About a quarter of the investments announced by the government at this week’s summit appear to have been identified or launched before Labor came to power.
Ministers touted £63bn of investment and hosted hundreds of company bosses at a summit on Monday to showcase Britain’s pro-growth policies.
UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds touted the “record-breaking amount of investment secured at today’s summit”, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said: “At this summit Following the investment, my optimism for the UK is stronger than ever.
But analysis by The Guardian shows that £16.5 billion of this amount has been secured ahead of the July election.
One of the most valuable investments announced in a Department of Business and Trade (DBT) press release is asset manager Blackstone’s £10 billion data center in Byth, Northumberland.
However, Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson told the Guardian the deal was first announced by the Conservative-run council in April. He said it was surprising that the government did not give credit to the committee.
The department also announced a £2.5 billion investment from US data center developer CyrusOne. Plans for one of the CyrusOne data centers have been submitted to local authorities in 2022.
A DBT source stressed that while under the Conservatives the company had made some project details public, the pace of final investment announcements had accelerated under this government.
In another announcement, Turkish conglomerate Eren Holdings has confirmed a £1bn investment in the redevelopment of Shotton Mill in Deeside, North Wales. However, local authorities have approved expansion plans for 2022.
US nuclear engineering company Holtec has invested £325m to build a new factory in South Yorkshire, which will create hundreds of jobs, it is said. But the investment appears to have been planned before Labor came to power. The BBC reported in May that Holtec had selected four factory sites in the UK and would make a final decision in the autumn.
BW Group announced a new battery storage development in Hampshire last April, which was listed as one of the deals struck at the summit.
Imperial College London’s WestTech Corridor scheme, a center for science, technology and innovation, is also on the investment list, but the project was first announced in March, months before Labor came to power.
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A government spokesman said: “Every deal announced at our record-breaking international investment summit is a new and resolute commitment by business to investment in the UK and is a result of the actions taken by this government. .
“Leaders from many of these companies have praised our approach as a driver of their decision to contribute £63 billion of investment and nearly 38,000 jobs, delivering economic growth across the UK.”
Industry secretary Sarah Jones told the House of Commons after the summit: “£63 billion doesn’t lie.”
Addressing former Conservative business secretary Kevin Hollingrake, Jones said: “Let’s not forget that our summit on Monday was organized over a period of weeks… but the investment we received compared to last year’s summit was The amount is twice that.
The department also highlighted a £130m new development by consumer healthcare company Haleon in its announcement. However, the company announced in May that it would close a UK factory, resulting in 435 job losses, and move production to Slovakia.
Monday’s summit, held at the 15th-century Guildhall in central London, was attended by hundreds of bosses from global companies including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock and HSBC.
Top brass enjoyed an exclusive reception by King Charles, gourmet meals prepared by three-Michelin-starred chef Clare Smyth and a live performance by Elton John.
