91 business leaders to Rachel Reeves: "Stop the tax creep"

Over 90 business leaders and MPs are calling for Britain to stop the creep of taxes on British business leaders.

Leaders at Boden, Gail’s, Franco Manca and The British Snack Co have backed an open letter by Helm - Britain’s largest network of scale-up founders.

They are joined by 19 MPs includingPriti Patel, Andrew Griffith, and Chris Philip.

The letter warns that Britain is “training entrepreneurs for export” as tax rises push founders overseas.

‍

Britain’s founders built their businesses here. The tax system is telling them to leave.

Sir,

Britain's founders spend years taking risks, working all hours, forgoing salaries and creating jobs in the hope of one day creating a company that can pay for their retirement.  

The odds are stacked against them.  

Only four out of every 10 businesses in the UK see their fifth birthday. And while most business owners dream of one day selling their business and retiring on the proceeds, vanishingly few ever do.  

There are five million registered companies in the UK, yet just 1,400 sold for more than £1m in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics.  

Yet the reward for the years of sacrifice for those few who make it to a big-ticket sale is a tax bill that has nearly doubled in the last two years.  

Rachel Reeves told people she wanted to make the United Kingdom the most attractive place in the world for founders to start and scale a business. Yet the relentless creep of taxes on founders suggests otherwise.  

Employers’ National Insurance and Capital Gains Tax on dividends are up, Business Asset Disposal Relief, Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief are all down. It is death by a thousand cuts.

And while Britain tightens the screws on its wealth creators, competing nations are rolling out the red carpet. The United States offers zero tax on the first $10 million of a company sale. Cyprus, Portugal, the UAE and Singapore are all wooing Britain's founders with low-tax regimes and pro-growth regulations.  

The Government's own advisers warned Britain risks becoming an incubator economy — world-class at creating businesses, unable to keep them.  

However, all is not lost. We believe Britain remains one of the most entrepreneurial and dynamic countries on Earth. Act now, and the Government can still keep its promise, and its scale-up founders. Fail, and Britain will continue training entrepreneurs for export.

This is why today we are launching the Stop the Creep campaign, calling on the Chancellor to stop the corrosive tax rises on Britain’s businesses.

Signed by:

Andreas Adamides, CEO, Helm

Luke Johnson, Chairman, Gail's Bakery

Marcel Khan, CEO, Franco Manca & The Real Greek

Johnnie Boden, Founder, Boden

Rt Hon Dame Priti Patel DBE MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs

Rt Hon Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary

Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business & Trade

Kevin Hollinrake MP, Conservative Party Chair

Nick Timothy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice

Nigel Huddleston MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport

Rt Hon Sir Andrew Mitchell MP

Rt Hon Esther McVey MP

Sir Desmond Swayne MP

Rt Hon Sir Julian Smith KCB CBE MP

Lord Bridges of Headley MBE

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP

Jerome Mayhew MP

Gregory Stafford MP

Charlie Dewhirst MP

Jack Rankin MP

Harriet Cross MP

Rebecca Smith MP

David Reed MP

Ben Obese-Jecty MP

Thomas Lock, Founder & Managing Director, The British Snack Co.

Jordan Schlipf, CEO, Cowshed

Alex Fenton, Partner, Funding Bay and FBX Capital Partners

John Stapleton, Director, The New Covent Garden Soup

Mark McCormack, Co-CEO, Talking Tables Ltd

Robert Colvile, Director, Centre for Policy Studies

Christian Faes, Co-Founder, LendInvest

Hussein Kanji, Founding Partner, Hoxton Ventures

Ben Barbanel, Chief Lending Officer, OakNorth

Paul Taylor, Co-Founder & CEO, Thought Machine

Barney Hussey-Yeo, Founder & CEO, Cleo AI

Mark Slack, Co-Founder, CMR Surgical

Dominic McGregor, Founder, Fearless Adventures

Martin Wolstencroft, CEO, Arc Inspirations

Andrea Reynolds, Co-Founder & CEO, Swoop Funding

Teddie Levenfiche, Co-Founder, PerfectTed

Ed Leon Klinger, Co-Founder & CEO, Flock

Antton Peña, Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer, Flock

David Sherwood, Co-Founder & CEO, BibliU

Mark Colquhoun, Founder, Beyond Exit

Nick Broom, CEO, PVL UK Ltd

James Allam, CEO, Amthal Group Limited

Gamze Priest, Founder & CEO, Software Works For You

Alan Jones, Founder & CEO, YEO Messaging Ltd

Nick Gill, Co-Founder & CEO, The Global Living Company

Andrew Schofield, Founder & CEO, Finelight Group

Mauricio Palacios-Serna, Managing Director, Serna FM

Chris Wheatcroft, Director, Prosper and Enterprise Ltd

David Gormer, Founder, Ignition Accounting Limited

Gareth Broekmann, Managing Director, Charles Square

Eugene Gallagher, Managing Director, Cobbles

Lee Wheelan, CEO, Acuity Solutions Ltd

Adrian Lomas, CEO, Elevate Leadership Ltd

Michael Llewellyn, Director, LSC Properties Ltd

Christopher Monery, Director, CN Foods

Claudia Dreier-Poepperl, Chairman of the Board, Appvestor

Ali Aydan, Founder & CEO, Dorix Ltd

Stephen Goknel, Founder & Managing Director, Mello Sleep Ltd

Rob Hamilton, Director, The Hyde Ventures

Sean Lambert, Proprietor, Minerva Supported Living Ltd

Freddie Archdale, Founder Success Manager, Helm

Stephen Hickey, CEO, Digital Control Room

Cat Kevern, Director, Electric Cat

David Johnson, Director, D/Gauge Ltd

Duncan Cheatle, Director, Helm Club

Jamie Hamer, Director, Loxa

Tom Carroll, Director, OhSo Technical Ltd

Sheyi Lisk-Carew, Director, Oclas Group

Sila Demirok, Director, Iron Arrow Consulting

Jill Tipping, Director, Pavelka Limited

Alan Carter, Director, Life People Business Ltd

Sanjith Mukund, Director, JrnyOn Limited

Edward Goodchild, Director, Zendht Venture Studio
Andrew Fishwick, Director, Hestia

Jennifer Dunman, Director, Daisy First Aid Ltd

Thomas Martin, Director, Content Rocket Ltd

Nigar Huseynzade, Director, SIAR

Neil Cameron, Director, Sport Works Ltd

James Townsend, Director, Kontor

Sarj Radia, Director, CarePoint365 Ltd

Marcus Cronan, Director, AI Tappers Ltd

Anthony Barone, Director, StudioHawk

Lisa Cluer, Director, Inside Out Contracts

Andrew Hookway, Director, Extech Cloud

Kieron Garlic, Director, Present Communications Ltd

Derek Bishop, Director, Culture Consultancy

Julien Slade, Director, Brookton Ltd

‍