Full list of investments can be found on the government website.
Investors attending the Labour government’s first International Investment Summit have announced pledges totalling £63bn today, which will create an estimated 38,000 jobs.
Spending commitments include £20bn from ‘Vampire kangaroo’ Macquarie, on projects including a rollout of fast-charging electric vehicle infrastructure at motorway service stations, over £6bn of new data centres by US tech firms, an expansion of Stansted airport, and a tie-up with US pharma firm Eli Lilly.
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The government also secured a £1bn expansion of London Gateway port, after the row over transport secretary Louise Haigh’s criticism of its owner’s poor business practices was defused.Opening the event, Sir Keir Starmer said the government and investors were bound together, in the “shared endeavour of prosperity”.
Growth, Starmer argued, was “vital…if we are to steer our way through a great period of insecurity and change”.
Having ‘celebrated’ 100 days in office on Saturday, Starmer pledged to fix the UK’s public service and stabilise the economy quickly, and also repair Britain’s brand “as an open, outward-looking, confident, trading nation”.
In comments that have caused alarm, Starmer pledged to “get rid” of regulations that are holding back investment, such as building homes, data centres, warehouses, grid connectors, roads, and trainlines.
Both the Green Party and the RSPB have voiced concerns about what this will mean for Britain.
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, told delegates that UK corporation tax would be capped at 25% for the lifetime of this parliament, in an attempt to give bosses some certainty.
She also warned that the government faces ‘difficult choices’ as she draws up the budget, and hinted that she is planning to raise employer national insurance contributions.
Reeves also announced that the UK Infrastructure Bank has been converted into the National Wealth Fund, which will be capitalised with £27.8bn to catalyse private investment in the market.
Both the Green Party and the RSPB have voiced concerns about what this will mean for Britain.
Here’s what Green Party MP Ellie Chowns said:
"Starmer’s pledge to investors that he will “cut red tape” is a tired cliché that, in practice, too often means harming environmental standards and workers’ rights. We’ve had fourteen years of successive Conservative governments promising to “cut red tape,” and all we have to show for it is a flatlining economy and falling living standards.
If Starmer is serious about attracting investment to the UK, he will need a bolder approach that delivers on the “change” he promised in his election campaign. He could start by re-evaluating our relationship with our biggest trading partner, the European Union.”
And RSPB chief executive Beccy Speight:
"An unsettling speech from the PM this morning for those who love and value nature. Deregulation done in the wrong way is effectively dropping standards, at a time when the natural world desperately needs better protection. It’s a short-sighted tactic that could have ramifications for us all in years to come, undermining our long term prosperity - better methods, such as nature-friendly planning, would give businesses the certainty they need.
We support growth and we support the badly-needed energy transition, but not at the expense of our precious wildlife and wild places.
His very own secretary of state [Steve Reed] said recently that “nature is dying” – uncontrolled deregulation is tantamount to hammering the final nail into its coffin."
I have to say this is my concern as well. Deregulation rarely works well for the environment or climate because it’s shorthand for ‘letting businesses do what they want’ and businesses don’t tend to care about anything other than profit.
We’ve had fourteen years of successive Conservative governments promising to “cut red tape,” and all we have to show for it is a flatlining economy and falling living standards.
That’s because they didn’t actually cut any red tape, they just liked talking about doing it. Which pretty much sums up their entire tenure in government.
