UK urged to expand ‘high-skilled’ immigration to help with AI
Q: How can British companies attract the talent it needs for the artificial intelligence revolution?
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says:
A pro-growth agenda would start with high-skilled immigration, which is now in place here and should be expanded.
Schmidt points out that a lot of “incredibly smart people” are now getting graduate degrees in AI.
The key, he says, is either to keep them in Britain or get them to move here from Europe.
Schmidt agrees that more AI talent is needed, as the technology is hard, complicated, and it’s being built right now.
He admits:
Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to me, and I have a PhD in the area.
But with a little bit of time, and the right leadership., Britian can have all those people.
Schmidt points out:
They love living here.
A good moment to wrap up the session.
Key events
The government has also announced a “landmark collaboration” with pharmaceuticals giant Eli Lilly, worth £279m, to accelerate the delivery of next-generation medicines.
Eli Lilly has expressed an intention to invest in the UK, as part of a collaborative partnership with UK government announced at the International Investment Summit today.
Eli Lilly plans to launch the first ‘Lilly Gateway Labs’ innovation accelerator in Europe. It will support early-stage life sciences businesses, by providing them with lab space, mentorship, and potential financial backing.
Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, says:
“For all the challenges facing the health of our nation, we have two huge advantages: some of the world’s leading scientific minds, and a National Health Service with enormous potential. If we can combine the two, patients in this country can reap the rewards of the revolution in medical science unfolding before our eyes.
“This announcement helps the UK take its place as a world leader in life sciences and brings life-changing treatments closer to being a reality for NHS patients. Partnerships like this are key to building a healthier society, healthier economy, and making the NHS fit for the future.”
The collaboration intends to explore new ways of delivering health and care services to people living with obesity, the government adds.
Eli Lilly makes an anti-obesity drug called Zepbound in the US, or Mounjaro in the UK. Last week, the NHS said it would offer Mounjaro to nearly a quarter million people as part of a three-year plan.
£1.1bn investment to expand Stansted
Gwyn Topham
A five-year, £1.1bn investment to grow London Stansted has been unveiled by the Prime Minister at the International Investment Summit.
Just over half the money, some £600m, will go on previously announced plans to expand the airport’s terminal by a third, as it grows its capacity from 29m passengers to 43m per year.
Another £500m will be spent on other enhancements to the existing terminal and to the wider airport, notably a 14.3MW on-site solar farm to support Stansted’s increasing electricity demands, including its new EV charging forecourt.
Construction is expected to begin next year and take two to three years to complete.
Planning permission for expansion was granted last year, but the cost of the overhaul has not previously been released – and with owning group MAG being one-third owned by overseas investors IFM (if mainly by Manchester councils) the announcement brings an element of foreign money to the UK.
Transport secretary Louise Haigh said:
“Transport is central to this government’s core mission of growing the economy. This is about giving companies like MAG the confidence to invest, boosting regional and national economic growth, and supporting the aviation sector while also meeting our existing environmental obligations.”
Ken O’Toole, CEO of MAG – which owns Manchester and East Midlands Airports as well as Stansted, said:
“Aviation is an essential enabler of the success of the UK’s key high-value industries, and we look forward to helping the government achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7 through the sustainable growth of our airports.”
NEW: PM at investment summit announces a £1bn deal with Manchester Airport Group to expand Stansted. PM says it open up new routes for work and holiday destinations
Starmer says deal the “first of tens of billions worth of inward investment deals that we will sign today,…
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) October 14, 2024
Trio of professors win Nobel economics prize for work on post-colonial wealth
Kalyeena Makortoff
Speaking of Nobel prizes… two UK-born academics are among a trio of US-based professors who have just won this year’s Nobel prize in economics, for showing how the types of institutions introduced by colonisers have helped determine whether a country is rich or poor today.
The explanation put forward by Turkish-American Daron Acemoğlu, Sheffield-born Simon Johnson and Briton James A Robinson, suggests that inclusive institutions for the long-term benefit of European migrants ended up resulting in more prosperous societies in the long term.
However, they found that in countries where the aim was to exploit the Indigenous population and extract resources for the colonisers’ benefit, the impact has been detrimental, and resulted in far poorer societies, leaving some countries trapped in low economic growth cycles.
UK urged to expand ‘high-skilled’ immigration to help with AI
Q: How can British companies attract the talent it needs for the artificial intelligence revolution?
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt says:
A pro-growth agenda would start with high-skilled immigration, which is now in place here and should be expanded.
Schmidt points out that a lot of “incredibly smart people” are now getting graduate degrees in AI.
The key, he says, is either to keep them in Britain or get them to move here from Europe.
Schmidt agrees that more AI talent is needed, as the technology is hard, complicated, and it’s being built right now.
He admits:
Sometimes it doesn’t make sense to me, and I have a PhD in the area.
But with a little bit of time, and the right leadership., Britian can have all those people.
Schmidt points out:
They love living here.
A good moment to wrap up the session.
Q: How can the UK win the battle for AI talent?
Keir Starmer argues that Britain is in a good position now, in the top three in the world for artificial intelligence thanks to world-leading universities.
