Summit tells me this is an admission of failure

AMPTON Court, the royal palace beloved by Henry VIII 500 years ago, played host to the government's Global Investment Summit yesterday.

- RICHARD MURPHY

Where King Henry romanced a few of his six wives, Rishi Sunak spent the day wooing foreign investors said to be putting £29.5billion into the UK economy.

Excuse my cynicism, but it is not quite the good news the Prime Minister would like us to believe.

Let me be clear, I have no objection in principle to foreign direct investment, it's been going on for centuries.

The Government is getting excited about investment from companies like Iberdrola (which owns Scottish Power) and BioNTech (which helped create the Pfizer Covid vaccine).

It is also hosting global financiers like Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and JP Morgan, all much beloved by the City of London, but not noted for adding a lot of value to our economy. 

The offer of a reception with the King at Buckingham Palace is what probably enticed most of these firms.

The Government will say we should get excited about the jobs this investment creates.

More quietly, they will be anxious for the taxes new employees of these firms might pay in the future.