Sir Keir Starmer hits back at Elon Musk’s claims few companies want to invest in Britain

Sir Keir Starmer has shot down claims by American billionaire Elon Musk that businesses don’t want to invest in the UK under his administration.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected claims by billionaire businessman Elon Musk that few companies will be interested in investing in the UK while the Labour government is in office.

Mr Musk, who has close ties with the US president-elect Donald Trump, posted on his social media platform X, “very few companies will be willing to invest in the UK with the current administration” which drew the ire of Downing Street.

Very few companies will be willing to invest in the UK with the current administration

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 29, 2024

On Monday afternoon a spokesman for Sir Keir hit back at Mr Musk’s claims and said the Labour government held an “unashamedly pro-growth and pro-business approach”.

“If you look at what’s happened since the election, you’ve seen £63 billion of traditional investment,” the spokesman said.

“Business investment in the third quarter this year is estimated to increase 4.5 per cent compared to this time last year”.

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been drawn into on online spat with Elon Musk who said people are turned off nivesting in the UK under the Labour government. Picture: AFP

The attack from Mr Musk who owns X, Tesla and SpaceX, was in response to Scottish politician Ash Regan writing to Mr Musk urging him to build a new Tesla factory in Scotland.

It’s not the first time Mr Musk has slammed the Labour government after claims he was not invited to an investment summit in the UK in September because of his comments made on social media about riots in Britain.

At the time he posted on X: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts”.

I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted pedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024

It was reported last week that Sir Keir and his colleagues wrote to the UK’s main regulators and requested they suggest ideas that could help boost economic growth in Britain.

This comes after inflation rose by its fastest level since March, climbing by 2.4 per cent and

the UK economy had no growth in the September quarter.

Mr Musk has also dominated the UK’s headlines in December after he met with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and billionaire British property tycoon Nick Candy at Mr Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Britain Needs Reform. @ElonMuskpic.twitter.com/CrR8p9yJab

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) December 17, 2024

Mr Candy is married to former Australian singer-songwriter and Neighbours actress Holly Candy (nee Valance).

After the trio met Mr Farage said Mr Musk had thrown his full support behind the British party as speculation swirled that the billionaire could make large donations to Reform UK.

“Elon makes us cool – Elon is a huge help to us with the young generation, and that will be the case going on, and frankly that’s only just starting,” Mr Farage said.

Originally published as Sir Keir Starmer hits back at Elon Musk’s claims few companies want to invest in Britain