How can the UK become the best place to start and grow a business?

The CBI has responded to The Labour Party’s Start up Review Call for Evidence.  

The UK is a leading place to start a new business, but with growing international competition, this status needs to be maintained and built upon.  

Our scale ups bring a lot of growth to the UK, adding a whopping £1trillion to the economy, despite accounting for less than 1% of firms – so we need to support more of our start-ups to scale up.  

This is a vital prize for a new Government to focus on, which can enable companies to fulfil their growth potential and contribute to the UK’s economic success. Units like the Office for Science and Technology Strategy are showing promising signs, and could provide the government support that innovative high-growth companies like yours actually need. 

Key recommendations from the CBI Innovation team: 

• The government should continue to build on the British Business Bank’s success and continue the replacement of existing European Investment Fund SME finance through new funds 
• The government should identify routes to develop deeper and improved liquidity so that these markets can play a greater role in helping to increase the supply of long-term capital 
• The government must continue with tax incentives and consider how to better promote them to ensure more firms can benefit 
• The government should encourage university clusters capable of creating a critical mass of investment potential 
• The government should support and progress the Procurement Bill to reduce bureaucracy, reward value and support innovation. 

Find the detailed CBI response on behalf of your business and share your views directly with Kapila from the Innovation team.