Kemi Badenoch lets slip date for $1.4 TRILLION trade deal with Florida
Kemi Badenoch has let slip the date for signing a major trade deal with Florida during her main stage address at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) Conference in London.
Addressing delegates, she said she will be flying to Florida in two weeks' time to sign the deal.
WATCH: Kemi Badenoch addresses the Arc Conference in London
Florida, which has a GDP of £1.1 trillion ($1.4 trillion), is America's fourth-biggest economy.
Badenoch admitted she is a fan of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, telling the conference: "I like Ron DeSantis. I'm actually going to be in Florida in two weeks to sign a trade deal."
She added: "I understand what it is he is trying to do."
The UK currently has trade deals with Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah and Washington.
Badenoch's speech also saw her hit out at pro-trans group Stonewall, demanding the government stops listening to trans activist groups.
She accused activist groups of posing as neutral charities to influence the Government, saying Stonewall "overreached" with its influence.
Badenoch urged the Government to have more "confidence" in itself, instead of relying on activists to "mark its homework".
Speaking about trans issues, the Business Secretary and Minister for Women and Equalities said: "Government does need to do a little bit more.
"And it's about challenging activist groups that take over institutions that should be neutral.
"We started going down the wrong track on gender ideology because we allowed other people to start telling the Government what to do. Ideas that came from leftist parts of the academy feeding into particular charities.
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"Stonewall is the best example of this. It's not the only one. It started advising the Government, saying, 'this is what you need to do in order to serve a particular community'.
"And then it overreached and it started giving people legal advice - or advice that was certainly different to what the Equality Act said.
"Government needs to be more confident in itself, rather than ask other people to mark our homework in order to be on Stonewall's top 100 list.
"That's when things start to go wrong.
"I think we were able to turn the tide once we stopped being informed by people who had an agenda, pretending to be neutral, pretending to be charities - rather than activist organisations.
"And I think that's the template that should be followed."
Badenoch urged the Government to have more "confidence" in itself, instead of relying on activists to "mark its homework"
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A spokesperson for Stonewall told GB News: "Through our Diversity Champions programme Stonewall provides expert guidance to employers, based on leading practice from Stonewall and hundreds of employers we work with to make sure LGBTQ+ people are supported to thrive at work.
"Organisations are free to implement our guidance and make it work for their contexts. It is not a question of right or left-wing thinking to unlock the potential of LGBTQ+ employees.
"We have never professed to offer legal advice and it is important to represent our work accurately."