UK and Japan ink £18bn investment deal

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The UK and Japan have signed a £18bn investment deal ahead of the G7 summit in France. It will see Japanese companies invest up to £9bn into UK offshore wind and spend more than £9bn on British financial services and infrastructure, which Downing Street says will create tens of thousands of jobs. The two countries have also struck agreements on energy, semiconductors, and quantum computing. It is not clear how many of these deals are new, but the news is a welcome boost for Starmer after a torrid week. With a Labour leadership election looming, he is keen to bag wins that he can point to as evidence of the fruits of his time in office.