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Rachel Reeves has announced £1.5 billion of private investment in Britain as she attends a Davos conference overshadowed by US President Donald Trump’s threat of a trade war. The UK chancellor said she had secured £1 billion from investment firm M&G PLC for a new UK Social Investment Fund aimed at communities across England and Wales. The fund is intended to invest in projects including affordable housing, infrastructure and clean energy. Reeves also announced a £500 million investment in research and development and manufacturing by pharmaceutical company UCB, which has its research headquarters in Windlesham, Surrey. The chancellor said the UCB investment was a ‘vote of confidence in Britain’s world-class life sciences sector’, while the M&G pledge was ‘exactly what our pensions and investment reforms are designed to unlock’. Ministers have sought to encourage pension funds to invest more in UK infrastructure as they seek to deliver on their commitment to boost economic growth. Reeves said: ‘I came to Davos to champion Britain as one of the best places in the world to invest, grow a business and deploy capital and that plan is working.’ M&G Chief Executive Andrea Rossi said his company’s investment would support British businesses while ‘laying the foundations for a more productive, sustainable economy and stronger communities across the country’. The chancellor led the UK’s delegation to the annual World Economic Forum aiming to promote Britain as a stable place to invest. But a surprise increase in the inflation rate has prompted questions about how stable the economy is, while Trump’s continued threats to annex Greenland have diverted attention from much of the economic side of the conference. Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Reeves said she still expected inflation to return to its target rate of 2% by early summer, and pointed to interest rate cuts and reduced government borrowing costs as evidence her approach was providing stability. And she told Sky News that business leaders at Davos were ‘upbeat’ about the UK. The chancellor said: ‘Businesses here this week are feeling positive. They’re feeling optimistic about the year ahead. ‘I am too, because we have the right plan for our economy, for our country to bring that growth and prosperity in all parts of the country that we need.’ By Christopher McKeon, Press Association Political Correspondent Press Association: Finance source: PA Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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