Closing summary
The vacuum cleaner and air-filter maker Dyson is cutting about 1,000 jobs in the UK as part of a global restructure, reducing its British workforce by more than a quarter.
Staff were told on Tuesday morning about the cuts as part of moves to reduce the business’s 15,000-strong workforce around the world amid a wider cost-cutting drive.
Dyson, which is known for its bagless vacuum cleaner as well as hand-dryers and bladeless fans, has 3,500 UK employees, with offices in Wiltshire, Bristol and London. The review that led to the decision began some time before the general election was announced in May.
The job cuts come on the day that the new business and trade secretary, John Reynolds, hosted a call with 170 leaders from businesses and trade associations to set out his priorities and answer questions.
Also today, the chancellor Rachel Reeves launched a £7.3bn national wealth fund, as part of a drive by the newly elected Labour government to attract billions of pounds of private sector cash for major infrastructure projects across the UK.
The NWF, which Reeves said would be established “in less than a week”, is designed to help the likes of ports, gigafactories, hydrogen and steel projects attract a mix of investment, aiming for roughly £3 of private funds for every £1 of taxpayer cash.
Reeves told reporters that the fund would essentially operate as a “concierge service for investors and businesses that want to invest in Britain, so they know where to go”.
The investments will then be managed by the existing UK Infrastructure Bank, headed by ex-HSBC chief executive John Flint, with support from a British Business Bank, which ran the Covid business loan schemes.
Reeves made the announcement at 11 Downing Street on Tuesday, after meeting with top City bosses who made up specialised taskforce spearheading the project. Participants included Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc, NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite, and Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
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Thank you for reading. We’ll be back tomorrow. Bye!- JK
The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is launching a £7.3bn national wealth fund, as part of a drive by the newly elected Labour government to attract billions of pounds of private sector cash for major infrastructure projects across the UK, our banking correspondent Kalyeena Makortoff is reporting from 11 Downing Street.
The NWF, which Reeves said would be established “in less than a week”, is designed to help the likes of ports, gigafactories, hydrogen and steel projects attract a mix of investment, aiming for roughly £3 of private funds for every £1 of taxpayer cash.
Reeves told reporters that the fund would essentially operate as a “concierge service for investors and businesses that want to invest in Britain, so they know where to go”.
The investments will then be managed by the existing UK Infrastructure Bank, headed by ex-HSBC chief executive John Flint, with support from a British Business Bank, which ran the Covid business loan schemes.
Reeves made the announcement at 11 Downing Street on Tuesday, after meeting with top City bosses who made up specialised taskforce spearheading the project. Participants included Aviva CEO Amanda Blanc, NatWest chief executive Paul Thwaite, and Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney.
Labour has been crafting the fund for months, having appointed the taskforce back in March to start thrashing out exactly how it will deliver what became a core manifesto pledge for the party in the run-up to last week’s election.
Reeves said the new Labour government was in a prime position to attract investment, amid ongoing political uncertainty other major western economies. That includes the US, where Donald Trump will run in the November presidential elections, and France, where parliamentary elections resulted in a hung parliament.
“I think for the first time in a long time, investors will look at Britain and say it’s a country with a stable government. It’s got a clear plan, but clear mandate in the election. And that’s different from some other countries around the world today,” she told journalists.
