Chancellor Rachel Reeves and business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds have instructed officials to immediately begin work to create the new National Wealth Fund by bringing together the work of the UK Infrastructure Bank and the British Business Bank to unlock private sector investment to drive growth.

A taskforce has been set up chaired by the head of the Green Finance Institute, Dr Rhian-Mari Thomas, and other members including former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, Barclays CEO CS Venkatakrishnan, Aviva CEO Dame Amanda Blanc and large institutional investors.