NEW UK shipping minister Keir Mather said his government would reverse what he called “systemic underinvestment fuelled by short-term political choices” which had seen the country’s maritime communities “left to decline”.

Speaking to the headline conference of London International Shipping Week at the headquarters of the International Maritime Organization, Mather is the youngest UK government minister appointed since William Gladstone, who would later lead the nation in four separate spells.

Mather reiterated the “clear vote of confidence” in the UK’s maritime sector signalled by the more than £1.1bn ($1.5bn) worth of investment announced by his government on Monday.

Nearly half a billion pounds has been earmarked for the UK’s SHORE Programme, which provides funding for decarbonisation projects, including shore power charging points.

More than £700m worth of private sector investment was also announced this week alongside the UK government’s pledge. Peel Ports said it will pump £300m into its Liverpool, Hunterston and Great Yarmouth ports, while NatPower Marine announced £250m for its shore power project in partnership with Wah Kwong earlier this month.

The funding was guided in part by the UK’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, Mather said, which is “not a strategy that will sit on a shelf in Westminster gathering dust, unseen and unused”.

It will instead, he said, “shape all our decision making”.

But he insisted that the “fight against climate change” was not one the UK can win alone, and reiterated his government’s support for the IMO’s Net-Zero Framework, set to be voted on at next month’s extraordinary meeting of the Marine Environment Protection Committee.

To emphasise shipping’s newfound role in the spotlight, delegates to the conference were greeted with pro-Palestine protestors outside the IMO’s headquarters, who accused the UN agency of complicity in what they said was Israel’s genocide in the Gaza region.

One spokesperson said shipping companies should stop providing arms and energy to Israel, and called on the IMO to make a statement condemning companies that participate in these trades.