Posted by johnlilburne on November 22, 2024, 1:34 pm
Keir Starmer @Keir_Starmer I'm determined to deliver growth, create wealth and put more money in people’s pockets.
This can only be achieved by working in partnership with leading businesses, like @BlackRock , to capitalise on the UK’s position as a world leading hub for investment.
Keir Starmer meets BlackRock boss Larry Fink in Downing Street
Discussions between ministers and asset manager’s board covered regulatory delays and boosting UK growth
Sir Keir Starmer has held talks in Downing Street with BlackRock chief executive Larry Fink, as the UK prime minister seeks to rebuild relations with business leaders after last month’s tax-raising Budget.
Several executives from the board of the world’s largest asset manager — including Mark Wilson, former boss of insurer Aviva, and Chuck Robbins, CEO of tech group Cisco — joined the meeting in Number 10 alongside chancellor Rachel Reeves and investment minister Poppy Gustaffsson on Thursday.
Starmer and Reeves asked for suggestions to boost growth rather than giving a sales pitch, according to people in the meeting.
BlackRock executives expressed concerns about regulatory delays for businesses, and urged the government to make it easier for global companies to compete in the UK, according to people with knowledge of the discussion.
The prime minister responded by outlining his plan to overhaul British regulators, streamline regulatory approval processes and make the regulatory framework more consistent, the people added.
He told the executives that a new unit in the UK Treasury would be set up to co-ordinate this work across government, according to officials at the meeting.
The UK government has been trying to win back business support after a Budget that raised £40bn in taxes and heaped more costs on to businesses, including a £25bn increase in employers’ national insurance contributions.
Starmer and Reeves both spent years in opposition wooing corporate leaders via a series of regular meetings, with the Labour leadership promising greater stability and a more pro-business approach than the previous Tory administration.
Starmer has insisted that his government will help companies by restoring stability to public finances, forcing regulators to take a more pro-growth approach, and consolidating small pension schemes to try to boost investment in UK infrastructure.
After the meeting, the prime minister said he welcomed BlackRock’s insights into “how we can put the UK on the world’s stage as a top investment destination” and turbo-charge growth.
BlackRock has this week been holding a series of board meetings in London — for the first time in 10 years — in what the government described as a “vote of confidence” in the UK. Around half the board stayed for the Downing Street meeting.
Fink has previously given his support to Labour, saying in October 2023 that Starmer had brought a “measurement of hope” to UK politics and demonstrated “great strength” in taking the party to the centre ground.
He said after the Number 10 meeting that he was “very proud of BlackRock’s long-standing UK presence”. The company has nearly 4,000 employees in the UK with offices in London, Edinburgh and — from next year — Birmingham.
The company, which has $11.5tn in assets under management globally, manages the retirement savings of more than 13mn people in the UK, including pension funds for British Airways, Rolls-Royce and Royal Mail.
Fink has largely steered clear of politics in recent years. He donated to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and gave to two Senate campaigns in 2022 — one Democrat and one Republican — but he has not donated in the 2024 cycle, according to OpenSecrets.com.
on November 22, 2024, 1:34 pm