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JCB has unveiled plans to plug £100 million into modernising its Staffordshire head office, as its boss said the firm was “backing Britain” despite concerns about future tax rises and steel tariffs.

The British maker of equipment including tractors and machinery said the new funding showed its commitment to being based in the UK, despite it currently expanding in the US.

Spending would go towards modern manufacturing facilities, including funding a £60 million fully automated powder paint plant, new machining centres, friction welding and cylinder boring machines.

Anthony Bamford, JCB’s chairman and the late founder’s son, said: “It makes perfect sense to invest heavily in our British factories and the £100 million we are investing now will put us at the forefront of our industry.

“Obviously, we are expanding overseas, not least in America, where we have been for decades. But the UK is our home.”

The company employs about 19,000 people around the world, more than 8,000 of which are in the UK.

Graeme Macdonald, JCB’s chief executive, said it was “time for a full revamp” of the factory in Rocester, aligning with the company’s 80th anniversary.

He said the investment was being made despite the UK economy coming up against a series of “headwinds”.

“In the UK, the last budget was, you could say, not very business friendly,” he told the PA news agency, referring to employer national insurance hikes, coming on top of steeper energy costs,” Mr Macdonald said.

“We need to make sure that as an economy and as a country, we remain globally competitive.

“If there’s any more business tax headwinds, that’s going to be really bad news for the economy because it’s businesses like ourselves who employ more people who generate tax revenues for the Chancellor.”

Mr Macdonald said that JCB would “continue to back Britain” because it was a “good place to manufacture and do business” despite the challenges.

The chief executive also warned that higher US tariffs on British steel exports were having a “significant impact” on the industry.

Steel and aluminium – metals which are used to make JCB’s equipment – are subject to higher levies as a result of changes introduced by US President Donald Trump.

“We’re not only paying a 10% base tariff, we’re then paying 25% on the steel content of every machine – and every machine’s made of steel basically,” he told PA.

“So it’s punitive – it’s costing us a lot of money, straight to the bottom line.

“But that is one of the reasons we announced immediately to double investment in San Antonio, to make more products in America rather than importing from the UK.”

JCB’s workforce was being granted an additional day’s holiday on October 24 to celebrate its anniversary.