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UK announces ‘£30bn boost’ at Global Investment Summit
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UK announces ‘£30bn boost’ at Global Investment Summit
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
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Inflation  
Climate crisis and energy costs fuel £600 rise in UK household food bill, analysis finds
Climate crisis and energy costs fuel £600 rise in UK household food bill, analysis finds
Bank of England  
Powerful Lords committee damns BoE over inflation forecasts
Women in the boardroom  
‘Blind spots’ revealed as UK’s top firms have women in just one in five commercial roles
New Zealand  
World-first smoking ‘generation ban’ scrapped to fund tax cuts
Productivity  
Change laws to let boardrooms look beyond shareholder returns, report urges
Inequality  
UK spends more subsidising inequality than rest of Europe, report finds
Australia  
Super fund puts billions into backing Britain’s energy transition
Rail industry  
Advent calendar of strikes set to shred service as deal is severely delayed
Drugs  
Painkiller banned in UK linked to Britons’ deaths in Spain
Trade policy  
UK’s flagship post-Brexit deal worth even less than thought, OBR says
Richard Desmond  
Tory donor revives controversial east London housing development
Energy  
‘UK’s bid for net zero in the balance due to grid ‘blind spot’
The rise of undersea champagne:  
‘I have never tasted such a wine in my life’
Today's agenda
The UK government will today try to woo hundreds of business leaders as Rishi Sunak hosts a major business event at Hampton Court, in south-west London.

More than 200 executives are set to attend the Global Investment Summit, including Goldman Sachs chief executive David Solomon, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon, Blackstone boss Stephen Schwarzman and Aviva’s Amanda Blanc.

Prime minister Sunak and business & trade secretary Kemi Badenoch will be hosting, with Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Bank sponsoring the event. With a dollop of hype, the government says the summit “marks a huge step forward for levelling up”. This claim is based on the fact some of the “A-list CEOs and investors” attending have collectively pledged £29.5bn in new UK projects and capital. That spending, Downing Street says, will create more than 12,000 jobs.

It’s rather more than the £10bn which the UK lined up two years ago for the previous summit in 2021. But these sums aren’t always really new money. In fact, £7bn of today’s total comes from Iberdrola, the Spanish owner of Scottish Power, which has “confirmed £7bn of investment as part of a total £12bn programme for 2024-28.” However, a year ago, Iberdrola did say Scottish Power would lift its capital spend to £6.7bn between 2023 and 2025.

Other deals being touted today are also focused on the energy sector, alongside tech, life sciences, infrastructure, and housing. Australia’s IFM Investors also intend to invest £10bn over the next four years for large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects, the government says.

The gathering is part of the government’s push to boost investment in the UK and spur growth, following the tax cuts announced in last week’s autumn statement. Attendees will get a lesson on the UK’s innovative past, as the summit will celebrate “British Ideas – Past, Present and Future”, from the steam train to quantum computing.

Get through that, and they can enjoy a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the King.

Also coming up today
The Bank of England is facing calls for reform after a House of Lords report found that the central bank’s reliance on “inadequate” forecasting models and a lack of intellectual diversity within its most senior ranks contributed to inflation sticking at among the highest levels in decades.

In a report critical of Threadneedle Street, the powerful Lords economic affairs committee said the central bank had made “errors” in its handling of the inflation shock triggered after the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While saying that all major central banks had incorrectly expected the toughest inflationary period in four decades to be “transitory”, it warned that mistakes at the Bank had fuelled a “dramatic” fall in public confidence.

The agenda
• Today: UK holds Global Investment Summit at Hampton Court
• 11am GMT: CBI distributive trends survey of UK retail
• 3pm GMT: US new home sales data for October

We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day ...
Opinion
Larry Elliott  
UK economy is addicted to immigration but there is long-term treatment
UK economy is addicted to immigration but there is long-term treatment
Today in Focus  
The spy-tech firm managing NHS data
Editorial  
OpenAI’s board shake-up: changes deliver more for shareholders than for humanity
Andrew Rawnsley  
After years of Tory failure, getting Britain growing again will be Labour’s greatest test
Editorial  
Why Britain needs a growth plan, not magical thinking
William Keegan  
Jovial Jeremy Hunt says he is going for ‘growth’, but remains hobbled by Brexit
 
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Media
Telegraph Media Group  
Tory concern grows over potential sale of Telegraph titles to Abu Dhabi
Tory concern grows over potential sale of Telegraph titles to Abu Dhabi
Fox News  
Headaches as Lachlan Murdoch takes reins from father
Spotlight
Can UK’s hopes take off with a plane fuelled by used cooking oil?
'Jet zero?'  
Can UK’s hopes take off with a plane fuelled by used cooking oil?
Experts debate whether Tuesday’s transatlantic trip heralds a greener way to fly or a misguided stunt
Popular on business
‘It’s like buying an iPhone and not having a cable’: UK’s bid for net zero in the balance due to grid ‘blind spot’
‘It’s like buying an iPhone and not having a cable’: UK’s bid for net zero in the balance due to grid ‘blind spot’
The rise of undersea champagne: ‘I have never tasted such a wine in my life’
More than 2,500 jobs at risk in Lloyds shake-up
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