{"id":790606,"date":"2026-07-09T13:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790606\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T13:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T13:38:10","slug":"invest-in-britain-or-ill-force-you-to-minister-tells-pension-funds-pensions-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790606\/","title":{"rendered":"Invest in Britain or I\u2019ll force you to, minister tells pension funds | Pensions industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

The business secretary, Peter Kyle<\/a>, has told UK pension funds to \u201cget off their high horses\u201d and invest in Britain or be forced to do so by law.<\/p>\n

Expressing frustration at the level of investment in British companies after years of government initiatives, Kyle said the UK\u2019s biggest asset managers \u201cshould feel a patriotic duty in making Britain a success\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think mandation is ideal in any circumstances. But I\u2019ll use it if I have to, because I\u2019m in a rush,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the Guardian on the sidelines of an event at Lloyds Banking Group\u2019s headquarters in London, he said he was \u201cfed up\u201d with being asked by the City to tweak regulations to boost investment in the UK economy, only to see a lack of investment follow government reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t make us come back, because we\u2019ve got lots of other things we want to do \u2026 It feels like they are still sitting on the fence, so will more powers be needed? I hope not,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are representing British savers. And so they should feel a patriotic duty in making Britain a success. And not just sitting aside from the economy, in a walled-off garden. They are out there with the rest of us. They need to get off their high horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Successive governments have pushed to raise the level of UK pension fund investment in the British economy, including the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and her Conservative predecessor, Jeremy Hunt.<\/p>\n

Reeves last year agreed a new \u201cMansion House accord<\/a>\u201d with 17 of the UK\u2019s largest pensions funds to release voluntarily up to \u00a350bn of investments, with at least half earmarked for British assets, including clean energy projects and startup firms.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Reeves won a battle in the Lords to secure powers to mandate investment<\/a> in UK assets. However, the bill faced fierce City lobbying and Tory opposition and was watered down, leaving ministers with a back-stop power that cannot be used before 2028. The powers, which also include a \u201csaver\u2019s interest test\u201d, will disappear if not used by 2032, and by 2035 if they are.<\/p>\n

Most pension providers already allocate funds to UK assets, although ministers have expressed frustration that many big overseas investors \u2013 including Canadian and Australian pensions schemes \u2013 often invest substantial amounts in UK infrastructure projects and private assets relative to domestic money managers.<\/p>\n

Andy Haldane, the president of the British Chambers of Commerce, who has advised Andy Burnham on economic policy, recently suggested that pension tax relief worth more than \u00a350bn should be offered only to savers who are prepared to invest in Britain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking last month, the former Bank of England chief economist said radical measures were needed to provide startup companies with the capital they needed to grow.<\/p>\n

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Kyle\u2019s comments come as Labour attempts to smooth over City concerns about a transition in power from Keir Starmer to Burnham, who is expected to become prime minister by 20 July.<\/p>\n

The business secretary pledged that the government\u2019s industrial strategy would continue to be prioritised under Burnham, as he made a pitch to keep his job to ensure stability of the transition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to stay, I\u2019ll just stay where I am,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, if I was given one wish, I\u2019ve had this job for 10 months. You\u2019ve seen what I\u2019ve got off the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a speech to City figures to mark the first year of the government\u2019s industrial strategy, Kyle said Britain needed \u201cManchesterism\u201d \u2013 Burnham\u2019s plan for more devolution and state involvement<\/a> in running services \u2013 to boost the economy outside London and the south-east.<\/p>\n

He said a change in leader would not unsettle the industrial strategy. Asked whether he was concerned that Labour could rattle business confidence, he said: \u201cI\u2019m concerned that it\u2019s a potential outcome. [But] I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the one that we are going to deliver.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has told UK pension funds to \u201cget off their high horses\u201d and invest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[45,49,48,133,131,132],"class_list":["post-790606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-finance","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}