The British Government announced on Monday about 29.5 billion pounds (34 billion euros) of new private investments in the country, at the beginning of the second edition of a summit that will bring together multinationals and investors in London.

The investments are earmarked for “technology, life sciences, infrastructure, housing and renewable energy projects, which will create thousands of new jobs and drive growth across the country,” the government said in a news release.

One week after announcing the tax reductions for particuliers in companies, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has assured, in an announcement on the opening of the sommet, that London’s fiscal policy is one of the main “competitive advantages” of United Kingdom.

“We are lowering taxes,” he said. “Not only do we have the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7, but last week we announced that we would make permanent tax cuts” for companies, the conservative leader argued.

During the budget presentation on Wednesday, under pressure from its own camp just months before elections in which the conservatives in power are poorly positioned, the government also revealed a reduction in household social security contributions.

However, the level of tax in the UK remains historically high following pandemic-related spending and support for energy bills since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt also dedicated £4.5 billion to aid strategic industrial sectors.

“Attracting international investment is at the heart of my economic growth plan,” Sunak said early Monday, quoted in the government’s press release.

The leader also celebrated on Monday that the investment promises received represent “more than triple” than during the first “World Investment Summit” organized two years earlier by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Among the investments announced on Monday are 7 billion pounds from the Spanish energy company Iberdrola, in offshore wind and electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure projects.

The American giant Microsoft plans to invest £2.5 billion in Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure, particularly in data centers.

Rishi Sunak, who wants to portray himself as a leader in technology and investment, organized the first global AI summit at Bletchley Park in the United Kingdom earlier this month.

The Conservative leader is also looking to boost his country’s appeal post-Brexit, announcing earlier this year a deal to join the CPTPP trans-Pacific free trade agreement, his most important trade partnership since leaving the EU.

Last week, Sunak was also able to count on an announcement from Japanese car giant Nissan, which will inject up to £2bn to build two new electric car models and an additional gigabattery factory in the UK.

This huge investment helps restore the image of a government that recently curbed its environmental ambitions, notably by postponing a ban on fossil fuel-powered cars for five years.

However, the British government continues to face persistent inflation, the highest in the G7 at 4.6% in October, and official growth forecasts have been slashed for next year, from 1.8% to 0.7%. %.

published on November 27 at 1:16 p.m., AFP

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