Andy Burnham: “Yes, I can say that quite clearly, that won’t be happening …”

We can do it, and we can be the nation in the next 10 years that… does find the cure for cancer, that does make the breakthrough on dementia, or indeed on nuclear fusion.

Non-compete clauses stop workers from joining a rival organisation, or indeed, setting up one of their own after they have left their role, and I think that's a drag on innovation and prevents the best really being energised and bringing…

Politics has become too suffocating. We need greater ambition. The country is not where it should be and nothing simple gets us out of that. We need to show a journey and a longer-term plan.

So I can confirm today we will legislate to make sure that non-compete clauses will no longer be a barrier to hiring for our most promising start-ups and scaling firms.