The government has today announced it has confirmed its first major attendees for its upcoming International Investment Summit in October, as it looks to attract investment in support of its plans to deliver a clean power system by 2030.
During a trip to North America this week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves met with the CEOs of BNY Mellon, Blackstone and CyrusOne in New York, all of whom confirmed they would attend the new Summit, which is slated to take place on October 14th.
“The message is clear: Britain is open for business,” Reeves said. “And as more investors sign up for our International Investment Summit, it shows they believe it too. They recognise we have taken some difficult decisions to fix the foundations of our economy and set us on a path to sustained economic growth as government’s number one mission – it is only by doing so that we can capitalise on Britain’s immense investment potential.”
The government confirmed the date for the International Investment Summit this weekend, setting out plans to bring together up to 300 industry leaders to catalyse investment in the UK.
“Long-term, sustainable and inclusive economic growth is this government’s central mission,” said Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds. “That’s why we’re taking immediate steps to increase investment right across the UK, support local skilled jobs and raise living standards in all our communities. Whether it is new film studios, cutting-edge technologies, or green energy, it is clear every part of the UK has the potential to benefit from private sector investment.
“The summit is an opportunity to meaningfully engage with the world’s leading businesses and investors, and to continue to build long-term relationships that will drive investment into the UK in the months and years ahead. The chaos of the last 14 years is no more. Britain is open for business, and we are the investment destination of choice.”
Reeves is also set to meet former Bank of England governor Mark Carney during a trip to Toronto tomorrow to discuss the government’s plans for its National Wealth Fund, which aims to catalyse investment in a host of green industries.
Carney sits on the National Wealth Fund Taskforce and is involved in the effort to quickly operationalise the new fund and mobilise £7.3bn of public investment over the course of the Parliament in green steel projects, gigafactories, port upgrades, and other green infrastructure projects.
During her trip to Toronto, Reeves is also scheduled to meet business leaders from the world of clean energy and infrastructure, as she looks to promote the government’s mission to make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower and deliver clean power by 2030.
She will highlight the launch of Great British Energy to invest in clean power projects alongside the private sector, as well as the government’s sweeping planning reforms and the recent move to provide a record £1.5bn budget for this year’s clean energy contract auction.
The International Investment Summit will come just two weeks ahead of a Budget where Reeves will attempt to marry the government’s message that “Britain is open for business” with her attempts to balance the books, which have prompted speculation new tax rises and spending cuts could be confirmed.
The government has blamed the previous Conservative government for leaving a £22bn budget ‘black hole’, accusing it of pushing through pre-election tax cuts, over-spending on a number of programmes, and making a series of unfunded spending commitments.
But Reeves decision to cut spending on a number of infrastructure projects has fuelled concerns the Treasury could hamper its own economic growth plans by scaling back public investment.
The government recently announced it would means test winter fuel payments for pensioners and shelve a number of road and rail projects in a bid to tackle the budget ‘black hole’. It also signalled further spending cuts for Whitehall departments were on the way, sparking warnings from green groups that further cuts to the civil service could undermine key environmental programmes.
And last week, the government shelved £1.3bn of funding that had been promised by the previous government for a series of artificial intelligence and supercomputer projects, arguing the commitments had been left “unfunded”.
The projects include £800m for the creation of an exascale supercomputer at the University of Edinburgh and £500m for the AI Research Resource.
A government spokesperson said: “We are absolutely committed to building technology infrastructure that delivers growth and opportunity for people across the UK. The government is taking difficult and necessary spending decisions across all departments in the face of billions of pounds of unfunded commitments. This is essential to restore economic stability and deliver our national mission for growth.”
But Shadow Science Secretary Andrew Griffith argued there was room in the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) budget for the projects to proceed.
“This is a terrible blow to the UK tech sector and could be just the start of Labour cuts,” he said. “During the election, Labour refused to commit to growing the amount the UK spends on research, yet that’s a core part of growing a modern economy. If DSIT can’t get the funds from the Treasury, this means university research can expect to be hit, too.”
You can now sign up to attend the fifth annual Net Zero Festival, which will be hosted by BusinessGreen on October 22-23 at the Business Design Centre in London.
