Sir Keir Starmer to pledge to get rid of regulation that ‘holds back investment’ at business summit
The prime minister will pledge to get rid of regulation that “needlessly holds back investment” at a major business conference in London today.
The International Investment Summit will comprise more than £50bn of deal announcements – or roughly twice the £28bn unveiled at the previous comparable gathering held under the former Conservative administration, Sky News’ City Editor Mark Kleinman learned on Sunday.
It comes after a row over the transport secretary’s criticism of P&O Ferries reportedly jeopardised a £1bn investment by its Dubai-based owner DP World.
However the investment will go ahead and DP world’s chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, will attend the conference after a frantic effort by UK ministers and diplomats to repair relations with the company.
The government is eager to show it is making progress on its mission to deliver economic growth after marking 100 days in office and ahead of the chancellor’s first budget on 30 October.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned of “tough decisions” at the spending review as Labour says it needs to plug a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives.
The government says that international investment will help with its goals to create jobs, improve living standards, and make communities and families across the country better off.
It will ask the Competition and Markets Authority to prioritise growth, investment and innovation, and will review the focus of other major regulators to “curb red tape” and put the UK “at the front of the queue” for opportunities.
DP World chief executive Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem. Pic: AP
In a keynote speech at the summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to pitch Britain as a stable bet for investors, saying he will “do everything in my power to galvanise growth including getting rid of regulation that needlessly holds back investment”.
He will say: “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.
“We have the determination, the focus on clear long-term ends, a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock that potential. Do not doubt that.
“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.”
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Five of the world’s biggest banks, private equity firms, insurers and tech giants gave a signal of support in a joint letter to The Times.
“We are optimistic about the future of the economy, and believe it is time to invest in Britain,” they said, citing greater stability and growth in the technology and energy sectors.
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Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Pic: AP
Banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, insurers Aviva and L&G, and private equity firms including Blackstone and KKR are among the 14 signatories.
Labour has warned of “tough choices” to come in the budget and sparked fears of further cuts after it cut back winter fuel payments to pensioners.
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There has been speculation as to which taxes could be raised in the budget after Labour committed not to increase national insurance, income tax or VAT.
Ms Reeves must also choose whether to amend fiscal rules to allow more borrowing to fund public spending.
Consumer health firm Haleon has announced a £130m investment in a new Global Oral Health Innovation centre in Weybridge, Surrey, to coincide with the summit.
The UK economy showed strong growth in the first three months of the year, according to official figures.
Gross domestic product (GDP) – the standard measure of an economy’s value – grew 0.7% in the first quarter of 2025, the Office for National Statistics said.
The rise is better than expected. An increase of just 0.6% was anticipated by economists polled by the Reuters news agency.
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It’s significantly better than the three months previous, in which a slight economic expansion of just 0.1% was reported for the final quarter of 2024.
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The ONS also said there was a small amount of growth last month, as GDP expanded 0.2% in March, which similarly beat expectations.
No growth at all had been forecast for the month.
How did the economy grow?
A large contribution to high GDP growth was an increase in output in the production sector, which rose 1.1%, driven by manufacturing and a 4% increase in water supply, the ONS said.
Also working to push up the GDP figure was 0.7% growth in the biggest part of the UK economy – the services industry.
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‘Here’s the concern with GDP figures’
Wholesale, retail and computer programming services all performed well in the quarter, as did car leasing and advertising, the ONS said.
It shows the economy was resilient, as the country headed into the global trade war sparked by President Trump’s so-called ‘liberation day’ tariff announcement on 2 April.
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The data is welcome news for a government who have identified growing the economy as its number one priority.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is taking the figures as a political win, saying the UK economy has grown faster than the US, Canada, France, Italy and Germany.
“Today’s growth figures show the strength and potential of the UK economy, ” she said.
“Up against a backdrop of global uncertainty, we are making the right choices now in the national interest.”
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Such GDP numbers may not continue into April as businesses and consumers were hit with a raft of bill rises, and Mr Trump’s tariffs fired the starting gun on a global trade war.
Last month, water, energy and council tax bills rose across the country while employers faced higher wage costs from the rise in their national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.
But above-inflation wage growth and fading consumer caution could continue to boost the economy.
Foreign state investors would be allowed to hold stakes of up to 15% in British national newspapers, ministers are set to announce amid a two-year battle to resolve an impasse over The Daily Telegraph’s ownership.
Sky News has learnt that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport could announce as soon as Thursday that the new limit is to be imposed following a consultation lasting several months.
The decision to set the ownership threshold at 15% follows an intensive lobbying campaign by newspaper industry executives concerned that a permanent outright ban could cut off a vital source of funding to an already-embattled industry.
It would mean that RedBird IMI, the Abu Dhabi state-backed fund which owns an option to take full ownership of the Telegraph titles, would be able to play a role in the newspapers’ future.
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RedBird Capital, the US-based fund, has already said it is exploring the possibility of taking full control of the Telegraph, while IMI would have – if the status quo had been maintained – forced to relinquish any involvement in the right-leaning broadsheets.
One industry source said they had been told to expect a statement from Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, or another DCMS minister, this week, with the amendment potentially being made in the form of a statutory instrument.
Other than RedBird, a number of suitors for the Telegraph have expressed interest but struggled to raise the funding for a deal.
The most notable of these has been Dovid Efune, owner of The New York Sun, who has been trying for months to raise the £550m sought by RedBird IMI to recoup its outlay.
Another potential offer from Todd Boehly, the Chelsea Football Club co-owner, and media tycoon David Montgomery, has yet to materialise.
RedBird IMI paid £600m in 2023 to acquire a call option that was intended to convert into ownership of the Telegraph newspapers and The Spectator magazine.
That objective was thwarted by a change in media ownership laws – which banned any form of foreign state ownership – amid an outcry from parliamentarians.
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The Spectator was then sold last year for £100m to Sir Paul Marshall, the hedge fund billionaire, who has installed Lord Gove, the former cabinet minister, as its editor.
The UAE-based IMI, which is controlled by the UAE’s deputy prime minister and ultimate owner of Manchester City Football Club, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, extended a further £600m to the Barclays to pay off a loan owed to Lloyds Banking Group, with the balance secured against other family-controlled assets.
Other bidders for the Telegraph had included Lord Saatchi, the former advertising mogul, who offered £350m, while Lord Rothermere, the Daily Mail proprietor, pulled out of the bidding last summer amid concerns that he would be blocked on competition grounds.
The Telegraph’s ownership had been left in limbo by a decision taken by Lloyds Banking Group, the principal lender to the Barclay family, to force some of the newspapers’ related corporate entities into a form of insolvency proceedings.
The newspaper auction is being run by Raine Group and Robey Warshaw.
The DCMS declined to comment.
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