Latest news with #NationalWealthFund
Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Times
Business live: UK borrowing rises more than expected to £20.7bn in June
The Sizewell C nuclear plant in Suffolk has got the go-ahead at an estimated cost of £38 billion, with the taxpayer taking a 44.9 per cent stake in the project. British Gas owner Centrica will take a 15 per cent equity stake, British investment manager Amber Infrastructure 7.6 per cent, and Canada's La Caisse 20 per cent, alongside France's EDF with a previously announced 12.5 per cent. The National Wealth Fund is to provide the majority of debt financing alongside Bpifrance Assurance Export. The government said that Sizewell C would power the equivalent of six million homes and support 10,000 jobs once operational. It is a copy of the plant under construction at Hinkley Point C in Somerset, the costs of which are estimated to have ballooned to as much as £48 billion. The government borrowed £20.7 billion in June, £6.6 billion more than in the month last year and the second-highest June borrowing since monthly records began in 1993, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. The highest borrowing for the month was in 2020 during the pandemic. Economists had forecast borrowing of £16.5 billion. Interest payable on government debt increased by £8.4 billion year-on-year to £16.4 billion. Borrowing in the financial year so far was £57.8 billion. This was £7.5 billion more than in the same three-month period of 2024 and the third-highest April to June borrowing since monthly records began. The figures bolster the chances of Rachel Reeves announcing further tax rises at the autumn budget. Asian stock markets were subdued after America's S&P 500 and Nasdaq notched record-high closes with investors still wary about the outcome of tariff talks between the US and its trading partners. Stock markets in China gained a little, with the SSE Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both up 0.4 per cent. However, the Nikkei 225 slid 0.4 per cent as investors reacted to the ruling coalition's defeat in upper house elections at the weekend following a holiday on Monday. South Korea's Kospi was 1.7 per cent lower after the country's industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said tariff talks with the US are in a critical phase that could result in all kinds of possible scenarios. America is among its biggest markets for exports. The FTSE 100 is forecast to open around 24 points lower. Futures point to stock markets in Germany and France opening down as well.
Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Times
Britain is missing its chance to divert investment from America
The uncertainty around the US economy created by President Trump's trade war and his domestic agenda should be a golden opportunity for the UK to attract more international capital. John Flint, the outgoing chief executive of Britain's National Wealth Fund, which has been capitalised with £28 billion to help accelerate private investment into the UK's clean energy and growth industries, told MPs last week: 'The world has got very strange in the last few months. The UK looks good right now on a relative or comparative basis. 'There is a government with a big majority, institutions that work, respect for the rule of law … The biggest consumer of capital internationally [America] is on a different track right now. We have a window and a moment where we can appear to be different.' However, the view among some powerful Wall Street investors is that while more opportunities for investing outside the US would be welcome, the UK government hasn't given them any good reason to deploy their capital. As one Wall Street executive told me: 'I think the UK has really significant challenges. It's not leading in enough places to attract capital. It doesn't have the innovation engine going and it has other structural challenges still lingering: inflation, very sluggish growth, very high social spend. 'They've got an entitlements problem, just like we have an entitlements problem. But we have a more innovative, dynamic economy. I don't see a real plan. And they're chasing away capital, not attracting capital.' Flint, who is due to leave his role in August, told MPs that the UK does not yet have a list of investable projects ready to present to prospective investors. When asked how long it would take to create the list, he said: 'I cannot give you an answer, because it depends on so many different factors. Planning is one of them, which I know the government are reforming.' Meanwhile, the government has no apparent plan to stop the decline in UK-listed growth companies. Overseas takeovers of UK-listed companies have accelerated, while those companies have not been replaced with new listings. Worryingly, it was revealed last week that Sir Pascal Soriot, chief executive of AstraZeneca, Britain's most valuable public company, would like to move its stock market listing to the United States. The government's series of U-turns and the rebellion within the Labour Party over welfare reforms have not helped improve the UK's image to global investors, instead raising questions about the government's ability to manage spending. The uproar on Wall Street over Trump's 'liberation day' tariffs in April raised hopes elsewhere that Europe could reverse the increase in global inflows to the US since the pandemic. The US received 41 per cent of global gross capital inflows in 2022-23, the highest share of any country and nearly double its pre-pandemic share of 23 per cent, according to the US Council of Economic Advisers. So far this year, outflows from US equity funds have more than doubled to nearly $87 billion, while more than $100 billion has flowed into European equity funds — up threefold on the same period last year, analysis from LSEG's Lipper Fund research database showed. However, Wall Street is warning that the minor reallocation of capital from the US at the start of the year could be coming to an end as the early impact of Trump's tariffs is less severe than feared. Stuart Kaiser, Citi's head of US equity trading strategy, said: 'There was a period of probably six out of nine weeks where you saw net selling of US ETFs [exchange-traded funds] and long-term mutual funds. So I think the initial shock of the tariff headlines did hurt consumer sentiment and did hurt investor sentiment, but it does also feel like those investors are kind of re-engaging back in.' The UK cannot only rely on America's problems alone to attract more investment. Policymakers need to come up with a catalyst to entice more investment away from the US. Louisa Clarence-Smith is US Business Editor of The Times
