Foreign Direct Investment

International Trade – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 May 2018.

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Photo of Victoria Prentis Victoria Prentis Conservative, Banbury 12:00, 17 May 2018

What steps his Department is taking to increase the level of foreign direct investment into the UK.

Photo of Liam Fox Liam Fox The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade

To ensure that we continue to be a global leader in attracting foreign direct investment, the Department for International Trade has launched a new FDI strategy that will deliver new ways to target support for those projects that create the most value for investors and national wealth. I am pleased to say that 2016-17 was a record year for FDI projects landing in the UK, showing that the fundamentals of the UK economy are strong.

Photo of Victoria Prentis Victoria Prentis Conservative, Banbury

Will my right hon. Friend tell me why, in his assessment, investors choose to invest in the UK?

Photo of Liam Fox Liam Fox The Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade

We regularly ask our investors why they put money in the UK and the answers are very similar. They say that the British legal system provides certainty and predictability. We have a skilled workforce. We have a good, predictable regulatory system and a low-taxation economy. We speak English. We have some of the best universities and some of the best access to tech, and we are in a good time zone for global trading. None of those, incidentally, depends on our membership of the European Union.