Four US tech firms have announced plans to invest £6.3billion in data centre infrastructure in the UK – a move the Technology Secretary has called a “vote of confidence” in the country.

The four firms – CyrusOne, ServiceNow, CloudHQ and CoreWeave – have announced ranging investments including plans to build new data centres and office space, as global demand for computing capabilities to power artificial intelligence continues to grow.

The investment plans include CloudHQ’s development of a new £1.9billion data centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, which it said would create 1,500 jobs during construction and 100 permanent jobs once fully operational.

ServiceNow plans to invest £1.15billion into its UK business over the next five years, including expanding its data centres and office space.

CyrusOne said it intends to invest £2.5billion over the coming years, including to build new data centres, while CoreWeave said it would invest a further £750million in the UK, having announced in May it was spending £1billion to open its European headquarters in London.

Last month, the Government announced that it was to begin classing data centres as critical national infrastructure (CNI), giving them additional support and protection on the same footing as the water and energy sectors.

And CyrusOne chief executive Eric Schwartz said the designation was a “strong signal” that gave his company the “confidence to continue its expansion in the UK”.

Sir Keir Starmer has “full confidence” in the Transport Secretary despite having disowned her criticism of P&O Ferries amid concerns it would jeopardise a £1billion investment in the UK, Downing Street has said.

Number 10 has sought to draw a line under the Cabinet rift that saw Louise Haigh describe the firm as a “cowboy operator”, saying the Prime Minister “absolutely” backs the minister after the fallout.

Asked whether Sir Keir had full confidence in the minister, his official spokesman said: “Yes, absolutely. The Transport Secretary in the run-up to the summit delivered significant investment in electric buses.

“She’s put an end to industrial disruption seen for the past two-and-a-half years that has cost the economy and commuters dearly, and she’s been driving forward reform and bringing rail services back into public ownership.”

The Government’s international investment summit is “not about focusing on any one specific person”, Downing Street said when asked why Tesla owner Elon Musk had not been invited.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “This summit is not about focusing on any one specific person.

“What you can see today is 300 of the most significant investors, people who can bring significant amounts of capital to the UK, attending this summit, which is obviously hugely significant.

“It follows in recent weeks huge announcements by the likes of Amazon, Blackstone, investment in buses announced only last week, and you will have seen the letter from some of the world’s biggest businesses just today talking about the optimism with which they see the future of the UK’s economy and their belief that now is the right time to invest in Britain.”

Details of a £1.1billion investment programme to improve and expand Stansted airport’s terminal building have been announced.

Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which owns the Essex airport, said the project will create up to 5,000 new on-site jobs.

The plans are expected to double the airport’s economic contribution to £2billion per year.

They are focused on a £600million extension of the existing terminal, which will increase its size by a third. This will feature more seating areas and new shops, bars and restaurants.

Planning permission was obtained in October last year, and construction is due to begin in 2025. The project is expected to take between two and three years to complete.

Also included in the investment programme are an enlarged security hall, an on-site solar farm to supply energy needs, a refurbishment of toilet facilities and seating upgrades.

The Department for Transport said the scheme is “in line with previously agreed passenger and flight numbers”.

MAG chief executive Ken O’Toole said: “By investing more than £1billion in Stansted over the next five years, we will be able to connect people and businesses in London and the east of England to even more global destinations while welcoming millions more visitors to the UK.

“We are proud to be investing in our infrastructure in a way that will create jobs and stimulate trade, investment and tourism.

“Aviation is an essential enabler of the success of the UK’s key high-value industries, and we look forward to helping the Government achieve the highest sustained growth in the G7 through the sustainable growth of our airports.”

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said: “We have been steadfast in our commitment to help British businesses grow and in turn boost the UK’s economy. This announcement is a clear signal that Britain is open for business.

“Transport is central to this Government’s core mission of growing the economy.

“This is about giving companies like Manchester Airports Group the confidence to invest, boosting regional and national economic growth, and supporting the aviation sector while also meeting our existing environmental obligations.”

The Investment Summit “might as well come with a neon sign, Big Business Only,” one small business owner has said.

Patricia McGirr, founder of Repossession Rescue Network, said: “The Government’s investment summit might as well come with a neon sign: ‘Big Business Only.’ While they are handing out billion-pound deals and cutting red tape for corporate giants, small businesses are left out in the cold.

“SMEs don’t need handouts, they need to keep more of their profits to reinvest and grow. Instead, they’re being bled dry by tax hikes and uncertainty.”

Ms McGirr added: “If they keep ignoring the backbone of the economy, they’ll soon find there’s nothing left to hold the UK up.”

Another SME business owner, Richard O’Connor, Technical Director at First Mats, said: “I feel like the Government has a different set of priorities when it comes to supporting big businesses versus SMEs. The PM said wealth creation is his number one mission, but to achieve that, he will need to support SMEs just as much as big businesses.”

Sam Kirk, managing director at J-Flex Rubber Products, said: “SMEs are constantly told they are the “backbone of the economy” which is and has been for some time, an empty gesture. If the Government continue to neglect small businesses and press ahead with proposed tax hikes and other regulatory changes, that backbone will break.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK is proud of the NHS, but it won’t be improved if Labour put more money into the health service “as it is”.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that he thinks the development of AI and the development of clean energy “go together”.

The prime minister said: “On the face of it, there is an apparent tension between AI and technology which is massively going to increase the demand for energy, and this […] running towards clean power.”

He added: “I actually think that if you step back, the two go together.

“In other words, what you need for your development, your AI, is more energy, but clean, reliable, cheaper energy homegrown is the answer for that conundrum.

“If we get this right […] becomes an incredibly important selling point of the UK in terms of why would you want to put your databases here, why would you want to develop AI here.

“Answer, because alongside our commitment to growth and technology is our commitment to a cheaper, more effective, more independent, more secure energy source which we can run up at scale.”

He added: “If we’re smart about this, we can turn that apparent tension into a massive advantage.”

In a Q&A panel discussion, the former Google chief executive officer Eric Schmidt warned Sir Keir Starmer he will fail to meet his 2030 energy goal unless he fixes the “delay” involved in regulation in the UK which is “killing you”.

Mr Schmidt told the Prime Minister: “Democracies, especially something as old as this one, have so many ways in which people can say no.

“I’d much rather – and I think the business community would much rather – have a single person who can say yes or no … and then they can move on.

“The cost of capital and the delay is killing you, and furthermore you’re not going to achieve your 2030 energy goal, which is laudable, without fixing this.

“You have a tactical leadership problem to achieve this and I think you can pull it off, but you have to figure out a way to get control.”

The Prime Minister replied: “I think this is a really big challenge, it has to be a cross-government priority, not just within the Treasury team.”

He added that “we are setting up some of the structures that will do this” and repeated that the Government’s central question would always be: “Does this promote growth or does it not promote growth?”

Sir Keir Starmer said the “sheer volume” of regulation and the “inconsistency” with which it is applied needs to be stripped away.

The Prime Minister told the investment summit in a Q&A: “I’m not saying all regulation is bad, but the sheer volume that we’ve got here and the inconsistency with different regulators or bodies pulling in slightly different directions means it’s not just the volume of regulation, it’s also the fact that there’s not even a sort of clear landing path for investment.

“That is what we need to strip away.”

He said he wanted to abandon the mindset in politics of putting challenges in “the difficult box” and “now is the time to absolutely grasp these things”.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was “determined to repair Britain’s brand” as a “stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner” as he accused the Tories of having made people “less sure of that”.

The Prime Minister said: “I see this as a diplomatic necessity and I think it’s clear how much priority I’ve given it in the first 100 days of Government all around the world, whether it’s countries or investors, people want to know that Britain can be a stable, trusted, rule-abiding partner, as we’ve always been.

“But, somehow, during the whole circus that followed Brexit, the last government made a few people less sure of that, needlessly our closest allies, and of course, a few choice Anglo-Saxon phrases for business.

