Sir Keir Starmer has responded to Elon Musk after the tech tycoon said people should not go to the UK.
The Tesla and SpaceX boss lashed out at the UK after it was reported he had not been invited to a major investment summit because of his social media posts during the summer riots.
Mr Musk said: “I don’t think anyone should go to the UK when they’re releasing convicted paedophiles in order to imprison people for social media posts.”
Sir Keir, who held a gathering for US business chiefs set to attend the summit while he was in New York, told reporters that Mr Musk’s views were in “stark contrast” to those of the executives he had met.
He said the business chiefs described the breakfast event they had with him during his New York visit as “the best of the meetings they’ve had” during the UN General Assembly which sees political leaders jet in from around the world.
“There’s a really strong window of opportunity now with the UK, given the changes we’ve brought about, our number one mission on economic growth, and to talk them through the wealth fund, the industrial strategy, what we’re doing in terms of planning, grids, etc,” Sir Keir said.
“So I’m listening good and hard to what they have to say, because they will be attending the summit, and many of them are already investing in the UK.
“On Tesla. Obviously, I encourage investment from anywhere, and so I don’t want to be misunderstood on this. So good investment into the UK is what I’m very, very keen to promote.”
It is understood SpaceX has been invited to send a representative to the summit in October.
Mr Musk’s absence from the summit follows his promotion of false claims in relation to the disorder in the summer.
After three children were killed in a stabbing attack in Southport and violence erupted across the UK, X owner Mr Musk posted on his platform suggesting that a civil war in the UK was “inevitable” and attacking the Prime Minister.
His claim about the UK releasing prisoners came after 1,700 inmates were released early from their sentences in the first phase of the Government’s plan to tackle overcrowding. Sex offenders are excluded from the policy.
Sir Keir’s push for overseas investment is part of his “mission” to kickstart economic growth.
Despite the Government’s plan to nationalise the railways and the launch of publicly owned Great British Energy, Sir Keir said: “By and large, I think that business is best run by those in the private sector.
“So the ideal model, as far as I’m concerned, is the government of the day sets the strategic agenda, if you like, the five missions in my particular case. That is the right thing to do for a democratic, elected government.
“We then partner with business, and we’re making a big ask of business, which is ‘come alongside us and deliver our missions with us’, in this case, economic growth, and the government is your partner in that.
“And that means that we ensure that the conditions are good for investment and good for business. Hence, the work we do planning, what we’re doing on the grid. What we’re doing with the National Wealth Fund.
“GB Energy is intended to be a catalyst, as well as an energy company, to ensure that we can take the bumps out of the road for those that want to get into our mission on net zero.
“I think the railways do need to come into public ownership. I think anybody who’s travelled on the train recently would give that a big thumbs up, as the British public do. I think GB energy needs to be a publicly owned entity as we harvest the opportunities.
“But as a general proposition, I think businesses are best run by businesses.”