Yesterday the UK Government hosted its first International Investment Summit bringing together over 300 industry leaders from around the globe. The summit marked a significant milestone in the UK’s mission to drive economic growth and attract substantial foreign investment and as promised by the Government put ‘the economy’ at the forefront of policy.
The summit saw the announcement of several high-profile investments, including.
- DP World committed £1 billion to expand its logistics operations in the UK, enhancing the country’s trade infrastructure
- Phoenix Group and Schroders unveiled a new private markets investment manager, which will design and manage UK and Global multi-private asset solutions for UK insurance and pension clients
- Green Energy Ventures announced a £500 million investment in renewable energy
Besides these announcements, the Summit’s main purpose was to emphasise the government’s commitment to creating a more business-friendly environment by proposing significant regulatory changes. With these changes focused on.
Streamlining Planning Processes
Providing Tax Incentives for Innovation
Enhancing Support for SMEs
Increasing Digital Trade Facilitation
The Prime Minister announced “Our goal is to make the UK the most attractive place in the world for businesses to invest and grow. By cutting red tape and providing targeted support, we are creating an environment where innovation can thrive and where businesses of all sizes can succeed.”
The major question is can we achieve a major shift in policy to streamline investment? For too long major investment has been be-devilled by bureaucracy and intransigence of the UK’s ‘system’.
However, can we achieve the ‘Turbocharging’ the Government is promoting? The announcements could move us to a more carbon free future, but I can’t help think that even with streamlined bureaucracy and Government’s commitment to incentivise private sector growth, we know that planning requires significantly more capacity and focus on ‘regional level’ plan making rather than operation at local level.
Where, also do we find 38,000 new jobs? If we are to make this investment a reality, our skills system will need further support if we are to equip the workforce to take these opportunities. Without this system wide reform, we may find our pipeline quite short. I’ve not even mentioned the ’B’ word which has made us less competitive and in effect lose our reputation as the ‘gateway’ to Europe. May be a topic for another day!
Neil Darwin – Managing Director.
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