The UK business secretary, Peter Kyle, has said he is “betting big” and “picking winners” as the government takes direct stakes in growing businesses to boost economic growth. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been talking up Britain’s prospects, Kyle said ministers were taking an… Read More »He’s going to spunk the cash, isn’t he? The post He’s going to spunk the cash, isn’t he? first appeared on Tim Worstall.
The UK business secretary, Peter Kyle, has said he is “betting big” and “picking winners” as the government takes direct stakes in growing businesses to boost economic growth.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been talking up Britain’s prospects, Kyle said ministers were taking an “activist” approach to industrial policy.
Yep, he is.
He highlighted the recent decision to allow the £26bn state-owned British Business Bank to buy equity stakes in companies, including the announcement last week of a £25m investment in the energy supplier Octopus’s software spin-off, Kraken.
“The most potential in our economy, in the short and medium term, is scale-up companies,” Kyle said. “I was at Octopus yesterday. They’re now employing 1,500 people in their head office in London alone.
“We can find other companies that are on that kind of trajectory and we can expedite their growth. Then it will create thousands of new jobs, and it will create enormous amounts of wealth, which will recycle through the economy in a really fast way.”
Spray it all right up the wall.
There’s a vast PE and VC indistry already scouring the economy for those things. What makes anyone think that government – moving slower, with weaker incentives – is going to find hidden gems?
The post He’s going to spunk the cash, isn’t he? first appeared on Tim Worstall.
