UK to remain ‘very exciting place’ for investments: Lord Mayor of London

The United Kingdom will be a “very exciting” place for investments in the coming years with a stable government in power and Prime Minister Boris Johnson committing to huge infrastructure development in the country, according to Lord Mayor of the City of London, William Russell.
“We have got clarity now…clarity of government. That’s hugely positive. Having that clarity is even more important than Brexit. Brexit was a bump on the road. Our currency remains stable. It is where it was some three-and-a-half years ago.
“My property friends are saying they are very busy. The demand has picked up due to that clarity. I am confident investments will continue to come into London. It is still a good time to invest in the UK,” Russell said at a media roundtable at the Ritz-Carlton, Doha, yesterday.
He highlighted UK’s commitment to fight climate change, and said, “We all have to come together and save our planet. We have to work closely together.”
The UK is hosting the COP26 in November and Russell wants “the whole world to come together and show leadership in the sustainable space.”
By 2035, the UK will end the sale of new diesel and petrol (gasoline) cars.
The UK authorities had previously said the sale of new petrol and diesel vans and cars would end in 2040.
Russell said, “I am confident there will be huge incentives for those making investments in line with the UK’s ambitious target to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to tackle climate change and reduce emissions. At the moment, we have only 55,000 battery chargers in the UK. Our target is to have an infrastructure for 37mn battery chargers by 2035.”
Post-Brexit, he said the UK would enter into free trade deals with other countries.
“We have already said that. In respect of the financial services sector in the City of London, we have always been at the forefront. We have an ecosystem, whether it is the rule of law or language or time zone. We have more financial institutions than other cities in the world. We will still be at the centre of financial services within Europe. “We looked forward to a deal with the European Union. They want to work with us... we want to work with them. Negotiations will continue,” the Lord Mayor said.
“Since the referendum, we have had plenty of institutions staying in the City of London. Because of Brexit, we have lost around 2,000 jobs, but we have gained all these through fintech.
“Fintech employs around 76,500 people in the UK,” Russell said and noted that he remains “very optimistic about the City and London and the UK, going forward.”