{"id":5861,"date":"2025-04-09T14:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/5861\/"},"modified":"2025-04-09T14:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T14:57:10","slug":"govt-unveils-huge-uk-investment-from-us-firm-universal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/5861\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt Unveils ‘Huge’ UK Investment From US Firm Universal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lisa Nandy <\/a>has revealed a \u201chuge\u201d UK investment from the American company Universal to build a theme park and resort in Bedfordshire.<\/p>\n

The culture secretary told Sky News<\/a> this would be \u201cone of the biggest investments into the United Kingdom in recent times\u201d and was a \u201chuge vote of confidence in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n

She claimed it was \u201cvindication\u201d of the Labour<\/a> government\u2019s work to \u201cmake sure that the world knows we\u2019re open for business\u201d.<\/p>\n

It comes days after US president Donald Trump <\/a>announced a series of tariffs on countries around the world.<\/p>\n

He slapped a 10% so-called \u201cbase rate\u201d tax on British imports on top of a global 25% levy on cars and steel products, rocking the UK economy amid fears of a global recession.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Wednesday, the cabinet minister said: \u201cThis deal comes off the back of one of the most tumultuous few weeks in global markets that I think anyone can remember with in living memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government has not yet responded to the tariffs, only launching a consultation period with businesses and focusing on trying to get a trade deal with the US across the line before May 1.<\/p>\n

Although this approach has been criticised for being \u201cweak\u201d,<\/a> Nandy said this approach is \u201cone of the reasons that we\u2019ve been able to announce this huge deal today\u201d.<\/p>\n

It is thought the investment is worth billions of pounds and expected to create \u00a350bn for the economy by 2055, and create 28,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

Nandy said: \u201cThis is huge. This is not just about numbers on the spreadsheet. This is about good jobs, it\u2019s about growth, it\u2019s about raising people\u2019s living standards and putting money in people\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s a massive vote of confidence in the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, when Sky presenter Wilfred Frost asked what concessions the government offered to get this deal over the line, Nandy just said ministers have been \u201cworking really closely with the company\u201d \u2013 and pointed out how the government has been cutting red tape around planning.<\/p>\n

Nandy also hit back at the Conservatives<\/a>\u2019 claim that they had been working on these talks for years.<\/p>\n

She told BBC Breakfast<\/a> saying those talks had \u201cstalled\u201d, so when Labour came into office they decided that was \u201cnot good enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

PM Keir Starmer<\/a> welcomed the news on X, writing: A new Universal theme park is coming to the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have closed the deal on a multi-billion-pound investment that will make Bedford home to one of Europe\u2019s biggest theme parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreating 28,000 jobs, boosting our economy, and driving local and national growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chancellor Rachel Reeves also praised the announcement, saying: \u201cAt a time of global change, this investment is a vote of confidence in Britain as a place to do business.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversal\u2019s investment will bring billions to the economy and create thousands of jobs in the UK, putting more money in people\u2019s pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds added: \u201cThis is a transformative investment for the UK economy and the people of Bedford that will not only support local skilled jobs but raise living standards in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lisa Nandy has revealed a \u201chuge\u201d UK investment from the American company Universal to build a theme park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,3107,479,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-5861","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-lisa-nandy","11":"tag-tariffs","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114308595263440491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}