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Reeves pours millions into Peak District carbon capture scheme
Rachel Reeves's National Wealth Fund is pouring millions of pounds into a major carbon capture scheme in the Peak District as Labour ploughs ahead with its ambitious net zero push. The Chancellor has announced plans to invest £28.6m in the Peak Cluster project, which will eventually see emissions from cement and lime factories in the area stored deep below the Irish Sea. Ministers said the scheme, which is the world's largest cement decarbonisation project, would prevent more than 3m tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere every year while ensuring a secure domestic supply of cement and lime products, which are critical to the UK's construction and manufacturing industries. Cement and lime are two of the most difficult industrial sectors to decarbonise because of the high levels of carbon dioxide produced during the manufacturing process, which cannot be replaced by alternative green fuels. It marks the National Wealth Fund's first investment in carbon capture since Ms Reeves identified the process as a strategic priority earlier this year. The Government has pledged to spend up to £22bn on carbon capture and storage projects over the next 25 years. Carbon capture – where CO2 emissions are captured at source before being transported and stored underground – is viewed as a key way of preventing emissions from power stations and energy-intensive industries from being released into the atmosphere. However, the Government's focus on carbon capture is controversial given the technology remains experimental. In a report earlier this year, MPs branded carbon capture 'unproven' and accused Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, of taking a high-risk 'gamble'. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the technology had never been tested, was likely to prove very expensive and may not work. It also warned of a 'significant' impact on consumer bills. The £22bn pledge equates to £800 per UK household, though this cost would be spread over a number of years. Nevertheless, Mr Miliband has put carbon capture at the heart of his plan to decarbonise Britain's power system by 2030. Ministers hope it will help to strip up to 30m tonnes of CO2 from the country's emissions by the end of the decade and more than 100m tonnes by 2050. Alongside doubts over the effectiveness of carbon capture, the Government has also faced criticism from campaign groups such as Greenpeace, who argue that the process simply prolongs the life of fossil fuel industries and say the money should be spent on green energy projects such as offshore wind instead. Ministers said the Peak Cluster project will create around 1,500 new jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the North West and support a further 2,000 existing roles. The taxpayer funding comes alongside £31m from private backers including Japan's Sumitomo Corporation and local partners such as Tarmac and Breedon. Mr Miliband said: 'This landmark investment will catalyse our carbon capture sector to deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs and growth across our industrial heartlands, as part of our Plan for Change. 'Workers in the North Sea and Britain's manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country's industrial renewal, positioning them at the forefront of the UK's clean energy transition.' The National Wealth Fund will invest at least £5.8bn in net zero projects including carbon capture, hydrogen, gigafactories and electric vehicle supply chains by the end of the decade.
South Wales Guardian
07-07-2025
- Business
- South Wales Guardian
National Wealth Fund to put £28m into carbon capture project
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said that workers in 'Britain's manufacturing heartlands' will benefit from the investment in the Peak Cluster works. Peak Cluster is working towards a pipeline that will take carbon emissions from cement and lime companies in the Peak District and store them below the Irish Sea. The £28.6 million is coming from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) a body announced by the Government last year with £27.8 billion to invest in clean energy and growth industries, in the hope of catalysing other private investment. Peak Cluster is also backed by £31 million from the private sector, the Treasury said, and will be the NWF's first investment in carbon capture, since Rachel Reeves said in March that it should be a priority. The Chancellor said: 'We're modernising the cement and lime industry, delivering vital carbon capture infrastructure and creating jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the North West to put more money into working people's pockets.' Energy Secretary Ed Miliband described the investment as a 'landmark' that could help 'deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs'. 'Workers in the North Sea and Britain's manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country's industrial renewal, positioning them at the forefront of the UK's clean energy transition,' he added.
Glasgow Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Glasgow Times
National Wealth Fund to put £28m into carbon capture project
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said that workers in 'Britain's manufacturing heartlands' will benefit from the investment in the Peak Cluster works. Peak Cluster is working towards a pipeline that will take carbon emissions from cement and lime companies in the Peak District and store them below the Irish Sea. The £28.6 million is coming from the National Wealth Fund (NWF) a body announced by the Government last year with £27.8 billion to invest in clean energy and growth industries, in the hope of catalysing other private investment. Peak Cluster is also backed by £31 million from the private sector, the Treasury said, and will be the NWF's first investment in carbon capture, since Rachel Reeves said in March that it should be a priority. The Chancellor said: 'We're modernising the cement and lime industry, delivering vital carbon capture infrastructure and creating jobs across Derbyshire, Staffordshire and the North West to put more money into working people's pockets.' Energy Secretary Ed Miliband described the investment as a 'landmark' that could help 'deliver thousands of highly skilled jobs'. 'Workers in the North Sea and Britain's manufacturing heartlands will drive forward the country's industrial renewal, positioning them at the forefront of the UK's clean energy transition,' he added.
