Balancing foreign investment and the national interest

Rishi Sunak sought to build on last week’s tax cuts with a call for more foreign investment in the UK. The decision by Nissan to build electric cars at its plant in the North East was a boost to this endeavour, the fruits of sensible interventions and decisions taken many years ago. 

The Prime Minister opened a Global Investment Summit of corporate bosses and financiers at Hampton Court Palace by highlighting pledges of some £30 billion in long-term investment by international companies.

With an election year looming, Mr Sunak is keen to counter Labour’s narrative of a country on its uppers with crumbling public services to one in which the world’s biggest corporations are eager to do business. The ambition is for Britain once again to be Europe’s top destination for foreign capital. 

But that must include a hard-headed approach to the national interest and not a free-for-all. There are several laws to limit or even block investment from sources considered to be inimical to national security. China has been pushed out of the provision of new generation 5G phone technology and nuclear power finance. 

The potential takeover of The Telegraph by an Abu Dhabi-backed investment fund is also being scrutinised, with an announcement expected shortly on whether the regulator Ofcom should intervene. The Government seems confused, however. Lord Johnson, the investment minister, has claimed public interest concerns about this possible purchase are “sentimental” because traditional news sources now hold little sway. 

We beg to differ and point to the Prime Minister’s own words about the importance of a free press. Not all investment is to be welcomed.