The UK is not “bullish” enough about selling itself on the world stage, Kemi Badenoch said as she urged investors to ignore “doom-laden” pronouncements about the British economy.
The Business Secretary told chief executives at the Global Investment Summit that the Government understood it needed to create an environment to let companies thrive but then “get out of the way” to let firms succeed.
Investors gathered at Hampton Court Palace and tucked into an afternoon tea from luxury retailer Fortnum & Mason as they listened to the Business Secretary.
“British people are too often too modest about our own country. I didn’t think we’re bullish enough about selling the UK’s strengths,” she told the summit.
“Those who know me know that I don’t have this problem.”
The Government knew that its role was to “create the conditions for business to succeed”, Ms Badenoch said.
“More often than not the Government’s role should be to get out of the way and let you do what you do best,” she said.
“We need to listen, to understand, to enable you to make long-term investment decisions with certainty.”
The Business Secretary said firms should “ignore the doom-laden voices that you may hear”, and instead look at the UK as a country which has had the “third-fastest growth in the G7 since 2010 and a faster recovery from Covid than Germany”.
“Let’s not forget that people said Nissan would leave the UK because of Brexit,” she said.
“As we saw on Friday they could not have been more wrong.”
The Japanese carmaker has set out plans to build a new generation of electric vehicles in Sunderland.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt used his appearance at the summit to say the UK will be a “global leader” in the fastest-growing industries this century – tech, life sciences, creative industries and clean energy.
He said: “I think the reason why people can see the Prime Minister and I often say we want to be a science and technology superpower, we want to be the world’s next Silicon Valley, is that there are two very special things that we have in the UK.
“Outside the US we have the most respected universities in the world… four of the world’s top 20.
“And outside the US we have the world’s largest concentration of financial services companies.
“And that gives us an opportunity to be at the hub of global innovation.”
