Chancellor Rachel Reeves to join celebrities and world leaders at WEF Davos to drum up support for UK economy
Chancellor Rachel Reeves will travel to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this week to court potential investors in UK growth projects, joining hundreds of political and economic leaders gathering in the Swiss Alps in the shadow of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Ms Reeves will join political leaders including German chancellor Olaf Scholz, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and a vice premier of the Chinese Communist Party, with the agenda likely to be set by Mr Trump’s opening gambits in office.
The incoming president had promised the imposition of tariffs on imports, and while they did not feature in the day-one commitments at his inauguration, his second term carries the threat of upending global trade and fundamentally altering America’s security commitments.
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Mr Trump will address the event remotely at the end of proceedings on Thursday, and before then the WEF will provide a platform for the first public reaction from international political leaders to his plans.
Perhaps as important for the 4,000 or so delegates is the opportunity it provides for private meetings and bilateral conversations.
The chancellor’s focus during a 36-hour visit will be on drumming up investment and reassuring potential partners about the stability of the UK economy and the viability of her plans for growth.
Davos Pic: AP
Those plans have been under scrutiny since the turn of the year after fluctuations in debt markets forced the cost of government borrowing up, in turn threatening the fiscal rules Ms Reeves says are central to her credibility.
While largely driven up by international factors, particularly the impact of Mr Trump’s policies, borrowing costs receded at the end of last week after better-than-expected UK inflation figures, easing the short-term political pressure.
What’s on the agenda?
Ms Reeves does not feel she has anything to apologise for following the bumpy start to 2025, but Davos offers her an opportunity to make the case publicly and privately for her plans, with the hope of securing some tangible investment commitments.
She will meet leading financiers convened by JP Morgan and its chief executive Jamie Dimon, investors including the chief executive of OTTP, a leading Canadian pension fund, and address the country strategic dialogue, a private meeting of more than 80 executives, and attend a lunch arranged by business lobby group the CBI.
She will also give a round of interviews to international media outlets in which she will stress her plans to stabilise the economy, reform public services, and begin the structural supply-side reforms she believes are fundamental to encouraging growth.
She will not be alone in seeking to leverage the unique convening power of the annual meeting to her advantage. More than 50 heads of state and as many finance ministers will be in Davos, drawn by the presence of three times as many chief executives and chairs of major companies, corporations and wealth funds.
While public sessions will be dominated by discussion of current opportunities and challenges, including the ubiquitous AI, privately the event offers the 4,000 delegates a chance to speed-date with their peers.
David Beckham and fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg will lend a little celebrity to an event that remains overwhelmingly earnest and self-assured.
Now in its 54th year, the WEF has been a crucible for the principles of globalisation and the liberal economic consensus, which maintains that only open markets and cooperation can deliver profit, prosperity and social justice.
Its immodest mission, set out by founder Klaus Schwab and featuring on the merchandise handed to participants, remains “committed to improving the state of the world”.
Not on the agenda is the question of whether the annual gathering of the billionaire class – Davos’ private jet traffic is notorious- has achieved that goal.
The cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which halted production for nearly six weeks at its sites, cost the company roughly £200m, it has been revealed.
Latest accounts released on Friday showed “cyber-related costs” were £196m, which does not include the fall in sales.
Profits took a nose dive, falling from nearly £400m (£398m) a year ago to a loss of £485m in the three months to the end of September.
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Revenues dropped nearly 25% and the effects may continue as the manufacturing halt could slow sales in the final three months of the year, executives said.
The impact of the shutdown also hit factories across the car-making supply chain.
Slowing the UK economy
The production pause was a large contributor to a contraction in UK economic growth in September, official figures showed.
Had car output not fallen 28.6%, the UK economy would have grown by 0.1% during the month. Instead, it fell by 0.1%.
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How cyber attack ‘effectively hacked GDP’
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Reacting to JLR’s impact on the GDP contraction, its chief financial officer, Richard Molyneux, said it was “interesting to hear” and it “goes to reinforce” that JLR is really important in the UK economy.
