British Prime Minister Keir Starmer holds a press conference while attending the 79th United Nations General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York, US on September 25, 2024.
Leon Neal | Via Reuters
The United Kingdom is pursuing investment from major US banks and tech giants, as the country looks to boost its sluggish economy.
“We now have a Labor government whose priority is wealth creation,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin in an exclusive broadcast interview Thursday.
“We are a group of workers who pride ourselves on being professional workers as much as we are professional workers.”
In July, Starmer became the first left-wing Labor leader to win a UK general election since Tony Blair – ending 14 years of Conservative rule. Since he was appointed, he said that the priority for him is economic stability.
While visiting New York City during the United Nations General Assembly, Starmer met with business leaders including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Microsoft President Brad Smith, and Blackstone President Jonathan Gray.
This week, Blackstone committed to investing $13 billion to build a data center in northeast England. The investment aims to create 4,000 jobs and lead to one of the largest data centers in Europe to power the growing demand for artificial intelligence.
“It’s a big sign of confidence,” Starmer told Sorkin of the deal. “And it’s in the north-east of England, which is important to us, because I’m looking for an economic boost outside of London.”
Starmer said the industries he is particularly working to attract investors to include renewables, artificial intelligence and life sciences. The call for investment comes as the Labor government prepares to present a budget plan in October, amid a sluggish economy.
Starmer’s government, in the early days of his tenure, flagged a £22 billion ($29 billion) budget deficit after his administration commissioned an audit. Former Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, of the Conservative Party, wrote in July to Simon Case, Britain’s chief of staff, labeling Labour’s claims about public finances “deeply troubling.”
Starmer has, more recently, been accused of being the worst on the UK economy, and Labour’s plans to ditch the UK’s non-domestic tax have also been criticized.
“We will stabilize the economy,” Starmer said on Thursday. “There will be tough decisions to be made when it comes to the budget.”
Earlier this week, Starmer’s plan to cut fuel surcharges for pensioners was rejected by his party in a symbolic vote at the Labor Party’s annual conference.
“Nobody wants to change the winter fuel allowance for pensioners. But by doing that, we’re stabilizing the economy,” Starmer told Sorkin.
“We can commit to what we call a triple lock, which means they get more money year after year.” The UK’s “triple lock” is where the state pension rises each year by 2.5%, the rate of inflation, or wage growth – whichever is higher.