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Elon Musk will head to Downing Street for talks with Rishi Sunak today following the prime minister’s AI safety summit.

The billionaire owner of SpaceX and Tesla jetted in for the event at Bletchley Park, which began on Wednesday with attending countries backing an agreement on the need to manage risks posed by the technology.

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China and the US, the world’s leading AI powers, were among 28 countries to endorse the Bletchley Declaration.

It said nations should work together to research the safety of so-called frontier AI models, which some experts – including Musk – believe could one day threaten humanity.

“It’s a risk,” he told Sky News on day one of the summit.

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Elon Musk: ‘AI is a risk’

PM’s AI balancing act

The Bletchley Declaration said any threats are “best addressed through international cooperation”, and also set out plans for more global summits next year.

Mr Sunak said the agreement was a “landmark achievement”.

But there was little sign of a concrete approach to regulation or any suggestions of a pause in AI’s development, which experts including Musk called for earlier this year.

It also did little to satisfy critics who warned the prime minister ahead of the summit he was too focused on hypothetical future threats, rather than present dangers like job losses and misinformation.

In a joint statement after the declaration was published, leading AI experts and civil society organisations warned politicians were not showing enough urgency to regulate.

Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan has defended the government’s approach at the summit, saying more hypothetical risks were still ones “we shouldn’t take lightly”.

She said the government was seeking to “strike the right balance” between safety and innovation.

Leading AI firms Anthropic and ChatGPT maker OpenAI have opened international offices in the UK, she added, proving the government was taking the right approach.

China keeps close control of its AI companies, will the West be able to do the same?



Tom Clarke

Science and technology editor

@aTomClarke

Elon Musk might have brought some stardust to this summit, but a more quietly significant presence was the Chinese government.

Although AI safety has been discussed in places like the UN, this is the first time China has sat round a table to discuss the issue with their American and European counterparts.

The UK government faced criticism from some of its own MPs for inviting China. The truth is, any honest effort to mitigate the risks of AI has to be a global one.

If, as some have suggested, super-intelligent AIs of the future might represent the same existential risk as nuclear weapons did in the 20th century, only a similar level of international agreement can keep us safe.

According to Professor Yi Zing, an AI researcher at the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences, China has already developed AIs equally as powerful – and potentially as problematic – as GPT4 and its rivals in the West.

The major difference of course, is that the Chinese state keeps close control over its AI companies – and can ensure it benefits from any advances they make.

For regulators in the West it’s not so easy. Can they persuade increasingly powerful AI firms to allow them meaningful access to their AI models to ensure they are safe? And what can they do if they conclude they are not? Progress on that is a key objective of the second day of this summit.

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What is the AI Safety Summit?

When is the Sunak-Musk meeting?

The meeting between the prime minister and Musk will take place after the summit has officially closed.

Thursday will see Mr Sunak convene a small group of governments, companies, and experts, while the technology secretary will meet again with her international counterparts.

It’s not known who the PM will be meeting, but the summit has welcomed the likes of OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis, and US vice president Kamala Harris.

His talks with Musk will take place in Downing Street, and be livestreamed on X (formerly Twitter).

Musk has hosted politicians on the platform before, notably a glitch-filled discussion with Ron DeSantis when the Florida governor launched his US presidency bid.

Musk and Mr Sunak have been divided on the need for AI regulation, with the former telling the US Congress in September there was “overwhelming consensus” for it.

Mr Sunak on the other hand has expressed caution, saying too much oversight would stifle innovation.

But Musk – the world’s richest man – changed his tune somewhat ahead of his UK trip, voicing his opposition to sweeping safeguards unveiled by US President Joe Biden earlier this week.

It included requiring AI companies to share safety data with the government before releasing their models publicly.

Speaking at the UK summit, Musk suggested he would prefer a “third-party referee” to regulate the sector.

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US trade deal ‘possible’ but not ‘certain’, says senior minister

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US trade deal 'possible' but not 'certain', says senior minister

A trade deal with the US is “possible” but not “certain”, a senior minister has said as he struck a cautious tone about negotiations with the White House.

Pat McFadden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips there was “a serious level of engagement going on at high levels” to secure a UK-US trade deal.

However, Mr McFadden, a key ally of Sir Keir Starmer, struck a more cautious tone than Chancellor Rachel Reeves on the prospect of a US trade deal, saying: “I think an agreement is possible – I don’t think it’s certain, and I don’t want to say it’s certain, but I think it’s possible.”

He went on to say the government wanted an “agreement in the UK’s interests” and not a “hasty deal”, amid fears from critics that Number 10 could acquiesce a deal that lowers food standards, for example, or changes certain taxes in a bid to persuade Donald Trump to lower some of the tariffs that have been placed on British goods.

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And asked about the timing of the deal – following recent reports an agreement was imminent – Mr McFadden said: “We’ll keep working with the United States and keep trying to get to an agreement in the coming weeks.”

As well as talks with the US, the UK has also ramped up its efforts with the EU, with suggestions it could include a new EU youth mobility scheme that would allow under-30s from the bloc to live, work and study in the UK and vice versa.

Mr McFadden said he believed the government could “improve upon” the Brexit deal struck by Boris Johnson, saying it had caused “an awful lot of bureaucracy and costs here in the UK”.

He said “first and foremost” on the government’s agenda was securing a food and agriculture and a veterinary agreement, saying it was “such an important area for the UK and an area where we’ve had so much extra cost and bureaucracy because of Brexit”.

