Tech giants plough £2.3bn into UK

PLANS to create 1,600 jobs will be announced today as some of the world’s leading techology companies back Brexit Britain.

In a major boost to the economy, tech bosses will outline £ .3billion of investment in the UK at a Downing Street summit.

The latest flurry of investment is being led by US computing giant Salesforce – one of the world’s biggest companies – which is ploughing £1.9billion into the UK and creating 900 jobs. The United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund also revealed it would invest £300million and Japanese IT firm NTT Data will pump in £41million.

Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, which coincides with London Tech Week, Theresa May declared: ‘It is a great time to be in tech in the UK.’ It comes just days after Amazon said it would create ,500 jobs in the UK this year.

Facebook is also growing its British workforce by 50 per cent to more than ,300 by the end of this year, while Google’s new base in King’s Cross will house 7,000 staff. Apple is also moving its head offices to the redeveloped Battersea Power Station, which can house up to 3,000 employees.

Officials said today’s meetings would ‘showcase Britain as the best place in the world to run a tech company’.

The Government is creating a £ .5billion British Patient Capital programme to help fledgling companies access the funds they require to flourish. And ministers will also announce reforms to visa rules to allow more tech entrepreneurs to work here.