He agrees that the UK needs to attract top talent. Making it clear that AI matters to the UK should help the country hold its leading position, he says.
Starmer urged to take action on data centres
Former chief Eric Schmidt then fires a warning to Keir Starmer that Britain risks missing out on the move to data centres, which are notoriously energy-thirsty.
Schmidt tells Starmer, on the stage at the investment summit:
The demand for energy for data centres is massive.
We need you to approve the necessary steps to make these data centres in Britain, because your research scientists, your companies, your citizens all need these things.
Schmidt argues that investing heavily in AI will pay off, by finding ways to improve energy efficiency – finding the solutions to the energy transition faster.
GSK chief Emma Walmsley turns to the health service…
Keir Starmer says the UK is “rightly proud” of the NHS, set up by Labour over 70 years ago.
The simple truth is that simply putting more money into the health services as it is won’t make it fit for the future.
The PM insists he’s not talking about changing the principle of healthcare being free at the point of use.
Instead, he says there is huge potential for AI to improve the delivery of public services, such as health care. He cites technology using AI to scan for liver cancer – which he’s seen, and which massively improves the chance of spotting the disease early.
Eric Schmidt backs up this point, saying computer vision is now more accurate than human vision, so can do a better job of spotting early signs of illness.
Eric Schmidt: UK’s smart, stable civil servive is an AI asset
Former Google chief Eric Schmidt tells the summit that the Science Museum down the road shows how the industrial age was invented here in the UK.
There’s every reason to think that artificial intelligence will have the same level of impact. And by the way, it was invented right here too, in particular in Kings Cross, which I think is..
“My constituency”, says Keir Starmer proudly, pointing out that Demis Hassabis winning the Nobel prize last week was “absolutely amazing”.
I said to him yesterday, I feel proud, he should.
Schmidt then eulogises about AI, arguing that AI will make everyone at least twice as productive.
That means Starmer can make twice as many speeches…
…The PM suggests this might not be popular, winning some laughs in the room…
while a firm such as GSK can make incredible life-saving drugs twice as quickly.
The key to AI is efficiency gains, Schmidt adds, which will lead to a massive wave of investment and higher incomes for people.
Schmidt points out that last year the UK laid out the core structure of AI safety (under Starmer’s predecessor, Rishi Sunak).
He says Britain is in a good position to take the lead on AI, as:
The UK has frankly stronger civil servants, who are smarter and more committed to this, and are frankly stable, so you can work with them.
There’s every reason the UK can build the AI world, and also help deal with the ‘guardrail’ issue, Schmidt adds.
GSK CEO Dame Emma Walmsley then asks:
Q: Where does Britain sit in a global setting, post-Brexit?
Starmer says that the Brexit vote gave the impression that Britain was turning in on itself, and less interested in the outside world.
The PM says he’s been focused on resetting the UK’s international relations, to make it clear that we want to play our old role on the world stage, as a “confident, outward-looking, value-driven” country that sticks to agreements it makes.
Schmidt: UK won’t hit 2030 energy goal without changes
Sat alongside Starmer, former Google chief Eric Schmidt says he was “shocked” when Labour became strongly in favour of growth.
Taking his chance, Starmer chirps up with:
Wealth creation is the number one mission of a Labour government… It’s true.
Schmidt says he knows Starmer believes this.
Having spoken with investors at the summit in recent days, Schmidt has good news for Starmer, saying:
There’s plenty of money that’s going to come into the country if you achieve what you’re just said.
Schmidt suggests the government needs a minister of “anti-regulation”.
But the bad news, he argues, is that in the UK system there are “so many ways that people can say no”. Businesses would rather have a single person who can give a yes or no answer.
Schmidt warns Starmer that Labour’s goal of making Britain a clean energy superpower by the end of the decade is at risk, saying:
The cost of capital and the delay is killing you.
And furthermore, you’re not going to achieve your 2030 energy goal – which is laudable – without fixing this.
Starmer: We need to streamline planning
Starmer is now holding an “in conversation” event with former CEO and chairman of Google Eric Schmidt, moderated by the CEO of GSK Dame Emma Walmsley
Walmsley starts by asking about competitiveness, saying:
Q: How will we make sure that the costs of doing business in Britain, and the regulatory environment, are competitive, compared to the G7 and the rest of Europe?
And taking a long-term view, what do you most want to achieve for businesses on your watch to encourage them to bet on Britain?
Starmer starts by criticising the ‘sticking plaster’ politics of the previous government, saying he is leading a mission-driven government – and the number one mission is economic growth.
That provides a ‘yardstick’ for taking decisions.
Secondly, he again cites Labour’s chunky majority in parliament – meaning there is stability, decisions taking today can be measured in ‘years, not months’, and there’s power to take difficult decisions.
He says he wants to champion the brilliance of the UK economy, and remove the ‘inhibitors’ such as planning.
It takes far too long to get decisions on planning, measure in years not months. We’ve got to streamline that, and we’ve already started.
On regulation, Starmer says the ‘volume’ of regulation, and the number of regulators “pulling away” at issues, is a problem that needs to be stripped away.
