It was billed as a “big moment” for the Starmer administration and, arriving at Labour’s International Investment Summit, it was clear how seriously the government was taking it
The venue was the spectacular 15th century Guildhall in the heart of the City of London, where 200 leading executives gathered with the UK’s prime minister, cabinet, first ministers and mayors to talk about investment in the UK.
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Adjoa Andoh, who plays Lady Danbury in Netflix’s wildly successful Bridgerton, was the day’s host, with the one-day summit to be capped off by a glittering reception in St Paul’s Cathedral hosted by King Charles, a three Michelin star meal and a performance by Sir Elton John.
Sir Keir Starmer depicted this summit as a key moment in reviving Britain’s global standing in the world as he promised investors he would “do everything in power to galvanise growth”.
He promised investors an end to “the culture of chop and change” with “mission-led mindset that thinks in years”, a new industrial strategy, and pledged to “rip up the bureaucracy that blocks investment” to make sure Britain’s regulators are geared for growth.
“We will make sure that every regulator in this country… takes growth as seriously as this room does,” he said.
After a difficult first 100 days beset by infighting in the prime minister’s Downing Street and rows over freebies, the Starmer team wanted to make day 101 of this Labour government a moment to reset and get back to the business of the the PM’s first mission – economic growth.
And while Sir Keir didn’t make any specific reference to his first 100 days in his speech to investors, there was a nod to the frustration I’m told he had been feeling in recent weeks, as he sought to inject some momentum into his new government.
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Eric Schmidt speaks with Sir Keir Starmer at summit in Central London
He said: “We know – just as every leader knows, that those early weeks and months are precious,
“And no matter how many people advise you to ignore it, 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.”
Ripping up bureaucracy to create “shock and awe” investment.
It is not necessarily what you’d expect to hear from a government. Eric Schmidt, the former chief executive of Google, who joined Keir Starmer in conversation after the PM’s speech, told the audience of business executives he was “shocked when I heard Labour was in favour of growth,” before going on to say there was “plenty of money that’s going to come into the country” if the government could tackle regulation.
But he also warned the prime minister he would not be able to achieve his goal of clean energy in 2030 without dealing with regulation.
No 10 insiders tell me that the task in the coming months is to “rewire” each regulator – digital, water, energy, competition – for the next decade, with one figure telling me “cutting red tape is about making sure the UK regime doesn’t look too severe, especially relative to our size and influence on global markets”.
One Whitehall official offers up an example of the Competition and Markets Authority which investigated a tie-up between Amazon and an AI company, Anthropic, despite the latter having no business in the UK, which only served to make the UK look anti-tech (the investigation has since been dropped).
For Treasury insiders, the £60bn of investment into new shovel-ready projects announced alongside the investment summit is a significant boon after a difficult few weeks.
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“We’ve beaten expectations,” says one government figure, pointedly remarking that the Conservative government’s investment summit last year raised £28bn.
“Politics is like a see-saw. When you’re down, you can’t do anything right, but when you’re up, you can’t do anything wrong. This was also the conception. To have a summit in the first 100 days of the government where we were banging the drum beat for Britain.”
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There will be questions over how Labour can square off the growth plan with Sir Keir’s raft of new workers’ rights – something that the PM tackled head-on in this speech when he told the audience that “workers with more security in work, higher wages, is a better growth model for this country”.
There are also questions about whether the big growth sale made to 200 chief executives, representing an astonishing £40trn of assets, will jar when the budget comes around on 30 October.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has insisted it will be a growth budget, but there are growing expectations Labour will raise billions of pounds in business taxes by including employer pension contributions in the national insurance system.
The chancellor could raise £18bn a year by the end of 2030 if she levies a flat 13.8% rate on pension contributions, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Pic: PA
One Treasury figure said it wasn’t true that investors were “trapped in a cycle of only caring about a budget. They want a government with a sense of stability and purpose. That’s about tax and spend, but it’s also: regulations and barriers matter, planning reform matters, stable government and a big majority, which is what Labour has, matters.”
This Investment summit, long in the making, has taken on new significance for a Starmer government in search of a fresh start after a difficult first 100 days.
Ministers will arrive at St Paul’s this evening feeling that they, at last, have something to celebrate.
The next big test will be the budget later this month, but the much bigger task is to turn the promises made on the stage into a framework that unlocks billions more than the down-payment from business promised today.