FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks at a press conference, during his visit to the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 2, 2024. BENJAMIN CREMEL/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
WHEN UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomes business leaders to a major investment summit in London today, his message to executives from the likes of BlackRock, Vodafone and GSK will be simple: plow your cash into Britain.
But undermining his sales pitch is the ongoing uncertainty over his new administration’s industrial strategy.
Would-be investors are keen to know what kind of incentives will be on offer to make it worth their while pouring money into factories, infrastructure and job creation in the United Kingdom.
While the government plans to spell out its favoured sectors at today’s gathering, it won’t unveil the full plan until the spring.
“We see lots of companies waiting to invest once they know what that long term is,” said Stephen Phipson, chief executive officer of MakeUK, which represents British manufacturers.
“You need a long-term view of where we want the country to be and how government resources are going to be convened.”
Starmer has said that encouraging inward investment is one of his chief aims, as he seeks to generate the economic growth needed to fund his government’s priorities and earn reelection in five years.
He and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves see the investment summit as a key staging post, with the government expected to announce billions of pounds of commitments from business.
Yesterday, the Department for Business and Trade named Microsoft UK chief executive Clare Barclay to chair its new Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, tasked with helping the government develop its business plans.
That came after Starmer cleared up some uncertainty by finally naming former Darktrace chief executive officer Poppy Gustafsson as investment minister, ending a three-month search that had seen its first-choice candidate, Benjamin Wegg-Prosser, pull out.
Gustafsson’s challenge will be to show Britain is attracting new spending. In a pre-summit blow, Dubai-based logistics giant DP World put on hold a major investment at its London port after the British government criticised employment practices at one of its subsidiaries. — Bloomberg
Joe Mayes and Sabah Meddings write for Bloomberg. The views expressed here are the writers’ own.