He also cites the appointment of ex-Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson as UK investment minister, last week (just in time for the summit).
Starmer adds that he wants a partnership between a ‘mission-driven government’ and the private sector.
That means working together, where the government can clear the path to help companies succeed.
Starmer: It’s time to upgrade UK regulators’ regime, and to back Britain
As flagged this morning, Starmer then pledges to “look at regulation”, and remove rules that are holding back investment.
The PM says:
“Where it is stopping us building the homes, the data centres, the warehouses, grid connectors, roads, trainlines, you name it…. then mark my words, we will get rid of it.
He cites the example of the East Anglia Two windfarm, where regulators demanded 4,000 documents (not simply pages) when assessing the proposal…. Once it was finally signed off, it was held up by other two years by a judicial review.
That will deter investors from the UK, Starmer says, adding:
It’s time to upgrade the regulators’ regime, and make it fit for the modern age.
Starmer says the government will “march” through the regulators, and makes sure they take growth as seriously as the investors in the room today.
The door is open for business leaders to voice concerns to Starmer and his team, the PM adds.
He concludes:
It’s time to back Britain.
Don’t worry about Labour’s workers’ rights bill, Starmer tells investors
Keir Starmer then tells international investors they shouldn’t be worried about Labour’s employment rights bill, introduced last week.
Let me be clear, they are “pro-growth”, Starmer insists.
Workers with more security at work, with higher wages, is a better growth model for this country, he points out, and will bring much-needed dynamism to the economy.
Starmer then runs through four crucial areas for his plan (admitting that CEOs prefer lists of three, not four)
1) Stability. He says there is a ‘golden opportunity’ to end the era of chop and change, citing his large majority won in July.
2) Strategy. Building a ‘more strategic architecture’ for growth, including the creation of a national wealth fund and Great British Energy, and the recent pledge to fund carbon capture and storage projects.
Starmer says his government is not in the business of picking individual winners, but ti does want to build on its strengths.
Verging into sporting metaphors, he says he wants to make UK businesses match-fit, by:
Mowing the grass on the pitch, making sure the changing rooms are clear and comfortable, the training ground is good.
The new industrial strategy is fundamental to the plan, Starmer says.
3) Britain’s global standing. Starmer says “We’re determined to repair Britain’s brand as an open, outward-looking, trading nation”, so people know it’s a stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner.
Starmer says that somehow, in “the circus after Brexit”, the last government “needlessly insulted our closest allies”.
There were also a few “choice Anglo-Saxon phrases for businesses”, Starmer reminds his audience (a reference to Boris Johnson’s notorious “fuck business” retort to employer concerns about a hard Brexit).
4) Regulation. Starmer says he doesn’t see it as good or bad, that’s “simplistic”.
He points out that the tragedy at Grenfell Tower showed the importance of regulations.
But he accuses the previous government of hiding behind regulators, and deferring decisions to them because it was weak or indecisive, or just not committed to growth.
Starmer then points out that the UK has problems too.
The public sectors need urgent care, while the public finances need the ‘tough love’ of prudence (chanelling Gordon Brown there).
We will fix the public services and stabilise the economy, quickly, he promises.
We don’t want any of the problems associated with our inheritance misting up the shop window of Britain.
Starmer: growth is critical to my political project
Starmer turns to the issue of stability, saying
“It’s not just that stability leads to growth, though we all recognise that.
It’s also that growth leads to stability. Growth leads to a country that’s better equipped to come together and get its future back. And that’s why it’s always been so critical to my political project.
The key ingredient of that great moderation that we became accustomed to before the financial crash, but which together, in partnership, we have to earn again.
Everyone invited to the summit is here for that reason, Starmer says
Private sector investment is the way we rebuild this country and pay our way in the future.
This is a great moment to back Britain, he insists – to back England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.
He cites the “amazing” education sector, the largest tech sector in Europe, a leading position in ley sectors such as artificial intelligence, clean energy, the creative industries.
A legal system that sets high standards around the globe, and a geographical location that means we can speak to colleagues in the Americas and in Asia in the same day.
Starmer: economic growth is vital to reach calmer waters
Starmer continues, saying that we live in an age where political fires rage across the world – conflict, insecurity, and “a populist mood” that opposes the open values that “many of us” at the investment summit hold dear.
And yet, we also live in an “age of great possibility”, he argues, with businesses making investments, in areas such as digital technology, clean energy, medicine, life sciences.
Each have the potential to change how we live, and to improve the lives of working people, the PM says.
Starmer then argues that you can “stops a country turning in on itself” if you provide the benefits of growth to people., saying:
In times like this, economic growth is vital – as it always been – if we’re to steer our way through a great period of insecurity and change and onto calmer waters.
Starmer: this is about “shared endeavour” of prosperity
The shared ambition at today’s investment summit is growth, Keir Starmer says.
Business leaders have to grow their business, while the PM has to grow the country.
The “shared endeavour” of prosperity is what binds investors and the government together, he insisted.
Starmer says he’s determined that the UK becomes the highest growing economy in the G7 – that’s the way to deliver the change he has promised.
