Britain’s thriving creative industries should inspire investment in other parts of the economy to boost recovery, the boss of Legal & General said.
Sir Nigel Wilson called yesterday for investment in UK tech and life sciences claiming that the country’s success in attracting major productions such as Game Of Thrones should act as a motivation.
Wilson, presenting his last set of L&G results before he retires at the end of the year, told the Mail: ‘We need an investment-led recovery.
‘Too often in the past we’ve had a consumption-led recovery – we’ve always under-invested.’
He pointed to efforts made by the US to support chip-making and the transition to net zero with hundreds of billions of dollars of subsidies.
Stepping down: Legal & General boss Sir Nigel Wilson called for investment in UK tech and life sciences as he presented his last set of results at the company
But he rejected the idea Britain could not compete with America, citing the creative industries.
It is a sector that L&G has backed by investing in broadcaster Sky’s studio development in Elstree.
‘Where was Game Of Thrones mainly made?’ he said. ‘In the UK. Where was [Sky TV’s] Chernobyl made?
‘That would be in the UK. It’s a huge opportunity and that can be an example of things we can do in other industries.
‘The life sciences and technology industries are five to ten years behind in terms of where we want them to be and we need to invest a huge amount more in these industries.’
L&G reported a better than expected £941million operating profit for the first half of the year, though that was 2 per cent down on a year earlier.
Higher interest rates resulted in a £132billion fall in assets under management to £1.16 trillion compared with last year.
Wilson declined to say what he might do next, adding: ‘I’m focusing on the half-year results then I’m going on holiday.’
