AS THE minister responsible for the Investment Security Unit at the Cabinet Office, Nusrat Ghani has a crucial role to perform in ensuring that the UK’s responses to global threats is backed up with actions. The Investment Security Unit is responsible for identifying, addressing and mitigating national security risks to the UK arising when a person gains control of a qualifying asset or qualifying entity as set out in the National Security and Investment Act. The unit was moved from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to the Cabinet Office in the February 2023 government restructuring, but Ghani, a minister of state at the Department for Business and Trade, continues to be responsible for the unit. Amid the backdrop of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, she has the onerous responsibility of overseeing the implementation of the trade and economic sanctions that the UK has imposed on Russian individuals and entities, with an unprecedented £20 billion of UK-Russia goods trade now sanctioned. In December last year, she announced the new Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation (OTSI) to strengthen enforcement and clamp down on companies dodging Russian sanctions. The new unit is expected to start operations this year once its new legal powers are in force. “Our package of sanctions, the most severe ever imposed on a major economy, is working – goods imports from Russia to the UK have already plummeted by 94 per cent,” Ghani commented, while announcing the creation of the unit.
“But we are leaving no stone unturned in our commitment to stopping (Vladmir) Putin’s war machine. That means clamping down on sanctions evaders and starving Russia of the technologies and revenues it needs to continue its illegal invasion.” The OTSI will be responsible for the civil enforcement of trade sanctions, including those against Russia. The unit will help businesses comply with sanctions and investigate potential breaches, issuing civil penalties and referring cases to HMRC for criminal enforcement where needed. As the minister for industry and economic security at the Department for Business and Trade, Ghani has a wide-ranging remit, that also includes strategic portfolios like advanced manufacturing, steel, Canada and Mexico Freed Trade Agreements, Ukraine reconstruction, global supply chains and critical minerals, among others. Under her watch, the UK hosted the Principals’ meeting of the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) for the first time ever in October, which focused on boosting responsible investment and sustainable finance in critical mineral supply chains. Ghani co-chaired the historic meeting together with US under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment Jose Fernandez at the London Metals Exchange. The MSP is a group of 14 partners – representing over 50 percent of global GDP – that aims to catalyse public and private sector investment in responsible critical mineral supply chains globally. “By 2040, the world will need four times more critical minerals than it does today. There’s a global rush towards securing these, so it is vital we secure them for the UK supply chain to support both our economy today and jobs for the future,” she said. Earlier in 2023, she announced a £15 million funding boost to strengthen supply of rare earth elements, used to create vital components in products ranging from laptops to aircraft. China is the largest global producer of these critical minerals. The CLIMATES programme aims to support innovations in the recycling of rare earth elements. “The impact of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine on energy prices has been a timely reminder of how important supply chains are for all parts of our economy.
That’s why we are laser-focused on securing robust supply chains, for the growing, green industries that will deliver jobs and prosperity across the UK in the decades to come,” Ghani commented. A rising star in the Conservative Party, Ghani returned to the government in September 2022 after two-year hiatus. Earlier she served as a junior minister at the Department for Transport from January 2018 to February 2020. Her removal as part of a cabinet reshuffle in February 2020 stoked controversy later when she claimed she was sacked from because of her faith, compelling the then prime minister Boris Johnson to order an inquiry. Ghani told the Sunday Times in January 2022 that a whip said her “Muslimness was raised as an issue” at one meeting in Downing Street. She was also told her “Muslim woman minister status was making colleagues feel uncomfortable”, she claimed. The inquiry, initially led by Christopher Geidt, Johnson’s adviser on ethics, and then completed by Geidt’s successor, Sir Laurie Magnus. It found inconclusive evidence, as there were no independent witnesses, to determine whether Mark Spencer, a minister and former chief whip, breached the ministerial code, though he said a conversation with Spencer was “clearly an unsatisfactory experience” for Ghani. Ghani said the report showed her evidence had been consistent, and there was no criticism expressed about her version of the events. “We all serve at the prime minister’s choosing and there is no shame in a political career ending.
But to be told your faith and identity is the reason for it cannot be acceptable in anyway,” Ghani said in response to the report. “The impact of being told this was devastating and my motivation in pursuing the complaint was to ensure that no other colleague would have to endure anything similar.” Born in Kashmir to Pakistani parents, she was the first woman in her family to be formally educated, attending state comprehensive school before studying at Birmingham City University for a Bachelors and Leeds University for a Masters. She has many more firsts to her name. An MP from 2015, she is the first female Conservative MP for Wealden in east Sussex, and the first Muslim woman elected as a Tory MP. She has also made history in January 2018 as the first Muslim woman to speak from the Government Dispatch Box in the House of Commons. Commenting on the feat, Ghani wrote on her website: “A century after women got the vote for the first time, I hope that today young people can see that regardless of their background, faith, race, gender or sexuality, there will be a warm welcome on the green benches, and no matter where you are from you can achieve your dreams and ambitions.” Before beginning her career in politics, she was employed by the charities Age UK and Breakthrough Breast Cancer, and later for the BBC World Service.
