Our Budget Submission

Over the past year we’ve asked hundreds of founders across Great Britain one simple question: what would make you build your next company here?

The first answers are encouraging. Founders have noticed the EMI threshold rise, the Sovereign AI Unit and the Mansion House reforms. But keep them talking and something else comes out: a creeping sense that Britain has stopped competing for them. It isn’t startup policy that’s knocked their confidence. It’s the wider tax environment, and the feeling that the people we need most have slipped down the list.

This year’s submission builds on Rebuild Britain, the open letter that more than 300 founders, investors and builders sent to the Prime Minister in July. It’s organised around the five commitments in that letter, with 18 recommendations to deliver them.

Our key asks this budget are:

1. Do no harm. No Wealth Tax, no Exit Tax, no CGT rise. The Treasury’s own analysis shows higher CGT rates lose the Exchequer money.
2. Give founders a reason to go again. Our tax system treats founders like asset holders rather than builders. We’ve pitched two ideas to fix that:
   • A creation relief would offer lower CGT or higher relief caps for founders who create UK jobs and value.
   • A reinvestment relief would go further than today’s deferral. When founders reinvest gains into UK startups and stay UK tax resident, the tax is cancelled, not just postponed.
3. Let British people share in the upside. The original Mansion House signatories averaged 0.36% in unlisted equities against a 5% commitment. We’re asking for scrutiny and transparency, because savers deserve to know why their money is sitting out the fastest-growing part of the economy.
4. Make energy cheaper. UK industrial electricity costs more than double the EU-14 median. Shift legacy levies off electricity for good.
5. Buy British innovation. Frameworks now carry 26% of public procurement spend. But financial standing tests built around years of audited accounts lock newer companies out before they’ve even had a chance to bid. Fix the tests and the door opens.
6. Introduce a full Right to Quit. Ban non-competes, cap notice periods and reform gardening leave. It has to be all three. Tackle one and employers simply reach for the next lever.

There’s plenty more in the full submission, from a decision clock for regulators to a delivery plan for the smart data schemes Parliament has already legislated for.

Some of this costs money, and we’ve been upfront about that. But the bigger cost doesn’t show up on any scorecard: it’s the founder who quietly decides the next unicorn gets built somewhere else.

We’ve been making this case to Treasury in the run-up. Now we’ll see what makes it into the red box…

We believe in Britain. This Budget is the chance to show founders that Britain believes in them back.