From the Guardian · · 1m 50s
UK urged to boost national wealth fund
Unions, thinktanks and charities call for the NWF to be scaled up to drive investment and economic growth across Britain.
In brief
Unions, thinktanks and charities call for the NWF to be scaled up to drive investment and economic growth across Britain. Groups including the TUC and Greenpeace want the government to expand the national wealth fund to attract more private investment and revitalise Britain's economy. Originally reported by the…
What the NWF does
The national wealth fund was launched in July 2024 by then chancellor Rachel Reeves to attract billions of pounds of private sector money for large infrastructure projects.
How it was meant to work
The NWF aimed to attract a mix of investment, roughly three pounds of private funds for every one pound of taxpayer cash in schemes such as ports, gigafactories and hydrogen and steel projects.
The call to expand it
Unions, thinktanks, environmental groups and charities including the TUC, Greenpeace and WWF say scaling up the NWF could unlock lower energy bills, revitalise industrial heartlands and create high-quality jobs.
The funding gap
The NWF has five point five billion pounds available to invest each year for the next five years. Germany's public investment bank KfW lent sixty two billion euros, or fifty three point five billion pounds, in twenty twenty-five alone.
What expansion could deliver
The groups propose turbocharging home retrofitting, giving the public bigger stakes in critical infrastructure, launching targeted investment in deindustrialised communities and supporting regional banks for small businesses.
The government's track record
The Treasury says the NWF delivered three point nine billion pounds of investments in its first year in projects including Sizewell C and a gigafactory in Sunderland, securing and creating eleven thousand five hundred jobs.
What happens next
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he would look at any flexibility within the government's fiscal rules to borrow billions more for infrastructure. Chancellor John Healey draws up his first budget on twenty eight October.
The one thing
Groups including the TUC and Greenpeace want the government to expand the national wealth fund to attract more private investment and revitalise Britain's economy.
