Rishi Sunak vows to make Britain 'best place to do business' ahead of G20

Prime Minister says investors around the world are flocking to the country to seize amazing opportunities

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he intends to make the UK the 'best place to do business'. EPA

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he intends to make the UK the “best place to do business” ahead of the G20 meeting in India at the weekend.

Speaking to the Daily Express newspaper, Mr Sunak said he wanted to build a country where “everyone can look forward with optimism, confident that our children and grandchildren can have a better future with every opportunity to succeed”.

“The first step to achieving this is unleashing businesses so the economy can thrive – and that’s what we’re working every day to deliver,” he said.

Mr Sunak will attend the G20 meeting of the world's largest economies in New Delhi as the UK continues negotiations with India for a post-Brexit trade deal. He could return later in the year if a deal is finalised.

“Thanks to the unparalleled talent of our people, our world-leading universities, our unique and highly respected legal system, and the fact the UK is such a brilliant, vibrant place to live, we have long been a hub for global enterprise,” he told the newspaper.

“With our Brexit freedoms, we are going even further to show that Britain is open for business. And the effect is clear – investors around the world are flocking in to seize the amazing opportunities that we have to offer.”

Revised figures

Last week, revised figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that Britain's economy performed better than previously thought in its recovery from the pandemic and was ahead of other large European countries by the end of 2021.

The revamped ONS numbers indicated that the British economy was 0.6 per cent larger in the fourth quarter of 2021 than in the final quarter of 2019, compared with an earlier estimate that it was 1.2 per cent smaller.

“The declinists and the naysayers were wrong – the economy performed well then and it is coming back stronger today,” Mr Sunak told the Daily Express.

“That's the message I'll be taking to the G20 in India. I won't just be working with presidents and prime ministers to deepen our trade and investment links, I'll also be meeting CEOs – because they want to hear more about what we're doing in the UK.”