Chancellor announces new plans to secure UK investment
The Chancellor closes the International Investment Summit promising the government is bringing investment and jobs back to Britain
In a speech to some of the world’s biggest businesses and investors, Rachel Reeves revealed that restoring fiscal stability will be at the centre of her first Budget on 30 October. She made the case that it is the only way to ensure government and business can invest with confidence.
The Chancellor went on to set out how two new bodies will drive long-term investment in Britain as the government works hand in hand with business to create new high skilled jobs right across the UK, helping make people better off.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves, MP said:
"When we said we would end instability, make growth our national mission and enter a true partnership with business we meant it.
"The decisions which lie ahead of us will not always be easy. But by taking the right choices to grow our economy and drive investment we will create good jobs and new opportunities across every part of the country. That is the Britain we are building."
The first announcement from the Chancellor was that from today the UK Infrastructure Bank will operate as the National Wealth Fund (NWF), with its headquarters in Leeds.
The National Wealth Fund will catalyse tens of billions of pounds of private investment into in the UK’s clean energy and growth industries, including green hydrogen, carbon capture and gigafactories.
Building on UKIB’s leadership and expertise, the NWF will go further, able to make investments that maximise the mobilisation of private investment. This will include the ability to trial new blended finance solutions with government departments that take on additional risk to facilitate higher impact in individual deals and performance guarantees.
The National Wealth Fund will have a total of £27.8 billion and will work with key industry partners, including mayors, to support delivery of their investment plans.
The Government will also bring forward legislation to give the NWF a broader mandate than just infrastructure, ensuring it is a permanent part of government’s investment offer.
John Flint, CEO, at the National Wealth Fund said:
"It is a huge privilege to be entrusted with the responsibility of leading the National Wealth Fund. Building on the strong foundations we have laid as UKIB, we will hit the ground running, using sector insight and investment expertise that the market knows and trusts to unlock billions of pounds of private finance for projects across the UK.
"With additional capital to deploy against a bigger mandate, we stand ready to help the market invest with confidence, in support of the Government’s growth ambitions."
Alongside this the Chancellor, together with Secretary of State for Business and Trade Jonathan Reynolds, announced a new British Growth Partnership as part of the British Business Bank (BBB).
The BBB already supports the UK’s fastest growing, most innovative companies deploying £3.5bn to support over 23,000 businesses last year.
The British Growth Partnership will allow it to do more by creating a new way for the British Business Bank and institutional investors to invest in innovative companies together.
Leveraging the British Business Bank’s market expertise, these long-term investments will be made independently of government on a fully commercial basis. In the coming months, the British Business Bank will seek to raise hundreds of millions of pounds of investment for this fund, with the aim of making investments by the end of 2025.
Additionally, the government will implement a set of reforms to the British Business Bank’s financial framework that will increase its impact and increase its ability to respond flexibly to the market, including by putting the British Business Bank’s £7.9bn set of commercial programmes on a permanent footing.
Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank said:
"Today’s announcement is a strong endorsement of the British Business Bank’s 10-year track record, market access and capabilities. By establishing the British Growth Partnership, the Bank will encourage more UK pension fund investment into the UK’s fastest growing, most innovative companies.
"In addition, reforms to the Bank’s financial framework, putting our £7.9bn commercial programmes on a permanent footing, means we can flexibly re-invest our investment returns over the long term to increase growth and prosperity across the UK."
Today’s measures follow the Government announcing more than £24 billion of private investment for pioneering energy projects and thousands of jobs in the green industries secured ahead of International Investment Summit.
This adds to the announcement last week that up to 500 UK manufacturing jobs are set to be supported as bus operator Go Ahead confirms a major £500 million investment to decarbonise its fleet. This includes creating a new dedicated manufacturing line and partnership with Northern Ireland-based UK bus manufacturer Wrightbus.
And it also builds on the Government confirming funding to launch the UK’s first carbon capture sites in Teesside and Merseyside. Two new carbon capture and CCUS enabled hydrogen projects will create 4,000 new jobs, in a boost for the economy and British industry, helping remove over 8.5 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year – the equivalent of taking around 4 million cars off the road.
From: HM Treasury, The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP and The Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP