UK PM Keir Starmer touts pro-business agenda as he woos top Wall Street CEOs

The United Kingdom is pursuing finance from America's biggest banks and tech giants, arsenic nan state looks to infuse maturation successful its stagnant economy. 

"We now person a Labour authorities whose number 1 privilege is wealthiness creation," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer told CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin successful an exclusive broadcast question and reply Thursday.

"We are a Labour statement that is proud to opportunity we are pro business conscionable arsenic overmuch arsenic we are pro worker."

In July, Starmer became nan first leader from nan center-left Labour statement to triumph a U.K. nationalist predetermination since Tony Blair — ending 14 years of Conservative rule. Since being elected, he has said his apical privilege is economical stability.

During his sojourn to New York City amid nan United Nations General Assembly, Starmer met pinch business leaders including Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, Citi CEO Jane Fraser, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Microsoft President Brad Smith, and Blackstone President Jonathan Gray.

This week, Blackstone committed to investing $13 billion to build a information halfway successful nan northeast of England. The finance intends to create 4,000 jobs and lead to one of nan largest information centers successful Europe to powerfulness nan surging request for artificial intelligence.

"It's a large awesome of confidence," Starmer told Sorkin astir nan deal. "It's besides successful nan northeast of England, which matters to us, because I want economical thrust extracurricular of London."

Starmer said nan industries successful peculiar he's moving to pull finance successful see renewables, artificial intelligence and life sciences. This telephone for finance comes arsenic nan Labour authorities is getting fresh to unveil its fund scheme successful October, while dealing pinch a stagnant economy.

Starmer's government, successful nan early days of its tenure, flagged a £22 cardinal ($29 billion) financing shortfall aft his management performed an audit. Former Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt, for nan Conservative Party, successful July wrote to Simon Case, nan caput of nan British civilian service, labeling Labour's claims astir nan nationalist finances "deeply troubling."

Starmer has, much recently, been accused of being excessively antagonistic connected nan U.K economy, and Labour's plans to ax nan U.K.'s non-dom taxation regime has besides been criticized.

"We will stabilize nan economy," said Starmer Thursday. "There are going to beryllium much difficult decisions to beryllium made erstwhile it comes to nan budget."

Earlier this week, Starmer's scheme to trim payments that offset substance costs for pensioners was rejected by his ain statement successful a symbolic ballot astatine nan Labour Party's Annual Conference.

"No 1 wants to alteration nan wintertime substance allowance for pensioners. But by doing that, we stabilize nan economy,"  Starmer told Sorkin.

"We tin perpetrate to what we telephone nan triple lock, which intends that they get much money year-on-year." The U.K.'s "triple lock" is wherever nan authorities pension rises each twelvemonth by either 2.5%, nan ostentation rate, aliases net maturation — whichever is highest.