of growing our the importance of growing our economy. i set out our plans to launch a new national wealth fund, designed in partnership with business through the national wealth taskforce, led by mark carney. today, we are creating the national wealth fund and making it the uk's new impact investor. fund and making it the uk's new impact investor . the national impact investor. the national wealth fund will catalyse tens of billions of pounds of private investment into clean energy, and our growth industries, like green carbon, hydrogen and carbon capture and storage and gigafactories. from today , we gigafactories. from today, we are turbocharging the uk infrastructure bank, which will now operate as the national wealth fund. it will be headquartered in leeds with a bigger team, more freedom and an expanded suite of financial instruments and more economic risk. capital to ensure that the national wealth fund's investments can be even more catalytic. the national wealth

fund will work with industry partners, including our metro mayors, to identify innovative transactions and deliver new, impactful investments right across our country. we will also bnng across our country. we will also bring forward legislation to give the national wealth fund a broader mandate extending beyond infrastructure, so it aligns with our new industrial strategy. the national wealth fund will also work alongside the uk's existing structures to better crowd in private investment. the british business bank deployed £55 billion to support over 23,000 businesses last year, but we need innovative vehicles that go further and faster to leverage investment from new sources like our pension funds to and improve returns to savers and help our most exciting businesses to grow. if we want businesses here not just to start up, but to scale up, we need to unlock long

term patient capital from private investors . to do that, private investors. to do that, we cannot just rely on old methods. so today we are setting out our plans for the british business bank to take a more innovative approach through a new pathfinder british growth partnership. this will create a new vehicle to crowd in pension funds and other institutional investment into venture capital funds and innovative businesses. the british business bank is aiming to raise hundreds of millions of pounds and to make long term investments on a fully commercial basis by the end of 2025. the government will invest alongside the private sector to crowd in funding to ensure that the british growth partnership delivers on this government's objectives to increase for capital companies, deliver better outcomes for savers and to boost economic growth . when

to boost economic growth. when we said that this government would end instability , when we would end instability, when we said that we would make growth, our national mission , and when our national mission, and when we said that we would enter a true partnership with business, we meant it. in the last 100 days, we have put unlocking private investment at the heart of everything that we do. and today we have set out more than £60 billion of shovel ready investments right across our country . those aren't just country. those aren't just numbers on a spreadsheet. it means new, high skilled jobs from aberdeenshire in scotland to blyth in northumberland to eren in north wales, and many more places in between, with announcements on our new industrial strategy and new investment minister, the creation of the national wealth fund and an innovative british growth partnership. we are

delivering on our growth mission handin delivering on our growth mission hand in hand with business. the decisions that lie ahead will not always be easy, but by making the right choices to grow our economy, to drive investment, we will create good jobs and new opportunities across every part of our country. that is the britain that we are building, and that is the difference that we will make together. thank you so much for being part of it today. thank you . thank you. >> and that was rachel reeves. there delivering at the international investment summit in central london. this was their big pitch to business, big pitch to the business community, not only in britain but around the world. come to britain, business is open. well, let's get some reaction back in the studio, listening in eagerly. my two experts with hawklike ears ,

two experts with hawklike ears, the head of research at the taxpayers alliance, darwin friend and the founder of britain, remade sam richards gentlemen , you're still here. gentlemen, you're still here. you were listening with bated breath. no doubt. let's start by picking over a couple of the key phrases. let's get rid of the flannel. get rid of the word salads. get rid of the david brent type speak. and let's just pick out a couple of key points. darwin opening gambit. big statement to make. we are the most pro—business economy that this country has ever seen. true or false? >> well, it's false and i wish it were true. but as the chancellor just it were true. but as the chancellorjust said, it were true. but as the chancellor just said, they it were true. but as the chancellorjust said, they may chancellor just said, they may have put a freeze on corporation tax, but they are freezing it at 25%, which is six percentage points more than it was just over a year ago when it was 19%. and that had been held at that level for about 6 or 7 years now. we've shown in the past that when we cut corporation tax, the tax revenues from it go up. so whilst i commend the fact that she wants more growth, she wants more investment, but the actions simply aren't proving

the pudding right. they are keeping corporation tax high. they're going to potentially increase capital gains tax. and to top it off, they're going to potentially increase employers national insurance as well . national insurance as well. that's not going to increase growth. it's not going to increase investment in the uk. >> darwin. there are those amongst us who went to brussels to try and get brexit done. and one of the key key strategies was to untether ourselves from taxation policies across the european union to be quick to be nimble, to be able to self—determine get rid of the level playing field. and yet ireland has a corporation tax rate. what is it, 13%. yeah. cyprus in fact p and o rate. what is it, 13%. yeah. cyprus in fact p and 0 who were reluctant to turn up today they cleared off to cyprus because their rate was 13%. surely if you want to be the most pro—business economy that this country has ever seen, you cut corporation tax. >> exactly. i mean, all we do is have with having these higher rates of corporation tax is we push businesses away from this country and into the arms of other countries that are happy

to have lower levels of corporation tax and other forms of taxation. you mentioned ireland. you mentioned cyprus. those are two great examples where they've taken businesses that were in the uk before and now they're getting those receipts. and ultimately, i think the message that we need to all remember at the end of this is it's not about having the highest level of corporation tax possible. it's about having the optimal level of corporation tax to raise the most revenues, which can ultimately be spent on the public services that taxpayers and your listeners all need and rely on. >> sam richards, you are frantically making notes. there a series of announcements by the £60 billion of investments , £60 billion of investments, including from qatar, from the associated british ports. was there anything new in the stuff you heard today? >> let's be honest, there wasn't anything new today. partly, that's the function of the timing , as that's the function of the timing, as you've set out, that we still have the budget to come and we'll know more about the future tax rates. and we also still have the details of the planning and infrastructure bill, which is really going to

set out the detail of whether they're going to cut through this red tape that is stopping us from building stuff. but, you know, the chancellor set out some of the low hanging fruit that they have picked already, which is welcome, like the lifting of that nonsensical ban on onshore wind. but she talked about removing the blockages in our planning system, and it's worth your viewers being aware of the fact that currently, one of the fact that currently, one of the fact that currently, one of the biggest blockages in the planning system are ministers, that infrastructure decisions are being further delayed by the decisions of government ministers. four out of 1,040% of our current major infrastructure projects have been punted into the long grass by the government, so they, you know, the detail to come in their big planning reforms, but they themselves now can remove some of the blockages in our planning system. >> darwin. it was dangled that we should be excited by the national wealth, and they will have a new hq in leeds. well, i'm seeing another massive new office in a metropolitan area packed full of civil servants.

it'll be turbo charged, it'll be catalytic again. lots of buzz words. can i ask you, is there any evidence that devolving power to councils should talk about partnering with mayors were led to believe all the time that mayors are better at making financial decisions. local decisions for local people. is there any evidence dec