summit – Hoang Viet

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Oct 14 2024

Sir Keir Starmer to pledge to get rid of regulation that ‘holds back investment’ at business summit | UK News

The prime minister will pledge to get rid of regulation that “needlessly holds back investment” at a major business conference in London today.

The International Investment Summit will comprise more than £50bn of deal announcements – or roughly twice the £28bn unveiled at the previous comparable gathering held under the former Conservative administration, Sky News’ City Editor Mark Kleinman learned on Sunday.

It comes after a row over the transport secretary’s criticism of P&O Ferries reportedly jeopardised a £1bn investment by its Dubai-based owner DP World.

However the investment will go ahead and DP world’s chairman, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, will attend the conference after a frantic effort by UK ministers and diplomats to repair relations with the company.

The government is eager to show it is making progress on its mission to deliver economic growth after marking 100 days in office and ahead of the chancellor’s first budget on 30 October.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has warned of “tough decisions” at the spending review as Labour says it needs to plug a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives.

The government says that international investment will help with its goals to create jobs, improve living standards, and make communities and families across the country better off.

It will ask the Competition and Markets Authority to prioritise growth, investment and innovation, and will review the focus of other major regulators to “curb red tape” and put the UK “at the front of the queue” for opportunities.

In a keynote speech at the summit, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is expected to pitch Britain as a stable bet for investors, saying he will “do everything in my power to galvanise growth including getting rid of regulation that needlessly holds back investment”.

He will say: “We have a golden opportunity to use our mandate, to end chop and change, policy churn and sticking plasters that make it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition.

“We have the determination, the focus on clear long-term ends, a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock that potential. Do not doubt that.

“We are focusing on investment because the mission of growth, in this country especially, demands it. Private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country and pay our way in the world.”

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Five of the world’s biggest banks, private equity firms, insurers and tech giants gave a signal of support in a joint letter to The Times.

“We are optimistic about the future of the economy, and believe it is time to invest in Britain,” they said, citing greater stability and growth in the technology and energy sectors.

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Banks JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, insurers Aviva and L&G, and private equity firms including Blackstone and KKR are among the 14 signatories.

Labour has warned of “tough choices” to come in the budget and sparked fears of further cuts after it cut back winter fuel payments to pensioners.

There has been speculation as to which taxes could be raised in the budget after Labour committed not to increase national insurance, income tax or VAT.

Ms Reeves must also choose whether to amend fiscal rules to allow more borrowing to fund public spending.

Consumer health firm Haleon has announced a £130m investment in a new Global Oral Health Innovation centre in Weybridge, Surrey, to coincide with the summit.

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Oct 13 2024

Starmer to hail more than £50bn in investment at key summit | Business News

The government will on Monday welcome more than £50bn of investment in the British economy as Sir Keir Starmer tries to reset his administration after a first hundred days marked by scandal and infighting.

Sky News has learnt that the International Investment Summit in the City of London will comprise more than £50bn of deal announcements – or roughly twice the £28bn unveiled at the previous comparable gathering held under the former Conservative administration.

The total figure to be announced on Monday was still being finalised this weekend amid continuing negotiations with companies.

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Sources said, however, that the final amount would “certainly” be in excess of £50bn.

The summit will be attended by executives from globally important companies such as Alphabet, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Deepmind.

In recent days, a row emerged involving DP World, which had been planning to announce a £1bn investment in the London Gateway port.

The company threatened to cancel its attendance at the conference and review the investment in the wake of comments by the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, labelling its P&O Ferries subsidiary “a rogue operator”.

After Downing Street officials intervened, the dispute appeared to have been resolved this weekend, with the investment proceeding.

Sky News can also reveal that the summit will include a behind-closed-doors session chaired by the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, and a number of chief executives.

The group will, according to insiders, jointly scrutinise a green paper on industrial strategy that will also be published on Monday.

One invitee said they had been “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 at the heart of policymaking.

“That’s why we’re getting them around the table before the strategy is published, so it works for the industries it’s designed to benefit.”

On Friday, Sky News revealed that Sir Keir would use his speech at the investment summit to say that his administration will scrutinise watchdogs across a range of industries to ensure that they are not acting as barriers to growth.

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Sir Keir is said by officials to be determined to deliver the message that regulators such as Ofwat, Ofgem, the Prudential Regulation Authority and the Competition and Markets Authority should be focused on the competitiveness of the UK economy.

The event is being seen as a test of Labour’s economic agenda in the eyes of investors which wield influence over the destination of trillions of pounds of investment funding.

His speech will come, however, against the backdrop of a financial crisis at Thames Water, Britain’s biggest water utility, which is backed by sovereign wealth funds and pension funds from countries including Abu Dhabi, Canada and China.

Reports in recent weeks have suggested that global investors have become 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 cybersecurity company Darktrace, as investment minister, ensuring that the government avoided the ignominy of staging Monday’s summit without a minister for investment being in place.

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Clare Barclay, who leads Microsoft’s operations in the UK, has been appointed to chair a new Industrial Strategy Council.

Officials declined to comment on Sunday on the headline figures that would be announced at the summit.

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Sep 6 2024

Home secretary to chair summit on smuggling gangs following deaths in Channel | Politics News

The home secretary will meet with ministers and members of law enforcement for an operational summit that will set out the government’s plan to tackle small boats in the Channel.

Yvette Cooper will be joined by at the headquarters of the National Crime Agency in London by Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Attorney General Lord Hermer as well as representatives from the NCA, Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

“Smashing the gangs” was one of Sir Keir Starmer’s key pledges to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel after his party pledged to scrap the Conservatives’ Rwanda scheme to send those arriving illegally into the UK to the African nation.

