British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks on CNBC’s Squawk Box on September 27, 2024.
CNBC
Britain is seeking investment from America’s biggest banks and tech giants as it seeks to inject growth into its stagnant economy.
“We now have a Labor government that has made wealth creation its number one priority,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an exclusive broadcast interview on Thursday.
“We are a Labor party that is as proud to be pro-business as we are pro-labor.”
In July, Starmer became the first centre-left Labor leader to win a British national election since Tony Blair, ending 14 years of Conservative government. Since being elected, he has said economic stability is his top priority.
Starmer, who visited New York City during the United Nations General Assembly, was joined by Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Microsoft President Brad Smith and Blackstone. He met with business leaders including Jonathan Gray, president of the company.
this week, Blackstone commits $13 billion investment The company will build a data center in the north-east of England. This investment will create 4,000 jobs and One of the largest data centers in Europe Meet the rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence.
“This is a huge sign of confidence,” Starmer told Sorkin about the deal. “It’s also in the north-east of England, which is important to us because I want to drive the economy outside of London.”
Mr Starmer said industries he was particularly working on attracting investment included renewable energy, artificial intelligence and life sciences. The call for investment comes as the Labor government prepares to unveil its Budget in October, grappling with the economic downturn.
Starmer’s government found a funding shortfall of 22 billion pounds ($29 billion) after conducting an audit at the beginning of his administration. Former Conservative Party finance minister Jeremy Hunt spoke out in July. I wrote a letter to Simon Case.Britain’s top civil servant has labeled Labour’s claims on finances as “deeply worrying”.
Mr Starmer has recently been accused of being too passive on the UK economy, and has also been criticized for Labour’s plans to scrap the UK’s non-national tax system.
“We will stabilize the economy,” Starmer said on Thursday. “There will be even more difficult decisions to be made regarding the budget.”
Earlier this week, Mr Starmer’s plans to cut payments to offset fuel costs for pensioners were rejected by the party in a symbolic vote at Labour’s annual conference.
Mr Starmer told Mr Sorkin: “Nobody wants to change the winter fuel allowance for pensioners, but it would stabilize the economy.”
“We can commit to what’s called a triple lock, which means they can get more money every year.” Britain’s “triple lock” means that the state pension is It will increase by 2.5%, the inflation rate, or income growth, whichever is higher.
