What will our new PM do for business? – That has been in the minds of nearly every business owner in the UK since the news broke that former Prime Minister Keir Starmer would step down.
Now we have a new prime minister in No 10, Andy Burnham, it’s time to ask this question again and look at what he is doing in his first few weeks as PM to help, or hinder the business community.
An early set of meetings held with business groups last week suggests that Burnham is set on collaborating with businesses to drive growth.
Burnham’s talks with business groups
In a government release published last week, Burnham used the first set of calls with business organisations to outline his goal of a stronger relationship between the government and private sector.
The likes of the CBI and Federation of Small Businesses were involved in the talks.
Burnham said he wanted the government to offer “greater certainty, faster decisions” and enable “a stronger business voice in policy making to drive good growth in every postcode.”
He said his government will bring down business costs and create an environment of growth across the country. He also asked businesses to work closely with the government on youth unemployment and getting young people into their first job roles.
The meeting came as Burnham announced a 20 percent relief for pubs, clubs and music venues, due to come into effect in April 2027.
The policy, which will bring down operational costs for hospitality businesses, appears to evidence that Burnham is looking out for the interests of UK businesses. But what do SMEs on the ground think?
Real Business spoke exclusively to a number of UK business owners, here’s what they had to say:
Burnham says he’s ‘pro-business’, but what about taxation?
Josh Thomas, founder of Thomas & Co, a Manchester-based accounting and tax advisory firm for entrepreneurs.
Burnham says he’ll be a pro-business Prime Minister, and founders would love that to be true. But speak to the people actually building companies and they’ll tell you they feel taxed from every angle. VAT on what they sell, corporation tax on what they make, income tax on what they draw, capital gains tax when they sell, inheritance tax when they pass it on, and year after year the reliefs and allowances that reward risk get tightened.
“…That’s why the wealth tax talk worries me. The people it targets already take the risk, already create hundreds if not thousands of jobs, and already pay millions in tax.”
The question founders are asking is simple. If this government needs more revenue, will it squeeze the same people harder, or grow the number of successful businesses paying in?
You cannot tax your way to growth. If Burnham wants Britain to be the powerhouse he talks about, the job is to make it attractive to build, scale and stay.
That means incentives for the owners creating jobs, a genuine welcome for foreign investment, and stable rules people can plan a decade around. Grow the pool and the revenue follows, because business success filters into every tax the Treasury collects. That’s why the wealth tax talk worries me. The people it targets already take the risk, already create hundreds if not thousands of jobs, and already pay millions in tax.
They’re also the most mobile people in the country, and the UAE, Monaco and Switzerland would rather welcome them than punish them for being successful. He has said he may have to ask for a little more. The danger is that if you keep asking the same people for a little more, eventually they’ll decide they don’t want to give anything at all, and they’ll relocate.
Pressure on working people absolutely should be released, and the hints at unfreezing the personal allowance would be genuine support in the cost of living crisis. The cost of that relief should come from the government spending its existing revenue better, making better policy decisions and planning for the long term rather than the short term.
It certainly shouldn’t come from making Britain a place where successful people who create jobs, take risks and keep innovating decide to leave because they’re expected to keep paying more.
If Burnham wants to make a statement with his first Budget, this is it. He has to show how he’s going to make Britain attractive to build in, reincentivise the founders who create the jobs, and give the wider business community and the rest of the world confidence that this is a safe, stable place to invest with real longevity. The mistakes of previous governments don’t have to be repeated. And then he has to stick to his word, because founders have heard the promises before and watched them broken.
Long-term plans are great; but what about short term survival?
Max Wilson, co-founder, Pocket Storage, a storage solutions provider.
A ten year plan is welcome, but it will mean little to a founder who is deciding whether they can afford the next 12 months.
The first test of Andy Burnham’s new economic model is whether it gives businesses enough confidence to take on space, hire people and open their next site.
The new Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, now has a brief that brings business and innovation under one roof. That sounds joined-up on paper. However, the experience of running a growing company is often anything but. Planning sits in one place, business rates in another, property costs keep climbing and founders lose time navigating systems that were not built with young businesses in mind.
“…London founders are dealing with some of the highest operating and property costs in Britain, and the capital should not be treated as though its start-up economy can simply look after itself. Regional growth and a competitive London are not opposing ideas.”
I welcome the government’s focus on growth, but ambition is the easy part. Founders need practical changes. It should be quicker and more predictable to bring vacant commercial space back into use, and opening a second or third site should not trigger a wall of cost and bureaucracy that wipes out the confidence to expand.
That does not mean asking the government to protect every start-up from risk or decide which companies deserve to succeed. Risk comes with building a business. The problem is unnecessary friction: long waits, unclear decisions and costs that arrive before a new site has had time to establish itself. Nor should this become another argument about London versus the rest of the country. Burnham is right to want more growth outside the capital. But London founders are dealing with some of the highest operating and property costs in Britain, and the capital should not be treated as though its start-up economy can simply look after itself. Regional growth and a competitive London are not opposing ideas.
Burnham has set out the long-term ambition, and Reynolds now has the business brief. Founders have heard the promises. They will judge the government by whether taking on premises, hiring staff and opening another site become any easier over the next 12 months.
Devolution isn’t just about transferring power but growing it.
Keith Griffiths, founder and CEO of The Entrepreneur Festival, a national forum for 4,000+ founders.
The key thing that should be on Andy Burnham’s mind as he comes into power is delivering economic growth and improving the prospects of UK plc.
“Across the UK, talented founders are building ambitious companies, but too many struggle to access capital, scale their businesses or tap into the networks they need to grow…”
Devolution should not simply be about transferring powers from Westminster. It should be about recognising the role regional businesses and entrepreneurs play in creating jobs, attracting investment and driving growth. Having built a business that generated more than £60 million for the local Leeds economy and helped unlock over £2 billion in projects and investment, I’ve seen first-hand the economic impact entrepreneurs can have when they’re given the opportunity to succeed.
Across the UK, talented founders are building ambitious companies, but too many struggle to access capital, scale their businesses or tap into the networks they need to grow. A new government has an opportunity to change that by treating entrepreneurs as partners in economic policy rather than simply beneficiaries of it.
If Andy Burnham wants to raise productivity, create jobs and strengthen regional economies, backing entrepreneurs should be one of his priorities. The UK’s economic success will be built as much in Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham as it will in Westminster. Ignoring that would be a costly mistake.
