MP: Pension funds and companies not working together
With the Prime Minister away at the NATO summit in Lithuania, at Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions today, John asked,
“Given the Mansion House Compact does not encourage our pension funds to invest specifically in British businesses, what more is the Government going to do to encourage greater investment in British companies, especially our climate technology start-ups which are increasingly going abroad for the funding they require, to the benefit of our competitors?”
The Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon Oliver Dowden MP, responded that the Mansion House Compact is a step forward towards pension funds investing in high-growth companies, many of which may be British companies.
Afterwards, John said,
“Despite world-leading capital markets, many start-ups needing funding and some of the world’s largest pension funds, our economy is not benefitting as it should. Part of the problem is that in recent decades our pension funds have drastically reduced their exposure to domestic equities, unlike other countries. The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is ailing – ARM and CRH being the latest canaries in the coalmine. We need to encourage more companies across the size spectrum to list given the LSE is the gateway to financial services.”
Notes to Editors:
- John recently wrote an article on this issue, online at: https://commentcentral.co.uk/pension-funds-should-invest-in-britain.
