Parties urged to place £395bn wealth fund in manifestos

All parties should commit to setting up a sovereign wealth fund in their election manifestos, a think tank has said.

Lakshmi Narayanan, chairman of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI), believes the UK can ‘easily’ have a £395billion fund within three to five years. His comments came as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week called a General Election for July 4.

The funds – which are state-owned investment pools designed to grow a country’s wealth – are usually created from excess revenues.

Narayanan said it is ‘high time’ for the UK to announce a sovereign wealth fund’ and that a £395billion pool could be a boost for the London stock market.

He added: ‘Every political party should announce their intention to create a sovereign wealth fund and make it part of their first implementation plan.

Idea: All parties should commit to setting up a sovereign wealth fund in their election manifestos

‘This can unlock between 8 per cent and 10 per cent of wealth in capital markets to create £40billion of liquidity.’

The Mail on Sunday last year reported Treasury officials explored the idea of setting up a sovereign fund.