Foreign investment into the UK has reached a record high of more than £1 trillion and shows “Britain is the place to do business”, David Cameron has said.
Nearly 85,000 new jobs have been created as a result of the trade injection and a further 23,000 existing posts protected, according to official records.
Britain secured the highest number and value of projects across Europe last year with Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) estimated to have gone up by £90 billion.
The Prime Minister hailed the figures as he led a business delegation to the Milan Expo, including entrepreneurs attempting to sell ice cream and fashion to the Italians.
Mr Cameron will also use the visit to lobby support for his plans to reform the European Union. As he continues his whistle-stop round of meetings with leaders across the EU, he will tour the international exhibition with Matteo Renzi and hold talks with his Italian counterpart.
“The scale of foreign investment is a huge success story which shows that Britain is the place to do business and is more evidence that our long term economic plan is working,” Mr Cameron said.
“Securing investment from overseas is a key part of our one nation policies to create thousands of jobs, provide security and opportunities for working people throughout the UK.”
The UK attracted 1,988 FDI projects in 2014/15, up by 12% on the previous financial year, annual investment figures from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) showed.
Investment came from more than 70 countries but the United States remained the main source with 564 projects over the last year, followed by France on 124 initiatives.
Indian FDI surged by 65% and was responsible for more than 9,000 of the new and safeguarded jobs while China was behind 112 projects, resulting in almost 6,000 new and safeguarded jobs.