Rishi Sunak’s move to increase UK corporation tax to 25% will not deter US investors from flocking to Northern Ireland, Washington’s new economic envoy to the region has said.
Joe Kennedy III, scion of the famous US political dynasty, was speaking a week into his first trip to the region as part of Joe Biden’s promise to turboboost the local economy with up to $6bn (£4.8bn) of investment if power sharing is restored.
Kennedy also insisted he was sticking to the role, which was given to him by the US president in December, even though his uncle Robert F Kennedy Jr is challenging Biden for the White House.
“I love my uncle, and nothing’s ever going to come between that. I am honoured that the president selected me for this position. I support the president and look forward to supporting him in the next few years,” he said.
Kennedy was asked by reporters in his first major press interview in the post why US companies would choose Northern Ireland when UK corporation tax has just been hiked from 19% to 25% – double the 12.5% headline rate south of the border in the Republic of Ireland.
“Taxes are certainly an important calculation for a business community, of course, so is talent, so is employees, so is quality of life, so are the other services that can be provided,” Kennedy said. “And my point is, Northern Ireland has an awful lot to offer.”
Two hundred and thirty US companies employing 30,000 people, including computer firm Seagate and cybersecurity firm Rapid7, are already investors in Northern Ireland, part of the $2bn peace dividend in the last decade.
“They chose to be here, they didn’t have to choose to be here. They did. They are here,” the envoy added.
Kennedy has spent the last week in Northern Ireland since arriving on Air Force One with Biden, who last week dangled the $6bn financial carrot in front of Northern Ireland’s leaders to encourage them to reinitiate power sharing.
In a thinly veiled message to the Democratic Unionist party, which has been boycotting the devolved Stormont government for more than a year, the US president told an audience in Belfast that American investors were ready to “triple” the $2bn already invested in the region over the past decade.
Kennedy said in Wednesday’s interview there was an opportunity for an all-island approach from the 950 US companies already based in the Irish republic, ranging from Pfizer to Facebook and Microsoft.
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“I think there is an opportunity for some of those companies that are based in the Republic of Ireland to also explore potentially opportunities to have a footprint north,” he said.
But he insisted this did not mean siphoning off money from Dublin or beyond. “I’m not talking about stealing investment away from anybody.
“What we are talking about is there are companies that have bases in the Republic of Ireland that I think would be interested in trying to potentially explore opportunities in Northern Ireland.”
Kennedy also warned that political leaders had to play their part in making the investment flow.
“Businesses like clarity when it comes to governance,” he said. If business leaders from the US are going to consider the investment of “millions, hundreds of millions of dollars” then “being able to meet with heads of state and executives; links into government are important … having a functioning government is helpful”.
