UK entrepreneurship advisor Alex Depledge is to remain in post until summer 2026, following moderately positive response to the Budget from Britain’s tech community.
Finance minister Rachel Reeves appointed Depledge the country’s first ever entrepreneurship advisor in June, tasked with making the UK a better place to build a fast-growing tech company.
In the November Budget, Depledge — a serial founder — was widely credited with spearheading a number of changes designed to benefit Britain’s scaleups — including reduced taxes on employee shares, cutting stamp duty for newly-listed companies and making it easier for startups to win government contracts.
While some were critical of the incumbent Labour government’s wider economic approach, Reeves and Depledge won praise from industry leaders for their efforts. Dom Hallas, executive director of lobby group Startup Coalition, told Sifted the government had “seriously listened to founders” and tried to make it better to scale in the UK.
In a statement, Depledge said: “This Budget is a real step-change, and I’m genuinely excited to keep working with the chancellor to clear the obstacles that stop scaleups from reaching their full potential.”
On Monday, Reeves hosted some of the UK’s leading industry figures — including execs from Huel, Moneybox and Quantexa — at a reception in Downing Street to celebrate the package.
Appearing at Sifted Summit in London in October, Depledge warned the UK startup sector had become a research and development (R&D) department for the US because so many British founders were relocating across the Atlantic to access capital.
“That's not good, because what happens is we're not getting the tax receipts, we're not getting the exit proceeds and most importantly, we are losing that talent,” she said.
Listen to Depledge on the Sifted Podcast, Startup Europe below:
