APPG for Entrepreneurship Newsletter: October 2025

Having kicked off in early September, the 2025 party conference season – for most of us – is just about wrapping up. Congratulations to everyone who has soldiered through to this point.

Perhaps I’m speaking for myself, but one of the best aspects of these annual gatherings is the chance to see politics in action, well removed from the usual trappings of the Westminster bubble. Only yesterday, as I was ordering a pint outside the Conservative Party’s secure zone in Manchester, a bewildered local asked me why on Earth thousands of besuited people had descended on his favourite pub for the last few days. After giving my best explanation, he still seemed bemused as to the point of it all. And I think he’s right to wonder: what is the point of party conferences?

The answer will depend on who you ask. From raising campaign funds to simply giving loyal party members a chance to unwind, conferences mean many things to many people. Of course, one of the more important aspects, for our purposes at least, is the opportunity they provide to set (or re-set) the policy debate. That then begs another question: what did we learn on this front?

As the party in power, it seems only right to begin with Labour. With the Chancellor Rachel Reeves due to give her Autumn Budget next month, there were understandably fewer concrete policies than we might otherwise have expected from her speech in Liverpool. But her assertion that “[i]n the months ahead, we will face further tests, with the choices to come made all the harder by harsh global headwinds” was seen by many as a thinly veiled hint that tax rises are on the horizon. What we can probably put to bed, however, is the idea that any increases will come in the shape of wealth taxes. After being suggested by various quarters for a good portion of the summer, Prime Minister Keir Starmer used his speech to call out their folly – branding them as a snake-oil ‘solution’. Meanwhile, newly installed Business Secretary Peter Kyle made it crystal clear that the Employment Rights Bill would be moving forward “in full,” shutting down speculation that it might be pared back after its chief architect Angela Rayner resigned from Cabinet earlier in September.

Down the road in Manchester, the Conservatives were setting out their stall. Whether consciously playing for the entrepreneur vote or not, Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride began his speech by paying homage to Silicon Valley, saying: “It really is a different world over there. The innovation, the dynamism, the constant yearning for faster, better, stronger.” How we might replicate some of that energy within our own shores, he suggested, lies in fiscal responsibility – with Stride pledging to reduce the tax burden on business owners, paid for by trimming public spending by almost £50 billion. Elsewhere, Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho said that a future Conservative Government would make delivering cheap, abundant energy an industrial priority – promising to repeal the Climate Change Act in order to do that – and Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith announced a package of measures to support the self-employed – including reforms to HMRC and IR35, and making it easier for entrepreneurs to open bank accounts. (N.B. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will deliver her speech tomorrow morning.)

In Bournemouth, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey used his keynote to champion his party’s internationalist values, saying that “there is no serious strategy for restoring economic growth that doesn’t involve rebuilding Britain’s relationship with Europe.” He also advocated for a wider coalition of nations, including the likes of Canada and other Commonwealth countries, to band together to counter the effects of Donald Trump’s tariffs. Seasoned politicos will know that the Liberal Democrats also use their annual conference as a moment for party members to vote on policy motions. Their ‘Policy Review’ was published, which vowed to rigorously examine how to better support “start-ups and scale-ups, small and growing businesses, entrepreneurs and the self-employed, given how important they are for realising our vision for an innovative, dynamic and prosperous economy.”

Meanwhile, noisy newcomers Reform held their get-together in Birmingham. Nigel Farage explained that now is the time for the party to take their next steps, and formally handed responsibility to their ex-entrepreneur Chairman Zia Yusuf to beef up policy development – especially in areas like business policy. Though we will have to wait and see what the results of that might be, during their conference promises were made to scrap decarbonisation measures, while Farage hailed the ‘DOGE’ work that was being undertaken by Reform-led councils as a model to save taxpayer money.

Though the parties might differ in their policy prescriptions, all are united in the diagnosis that Britain’s economy ought to be doing better than it currently is. Here at the APPG for Entrepreneurship, we’ll be unstinting in making the evidence-backed case for ways we think can genuinely support the growth of Britain’s startups to deliver on that objective.

Adviser Update

Latest news, research and events from our Advisers

Innovation Growth Lab is currently running a survey of policymakers across the EU and UK to explore perceptions towards policy innovation and evaluation. Learn more and fill it out here.

