New Young Entrepreneurs Forum report urges action to stop young founders leaving Britain
The report - Ambition Unlimited - published by the Young Entrepreneurs Forum, part of The Entrepreneurs Network, finds that the UK’s startup ecosystem has become less competitive over the past five years with rival hubs such as the US, UAE, and Singapore drawing talent and capital away.
Among its key recommendations is the abolition of Stamp Duty on shares, aimed at making the UK a more attractive place to list by reducing the cost of capital and broadening the pool of domestic investors willing to back growing companies. The report argues that greater liquidity would strengthen Britain’s markets, improve access to capital, and help innovative firms scale at home.
Speaking at the launch, Sean Kohli, Chair of the Young Entrepreneurs Forum, said the findings showed that while Britain has “no shortage of talent or ambition,” too much of that potential “is stuck in inertia.” He warned that young founders are being held back by “systems not designed for modern startups,” and that too many feel “they have to leave to succeed.” The Forum’s goal, he said, is to make the UK “a place where the next generation of founders can build confidently, not elsewhere.”
The event, held in Parliament, was attended by hundreds of young founders and leaders from across the UK’s startup ecosystem, and featured remarks from Callum Anderson MP, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, alongside Kohli, Dana Denis-Smith OBE and Eamonn Ives, Research Director at The Entrepreneurs Network.
Britain’s competitiveness in decline
The findings paint a stark picture of an economy losing its edge. To inform the research, The Entrepreneurs Network ran a survey for young founders to give their perspectives on a range of questions, as well as conducting several in-depth case studies which feature throughout the report.
Early-stage investment has failed to keep pace with global competition. The report highlights outdated limits in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) that have not been updated in line with inflation or startup costs.
In high-growth industries such as AI, biotech and fintech, regulation was singled out as a major brake on progress. Startups reported waiting “months longer” than international rivals for basic approvals, with one founder describing red tape as a “hidden tax on innovation.”
At the same time, tightening immigration rules are squeezing Britain’s talent pipeline while universities, once seen as the launchpads of British innovation, are also falling behind.
How to turn things around
Alongside abolishing Stamp Duty on shares, Ambition Unlimited sets out a package of reforms to strengthen Britain’s startup ecosystem and help young founders thrive.
At its core is a call to modernise EIS and SEIS, raising investment limits, expanding eligibility, and aligning reliefs with inflation to reflect today’s market realities. Updating these long-standing schemes, the report argues, would unlock new private capital and make the UK a more attractive place for early-stage investment.
The report also calls for regulatory reform to accelerate innovation. It recommends that the new Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO) be empowered to coordinate across departments, cut duplication, and help British startups bring breakthrough technologies to market more quickly.
On immigration, the report urges the Government to keep Britain open to high-skilled and promising talent through visa pathways that are navigable, affordable, and globally competitive. Recognising startup equity as a form of compensation, it adds, would help attract founders and early employees at a time when talent shortages threaten Britain’s competitiveness.
The report further highlights the importance of education and research in driving entrepreneurship. It calls for universities to embed entrepreneurship across their programmes, establish campus seed funds, and introduce flexible study routes for student founders. Crucially, it recommends the adoption of Professor’s Privilege, giving academics greater ownership of their intellectual property and more freedom to commercialise research.
Eamonn Ives, Research Director at The Entrepreneurs Network and author of the report, said the findings underline how much Britain’s economic future depends on allowing young founders to flourish. While the UK “gets a lot of the hard stuff right,” he warned that “other nations are quickly catching up,” and that the Government “cannot afford to get complacent.”
Adrian Jennings is a writer for Comment Central.
