Britain is training entrepreneurs for export, Andy Burnham must change its course
I moved to the UK 20 years ago. Having created Australia’s first online department store, I left the sunshine behind because I believed that London was the best place to do business.
Back then, London had an entrepreneurial spirit that you could grasp. It had the talent, the capital, the global ambition and, importantly, government backing. I knew if I wanted to compete on the global stage, then it had to become my home.
Today, while the entrepreneurial spirit still remains in full force, the dynamic nation I came to 20 years ago is being steadily chipped away by the current Government’s tax rises.
However, with Keir Starmer announcing his resignation as prime minister, Britain now has a huge opportunity to make the bold economic choices his administration failed to make.
His likely successor, Andy Burnham, must decide whether Britain remains a country that backs its entrepreneurs or one that pushes them away.
From the hike in employers’ National Insurance to Capital Gains Tax, the steady creep of taxes under Starmer has made it harder for founders to scale up in Britain.
Meanwhile, the tax rate for Business Asset Disposal Relief, the tax relief that rewards entrepreneurs for building and exiting a company, has risen from 10% before April 2025 to 18% in April 2026.
If this direction continues, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that the UK tax burden will rise to a high of 38.5% of GDP by 2030-31.
One House of Lords committee warned that because of its anti-growth policies, Britain could soon become an “incubator economy” – great at making businesses, but poor at keeping them.
As Britain squeezes its entrepreneurs, other countries are welcoming them in. The U.S. offers zero tax on the first $10 million of a company’s sale under qualifying conditions. Countries such as Cyprus, Portugal, the UAE and Singapore all offer favourable tax regimes that are attracting British founders.
Recent analysis found that between January 2024 and January 2026, nearly 6,000 business owners left the UK, and a new survey of founders showed that one in five have plans to leave in the next year.
Entrepreneurs, like myself, who were once attracted to London as the capital for business, may be looking elsewhere. Each founder lost takes with them jobs, investment and tax revenue.
Burnham’s early signals are welcome. He’s said he wants to reconsider the rise in employers’ National Insurance and also pledged to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and music venues by 20%, while raising the threshold at which small, independent hospitality, leisure and retail businesses start paying the tax.
However, Burnham has also made expensive promises, including nationalising utility firms and reviving the HS2 leg to Manchester, while committing to Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules. That leaves business leaders asking the obvious question: where will the money come from?
If the answer is more tax rises on Britain’s entrepreneurs, then he will repeat the mistakes of Starmer.
This issue goes far beyond protecting the pockets and interests of founders. Britain has over five million private sector businesses, providing jobs for over 28 million people. In a time where unemployment teeters around 5%, and AI increasingly threatens jobs, the next prime minister should be doing everything in their power to keep job-creating businesses in the UK, rather than pushing them away.
Through the Stop the Creep campaign, we are calling on the Government to end the steady rise in taxes on Britain’s businesses.
Over 100 business leaders have joined that call, including bosses at Gail’s Bakery, Boden and The Real Greek. These entrepreneurs are not asking for special treatment, but for the tax system to stop punishing scaling firms.
I came to Britain from Australia because it was the best place to build a business. Unless the next prime minister changes course on the "creep" in business taxation, Britain will keep training its entrepreneurs for export.
Andreas Adamides is CEO of Helm, the UK’s largest networking organisation exclusively for high-growth business founders. Coined as the founders-only club that is ‘powering London’s entrepreneurs’, Helm represents 400 members with a combined revenue of £8 billion.
