Invest in Britain now

THE Mail welcomes the Government’s decision to publish a strategy for helping industry improve productivity, embrace technological change and boost wages.

And indeed, it correctly identifies one of our worst failings – that we invest far less in research and development than competitors such as Germany and the US.

We have some of the most innovative start- up firms in the world, but too often they lack the funding to fully exploit their potential and end up being sold to foreign buyers. Sadly, the Government’s proposed solution to this problem is desperately lacking in both urgency and ambition. It will increase research spending by £2.3billion – but not until 2021-22.

Why must we wait four years? With Brexit less than 18 months down the road, the time for action is now.

The decisions this week of US drug giant Merck and German technology company Qiagen to expand operations here are a massive vote of confidence in Britain as a place to do business.

But we must ensure that as foreign companies prosper, our home-grown firms don’t get left behind. WHAT an unpleasant character Labour’s Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad is proving to be. First she made patronising and racist comments about a black Tory candidate. Now she has shared an online post calling Theresa May ‘ugly’, and compounded the insult by saying it was ‘just a joke’. If it was a joke, it was a deeply sick one.