Keir Starmer kicked off a glitzy UK investment summit today telling businesses it is a ‘great moment to invest in Britain’.
The PM struck an upbeat tone as he addressed hundreds of senior figures at the Guildhall in London – hoping to drum up tens of billions of pounds for the economy.
He insisted the government was ‘stable’ after Brexit ‘circus’ and would ‘rip out bureaucracy’ and do ‘everything in my power to galvanise growth’.
But he also had a stark message about the need to be ‘tough’ on the public finances – with fears of a looming ‘tax bomb’ in the Budget.
Businesses have been warning that hiking their element of national insurance and levies on capital gains would be a ‘tax on jobs’.
There are also fears that imposing NICs on employers’ pension contributions – which could raise up to £17billion a year for the Treasury – would hammer retirement funds and hamper investment.
Sir Keir also received a stern message from former Google chief Eric Schmidt duting an ‘in conversation’ event on stage. The tech guru said the UK was too full of people who were saying ‘no’ and the ‘delay is killing you’.
‘Because we know, just as every leader here knows, that those early weeks and months are precious, and no matter how many people advise you to ignore it, that you must run towards the fire to put it out, not let it spread further.
‘So, we will fix our public services, we will stabilise our economy, and we will do it quickly, because we don’t want any of the problems associated with our inheritance misting up the shop window of Britain, distracting you from all those assets that I just listed.’
He said it was ‘a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock potential’.
Sir Keir is hosting leading investors and CEOs at the inaugural International Investment Summit, where ministers hope to unveil deals worth billions for AI, life sciences and infrastructure.
The summit was nearly overshadowed by a row over criticism of P&O Ferries that jeopardised a £1billion investment by its Dubai-based owner DP World.
The spat was only smoothed over at the weekend after Sir Keir slapped down his own Transport Secretary Louise Haigh for urging a boycott of the operator.
Mr Schmidt told the PM in a Q&A: ‘Democracies, especially something as old as this one, have so many ways in which people can say no.
‘I’d much rather – and I think the business community would much rather – have a single person who can say yes or no … and then they can move on.
‘The cost of capital and the delay is killing you, and furthermore you’re not going to achieve your 2030 energy goal, which is laudable, without fixing this.
‘You have a tactical leadership problem to achieve this and I think you can pull it off, but you have to figure out a way to get control.’
The Prime Minister replied: ‘I think this is a really big challenge, it has to be a cross-Government priority, not just within the Treasury team.’
He added that ‘we are setting up some of the structures that will do this’ and repeated that the Government’s central question would always be: ‘Does this promote growth or does it not promote growth?’
In a round of interviews this morning, Science Secretary Peter Kyle said he stands ‘absolutely ready to engage’ with Elon Musk amid suggestions the tycoon had been snubbed from an invite.
Mr Kyle suggested Mr Musk, who clashed with Sir Keir over the summer riots, was not invited to the international investment summit because ‘he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events’.
Pressed whether the Government should have invited Mr Musk, Mr Kyle told Times Radio: ‘Let me just send my very best to him on the safe landing of the booster rocket yesterday, it was a stunning achievement and I did watch slack-jawed at the staggering achievement that that represented.
‘Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events, but I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making – I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.’
He added that ‘we have good engagement with some of his companies’.
Ministers believe international investment will help with its goals to create jobs, improve living standards and make communities and families across the country better off.
The Government will ask the Competition and Markets Authority to prioritise growth, investment and innovation and will review the focus of other major regulators to ‘curb red tape’ and put the UK ‘at the front of the queue’ for opportunities.
Sir Keir will pitch Britain as a stable bet for investors, using his speech at the summit to vow to ‘do everything in my power to galvanise growth’.
He is expected to say: ‘We’ve got to look at regulation where it is needlessly holding back the investment to take our country forward.
‘Where it is stopping us building the homes, the data centres, warehouses, grid connectors, roads, trainlines, you name it then mark my words – we will get rid of it.
‘We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment and we will make sure that every regulator in this country take growth as seriously as this room does.’
But businesses are nervous about major reforms to workers’ rights, which will grant staff access to sick pay, maternity and paternity pay and legal protection from unfair dismissal as soon as they start a job.
One industry source said last night that it was ‘ridiculous for the PM to make grand claims about cutting red tape for investors while piling on bureaucracy for each and every possible job’.
‘You can’t help but feel the Prime Minister prefers important sounding parties to important in reality policy. Business makes decisions based on the business case, not bad sales pitches from politicians playing CEO.’
The boss of Lloyds banking group warned Labour not to impose pain on pensions and investments in the Budget.
Charlie Nunn was asked on BBC One’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg yesterday if he would be worried about tighter rules on pensions, or reducing the amount people can put into their pot.
He replied: ‘Yes, I think…pensions, and contributions to pensions, is critical.
‘We see about 40 per cent of people in the UK have a pension which won’t give them even a basic living allowance… so we need to increase enrolment and investments in pensions.’
It comes as new figures show employers have slammed the brakes on hiring amid fears over Labour’s tax hikes and workers’ rights plans.
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said just 56 per cent of firms had tried to recruit new workers in the past three months.
That was the lowest level since the second quarter of 2021 when Britain was still mired in Covid restrictions. Jane Gratton, deputy director of public policy at the BCC, said: ‘There’s considerable uncertainty for business right now.
They are concerned about potential tax rises heading their way in the Budget. They’re also worried that changes to employment rights might increase costs and complexity.
‘The Government needs to drive growth and ensure there’s no drop in momentum. The upcoming budget is a golden opportunity to give firms reason to be optimistic.’
The poll of more than 5,100 firms is the latest to show Labour’s threat to increase taxes in the Budget is putting the dampeners on jobs and investment, while the introduction of a raft of new workers’ rights is also making them hesitant about hiring.
Meanwhile, a separate survey by Deloitte of finance directors at top UK companies showed a bounce in business confidence following the election had ebbed away – with geopolitical worries including the possibility of a US downturn being the biggest concern.
And a ‘business barometer’ published by Lloyds Bank showed confidence had reached a nine-year high this year – but started to slip last month thanks to a ‘fall in economic optimism’