As part of last week’s King’s Speech, Labour announced several initiatives geared towards growing the UK economy, including a £7.3bn National Wealth Fund (NWF).
The fund, which was a key pledge in the party’s manifesto, has already been allocated so investments can be made as soon as possible in areas such as ports, manufacturing and renewable energy.
The party has been working on the fund with the help of a task force of business leaders, including the Aviva chief executive, Amanda Blanc, the Barclays chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, and the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
Where is the money going?
Roughly £7.3bn state funding will be provided by the Treasury.
- £2.5bn for Britain’s steel industry
- £1.8bn for upgrading ports and supply chains
- £1.5bn for gigafactories
- £1bn for carbon capture technologies
- £500m for green hydrogen production
The aim is to attract £3 of private money for every £1 of public funding put in by the NWF. If this is successful, the total investments will go up to about £29bn....