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Shortly after taking office, Labour announced it would divert tens of millions of pounds from the Rwanda scheme to set up a new Border Security Command (BSC) in a bid to tackle illegal migration.

The party is also pressing ahead with the previous government’s plan to reopen two immigration centres in a bid to stop small boat crossings.

The summit on Friday comes following the deaths of at least 12 people in the Channel this week, including 10 women and girls.

Part of the government’s strategy will be to look at how smugglers operate and how the government can better collaborate with Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency.

Ms Cooper said: “Exploiting vulnerable people is at the heart of the business model of these despicable criminal smuggling gangs. Women and children were packed into an unsafe boat which literally collapsed in the water this week. At least 12 people were killed as part of this evil trade. We will not rest until these networks have been dismantled and brought to justice.  

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“The last two months has seen encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe. But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners. 

“At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced.”  

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Jul 17 2024

Starmer says ‘new approach’ to Europe begins at Blenheim Palace summit – with focus on Putin and people smuggling | Politics News

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to “fire the starting gun” on a closer relationship with Europe as he hosts a major summit, set to focus on Ukraine and migration.

The prime minister will welcome at least 45 European leaders to Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire for a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC), which was set up in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

All European countries – barring Russia and Belarus – are invited to the summit, intended to galvanise support for Ukraine, where fighting is expected to intensify over the summer.

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It comes just days after the attempt on Donald Trump’s life in the US appears to have transformed the race for the White House, and raised concerns about a Republican administration cutting financial support for Kyiv.

But the summit is also seen as a golden opportunity for the new government to discuss a European security pact, and easing burdens on trade with the EU – two of Sir Keir’s stated priorities which Downing Street said might otherwise have taken months.

Ahead of the summit, the prime minister said the Europe-wide challenge of illegal migration and people smuggling gangs was one the UK would take a leading role in addressing – an issue Rishi Sunak had put high on the agenda at the summit’s previous meetings.

After scrapping the Conservatives’s plan to send failed asylum seekers to Rwanda, Sir Keir will announce the redeployment of 100 Home Office staff working on that policy to a new “rapid returns unit” to send those ineligible to be in the UK to their home countries.

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Sir Keir will say: “We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future. That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe.

“The EPC will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach to Europe, one that will not just benefit us now, but for generations to come, from dismantling the people smuggling webs trafficking people across Europe, to standing up to Putin’s barbaric actions in Ukraine and destabilising activity across Europe.

“My government was elected with a mandate for change. I asked the British people to judge me by my actions, not words. This meeting of European leaders is an opportunity to push on and begin delivering on the people’s priorities. We will only be able to secure our borders, drive economic growth and defend our democracies if we work together.”

Last week, announcing his priorities for the summit, Sir Keir said Europe cannot be “spectators in this chapter of history”.

Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is symbolic as the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill who, ministers will point out, stood up to tyranny in Europe. It was also used by MI5 during the Second World War.

This is the EPC’s fourth summit and arguably its most ambitious, with the leaders of NATO and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe also attending.

King Charles and Queen Camilla will host a reception for European leaders in the afternoon.

Sir Keir spoke about his interest in securing a defence and security pact with the EU in Washington this month, although he stressed that NATO was “still the cornerstone of our defence in Europe”.

He has promised closer trade ties with the EU. In a sign of its importance, he has also created the post of minister for European relations, and given it to his ally Nick Thomas-Symonds.

Although no formal statement is expected at the end of the summit, several one-on-one meetings are planned.

On Wednesday night, Sir Keir met the Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris, and he will have dinner with Emmanuel Macron at Blenheim. He is also expected to meet with the prime minister of Poland.

Sir Keir’s focus on migration, just after announcing a Border Security Bill in the King’s Speech to tackle smuggling gangs, reflects the issue soaring up Europe’s agenda.

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The new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings and the Tories left us with gimmick rather than grip.

“We will work right across Europe to tackle this problem at source, going after those profiting from this awful trade and bringing them to justice.”

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May 15 2023

UK pledges hundreds of new attack drones to Ukraine ahead of Zelenskyy-Sunak summit | World News

The UK has pledged to send hundreds of new long-range attack drones to Ukraine ahead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Rishi Sunak today.

The Ukrainian president will meet Mr Sunak at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat, for “substantive negotiations” over military aid.

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The government said Mr Sunak will confirm today the further provision of hundreds of air defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems, including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km.

Mr Sunak said it was a “crucial moment” in Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion, adding: “We must not let them down.”

It comes as Mr Zelenskyy embarks on a multi-stop European tour for more support from allies, as Kyiv prepares for its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Mr Zelenskyy tweeted ahead of his arrival, describing the UK as a “leader” when it comes to Ukraine expanding its capabilities on the ground and in the air.

The UK government’s announcement of further military aid follows last week’s confirmation that it has donated long-range precision missiles to Ukraine’s military.

The government said the further provisions which will be confirmed later today will be delivered in the coming months.

On Saturday, the German government promised Kyiv its biggest military support package so far, with further arms deliveries worth €2.7bn (£2.35bn).

France also pledged further military aid, as French president Emmanuel Macron and Mr Zelenskyy met in a surprise summit in Paris on Sunday.

Mr Macron’s office said France will supply dozens of light tanks and armoured vehicles “in the weeks ahead”, without giving specific numbers.

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Fierce fighting in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut, which has inflicted heavy losses on both sides, continues.

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow’s forces have been able to take full control of the city despite months of fighting, as analysis suggesting the battle for the city is not about seizing ground but maximising enemy casualties.

Mr Zelenskyy has said his troops would not attack Russian territory as part of their counteroffensive.

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