In a high-stakes speech at Bloomberg's London headquarters, Business Secretary Peter Kyle rallied business leaders from Alphabet, Meta, Ford and others, vowing to propel the UK economy to rival America's impressive growth trajectory.

Kyle emphasised the government's manifesto pledge to become the fastest-growing G7 economy, noting the UK's second-highest growth in the first three quarters of last year. He contrasted this with the US's 4.3% quarterly growth, declaring: "I want to fight tooth and nail with you to get that extra growth. To compete with America."

Modern Industrial Strategy Delivers Results

The speech underscored progress under the government's Modern Industrial Strategy, with a quarterly update confirming 79 billion in investment commitments and 50,000 well-paid jobs secured in the past quarter alone. Kyle praised these achievements as cause for optimism while urging greater urgency to scale UK businesses and anchor them domestically.

To bolster this effort, he announced three new appointments to the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council:

• Amelia Gould, General Manager of Maritime at Helsing
• Keith Anderson, CEO of ScottishPower
• Dana Strong, CEO of Sky

Keith Anderson brings extensive experience in renewables and finance, having led ScottishPower Renewables and worked with major institutions like the Royal Bank of Scotland. Dana Strong, a veteran in media and telecoms, has driven growth at Comcast Cable and Virgin Media.

Regulatory Reform and Business Support

Kyle outlined bold measures to drive short-term growth, including accepting the Fingleton Review on nuclear regulation to eliminate 'pointless gold plating'. He committed to reducing regulatory burdens, with upcoming initiatives from the British Business Bank and UK Export Finance to help startups scale without leaving the UK.

Since taking office, the government has cut administrative costs by 230 million and introduced energy support schemes like the Supercharger and British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, slashing business energy bills.

The Business Secretary previewed further actions to cut red tape, ensuring promising firms can thrive domestically. This address precedes his trip to Davos, where he will pitch the UK as the premier investment destination, citing its entrepreneurial culture, top-tier education and business certainty.

Attendees included CBI and BCC directors general, Octopus Energy's Greg Jackson, and executives from Heathrow, Blackrock, McKinsey, BP and AstraZeneca, signalling strong private sector buy-in to the growth agenda.