‘£40bn raised from Chinese visit’ claim is by David Cameron, so it is probably a fantasy

Last Updated: October 24, 2015By

Downing Street has insisted that the week-long Chinese state visit secured “up to £40bn” of trade and investment deals, after scrambling for much of Friday to substantiate the figure, brandished by David Cameron at a trade mission in Mansion House.

The business secretary, Sajid Javid, said earlier this week that President Xi Jinping’s visit would increase trade and investment between Britain and China by £25bn; but the figure had leapt to £40bn by the time the prime minister spoke on Wednesday.

No 10 officials remained coy throughout much of Friday about precisely how that figure had been arrived at, claiming repeatedly that full details would be published when the state visit had officially ended.

A statement was finally released after 6pm, detailing a long list of deals, including a promise from Chinese firm HNA to buy £1.4bn-worth of Rolls-Royce jet engines, to be built in Derby; and £6bn worth of investment in the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant.

But some of the agreements had a familiar ring about them. A £1bn memorandum of understanding about a “garden of ideas” – a pleasure garden to be built in China, in association with the Eden Project – appeared strikingly similar to a deal signed, in the presence of George Osborne, in 2014.

Doubts were also raised about £6bn of investment “to help fund regenerative medicine and tissue engineering research with Oxford University” – apparently the same deal announced by the university earlier this week as worth just £1.5m. No 10 said this was based on the Chinese bank behind the investment pencilling in a total of £6bn.

The decision by Chinese firm Sanpower, which owns House of Fraser, to open the department store’s first branches in China was first reported in April – and ultimately involves a Chinese investor, expanding in its own domestic market, albeit behind a British shopfront.

Other items referred to Chinese cash “unlocking” investment, before apparently listing the total value of the project in question, for example: “Hualing’s investment will unlock three major regeneration projects in Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield with a combined gross development value of £1.2bn.”

The government also trumpteted an announcement by BP that it would sell China’s Huadian Corporation up to 1m tonnes of liquid natural gas each year, valued at £6.5bn; but the income from it will be spread over two decades.

Source: David Cameron’s ‘£40bn raised from Chinese visit’ claim under scrutiny | Business | The Guardian

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(
but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Donate Button with Credit Cards

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

HWG PrintHWG eBook

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:

SWAHTprint SWAHTeBook

5 Comments

  1. Dave Rowlands October 24, 2015 at 2:12 pm - Reply

    More spin for those who believe, more money for those in the know, and nothing for everyone else that can see through the bull****!

  2. AndyH October 24, 2015 at 3:40 pm - Reply

    Doubtless if we ask to see any hardproof, the government will hide behind confidentiality clauses.

  3. NMac October 24, 2015 at 4:14 pm - Reply

    Lies, lies and more lies.

  4. jeffrey davies October 24, 2015 at 4:57 pm - Reply

    has cams been at georges stash of the white kind

  5. Neilth October 24, 2015 at 5:40 pm - Reply

    A significant lump of the Money is probably in the over inflated electricity prices the Tories have guaranteed for the Hinkley point electricity which is already overpriced

Leave A Comment