PRESS RELEASE : Britain is open for business – Chancellor visits North America in investment drive [August 2024]

The press release issued by HM Treasury on 7 August 2024.

Rachel Reeves to bang the drum for Britain in visit to New York City and Toronto this week.

• Chancellor to share her vision for growth and champion UK sectoral strengths across financial services, clean energy and infrastructure to investors and CEOs.
• Trip to build momentum for the International Investment Summit on 14 October.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves on 5 August set off on a visit to New York and Toronto with the message that Britain is open for business.

She will meet with CEOs and senior representatives from major players across the US and Canada’s foremost industries, highlighting that early steps taken by the government to fix the foundations and restore economic stability makes the UK an attractive destination for investment.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves:

I’ve wasted no time in my first month in office in taking the difficult decisions necessary to fix the foundations of our economy, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of the country better off. That means restoring economic stability so we can attract the investment needed to create good jobs, boost wages, and improve opportunity across Britain.

There is no credible plan for growth without private sector investment. That’s why I’m breaking down barriers at home and banging the drum for Britain abroad as we gear up to host the International Investment Summit.

While in New York, the UK’s first female Chancellor of the Exchequer will meet with Wall Street leaders and host a reception to celebrate women in finance. The US is the UK’s biggest financial services trading partner, with UK exports to the US valued at £23.4bn annually. The sector is at the heart of the government’s core mission to deliver sustainable economic growth as a jewel in the crown of the UK economy and one of its success stories, contributing almost 10% of UK GVA and employing 1.2 million people.

In Toronto, the Chancellor will meet with names in the world of clean energy and infrastructure. The government’s mission to make Britain a Clean Energy Superpower will bring opportunities for economic growth whilst helping the UK meet its target of clean power by 2030. That mission has started in earnest with the creation of Great British Energy to partner with the private sector and secure the investment needed to accelerate the transition, the sweeping away of barriers to onshore wind farms, and a record £1.5 billion budget for this year’s renewable energy auction to get Britain building green.

During her time in the US and Canada, Reeves will point out that the government has moved quickly to create a stable environment where businesses have the confidence to invest in the UK. This has included reform of a planning system that has long frustrated investment, ending the ban on on-shore wind and the establishment of a National Wealth Fund, backed by £7.3 billion to catalyse further private investment in our world-leading green and growth industries of the future.

The UK is already Europe’s leading hub for investment, with UK markets raising more capital than the next two highest European exchanges combined in 2023. But the Chancellor heads to North America with a renewed purpose to build upon this, with it being announced yesterday that Britain is to play host to the International Investment Summit on 14 October.

In doing so, Reeves will be looking to deepen the strong economic relationship between Britain and the two North American countries. The United States is the largest source of foreign investment in the UK and the UK is the third largest investment destination for Canadian companies, whom invested more than $73 billion of FDI stock in 2021.