prevention is how we stop people

fleeing homes in the first place, development work upstream is how we encourage people to stay in their homes, like the projects that we have now got in albania, in vietnam and in iraq. and we must use our sharpest diplomatic weapons to help restore control of our borders. today i am very pleased to announce, after a lot of hard work, that the uk is to set up or to be the first country in the world to develop legislation for new sanctions regime. specifically it will target irregular migration organised and immigration crime and this will help to prevent, combat, deterand disrupt irregular migration and smuggling of migrants into the uk. that is us playing our full part on theissue that is us playing our full part on the issue of irregular migration.

but what about growth? this department needs to change, to help deliver and invest by 2035, the government's modern industrial strategy. when i visit the world's largest and fastest growing economies in the cities and regions which are driving their growth, it is crystal clear how much their businesses and investors want to work with us, particularly now that we have begun to rebuild the uk's reputation for economic competence and this is true in europe where we are resetting our ties following the conservative�*s paper—thin deal, as it is in the usa, the gulf and asia. the fcdo's strategy needs to work hand in love with the department of and investment to spot opportunities abroad and help overseas firms to grasp those opportunities to do

business in new the uk. to get better at delivering on this agenda overseas, we need to recruit more diplomats with more private sector skills and experience, more expertise in sectors like tech, data, life sciences particularly, where the uk is at the cutting edge, more understanding as the everyday economy right across our country, notjust in the city of london, and i making it a priority in my time in thisjob to get i making it a priority in my time in this job to get more of our staff with the skills posted across the most important markets for uk growth because we have a compelling story to tell of the world's second largest exporter of professional and business services with four of the worlds top ten universities and

ranking first in europe when it comes to tech unicorns. and one of our great strengths is our creative industry, but unfortunately too often aligned by the conservatives which account for nearly 15% of our service exporters, as well as being a force multiplier for wider british influence, influence through their power to attract, not to compel, together they are we will be shortly announcing a new uk soft power council so the government can be a partner to those in business and beyond who are so important for our prosperity at home and are standing abroad. across both these priorities, we will do much more, much more quickly, if we embrace the greatest enabler of our time and technology. i am less interested in

admiring the fcdo as a historic institution than fulfilling its potential to be a cutting edge institution which is why i am also planning to bring ai into the heart of our work. by the end of this parliament, our reform agenda will deliver a radically reshaped organisation with redeployed resources and a completely modernised way of working. i believe that al could be transformative for the practical diplomacy and i'm determined for the home office to be a pioneer, foreign office to be a pioneer. an updated great data science team will sit at the core of this office bringing more empirical rigour to everything that we do. this is not a far—fetched division. the capability exists in use by our friends in the usa and even some

departments already. now is the time to mainstream it liberating more diplomats from their desks in the uk and getting them out into the global network combating irregular migration in driving growth delivering the hard work this country has had its mettle tested there have been many who have written us off but the british leaders saw potential in their plans for change but they pulled out strength and depth in 1946 amid the ruins of the war bevan and his colleagues build nato and the nhs. in the 1960s, howard wilson embraced

technology and in the 1980s, margaret thatcher unleashed the city of london and as i entered politics, it was tony blair modernising britain at home and abroad. in 2025, we need to look within and see how power and our potential. 0ur potential to secure our the foreign secretary there with his major speech on migration but he began by talking about how the post—cold war era is on a knife edge and has gone on to talk about he is reimagining what the foreign office will look like to combat irregular migration amongst other issues and he believes that there is need for a very different way of approaching matters of migration and

immigration. live from london. this is bbc news. new wildfires in los angeles — more than 130,000 people have now fled their homes and at least five have been killed. this is the scene live in los angeles, where firefighters are struggling to contain six major fires — the worst in the city's history. this is literally where i live, the schools my kids go to, friends, many, many friends have lost their homes. also this hour, the state funeral of former us president jimmy carter begins shortly. president biden will deliver the eulogy. this the winter crisis in england's hospitals, latest figures show more than 5000 people are being treated for flu each day and that number is rising. new allegations against the former harrods owner mohamed alfayed —

a security guard tells the bbc