G7 summit gets underway

Following a “family photo”, the leaders are around a table and Boris Johnson, who is chairing the summit is speaking

The G7 will talk behind closed doors alongside representatives from the European Union with a statement expected later today.

In an opening statement, Boris Johnson said “… I think they have the potential to bounce back very strongly and there’s all sorts of reasons for being optimistic.

“But it is vital we don’t repeat the mistake of the last great crisis, the last great economic recession in 2008, when the recovery was not uniform across all parts of society.

“I think what’s gone wrong with this pandemic, or what risks being a lasting scar is, I think, that the inequalities may be entrenched.

“We need to make sure that as we recover, we level up across our societies and we build back better.

“And I actually think we have a huge opportunity to do that because, as G7, we are united in our vision for a cleaner, greener world – a solution to the problems of climate change.

“In those ideas, in those technologies which we’re all addressing together, I think there is the potential to generate many, many millions of high-wage, high-skilled jobs…”