Amazon to invest £40bn in UK

Amazon has said it will invest £40bn in the UK over the next three years as it creates thousands of jobs and opens four new warehouses.

The online shopping giant will build two huge fulfilment centres in the East Midlands, which it expects to open in 2027. The exact locations are still to be revealed.

Two others - in Hull and Northampton - were previously announced and are set to be finished this year and in 2026 respectively, with 2,000 jobs expected at each site. Amazon is already one of the country's biggest private employers - with around 75,000 staff.

Two new buildings will also go up at its corporate headquarters in east London, while other investment includes new delivery stations, upgrading its transport network and redeveloping Bray Film Studios in Berkshire - which it bought last year. The £40bn figure also includes most of the £8bn announced in 2024 for building and maintaining UK data centres, as well as staff wages and benefits.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the investment into Amazon's third-biggest market after the US and Germany was a "massive vote of confidence in the UK as the best place to do business". "It means thousands of new jobs - real opportunities for people in every corner of the country to build careers, learn new skills, and support their families," said Sir Keir.

The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said it was a "powerful endorsement of Britain's economic strengths". Read more from Sky News:Doctors using unapproved AI to record patient meetingsPlans to cut energy costs for thousands of businesses Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy stressed the investment would benefit communities across the UK.

"When Amazon invests, it's not only in London and the South East," he said. "We're bringing innovation and job creation to communities throughout England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, strengthening the UK's economy and delivering better experiences for customers wherever they live." However, Amazon's immense power and size continues to raise concerns among some regulators, unions and campaigners.

There have long been claims over potentially dangerous conditions at its warehouses - denied by the company, while last week Britain's grocery regulator launched an investigation into whether it breached rules on supplier payments..