Global firms pledge £30bn to UK economy ahead of Sunak summit

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International business leaders have committed £29.5bn to Britain’s economy in a boost for Rishi Sunak ahead of his global investment summit on Monday.

US tech giant Microsoft and German vaccine maker BioNTech are among a list of companies that have vowed to invest billions of pounds in the UK, with technology, renewable energy and scientific research among sectors set to benefit.

The Prime Minister unveiled the investment package on Sunday, hours before his summit at Hampton Court Palace – where he will play host to 200 chief executives and investors.

Attendees will include Wall Street executives such as Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon, Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase and Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone.

The summit’s theme this year is “British Ideas – Past, Present and Future”, with the main event followed by a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by King Charles.

Mr Sunak said the £29.5bn of new investment will help create 12,000 jobs and was “a huge vote of confidence in the future of the UK economy”.

He said: “Global chief executives are right to back Britain – we are making this the best place in the world to invest and do business.

“Attracting global investment is at the heart of my plan for growing the economy.”

The Government is trying hard to court investment in a bid to improve growth, which flatlined from July to September.

The largest cash injection announced on Sunday came from Australian pension fund giant IFM Investors, which vowed to spend £10bn over the next four years in large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects.

Microsoft also committed £2.5bn to the UK’s AI infrastructure, which will go towards building data centres and graphic processing units.

German’s BioNTech, which developed the first mRNA-based Covid vaccine, will also spend £1bn over 10 years – investing in a new laboratory in Cambridge and an AI centre in London.

Iberdrola, a Spanish renewable energy company, also confirmed a further £7bn in investment in the UK’s renewables sector as part of a broader £12bn investment programme from 2024 to 2028.

Investment in the UK’s renewable energy sector has boomed in recent years.

Between 2021 and 2022 investment surged from £19bn to £55bn -189pc increase.

Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “People want to invest in a country with vision, ideas and growth, and our summit showcases all these qualities and proves why the UK is the most exciting and innovative place in the world to invest.

“The numbers speak for themselves: we have the third highest levels of inward investment in the world at $2.7 trillion.”

The flurry of investment follows the Government’s announcement earlier this month of a new Advanced Manufacturing Plan, which will provide £4.5bn in funding across eight sectors, including life sciences and clean energy, from 2025 to 2030.

It also comes after Japanese car giant Nissan announced a £2bn plan last week to build three electric car models at its factory in Sunderland.

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt unveiled a series of business tax cuts, which included making “full expensing” permanent.

However, critics have warned that this does not come close to offsetting the blow from April’s corporation tax rise when Mr Hunt raised the headline rate from 19pc to 25pc for businesses with profits exceeding £250,000 a year.

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