PM speech at the Civil Society Summit: 17 July 2025
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-17)

The Prime Minister gave a speech at the Civil Society Summit.

It’s fantastic to be with you all. As I look around, I see many friends and colleagues.

Great to be here at the Science Museum, which, I have to say, feels like a fitting place to be because this is the home of innovation – celebrating the progress that has transformed so many people’s lives. And in a way, speaking to us, calling us, and inspiring us to do the same today.

Now, as many of you in this room will remember, around 18 months ago, in opposition, in a church near Waterloo Station, I made a promise to people in this room.

I said [political content redacted] we would work in partnership with you. To deliver on every one of our missions and change the country together. I meant that back then.

And the moment I walked through the front door of Downing Street, our work began. And that door is now wide open to you.

Today’s summit is the first of its kind ever. And that’s really important because this is about delivering on the priorities of working people – but it’s also about something even more fundamental than that.

Because I often say – the changes we are making aren’t just about lines on a graph and statistics. They’re about people – and you will understand that better than anyone else.

Take the Drive Partnership. Now, this is a fantastic initiative led by a coalition of civil society organisations. They’ve worked with the police to tackle the drivers of domestic abuse – a really serious issue, hard to deal with, and it is integral to the work we’re doing in government in our Safer Streets mission.

So today, working together in the spirit of partnership, we’re announcing a £53 million investment to roll out the Drive Project nationally across England and Wales.

Delivering together in partnership, taking forward the initiative that you’ve brought forward to us and recognising your power to reach into places government can’t. We’re combining the ability of the government to deliver nationally.

Now, for me, that’s a blueprint for a brand-new way of working. And today, we take one step further with our Civil Society Covenant.

And I’m really proud we’re launching that today because that’s really the hard yards of the eighteen months since I made the promise, because it recognises the national renewal, which requires everyone to play a vital role.

Not the hierarchical, top-down approach of the state working on its own. Not the transactional approach of the markets left to their own devices. But a way forward in partnership – together – by giving civil society a home at the heart of government.

We’re not going to shut charities out and then expect you to pick up the pieces [political content redacted].

Nor am I interested in slogans that sound good but end up being gimmicks for governments to simply hide behind. I’m interested in solutions.

So, we’re also working with businesses, social enterprises, and private investors.

And with the Chancellor’s announcement just earlier this week – the largest social outcomes fund in the world to give struggling families a better start, backed by £500 million in government funding with plans to match this with up to £500 million more from local governments, social investors, and philanthropists. Transforming hundreds of thousands of lives – together. That is about genuine partnership, putting your fingerprints on everything we do.

Take our 10-Year Plan for the NHS, which we announced earlier this month. It’s a really important initiative. We look back proudly on our NHS – it’s been around for 77 years. But we also need to make sure that in decades to come, our NHS was rebuilt and made fit for the future.

And in that 10-Year Plan, we consulted experts, charities, and the public, so every person, no matter who they are or where they’re from, can get the treatment they deserve.

Look at the incredible work of charities already, day in, day out, on the frontline, delivering real change where it’s needed most.

So, I’m proud to announce an exciting new partnership between government and civil society today: Diagnosis Connect. Now, this will transform the way we work together.

This is a new programme linking newly diagnosed patients directly to expert charities.

Helping them navigate which charities they can get to, which support they want from each of them. Very hard to make that journey at the moment. That’s life-changing for people looking for information and support, often at a really difficult time.

Now, that’s putting your expertise directly in people’s pockets with the NHS App.

So that’s going to go on the NHS App, which is a central part of our plan, so people have it as their map to support from the charities they need when they’ve been diagnosed. What a comfort and security that will be for so many people.

But I believe that good relationships need to be honest relationships.

We won’t blindside you with public attacks like the last government did. We need to be honest about the issues people care about and expect us to tackle. Have the tough conversations on issues like migration, social cohesion, and our security as a country.

These are issues where politicians have often chosen to stoke division instead of bringing people together to fix the problem.

Now, we know the damage that does to our communities, so when it comes to issues like immigration, we are working differently. Strengthening our border security and tackling fraud, working with 72 local organisations as we transition people to a digital immigration status to make sure vulnerable communities aren’t shut out of that transition.

And working with community groups to train young people in the skills we need to reduce our dependence on overseas recruitment. Together, we’ll build stronger communities, a fairer system, a better society for everyone.

Most of all, this is about rebalancing power and responsibility. [political content redacted]. Let me tell you what I think people are tired of. I think they’re tired of establishment figures who don’t listen to them and don’t understand the challenges they face.

Tired of being excluded from decisions about their own lives. Tired of being treated like their experiences don’t matter. They are the people this government is working for.

Something I often talk about is the people I keep in my mind’s eye. Politics is about policies, it is about numbers and statistics, but most importantly, it’s about who you have in your mind’s eye when you make your decisions. It’s the people up and down the country who serve every day, who put in every day, often unseen, but are absolutely irreplaceable.

So, this is an opportunity to say to each and every one of you, and through your organisations, thank you. Thank you for what you put in. To those of you who work tirelessly to make Britain a better place.

And to say that we are keeping our promises. We said we would work differently – and we are. We promised we would listen to you – and we have.

Those initiatives that we are announcing today – they came from you, not us. We put them into something that works in partnership.

We said we would deliver change together – and we will, to build a society of service. Bound together by our common values and finding new pride in our country and our communities.