High in the snowy Swiss alps, the British delegation at Davos has been doing its best to sell Brand Britain to the world’s business elite this week. Rachel Reeves, donning the obligatory puffer jacket, has toured the broadcast studios and drinks receptions, even defeating Rishi Sunak at chess in the early hours of Thursday morning, surrounded by “inebriated” chief executives (as first reported by our esteemed colleagues at the i paper). But Reeves and her officials have had a difficult task on their hands: to debunk “myths” about the UK that have taken hold among the world’s rich and famous.
The British government at Davos has been circulating a document, seen by the Pygge, dispelling “myths” about the UK in its pitch to the world’s business elite .
‘Myth: London is a dangerous place to live. Fact: London is a safe city,’ the shiny six-page document insists, complete with graphics and a shiny photo of the Shard. The popular MAGA and Farage attack on the capital appears to have cut through with the world’s rich to the extent that the Labour government feels it has to debunk it, at least privately.
The document also lays bare the extent to which Reeves’ tax decisions appear to have damaged international business confidence. The other “myths” in the document include: ‘The UK’s tax regime is anti-business and anti-wealth” and “people aren’t investing in the UK anymore.”
“At 25 per cent, we have the lowest corporation tax in the G7,” the document says in its pitch to the world’s rich. It adds that the UK has “no punitive wealth taxes, no capital gains tax on main residences.” Not sure Labour MPs will love that…
[Further reading: Andy Burnham has 11 weeks to find a seat]
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