Investment Wealth fund will help drive growth across the UK, says chancellor

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 large infrastructure projects across the UK.

- Kalyeena Makortoff, Julia Kollewe

The NWF, which Reeves said would be established "in less than a week", is designed to help projects such as ports, gigafactories, hydrogen and steel to attract a mix of investment, aiming for roughly £3 of private funds for every £1 of taxpayer cash.

Reeves said 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, led by the former HSBC chief executive John Flint, with support from the revamped British Business Bank, which ran the Covid business loan schemes.

Reeves made the announcement at No 11 Downing Street yesterday, after meeting with City bosses from the taskforce leading the project.