He added: “But again, as with the United States, there’s no point in calling the game before it’s done. We’ve still got work to do, and we’re doing that work with our partners in the EU.”

The Cabinet Office minister also rejected suggestions the UK would have to choose between pursuing a trade deal with the US and one with the EU – the latter of which has banned chlorinated chicken in its markets – as has the UK – but which the US has historically wanted.

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On the issue of chlorinated chicken, Mr McFadden said the government had “made clear we will not water down animal welfare standards with either party”.

“But I don’t agree that it’s some fundamental choice beyond where we have to pick one trading partner rather than another. I think that’s to misunderstand the nature of the UK economy, and I don’t think would be in our interests to put all our eggs in one basket.”

Also speaking to Trevor Phillips was Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who said the government should be close to closing the deal with the US “because we got very close last time President Trump was in office”.

She also insisted food standards should not be watered down in order to get a deal, saying she did not reach an agreement with Canada when she was in government for that reason.

“What Labour needs to do now is show that they can get a deal that isn’t making concessions, so we can have what we had last month before the trade tariffs, and we need serious people doing this,” she said.

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UK growth could be ‘postponed’ for two years, report warns

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UK growth could be 'postponed' for two years, report warns

UK economic growth could be “postponed” for two years amid a toxic cocktail of headwinds for confidence, according to a respected forecast which says further interest rate cuts may help lift the mood.

EY ITEM Club, which uses the Treasury’s economic modelling, downgraded expectations for output in both 2025 and 2026 in its latest report.

It warns of a direct hit from Donald Trump‘s trade war and from persistent high inflation in the UK economy.

But the forecast says the biggest impact would come from weaker sentiment among both households and businesses, given the surge in uncertainty and hits to global growth caused by the imposition of tariffs.

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A “baseline” 10% tariff on imports from most countries around the world is in place while UK-produced steel, aluminium and cars are subject to duties of 25%.

Around 16% of all goods shipped abroad head for the United States typically but the study said that weaker demand for exports would likely hit that number.

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It forecast UK growth of 0.8% this year – down from the 1% it expected three months ago – and a figure of 0.9% for 2026.

That last figure represented a downgrade of 0.6 percentage points.

These are not the numbers the Treasury will want to see, coming in even lower than the International Monetary Fund’s downgrades last week, as it leads work on the government’s stated priority of securing economic growth.

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What IMF said about the economy

It has been accused of an own goal through the chancellor’s tax increases on business, which came into effect at the beginning of this month.

At the same time, households are grappling a surge in bills, including those for energy, water and council tax, which are threatening to depress spending power further.

Data on Friday showed a renewed slump in consumer confidence and sharp increases in the number of firms in “critical” financial distress and going to the wall.

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US trade deal ‘possible, not certain’

EY said the weaker global economic backdrop and spiralling levels of uncertainty would weigh on both families and businesses.

It warned the consumer mood remained “cautious” amid the continuing pressures on household budgets, further limiting demand for major purchases.

Anna Anthony, regional managing partner for EY UK & Ireland, said: “There had been signs that the economy was exceeding expectations in the opening months of 2025, but a combination of global trade disruption, uncertainty, and persistent inflation look likely to postpone the UK’s return to more moderate levels of growth.

“Businesses thrive on certainty, so it’s unsurprising that an unpredictable global market is translating into lower levels of business investment over the short term.

“While conditions remain challenging, there are still some grounds for optimism.

“The services-led UK economy is projected to see continued growth this year and gradual interest rate cuts should slowly bolster business and household spending.

“Over time, the unpredictable global landscape may offer opportunities for the UK to position itself as a stable, attractive destination for investment.”

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Chair candidates battle to check in at Premier Inn-owner Whitbread

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Chair candidates battle to check in at Premier Inn-owner Whitbread

Two chairs of FTSE-100 companies are vying to succeed Adam Crozier at the top of Whitbread, the London-listed group behind the Premier Inn hotel chain.

Sky News has learnt that Christine Hodgson, who chairs water company Severn Trent, and Andrew Martin, chair of the testing and inspection group Intertek, are the leading contenders for the Whitbread job.

Mr Crozier, who has chaired the leisure group since 2018, is expected to step down later this year.

The search, which has been taking place for several months, is expected to conclude in the coming weeks, according to one City source.

Ms Hodgson has some experience of the leisure industry, having served on the board of Ladbrokes Coral Group until 2017, while Mr Martin was a senior executive at the contract caterer Compass Group and finance chief at the travel agent First Choice Holidays.

Under Mr Crozier’s stewardship, Whitbread has been radically reshaped, selling its Costa Coffee subsidiary to The Coca-Cola Company in 2019 for nearly £4bn.

The company has also seen off an activist campaign spearheaded by Elliott Advisers, while Mr Crozier orchestrated the appointment of Dominic Paul, its chief executive, following Alison Brittain’s retirement.

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It said last year that it sees potential to grow the network from 86,000 UK bedrooms to 125,000 over the next decade or so.

Mr Crozier is one of Britain’s most seasoned boardroom figures, and now chairs BT Group and Kantar, the market research and data business backed by Bain Capital and WPP Group.

He previously ran the Football Association, ITV and – in between – Royal Mail Group.

On Friday, shares in Whitbread closed at £25.41, giving the company a market capitalisation of about £4.5bn.

Whitbread declined to comment this weekend.

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