Sunak woos business elite with royal welcome –
but they seek certainty
Bosses have doubts despite glitzy summit seeking
investment from US, Saudi Arabia and others
Nils Pratley: Summit is nice – but £29.5bn figure is
pure hype
UK ‘will not return to Cameron era’s close ties with
China’
Jasper
Jolly
@jjpjolly
Mon 27 Nov
2023 18.42 GMT
Hampton
Court is an enduring monument to the power of Henry VIII, a pleasure palace
down the Thames from Westminster and the City of London. On Monday it was the
scene of power projection of a different kind, as Rishi Sunak pitched for
investment from some of the world’s business elite.
Bosses
ranging from the US bankers Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan and David Solomon of
Goldman Sachs mixed with the leaders of massive investment funds from Abu Dhabi
and Saudi Arabia. British bosses also braved the chilly halls – heating was not
a strong point of Tudor architecture – ranging from the insurer Aviva’s chief
executive Amanda Blanc and the Octopus Energy boss Greg Jackson to Lawrence
Stroll, the executive chair of Aston Martin.
The VIPs
were given an overload of royal treatment – perhaps to try to beat France’s
annual attempt to woo investors at the even grander Palace of Versailles.
Buglers welcomed the most important bosses, while choristers from the Hampton
Court choir serenaded them with Christmas carols in the November drizzle.
France cannot rival the UK on one aspect of the charm offensive: living royalty
in the form of King Charles at an evening reception at Buckingham Palace.
Yet
business leaders present were less interested in the trappings of the UK’s past
glories, and more in hearing about a stable investment environment after years
of turmoil in the British government.
Tony
Lombardo, the chief executive of the Australian investor Lendlease, has been on
the receiving end of government flip-flopping. It is investing heavily in the
redevelopment of London’s Euston station, which will welcome fewer passengers
after Sunak decided to cut short the High Speed 2 rail line to save money.
Lombardo said he was hoping to talk to ministers about ways to cut costs at the
site.
“There’s a
lot of appetite to continue to invest,” he said, praising the UK’s life
sciences sector in particular. “For investors like ourselves we’re just looking
for certainty.”
Getting
private investment moving has been a growing concern for the government since
the financial crisis of 2008, amid meagre productivity growth. It was a key
theme of chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement last week, with business tax
cuts that make investment in machines and other physical assets more
attractive.
However,
Ian Stuart, the chief executive of the UK arm of HSBC, Britain’s biggest bank,
said he still thought British businesses were “preserving cash” rather than
investing because of worries about what way the economy could turn. He did not
expect things to pick up until the second half of 2024.
“I think
we’re coming back from an uncomfortable period – and I think I’m being quite
generous there,” he said. “There’s still the overhang of an election next year,
probably. People don’t like that uncertainty.”
Keith
Anderson, chief executive of Spanish-owned energy company Scottish Power, said
he thought the UK was seen as a good place to invest, even if the next auction
of wind power development rights needs technical tweaks after the last failed
to attract bidders. But Anderson said he was pushing for government to improve
the rate at which big projects can receive planning and regulatory consent.
“We need to
go faster,” said Anderson. “Speed can be as valuable as a tax break.”
It is
questionable how much business is done directly at the summit, and whether the
investments announced really move the needle. Some projects announced at the
first version of the summit, held in 2021 at the Science Museum, are still yet
to be completed.
Yet one
government official involved in drumming up investment said the glitz – the
palace, the union jack projected on the centuries-old buildings, pike-wielding
beefeaters on loan from the Tower of London for the day – did have a role in
attracting business. “It’s to show we care,” the official said
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