The company, he said, is the “biggest exporter of goods in the entire country” and the effect on GDP “is a reflection of the success JLR has had in past years”.
Recovery
The company said operations were “pretty much back running as normal” and plants were “at or approaching capacity”.
Production of all luxury vehicles resumed.
Investigations are underway into the attack, with law enforcement in “many jurisdictions” involved, the company said.
When asked about the cause of the hack and the hackers, JLR said it was not in a position to answer questions due to the live investigation.
A run of attacks
The manufacturer was just one of a number of major companies to be seriously impacted by cyber criminals in recent months.
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Are we in a cyber attack ‘epidemic’?
High street retailer Marks and Spencer estimated the cost of its IT outage was roughly £136m. The sum only covers the cost of immediate incident systems response and recovery, as well as specialist legal and professional services support.
The Co-Op and Harrods also suffered service disruption caused by cyber attacks.
Four people were arrested by police investigating the incidents.
Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have scrapped plans to break their manifesto pledge and raise income tax rates in a massive U-turn less than two weeks from the budget.
The decision, first reported in the Financial Times, comes after a bruising few days which has brought about a change of heart in Downing Street.
Read more: How No 10 plunged itself into crisis
I understand Downing Street has backed down amid fears about the backlash from disgruntled MPs and voters.
The Treasury and Number 10 declined to comment.
The decision is a massive about-turn. In a news conference last week, the chancellor appeared to pave the way for manifesto-breaking tax rises in the budget on 26 November.
She spoke of difficult choices and insisted she could neither increase borrowing nor cut spending in order to stabilise the economy, telling the public “everyone has to play their part”.
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‘Aren’t you making a mockery of voters?’
The decision to backtrack was communicated to the Office for Budget Responsibility on Wednesday in a submission of “major measures”, according to the Financial Times.
The chancellor will now have to fill an estimated £30bn black hole with a series of narrower tax-raising measures and is also expected to freeze income tax thresholds for another two years beyond 2028, which should raise about £8bn.
Tory shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “We’ve had the longest ever run-up to a budget, damaging the economy with uncertainty, and yet – with just days to go – it is clear there is chaos in No 10 and No 11.”
How did we get here?
For weeks, the government has been working up options to break the manifesto pledge not to raise income tax, national insurance or VAT on working people.
I was told only this week the option being worked up was to do a combination of tax rises and action on the two-child benefit cap in order for the prime minister to be able to argue that in breaking his manifesto pledges, he is trying his hardest to protect the poorest in society and those “working people” he has spoken of so endlessly.
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Ed Conway on the chancellor’s options
But days ago, officials and ministers were working on a proposal to lift the basic rate of income tax – perhaps by 2p – and then simultaneously cut national insurance contributions for those on the basic rate of income tax (those who earn up to £50,000 a year).
That way the chancellor can raise several billion in tax from those with the “broadest shoulders” – higher-rate taxpayers and pensioners or landlords, while also trying to protect “working people” earning salaries under £50,000 a year.
The chancellor was also going to take action on the two-child benefit cap in response to growing demand from the party to take action on child poverty. It is unclear whether those plans will now be shelved given the U-turn on income tax.
A rough week for the PM
The change of plan comes after the prime minister found himself engulfed in a leadership crisis after his allies warned rivals that he would fight any attempted post-budget coup.
It triggered a briefing war between Wes Streeting and anonymous Starmer allies attacking the health secretary as the chief traitor.
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Wes Streeting: Faithful or traitor? Beth Rigby’s take
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The prime minister has since apologised to Mr Streeting, who I am told does not want to press for sackings in No 10 in the wake of the briefings against him.
But the saga has further damaged Sir Keir and increased concerns among MPs about his suitability to lead Labour into the next general election.
Insiders clearly concluded that the ill mood in the party, coupled with the recent hits to the PM’s political capital, makes manifesto-breaking tax rises simply too risky right now.
But it also adds to a sense of chaos, given the chancellor publicly pitch-rolled tax rises in last week’s news conference.
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