Reeves to pitch UK to G20 finance ministers as ‘beacon of stability'
As well as talks with finance ministers, the Treasury said Ms Reeves is expected to meet representatives from major South African businesses in Johannesburg, setting out Britain's stall as pro-growth and open to 'elite global talent'.
Ahead of the trip, she said: 'In a changing world, I am determined Britain leads by example as a beacon of stability.
'Our plan for change is delivering the strong foundations needed to drive prosperity for working people at home, while we build a more resilient economy that works in our national interest abroad.'
The G20 meeting comes at a rocky time for the Chancellor. After growing 0.7% in the first three months of 2025, the economy has since shrunk in the face of global and domestic challenges while inflation hit an 18-month high in June.
Meanwhile, global uncertainty persists with the threat of US tariffs and the ongoing impact of the war in Ukraine.
Seeking to improve economic ties with the G20, Ms Reeves is expected to talk up the Government's new trade and industrial strategies, along with investment in infrastructure and plans set out on Tuesday to cut regulation for financial services.
She said: 'By doubling down on our global strengths in financial services, infrastructure and trade, we're creating the conditions for growth that creates the well-paid jobs and puts more money in people's pockets – even in the face of global headwinds.'
Ms Reeves is also expected to express her support for multilateral institutions such as the G20 as the best way of meeting global challenges.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Thames Water faces rocketing demand for supplies
Thames Water has warned that plans to build 100 new data centres across London and the South East will pile more pressure on its creaking infrastructure. The utility giant said it had identified 108 'hyper or large' data centres that will drive up demand in its region, with bosses suggesting it will have to manage water supplies carefully to ensure there is no impact on households. Each data centre is equivalent to thousands of homes being added to a water network, meaning the pipeline of new data centres is on par with a new small city being built. In its annual report, Thames Water said that building data centres 'needs to be carefully managed from a demand and UK growth perspective'. The company, which is battling to avoid nationalisation amid pressure from a £17bn debt pile, has previously raised the prospect of rationing water use for data centres or charging more at peak times. Data centres contain giant racks of computer servers that need to be cooled to avoid overheating, often with water piped in. The facilities are crucial to the rise of artificial intelligence and are a key priority for Sir Keir Starmer's growth push. However, the vast number being built has sparked concern among water companies such as Thames Water, which is now engaging with the Government to prevent potential shortages in future. 'The south-east of England is a water-stressed region and data centres can use a vast amount of water, equivalent to the usage of thousands of homes at peak draw,' a Thames Water spokesman said. 'With a large proportion of the proposed data centres earmarked to be built in the Thames Water region, it brings a challenge between safeguarding our finite resources while supporting the UK's growth strategy. 'It is important that we work collaboratively to meet this challenge and to avoid exacerbating water stress and impacting service for customers and the environment.' 'We are engaging with the Government regarding the challenge of water demand related to cooling data centres and how this can be mitigated. We are also working with a number of data centre providers about opportunities to reduce demand through innovation.' A corridor of land between London and Slough, much of which is served by Thames Water, contains Britain's densest collection of data centres. An independent review of the water sector last week cited data centres as one of the factors that are likely to mean water bills rising by 30pc over the next five years. The report, by Sir Jon Cunliffe, a former deputy governor of the Bank of England, said that national infrastructure bodies should be consulted when deciding where to build them. The Government has welcomed investment in new data centres, including designating them as critical national infrastructure. Thames Water last week started a hosepipe ban for more than 1 million people in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Wiltshire. The company is also seeking to agree a rescue deal with creditors, but has warned it may fall into special administration if talks between the lenders and regulator Ofwat fail.
