UK and Japan agree £18bn investment deal

Japanese firms will spend billions on UK infrastructure and offshore wind, Downing Street says. UK and Japan agree £18bn investment deal Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. Copyright current_year BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sitting a table in 10 Downing Street in London. Starmer is on the left wearing a dark suit, white suit, and navy blue tie with white dots. Takaichi is on the right wearing a blue jacket, blue top, and a white necklace. Behind them, there is a UK flag and a Japanese flag. Behind that, there wood-panelled wall and the bottom of an ornate frame of a painting is just visible. The UK and Japan have agreed a multi-billion pound investment deal which UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said will build a "new era of co-operation" between the two nations. Japanese firms will spend more than £9bn on UK infrastructure and financial services and up to £9bn on UK offshore wind, creating tens of thousands of jobs, Downing Street said as the PM met his Japanese counterpart Sanae Takaichi in London. The deal comes as the UK's economy struggles to grow, with experts predicting the US-Israel war with Iran will hit the UK particularly hard. It is not clear how much of the investment listed by Downing Street represents new money or previously announced plans. Sir Keir and Takaichi met Japanese business leaders at Downing Street on Sunday, with Starmer describing the talks as "very productive". Separately, Sir Keir said he was "really pleased" the two countries had reaffirmed their commitment to the Gcap fighter jet programme being developed alongside Italy. Separately, Sir Keir said he was "really pleased" the two countries had reaffirmed their commitment to the Meanwhile, it was announced Rolls-Royce would work with Japan's Atomic Energy Agency to develop next generation nuclear technologies and a technology agreement would link up UK research and development and software expertise with Japanese manufacturing. Speaking through a translator, Japan's prime minister said the UK is "an extremely important partner". Mitsubishi Estate, Mitsui Fudosan, Nomura Real Estate were some of the Japanese firms which Downing Street said had agreed to spend billions over the next five years on infrastructure and real estate projects. The Conservative's shadow business and trade secretary Andrew Griffith said his party welcomed "any deal that brings investment" to the UK. However, he added that Labours "tax hikes and employer red tape are doing huge damage, destroying jobs and putting more and more people onto welfare". Though Downing Street has said the deal will boost jobs and long-term growth, experts expect economic pain in the near term. The UK economy grew by 0.6% during the first three months of the year - the fastest growth of any G7 economy - but analysts think growth will be sluggish in the months ahead. The US-Israel with Iran war will hit the UK the hardest of the world's advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month. The US-Israel with Iran war will hit the UK the hardest of the world's advanced economies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said last month But the IMF expect the UK to recover, to again become the fastest growing European economy next year in the smaller G7 group of advanced economies, albeit at a slightly slower rate of growth of 1.3%. A woman wearing a white and blue striped top taps her bank card on a card reader to pay for food and drinks in a cafe. What's happening to the UK economy and how does it affect you? A woman in a red sleeveless top browses a colourful rack of clothing in a charity shop. Faisal Islam: Six things we now know about the UK economy in charts The new target hasn't yet been decided, with different numbers under consideration, the BBC understands. Musk is now worth $1.11tn according to the Bloomberg rich list, while SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange with a value of $2.2tn. The public sale is also expected to make Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire. Watch as Japan's Daichi Kamada brings his side level to the Netherlands in their Group F fixture in the 2026 World Cup.