King Charles and senior royals are set to welcome some of the world’s largest investors to the UK.
The monarch will hold a reception at St Paul’s Cathedral as Keir Starmer and a string of Cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Rachel Reeves, attempt to woo firms to invest in Britain. Over 300 industry leaders have been invited to attend the global investment summit being hosted by the UK government in central London.
In a speech on Monday, Mr Starmer is set to announce billions worth of investments in sectors including life science and artificial intelligence. He will say: “We are focusing on investment because the mission of growth, in this country especially, demands it.
“Private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country and pay our way in the world. This is a great moment to back Britain. This is a great moment to back England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.”
The PM will also pledge to get rid of regulation that “needlessly holds back investment”. He will add: “Where it is stopping us building the homes, the data centres, warehouses, grid connectors, roads, trainlines, you name it then mark my words – we will get rid of it.
“We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment and we will make sure that every regulator in this country take growth as seriously as this room does.”
But the summit was almost overshadowed by a Cabinet row after the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh called P&O Ferries, which sacked 800 workers in 2022, a “rogue operator”. Ms Haigh said she had been boycotting the firm since the scandal and encouraged others to do the same – leading Mr Starmer to publicly disagree with her on Friday.
Speaking on Sunday, the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds also said Ms Haigh’s comments were not the view of the government after P&Os parent-firm – Dubai-based DP World – attendance at the summit and £1billion investment was reported to be at risk.
He said the government had to “have a conversation” with the firm after the comments. But he said DP World’s investment is going ahead and the company is attending the investment summit on Monday.