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Britain risks following France into a terrifying debt crisis
Last week brought more bad news about the UK's public finances. June's figures for public sector borrowing came in at £20.7bn, well above the OBR's forecast and City expectations. What's more, £16.4bn of this was accounted for by debt interest payments. Yes, that's right: £16.4bn in one month. We are borrowing enormous sums to pay the interest on past borrowings of enormous sums. We are getting dangerously close to what economists call 'the debt trap'. This is when, under the pressure of rising debt interest payments, the debt ratio starts to explode. It goes without saying that it is good to avoid this, if you can. But can we? Be warned, you may need a ready supply of hot towels for this next bit. The key players in the debt drama are: the budget deficit, the debt ratio, the growth rate of the economy in money terms (which is equal to the real growth rate plus the rate of inflation) and the rate at which the Government can borrow. If the rate at which the Government borrows exceeds the growth of the economy (in nominal terms), then debt interest payments and the overall debt will rise as a share of GDP. In order to stop this process from leading to an ever-higher debt ratio, the Government must run a primary budget surplus (meaning a surplus on its budget without interest payments), requiring higher taxes and/or cuts in government spending. And the higher the initial debt ratio, the larger the surplus needs to be to stabilise the debt ratio. The debt dynamics are merciless. When emerging market countries become stuck in the debt trap, the result is usually default or much higher inflation, or both. Remarkably, given our pitifully low to non-existent real growth rate, the nominal growth of GDP (i.e. expressed in money terms), exceeds the average rate at which the Government borrows by a small margin. Phew! But this is somewhat misleading because the average cost of government debt is heavily influenced by past borrowing, some of which was at lower interest rates. When this debt matures, there is a risk that it will be refinanced at higher interest rates. So we are currently just avoiding the debt trap, but with the deficit so large, the debt ratio is still rising. In these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that the gloom is still gathering about the fiscal prospects that the Chancellor faces in the Budget this autumn. It hardly makes our position any better, but we are not alone. Amid all this domestic pessimism, few people have noticed what is happening to our close neighbour across the channel. France is facing a fiscal predicament every bit as serious as ours. For a start, France's ratio of government debt to GDP is higher than ours – 113pc of GDP compared with our 100pc. And its deficit is higher too – 5.8pc last year compared to our 5.1pc. And ours is set to be just under 4pc this year. In both countries, GDP growth has been weak, and prospects are clouded with uncertainty. The one area where France is better positioned is the cost of borrowing, and this really does show the weakness of the UK's position. Whereas 10-year bond yields here are 4.6pc, in France they stand at about 3.5pc, similar to other euro-zone members. In this regard, however, something extraordinary has been happening. French yields have been converging on Italy's. The gap between them is now only 0.18pc, the lowest for almost 20 years. It doesn't seem too fanciful to imagine that French yields will soon surpass Italy's. Admittedly, after a recent period of comparatively strong growth, it looks as though Italian economic growth is set to be slower than growth in France, returning to the long-established norm. That certainly does not make the job of stabilising the public finances any easier. And, at 135pc of GDP, Italy's debt ratio is a good deal higher than in France. But Italy possesses two striking advantages. First, its fiscal deficit is only 3.4pc of GDP, compared to France's 5.8pc. And excluding interest payments (the so-called primary budget), it is in a surplus of 0.5pc, compared to France's deficit of 3.7pc. The result is that to stabilise the debt ratio, Italy needs to tighten the budget deficit (through a mixture of higher taxes and expenditure cuts) by only 0.5pc of GDP. By contrast, to stabilise her debt ratio, France needs to tighten fiscal policy by over 3pc of GDP by 2027. Italy's second advantage is surprising to anyone who has followed Italian politics over the past 80 years. She seems to be more politically stable than France. Giorgia Meloni looks likely to be Italy's first post-war prime minister to complete their term. In France, there have been six prime ministers since 2020, and the current incumbent, Francois Bayrou, who heads a minority government, could be ousted any time soon. He recently announced a plan to tighten French fiscal policy by 1.5pc of GDP. By comparison, Rachel Reeves' Budget last October increased taxes by 1.2pc of GDP, but this was more than offset by increases in public expenditure. There is little chance of the proposed French tightening getting through parliament unscathed. The failure to pass a budget for next year, leading to the fall of the present government, could cause French bond yields to flare up. And then there is the presidential election in 2027. On voting intentions in the first round, Jordan Bardella, the likely candidate of Marine Le Pen's National Rally, is well ahead of the other candidates. Obviously, there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. But if the markets were to view a victory for the National Rally as likely, then they would surely send French bond yields much higher, thereby putting France in a dangerous fiscal position. We cannot gloat. There but for the grace of God go all of us.
South Wales Argus
3 hours ago
- South Wales Argus
Tories would ban doctors' strikes, Badenoch says
The Tory leader said that her party would introduce primary legislation to block medics from taking widespread industrial action, placing the same restrictions on them that apply to police officers and soldiers. Thousands of resident doctors, previously known as junior doctors, began a five-day walkout on Friday after relations between the Government and British Medical Association (BMA) soured over a dispute about pay. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has said the union will not be allowed to 'hold the country to ransom' after receiving a 28.9% pay award over the last three years, the highest across the public sector. The BMA says, despite this uplift, pay for resident doctors has declined by a fifth since 2008 once inflation is taken into account. NHS resident doctors outside Bristol Royal Infirmary (Ben Birchall/PA) On Saturday, the Conservatives said they would reintroduce minimum service level requirements, which were brought in by the previous government and scrapped by Labour, across the health service. Mrs Badenoch said: 'The BMA has become militant, these strikes are going too far, and it is time for action. 'Doctors do incredibly important work. 'Medicine is a vocation, not just a job. 'That is why in government we offered a fair deal that supported doctors, but protected taxpayers too.' She said the Tories were 'making an offer in the national interest, we will work with the Government to face down the BMA to help protect patients and the NHS.' Patients have been urged to attend appointments unless told otherwise while the action is ongoing, with NHS England saying hospitals are aiming to reschedule any cancellations due to strikes within two weeks. Mr Streeting has warned of a challenging few days for the health service but said 'we are doing everything we can to minimise' harm.
