Exclusive: Rachel Reeves to lead start-up delegation at Davos
Rachel Reeves will lead a delegation of entrepreneurs in charge of some of Britain’s fastest growing start-ups to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week, Morning Wire can reveal.
The troupe of UK-based founders will join the Chancellor and business secretary Peter Kyle in the Swiss Alps as part of a concerted push by ministers to lure international investors into the British economy by showcasing its vibrant start-up scene.
Morning Wire understands the group of founders includes Mia Drennan, the chief executive of Global Loan Agency Services (GLAS), a debt administration services provider that carries out complex loan restructuring.
British buyout shop Oakley Capital snapped up a majority stake in GLAS in December, in a deal that fetched the firm a billion-dollar valuation for the first time in its history.
On Tuesday, Reeves is also due to speak on a panel event alongside Bank of America chief Brian Moynihan and EY chief executive Janet Truncale. Keir Starmer is not expected to attend the annual jamboree, but his business adviser Varun Chandra will join Reeves and Kyle.
Ministers have been keen to reverse a trend of falling international investment, launching a revamped ‘concierge service’ in October to aid foreign firms’ expansion plans in the UK and make it easier for international investors to back British opportunities. The new service, devised in collaboration with Canada Corporation, also matches firms and investors with skills and opportunities across the UK.
Reeves will also a join series of meetings and roundtables at Davos – including with JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon – to pitch UK as a beacon of stability for investment amid an uncertain geopolitical and trade backdrop. This year, Donald Trump’s White House has already instigated an overnight raid in Venezuela, threatened military action in Iran and launched a legal probe into the Federal Reserve.
Rachel Reeves to reset after chaotic Budget
The Chancellor will hope her entrepreneurs delegation will help the Treasury move on from November’s chaotic tax-raising Budget, which was plagued by a litany of market-moving leaks, and saw the Treasury take the overall tax burden to its highest in UK history.
Rachel Reeves launched a second major fiscal consolidation in as many years, hiking taxes by some £26bn to fund an increase in welfare expenditure and compensate for a string of costly spending U-turns. Among the headline measures were an extension of the freeze of income tax thresholds, a multibillion-pound raid on gambling firms and a mansion tax on homes worth more than £2m.
But the Chancellor’s decision to more-than double her so-call fiscal headroom – the amount of breathing space she has to stay within her fiscal rules – also helped calm worries over the government profligacy. The decision – aided by the Monetary Policy Committee’s decision in December to cut Bank rate to a three year-low – has helped bring government borrowing costs to their cheapest since November 2024, despite lingering concerns over the durability of the fiscal headroom.
Farage heads to Davos
Nigel Farage is attending this year’s summit for the first time. The leader of Reform UK has been an outspoken critic of the summit, but is scheduled to speak at a USA House online event and at a Bloomberg event.
The Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.