“Well, no more. We turn the page on that.”

The Prime Minister said the Government would “run towards the fire to put it out” as he vowed to “quickly” stabilise the economy to avoid the problems of Labour’s inheritance “misting up the shop window of Britain”.

After a bruising few weeks of headlines dominated by turmoil in Number 10 and a row over freebies given to Cabinet ministers, he promised to “think in years” rather than “the days or hours of the news grid”.

In his keynote speech at Guildhall, he said: “We’ve got our problems, of course we have, as I’ve said our public services need urgent care, our public finances need the tough love of prudence – challenges we can’t ignore.

“Because we know, just as every leader here knows, that those early weeks and months are precious, and no matter how many people advise you to ignore it, you must run towards the fire to put it out, not let it spread further.

“So, we will fix our public services, we will stabilise our economy, and we will do it quickly, because we don’t want any of the problems associated with our inheritance misting up the shop window of Britain, distracting you from all those assets that I just listed.”

He said it was “a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock potential”.

On industrial strategy, the Prime Minister said: “In this country, there’s been a long, rather arcane political debate about picking winners.

“Well, we’re not in the business of picking individual winners, but we are in the business of building on our strengths, mowing the grass on the pitch, making sure the changing rooms are clean and comfortable, the training ground is good so that when our businesses compete, they are match fit.

“To put it simply, we give the businesses of this country the best conditions to succeed.”

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has taken to the stand, telling summit attendees: “The UK is back. It’s back at the global table”.

Some have suggested that in order to make Britain a more attractive destination post-Brexit, the Government will need to regulate less than the EU.

Asked whether ministers would be open to doing so, Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Actually, I would say you need to regulate smartly and you need to regulate creatively.”

Asked whether he believed that was essentially the same as regulating less, he said: “It’s different. You don’t have to cut corners to get innovation through the regulatory landscape.”

Mr Kyle pointed to the Regulatory Innovation Office, which was announced last week and seeks to draw on the learnings of the Covid vaccine task force to expedite the deployment of new products, as an example of the Government’s approach.

He insisted: “Not cutting corners or lowering standards, but making sure that the Government takes on some of the burden of compliance so that our nation can benefit.”

The Technology Secretary downplayed the prospect of concerns among traditional Labour supporters, including some within the trade union movement, over the Government “speaking the language of the Tories“.

He insisted there would be “high standards” for “everyone who invests and employs people in our country,” citing the recently introduced Employment Bill as an example of Labour’s commitment to workers’ rights.

DP World has revealed a £1billion plan to expand the London Gateway container port at the Government’s investment summit.

It comes after reports the P&O Ferries owner was set to shelve the announcement over calls from a Government minister to boycott its subsidiary.

On Wednesday last week, Transport Secretary Louise Haigh described P&O Ferries as a “cowboy operator”.

The criticism was aimed at the company’s actions in March 2022, when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy.

But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer later said calls for a boycott of the ferry firm was “not the view of the Government” following reports DP World would pull out of the summit.

The company, which specialises in logistics and shipping cargo, confirmed over the weekend that it would still attend the summit.

On Monday, DP World marked its involvement in the event by confirming the investment plan, which it said would expand London Gateway to become Britain’s largest container port within five years.

It would increase the capacity of the port by building two new shipping berths, bringing the site to six berths which could receive the world’s largest container ships.

A second rail terminal would also be added to the site to deal with increased container trade.

The expansion would create a further 400 permanent new jobs, the company said.

Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, group chairman and chief executive of DP World, said: “DP World London Gateway will help make Britain’s trade flow in the future by connecting domestic exporters with global markets and delivering vital supply chain resilience for the whole economy.

“I am proud of this major investment which underlines DP World’s long-term commitment to the UK.”

The Technology Secretary has left the door open for more laws to protect children online, including a ban on some social media.

Peter Kyle told LBC: “Everything is on the table when it comes to keeping young people safe and I’m looking very carefully at the powers that we might need to do so in the future.”

