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Sir Keir Starmer will on Monday ask Britain’s competition watchdog to soften its approach as he vows to “rip out bureaucracy” while attempting to attract billions of pounds of extra investment to the UK.
The prime minister will tell executives at its international investment summit in the City of London that Labour’s landslide victory will “end chop and change” over policy and bring political stability.
He will unveil commitments from the private sector to invest more than £50bn into the economy — across artificial intelligence, life sciences and infrastructure — according to people briefed on the plans.
“We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment and we will make sure that every regulator in this country takes growth as seriously as this room does,” Starmer will tell the event at London’s Guildhall.
He will add: “We have a golden opportunity to use our mandate, to end chop and change, policy churn and sticking plasters that make it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition.”
Starmer is rolling out the red carpet for more than 200 leading executives, who will attend a series of events in Guildhall before moving on to a reception at St Paul’s Cathedral, attended by King Charles.
“We are sending a firework up into the night sky to show that Britain is open for business again,” said Peter Kyle, science secretary, on Monday ahead of the summit.
Starmer was given a boost on Monday when a number of leading banks, private equity firms, insurers and tech companies declared in a letter that it was “time to invest in Britain”.
The 14 signatories of a letter to The Times — including JPMorgan, Blackstone and Aviva — said Britain’s universities, legal prowess and financial services provided the “bedrock of a strong investment proposition”.
The £50bn figure for investment pledges to be made on Monday includes £24bn of green investment unveiled last week, which included some projects that had already been announced. The sum also includes a £20bn investment from Australia’s Macquarie group that will include an electric car-charging network and offshore wind projects.
Officials and industry are concerned that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has stopped or slowed deals, denting Britain’s reputation overseas, and making the government appear “anti-tech”.
The boss of Activision accused Britain of being “closed for business” after Microsoft’s takeover of the gaming group was initially blocked, while an investigation into Amazon and artificial intelligence company Anthropic earlier this year that was ultimately dropped was viewed poorly internationally.
The previous Conservative government last year set the CMA a remit to “support investment, innovation and growth by promoting competitive markets”, but Downing Street said the plans were never put into action.
Starmer will set out more details on the new CMA priorities and direction in an industrial strategy green paper on Monday. Ministers will hold a private session with handpicked executives at the summit to discuss the contents, according to people briefed on the plans.
Kyle told the BBC’s Today programme the government would help innovators navigate “the regulatory minefield” and speed up the delivery of new products to the marketplace.
He said a new Regulatory Innovation Office would apply some of the lessons of the Covid crisis in speeding up product approval, but denied that Britain was trying to undercut the EU with looser regulation.
“Let’s take the learning from a crisis time and apply it to normal times,” he said. “Not cutting corners, not lowering standards but making sure the govt takes on some of the burden of compliance.”
Several businesses whose CEOs are travelling to the UK for the summit had expressed disappointment that plans for a dedicated “industrial strategy” session in the agenda were downgraded.
The FT reported last week that a handful of CEOs were wavering in the past week about attendance, with organisers criticised for disorganisation.
The government was briefly thrown into disarray on Friday after a report that port operator DP World could delay a £1bn investment pledge after a senior minister lambasted its subsidiary P&O. Downing Street distanced itself from a comment by transport secretary Louise Haigh encouraging people to boycott the business.
On Monday the company announced it would invest £1bn into its London Gateway port terminal in Essex.
Starmer is determined to prevent overzealous regulators from stifling a pro-growth agenda that he says is essential to grow the UK’s economy.
The FT reported last month that chancellor Rachel Reeves will issue a formal edict to the Financial Conduct Authority, the City regulator, around the time of her October 30 Budget, saying it needs to prove that it is acting to promote the expansion of the UK financial services sector.