Campaign for Science and Engineering published a briefing document, collating insights from 15 research organisations demonstrating the barriers they face in the UK visa system. Read it in full here.

The British Chambers of Commerce released their latest findings on how small- and medium-sized enterprises are using AI technology. Read it in full here.

FBUK are hosting a speed briefing for all MPs and Lords on 28 October to discuss policy issues relating to family businesses and to discuss how parliamentarians can be involved with Family Business Week at the end of November. Contact Matthew Jaffa at FBUK here for more details.

The Entrepreneurs Network opened their Entrepreneurs Survey for responses. If you’re a founder and haven’t yet filled it out, you can do so here – but don’t delay, it closes soon!

In Parliament

Questions and comments relating to entrepreneurship this month

Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith criticised the Government over figures suggesting a decline in the number of hospitality businesses:

“[B]ehind every one of those numbers is a story: a family, a striver, a risk taker, an entrepreneur, a community or a high street whose life is being sucked out of it by this Government. Hospitality is where the character of our nation lives, in the welcome of a restaurant host, the laughter in a dining room and the clink of a glass, and it is the fact that that life that is being extinguished that is so tragic.

In a Lords debate on the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist argued that reforms must be made to bring new nuclear power generation online quicker and less expensively:

“The need for energy security is no longer a theoretical debate. It is a strategic imperative. We are presiding over the highest offshore wind auction prices in a decade, demand for electricity is rising rapidly and the UK is still overly reliant on imported energy sources. The last nuclear power station to come online in this country was in 1995. Hinkley Point C, the only one under construction, is now set to become the most expensive power station in history, not because the technology is flawed – far from it – but because of bureaucracy. We have witnessed the absurdity of eight years of negotiations to install 288 underwater loudspeakers – the infamous fish disco – to deter a trawler’s worth of fish from swimming into the water intake system. This amendment would put an end to that: no more paperwork that chokes innovation and pushes up costs, but rather a more proportionate environmental impact assessment regime that will give a level playing field to the UK nuclear industry.”

When asked whether any more legislation to regulate artificial intelligence would be forthcoming, the newly appointed Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall replied:

“I want to ensure that people, businesses and creatives throughout the country can benefit from the huge opportunities that technological developments in AI promise, and that people are protected, too. It is early days in this job, and I am listening carefully to all those involved, but wherever action is required, I will take it.”

Lord Livermore defended the Government’s plans to roll out Making Tax Digital and explained what steps it is taking to ease the burden on businesses:

“HMRC has taken a range of steps to ensure that the adoption costs of Making Tax Digital are kept to a minimum, including working with industry to ensure that there is free and low-cost software available where necessary. The use of Making Tax Digital should bring significant benefits by increasing accuracy, reducing the time it takes to complete tax returns, and therefore increasing productivity.”

In a debate on youth unemployment, Baroness Sherlock set out how the Government is approaching the impact artificial intelligence is having on the labour market:

“We are starting to witness the impact of AI in the labour market, but there is uncertainty over the scale of that impact, especially over the next four years. The Government are planning against a range of plausible future outcomes. A lot of work is going into this in government. Most forecasters project that, in the end, AI will lead to a net increase in employment but with varying impacts across different sectors and for different people. When you get this kind of change and churn in the labour market, the people who lose out most are those at the margins. Our job is to try to make sure that we give those who would otherwise not succeed the skills to do so. For example, the Government are investing to transform apprenticeships and looking at more shorter courses and ways to give young people a chance to gain skills in new areas, such as digital and AI. We are conscious of it and are very much working on it.”

Looking Forward

Consultations and calls for evidence from government departments and Select Committees

Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – Life sciences investment (Deadline: Monday, 13 October 2025)

International Agreements Committee – UK-India Free Trade Agreement (Deadline: Tuesday, 14 October 2025)

Cabinet Office – Consultation on the NSI Act Notifiable Acquisition Regulations (Deadline: Tuesday, 14 October 2025)

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology – Proposals to update the Telecommunications Security Code of Practice 2022 (Deadline: Wednesday, 22 October 2025)

Department for Business and Trade – Late payments: tackling poor payment practices (Deadline: Thursday, 23 October 2025)

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government – Consultation on streamlining infrastructure planning (Deadline: Monday, 27 October 2025)

Business and Trade Committee – Priorities of the Business and Trade Committee for 2026 (Deadline: Friday, 14 November 2025)