Asked whether a ban on some social media products was not off the table, he said: “When it comes to the safety of people who live and work and use the online world here in this country, nothing will be off the table.

“I want to work constructively with these companies, that’s what I am doing.”

A Cabinet minister has dismissed suggestions the UK Government is seen as a “soft touch” by unions after reports the Transport Secretary has authorised a bonus for rail workers working five days a week.

Peter Kyle told LBC: “This Labour Government is a soft touch to no one.”

He said he could “not comment on things that I’m not party to” but added: “I am broadly in favour of investing in our workforce, investing in our country and making sure we can get out of this doom spiral that the last Tory government left us with – high tax, low growth, an economy that is going nowhere.”

A Cabinet minister has said he stands “absolutely ready to engage” with Elon Musk and insisted the Government has “good engagement” with “some” of the tech tycoon’s companies.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle suggested Mr Musk, who was criticised by Downing Street over his social media posts in relation to the summer riots, was not invited to the international investment summit because “he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events”.

It was previously reported that the X owner was snubbed because of his posts suggesting civil war was “inevitable” in Britain during the widespread disorder.

Asked whether the Government should have invited Mr Musk, Mr Kyle told Times Radio: “Let me just send my very best to him on the safe landing of the booster rocket yesterday, it was a stunning achievement and I did watch slack-jawed at the staggering achievement that that represented.

“Elon Musk has never come to any of the past investment summits that have been held under the previous government, he doesn’t tend to do these sort of events, but I stand absolutely ready to engage with him, to talk about any potential global investments he’s making – I’m not aware of any at this moment in time.”

He added that “we have good engagement with some of his companies”.

On the summit, Mr Kyle said: “By the end of the day, I think you’ll see some pretty significant commitments.”

Technology and Innovation Secretary Peter Kyle was asked by Times Radio how businesses looking to invest in Britain could know they would not get “slagged off by a random minister” after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh criticised the ferry company.

He said: “Like your listeners, I was angry with the way P&O acted back then.

“But, actually, P&O has changed because last week we introduced workers’ rights legislation which would stop that kind of thing happening again and P&O were right there, right behind it.

“DP World, their parent company, were right behind it. They will be here today and they are continuing their £1 billion investment.

“That means we’ve all turned a corner. They’ve turned a corner, our country has turned a corner and we are looking to the future.”

In his keynote speech opening the summit, the Prime Minister is expected to pitch Britain as a stable bet for investors, with a vow to “do everything in my power to galvanise growth including getting rid of regulation that needlessly holds back investment.”

He is expected to say not enough has been done to make sure the UK is keeping pace with emerging industries. He will pledge to “upgrade the regulatory regime to make it fit for the modern age, making Britain fit to harness all opportunities.”

On the value of stability, the Prime Minister is expected to say: “It’s not just that stability leads to growth – though we all recognise that. It’s also that growth leads to stability. Growth leads to a country that is better equipped to come together and get its future back. That’s why it’s always been so critical to my project.

“We have a golden opportunity to use our mandate, to end chop and change, policy churn and sticking plasters that make it so hard for investors to assess the value of any proposition.

“We have the determination, the focus on clear long-term ends, a mission-led mindset that thinks in years, not the days or hours of the news grid, needed to unlock that potential. Do not doubt that.

“We are focusing on investment because the mission of growth, in this country especially, demands it. Private sector investment is the way we rebuild our country and pay our way in the world. This is a great moment to back Britain. This is a great moment to back England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.”

On regulation, he is expected to say: “We’ve got to look at regulation where it is needlessly holding back the investment, to take our country forward.

“Where it is stopping us building the homes, the data centres, warehouses, grid connectors, roads, train lines, you name it then mark my words – we will get rid of it.

“We will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment and we will make sure that every regulator in this country takes growth as seriously as this room does.”

The Government will ask the CMA to prioritise growth, investment, and innovation through their work as a priority and it will also be reviewing the focus of other major regulators.