On Monday, the government will welcome more than £50bn of investment into the British economy as Sir Keir Starmer tries to reshape his administration after a first hundred days marred by scandal and infighting.
Sky News has learned that the International Investment Summit in the City of London will feature more than £50bn of deal announcements – or roughly double the £28bn presented at the previous comparable gathering held under the former Conservative administration.
The total figure, which was due to be announced on Monday, was still being finalized this weekend amid ongoing negotiations with the companies.
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However, sources said the final sum would “certainly” be more than £50bn.
The meeting will be attended by heads of globally significant companies such as Alphabet, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Deepmind.
In recent days, a scandal involving DP World arosewhich was planning to announce a £1bn investment in London Gateway.
The company threatened to cancel its presence at the conference and review the investment following comments by Transport Secretary Louise Hay branding its subsidiary P&O Ferries a “disloyal operator”.
After Downing Street officials intervened, the dispute appeared to be resolved this weekend with the investiture procedure.
Sky News can also reveal that the summit will include a closed-door session chaired by Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds and a number of chief executives.
Jonathan Reynolds will meet with business leaders behind closed doors. Photo: Reuters
The group, people familiar with the matter said, will jointly consider a green paper on industrial strategy, which will also be published on Monday.
One of the invitees said they were “asked to mark the government’s homework”.
A source close to Mr Reynolds said: “When the Business Secretary said this Government would work in partnership with business, he meant it.
“We respect the expertise of business leaders and want their voice to inform policymaking.
“That’s why we’re bringing them to the table before the strategy is published so it works for the industries it’s intended to benefit.”
On Friday, Sky News revealed that Sir Keir will use his speech at the investment summit to say so his administration will scrutinize observers across a range of industries to ensure that they do not act as barriers to growth.
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Officials say Sir Keir is determined to get the message across that regulators such as Ofwat, Ofgem, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority must focus on the competitiveness of the UK economy.
The event is seen as a test of Labour’s economic agenda in the eyes of investors who influence the direction of trillions of pounds of investment funding.
However, his speech will come against the backdrop of financial crisis at Thames Waterthe UK’s largest water company, which is backed by sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from countries including Abu Dhabi, Canada and China.
Reports in recent weeks suggest that global investors are so alarmed by Ofwat’s approach to the Thames Water crisis that they are reluctant to commit further sums to British infrastructure projects.
On Thursday, the government appointed Poppy Gustafsson, the former boss of cyber security firm Darktrace, as investment minister, ensuring the government avoided the embarrassment of hosting Monday’s summit without an investment minister.
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Clare Barclay, who leads Microsoft’s UK operations, has been appointed chair of a new Industrial Strategy Board.
Officials declined to comment Sunday on the key figures to be announced at the summit.
