Business
US to invest £150bn in UK, promising thousands of jobs
A record-breaking £150bn package of US investment into the UK has been announced during US President Donald Trump’s State Visit.
The UK government is calling this the largest commercial deal of its kind and expects it to create more than 7600 “high-quality jobs” across the country.
A large majority of the money will come from Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, which has unveiled plans for a £90bn investment in the UK over the next decade.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the investments “are a testament to Britain’s economic strength and a bold signal that our country is open, ambitious, and ready to lead”.
“Jobs, growth and opportunity is what I promised for working people, and it’s exactly what this State Visit is delivering,” he added.
On Thursday, major UK and US investors will meet the Prime Minister and President Trump at Chequers to discuss how both countries can go further to deepen their economic ties and future collaborations.
Blackstone previously announced in June that it would invest £370bn in Europe over the next decade.
Earlier this week, Microsoft pledged to spend £22bn in the UK over the next four years, and Google pledged £5bn over the next two years to expand an existing data centre in Hertfordshire.
These investments will also help act as a powerful counterweight to the exodus of investment seen in the pharmaceutical sector.
However, the investments announced by Google and Microsoft are less than 4% of their annual spend, and the 7,600 jobs it is hoped to be created is a small number compared to the 160,000 payroll jobs lost since last year.
Blackstone’s large investment is in addition to the £10bn it previously announced for data centre development in the UK.
Real estate investment trust Prologis is also set to invest £3.9bn into the UK’s life sciences and advanced manufacturing.
Palantir will invest up to £1.5bn in UK defence innovation and plans to create up to 350 new jobs.
American tech company Amentum plans to create more than 3,000 jobs and expand its UK workforce by over 50%.
Boeing has said it will convert two 737 aircraft in Birmingham for the US Air Force, which would be the first USAF aircraft built in the UK for over 50 years, and could create 150 high-skilled jobs.
US Engineering firm, STAX, has also committed up to £38m to expand its UK operations.
The 7,600 total jobs promised are intended to be in all areas of the UK.
This is set to include 1,000 new jobs in Belfast and 6,000 more roles from Glasgow to Warrington, the Midlands and the North-East.
Business and trade secretary Peter Kyle said the deal reflects growing confidence in the UK’s industrial strategy.
“These record-breaking investments will create thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK,” he said.
“It’s a clear sign that our Plan for Growth is delivering for working people.”
The government said it wants to give “real opportunities for working people”, including apprenticeships in clean energy and careers in biotech and AI.
This comes ahead of the signing of the Tech Prosperity Deal on Thursday, which is a major new deal to accelerate the building of new nuclear power in both the US and the UK.
Two ads promoting British beef and milk have been banned after television presenter and environmental campaigner Chris Packham complained that they misled consumers about the products’ carbon footprints.
Both ads for the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) Let’s Eat Balanced campaign used the carbon footprint of British beef and milk to promote the products, firstly stating: “British beef not only tastes great, but has a carbon footprint that’s half the global average*.”
The asterisk linked to text that stated: “Full lifecycle emissions of CO2 eq (carbon dioxide equivalent) per kg of beef.”
The ad for milk stated: “British milk not only tastes good, but is also produced to world-class standards, and has a carbon footprint a third lower than the global average.”
Packham complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that the ads, and specifically the carbon footprint claims, were misleading as they did not reflect the full environmental impact of British meat and dairy.
The AHDB said the ads’ mention of carbon emissions would be understood in relation to the environmental impact of beef and milk that occurred between the “cradle-to-retail” stages.
But the ASA said the average consumer “being reasonably well-informed, observant and circumspect” would understand the claims to apply beyond the retail stage and include actions such as cooking and wastage.
The ASA said: “While we acknowledged the potential difficulties in producing post-retail emissions data, the claims in the ads suggested those emissions were included and we therefore expected the evidence provided to also include them.
“We therefore concluded that the evidence presented was insufficient to support the full life-cycle claims in the ads, which was how the average consumer was likely to interpret them.
“We reminded AHDB that environmental claims should be based on the full life cycle unless the ad stated otherwise.”
AHDB’s director of communications and market development, Will Jackson, said: “Let’s Eat Balanced is doing what it was designed to do, providing clear, factual, evidence-led information about British food, nutrition and farming standards.
“Since the investigation began, we have conducted independent consumer research which found that the majority of respondents interpreted these adverts as relating to the production phase only, from farm to retail.
“This research provides important insight into consumer understanding and supports our belief that consumers were not misled by the information we shared in these two specific adverts.”
BENGALURU: India’s Gen Z workforce is embracing what experts describe as “portfolio careers” – balancing multiple professional identities and income streams simultaneously. New research from LinkedIn shows that 75% of Gen Z entrepreneurs in India now manage multiple income streams, significantly higher than the 62% among Gen X entrepreneurs. The findings point to a growing preference among younger professionals for flexibility, autonomy and diversified sources of income. “We’re also seeing the rise of the ‘portfolio era’, with more professionals creating multiple income streams and redefining what a career can look like. This shift is making entrepreneurship more accessible than ever before,” said LinkedIn India country manager Kumaresh Pattabiraman.Rather than depending on a single full-time role, many professionals are simultaneously building businesses, freelancing, consulting, creating online content and monetising specialised skills through digital platforms. The trend comes amid a broader rise in entrepreneurial activity in India. LinkedIn recorded a 104% year-on-year increase in members adding “Founder” to their profiles – the highest growth among all global markets.AI is also emerging as a major enabler of this shift. The report found that 85% of Gen Z entrepreneurs consider AI and digital tools important to their business operations.
Sam Altman said Elon Musk tried many times for total control of OpenAI, which he’s now suing.
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