Jeremy Corbyn’s triumph in the race to be leader of the UK’s Labour Party represents a seismic shift in British politics. The question that commentators now have to answer is this — Will his election lead to a more radical political climate in the UK, as his supporters hope, or the death of the Labour Party and the establishment of a centre-right, one-party state for the foreseeable future?

Making political predictions is a risky business, but demographic maths suggest that Corbyn simply cannot win an election. That means that — due to the 2011 Fixed-term Parliament Act and the convulsions that will plague the Labour Party, regardless of how long Corbyn remains — the Conservatives are almost guaranteed to be in power until 2025.

A decade is an astonishingly lengthy period of political stability for a Western democratic country and the news should cheer foreign investors making long-term decisions about capital deployment.

The UK Government, under the Conservatives, has already placed a great deal of focus on attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), reorienting its diplomatic service to concentrate on selling the UK as a leading global destination for overseas capital. So how will the extension of the Conservative mandate over a decade shape international investor thinking regarding the UK?

Gulf countries are, of course, already heavily invested in the UK, the lead destination in Europe for FDI. In 2014, GCC investors allocated approximately £2.2 billion (Dh12.5 billion) there, with the majority of the investments being made in real estate.

According to Savills World Research, 35 per cent of all Arab institutional overseas investment has been focused on London in the past three years. That trend is set to continue, with risks — including the imposition of a Mansion Tax on properties valued over £2 million — receding a long way into the future.

But long-term certainty in the UK’s policies is likely to open up interest in sectors where capital requirements are high, the time frames are generational and the returns are dependent on legislative and regulatory continuity.

Sectors

The focus of the Chancellor, George Osborne, on re-industrialisation, particularly in the north of England, means that energy, infrastructure and manufacturing are the sectors British officials and businesses will be selling hard in the months ahead.

Masdar has been at the forefront of this trend, last year investing £525 million in the Dudgeon wind farm, making it the largest overseas investor in British offshore wind. But other industries, including unconventional onshore oil and gas, renewables, aviation and rail are all being incentivised to take foreign investment.

The UK Government’s National Infrastructure Plan outlined, in 2014, a commitment to £320 billion in new infrastructure by 2020—21. Key projects in the pipeline include the commencement of the High Speed 2 rail network, the construction of Swansea Tidal Lagoon (the world’s largest tidal energy scheme) and a decision regarding a new London runway.

The majority of the £320 billion in funding will come from private sector investment. A 10-year political horizon makes many of these projects more attractive opportunities to institutional investors.

However economically sound the case for investing, though, many of these projects come with complexities to those uninitiated in the intricacies of British political and social life.

Energy infrastructure, in particular, is the site of a great deal of contention among local communities, with financial incentives often swept aside in the face of aesthetic or environmental concern. In aviation and defence, worries about national security must be addressed.

Macro-political risks

Although the opportunities are substantial, British media remains more robust and aggressive than almost anywhere else in the world.

Alongside these considerations, more macro-political risks remain. Political discontent on the streets may rise.

And a vote to leave the EU, set to take place before 2017, would likely have a disastrous effect Britain’s economic prospects. But the one risk that need not cause investors undue concern is an extreme left Labour government taking power.

Whether, more broadly, an utterly ineffective opposition is in Britain’s best interests is, of course, another question.

The writer is Associate Partner, Bell Pottinger Middle East.