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LONDON — Britain's Labor government hopes to attract foreign capital to the country on Monday as it hosts its first international investment summit in London.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds will lead the day-long event at London's Guildhall, which will be attended by around 200 executives from across the UK and abroad.
Guests include former Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, and GSK CEO Emma Walmsley. Poppy Gustafsson, co-founder of British cybersecurity firm Darktrace and newly appointed investment minister, will also be on hand to promote the UK as a place to do business.
The government will announce deregulation and billions of pounds worth of investment deals in artificial intelligence, life sciences and infrastructure during the event, which Mr Starmer hailed as a “great opportunity to support the UK”.
Mr Starmer will tell delegates: “We will clean up the bureaucracy that hinders investment and ensure that every regulator in this country takes growth as seriously as this committee does.”
He added: “We have a great opportunity to use our mandate to end the cuts, changes, policy changes and Band-Aids that make it so difficult for investors to assess the value of propositions.'' There is,” he added.
However, potential attendees and observers complained to CNBC that there was a lack of information about the summit, with details of its location and time being withheld until Thursday. Some people had announced their absence in advance, but some were still attending. reportedly As of late last week, it was considering whether to fly over the sky.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer responds to a media interview while attending the 79th United Nations General Assembly held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States, on September 25, 2024.
Leon Neal | via Reuters
“The uncertainty of what's going on is preventing the event from happening,” Dr. Bruce Morley, a lecturer in economics and finance at the University of Bath, told CNBC by phone. There is a lot of speculation going around.
Huge dissatisfaction has arisen over the timing of the summit, just two weeks before the Chancellor's Budget, as details are lacking on the sweeping reforms the Chancellor is touting to plug a £22bn fiscal black hole. . The date was determined by Labor's pre-election pledge to hold a business summit within its first 100 days in office.
Mr Reeves has already ruled out changes to corporation tax, along with increases to income tax and National Insurance social security payments. He also announced plans to impose the highest tax rates on private equity executives and an alleged pledge to end the country's centuries-old “non-Dom” status for the wealthy. plan was withdrawn.
Increases in capital gains tax (CGT) and inheritance tax (IHT) remain a subject of debate, with reports suggesting the Chancellor is considering increasing CGT to 39% for high-income taxpayers. thing. According to In the Guardian newspaper. it is, Current bandwidth is 20% to 28%says that depending on the assets, investors can hinder entrepreneurship in the country.
A Treasury Department spokesperson said in an email to CNBC that the report was “pure speculation.”
pro-business Labor government
The event is part of Starmer's pledge to lead the most “pro-business” Labor government, with the prime minister telling CNBC last month that he would use his trip to the US to say “wealth creation is our top priority”. Wall Street Investing.
Labor is trying to paint a more positive picture of the economy after being accused of making disastrous statements in its first months in office. It is also trying to position itself as a reliable partner after years of turmoil, including Brexit, a number of changes in prime ministers and a decline in bond markets.
Business confidence, which initially rose after party elections in July, took a hit in September due to uncertainty over the budget. Gross domestic product (GDP) rose slightly in August after two consecutive months of weakness, but is struggling to return to the modestly high levels achieved at the beginning of the year.
Amanda Brann, chief executive of British insurer Aviva, welcomed the government's efforts to reassure businesses and said she expected regulatory requirements to be further eased.
“It's really important that we have confidence as business leaders and as an economic community,” she said on “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday.
Mr Morley said governments needed to tackle the productivity slump to further revive growth and urged them to use the summit to target investment in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics. Ta.
“We're behind our peers in this space, and finding incentives to attract these types of companies would be a way to catch up,” he told CNBC by phone.
He added: “Without increased productivity, economic activity in the UK will not increase.”
On Sunday, the government announced the launch of a new Industrial Strategy and Advisory Committee, chaired by Microsoft UK CEO Claire Barclay. The committee aims to focus on eight 'growth-promoting sectors'. These include the creative industries, financial services, advanced manufacturing, professional services, defense, technology, life sciences and clean energy industries.
