Last Autumn’s Budget was tough for founders. But we took the Chancellor up on her offer to “continue to work with leading entrepreneurs and venture capital firms to ensure our policies support a positive environment for entrepreneurship in the UK,” and it is clear she has listened. 

Today’s Budget doesn't have everything that founders would want, but there is no doubt she meant what she said last Autumn. 

The appointment of Alex Depledge as the Chancellor’s Entrepreneur Advisor has obviously shaped the outcome, and it shows. Alongside the traditional Red Book, the Treasury published a standalone prospectus aimed squarely at founders. It’s the clearest signal yet that startups sit at the heart of the Government’s growth mission. 

The content speaks to the tech startup community with the tone and language that government documents rarely do. In fact, the Chancellor, we think, became the first ever to directly reference “founders” in her Budget. It’s a subtle shift - but absolutely not one to gloss over.

Just as importantly as the good stuff is that the Chancellor shut the door on actively harmful ideas. The Exit Tax - which we fought hard to kill - is gone. Changes to taxes on partnerships like Venture Capital firms were missing, too. These decisions matter as much as the positive measures that did make it in.

On that plus side of the ledger, there was a pile of measures in that special entrepreneurship dossier (we reckon ten of our Budget recommendations made it - not that we’re counting…). 

From expanding share options to strengthening EIS and VCTs, and committing to look again at how the tax system actually rewards entrepreneurs. Or, as the Chancellor put it: “If you build here, Britain will back you.”

Here are the greatest hits…

We’ve been saying for years that EMI is one of the UK’s biggest competitive advantages, but it was stuck in a Noughties-era rulebook. Updating the limits and fixing lifecycle issues is exactly what founders have been crying out for. Combined with the non-compete reforms, it reinforces the UK as the most attractive place in the world to build a team.

These incentives have helped make the UK Europe’s leading startup investment hub (For example, according to a report from KPMG, UK startups raised £4.1 billion across 507 deals in just Q1 2025 — the highest in Europe, with the next largest countries (Germany and France) at ~£1.6 bn and ~£1.2 bn respectively). It’s great to see the Chancellor take up our recommendations to increase limits so they keep pace with the market. 

It has always been a concern of ours that whilst the UK has strong incentives, there is almost nothing for the person who takes the first risk: the founder. That has to change, and we are hopeful that the call for evidence published today will open the window to new incentive structures. 

But we should also be honest: none of this will deliver the growth Britain needs if we treat “startup policy” as a silo. The fundamentals matter just as much. Energy security, AI compute, nuclear capacity (AI and power effectively go hand-in-hand), and planning reform - these are the foundations that determine whether startups can scale. 

That’s why one of today’s disappointments was the Government ducking key recommendations in John Fingleton’s Nuclear Review. Until we make the big calls on long-term infrastructure, we’re solving for symptoms, not causes.

So yes - there were real wins today. Some long-fought-for. Some overdue. Some are still fragile. But the biggest lesson from the past few weeks is when the founder community pushes hard - Government does listen. That means if we keep pushing, the next phase could deliver even bigger for the startups that will drive Britain’s growth.

Jordan Sullivan is Head of Economic Policy, Startup Coalition