UK budget wins praise from startups
by Freya Pratty
Good morning John,
Founders and investors are reacting to the UK government’s latest raft of new economic policies, announced yesterday.
Among the announcements from finance minister John Healey were a new allowance for young entrepreneurs, a relief from Capital Gains Tax for founders and changes to the skilled worker visa scheme.
Matt Clifford, cofounder of accelerator Entrepreneurs First and former AI advisor to the government, wrote on social media platform X that the new support package was “very encouraging” for entrepreneurs.
Dom Hallas, exec director of lobby group Startup Coalition, said the measures were welcome but overdue. “For too long, the tax system has misunderstood founders,” he said. “Today the chancellor started to put that right.”
At an exclusive briefing last night with AI minister Kanishka Narayan and departing entrepreneurship advisor Alex Depledge, founders gathered to share their takes on the measures.
Depledge, who made headlines last week after branding the government’s approach to homegrown scaleups a “sideshow”, had some equally sharp words for founders in the room when asked what she’d learned during her 18 months in post.
“You’re really f***ing whiney,” she told the room. “You’re as bad as everyone else at thinking that there’s a magic money tree out back.”
Her advice to founders wanting to influence government? “Do what I did, I went in there and promised Rachel that I would come up with cost neutral policies.” And crucially, start lobbying much earlier than most people do: budget decisions are made three months prior to the announcement.
“Think big, be bold and cost it. And I think you will encounter a very receptive audience.”
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