British Business Bank invests in entrepreneurs in £6.6bn funding commitment
The British Business Bank is to hand major investment to UK entrepreneurs as part of a £6.6 billion commitment to support innovation and industry.
The UK Government's development bank has revealed the investment plans as part of Sir Keir Starmer's 10-year industrial strategy announcement.
On Monday, the Prime Minister said he will cut electricity costs for thousands of businesses as part of the strategy, in a bid to help accelerate economic growth.
The British Business Bank has seen its total financial capacity grow to £25.6 billion since the most recent spending review.
🆕 The Government has confirmed £6.6bn of new capital for the British Business Bank to boost growth.
A new £4bn initiative, British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital, will be invested across eight growth-driving sectors.
Read more: https://t.co/jFoWcP8vKp
— British Business Bank (@BritishBBank) June 23, 2025
It has said its latest £6.6 billion investment commitment will particularly help the rapid growth of small business across the UK.
The Government said £4 billion will be invested through the new Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative, focusing on eight target sectors including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital, and life sciences.
A further £2.6 billion will be aimed at supporting entrepreneurs across the UK, providing funds to help address regional funding gaps.
Louis Taylor, chief executive of the British Business Bank, said: 'We welcome today's announcement by the secretary of state to deliver British Business Bank industrial strategy growth capital, as well as the reforms to the Bank's governance and financial framework.
'Using our market expertise and reach, we have a critical role to play in supporting smaller businesses in the eight growth-driving sectors to grow and stay in the UK.
'To deliver the Government's growth mission it is also critical that our most promising entrepreneurs can access the finance they need to grow their businesses, no matter what their background or where they are located across the nations and regions of the UK.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
36 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Why targeting wealthy non-doms means we'll all pay higher taxes
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Winston Churchill was right when in 1906 he said, 'for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle'. Time and again governments have discovered that introducing new taxes or increasing existing ones lead to behavioural changes by those who are liable to pay them. The result is that there is less of what is being taxed and that the revenues are inevitably lower than estimated. It could be Britain's 18th-century window tax, which resulted inevitably in fewer windows – as people bricked them up to cut their tax bill. Or it could be the taxes on candles, tea, hair powder, dog's tails, hearths and bricks. The list goes on. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Then there's the behavioural change that could be the result of forcing Scottish taxpayers earning more than £30,318 to pay more in tax than they would in England. It's no surprise that some Scots have chosen to become English taxpayers, including people working for the Scottish Government or its agencies. Increasing taxes is not the way to create a more prosperous future (Picture: Henry Nicholls) | AFP via Getty Images Budget cuts and higher taxes This is called 'capital flight' and has reportedly led to Scots settling just across the Border and working from home, only occasionally travelling for a meeting in Scotland. Not only do these people take their tax payments elsewhere, it also means they spend more in their new location, depriving Scottish businesses of their economic activity. The SNP has been warned about the impact on countless occasions, including by its own advisors – the result is that tax revenues are inevitably lower than estimated, resulting in unplanned expenditure cuts and higher taxes to make up the difference. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The same phenomenon is now being seen with the UK Government's tax changes for those known as 'non-doms'. The strict definition can be complex but simply put it means people of foreign birth living in the UK but not considered domiciled here because they will eventually return home. Being a non-dom meant you could have a remittance-based tax payment where you would pay British taxes on your earnings within the UK, but not on your earnings outside the UK. For especially wealthy people, often known as ultra-high, net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), this meant they might be paying very large tax bills in the hundreds of thousands (or more) on their UK earnings to our Treasury but also paying taxes in other countries where their overseas earnings were sourced. Millionaires and billionaires leaving Due to proposals first introduced by Conservative Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and confirmed by Labour's Rachel Reeves, the remittance-based tax regime for non-UK-domiciled people was abolished in April. Hunt had said it would raise £2.7 billion additional revenue when he was Chancellor, Reeves predicted £2.6bn and the Office of Budget Responsibility estimated £9bn in the first year and £33.9bn over the Parliament but with a 'very high' uncertainty factor because of the unknown behavioural responses of non-doms. The Institute of Fiscal Studies estimated only £1.8bn. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad But taxing for prosperity does not work. In 2024, 10,800 millionaires and 12 billionaires left the UK – taking their direct tax payments, significant investments and economic activity with them. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimated a loss to Treasury revenues of £12.2bn by 2029, arguing that if 25 per cent of non-doms left the UK, the tax changes would start to cost the Treasury money. Initial estimates put the departures at 10 per cent, but they are continuing to leave at a worrying pace. An Oxford Economics study found that 98 per cent of those studied said that, in reaction to the Tory/Labour proposals, they would leave the UK sooner and 63 per cent said they were planning on leaving within two years. Unsurprisingly, some 83 per cent of non-doms identified liability for inheritance tax on their worldwide assets as a key driver of their decision to emigrate. Although the selection of the survey may have reflected a bias towards the wealthiest non-doms, some 60 per cent of tax advisors said they expected more than 40 per cent of clients to leave Britain's shores within two years of the change. It's capital flight on a grand scale and, just like the Scottish Government before them, the UK Governments were warned there was a serious risk of this outcome. Farage as 'Robin Hood' Now Nigel Farage has stepped in to announce a new Reform UK policy that will create a new system called the Britannia Card. Foreign applicants would pay £250,000 for a ten-year visa on arrival which would make them free from tax (including inheritance tax) on their foreign assets. The Britannia Card could then be renewed for a further ten years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The principle is similar to tax systems operated in other countries such as Italy and Greece but is a good deal more attractive (cheaper) to the non-doms, and consequently will raise less money for the Treasury. At £25,000 a year compared to €200k in Italy or €100k in Greece, the Britannia Card could be priced higher. Maybe Farage is intentionally pitching it low because so many non-doms will have left that attracting them back in four years' time after a general election will be very difficult. With other attractions that London offers, the cost of attracting UHNWIs could probably start higher and be reduced if it does not work. In an interesting twist, described as making Farage a modern-day Robin Hood, any Britannia Card visa fee income would go straight to the lowest paid as a tax bonus, possibly worth £600 each. Reform is selling that as taking from the wealthiest to give to the poorest workers – but it will only work if the non-doms return. Staying in Dubai or Doha might remain their preferred choice – but at least we now have a political offering where some UK politicians recognise you can't tax yourself into prosperity.
Rhyl Journal
42 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Murray hails ‘brilliant opportunities' of UK Government's industrial strategy
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer unveiled the document on Monday, pinpointing key industries believed to have the most potential for growth such as artificial intelligence, offshore wind and batteries for electric vehicles. The 160-page document put Scotland 'at the heart of the UK's energy transition', as well as talking up commitments to a £750 million supercomputer in Edinburgh and £200 million in development funding for the Acorn carbon capture and storage facility in Aberdeenshire. The Prime Minister also announced a cut to electricity bills for industrial businesses, £30 million for the video games sector – with a number of high profile developers based in Scotland – and £30 million for research and development for each of the devolved nations. Delighted to be in Cockenzie, East Lothian for the launch of the UK Industrial Strategy today. Lots of brilliant opportunities for Scotland from the 8 growth sectors. Jobs, investment, regeneration and skills. — Ian Murray MP (@IanMurrayMP) June 23, 2025 In a post on X following a visit to the promote the strategy, the Scottish Secretary said: 'Delighted to be in Cockenzie, East Lothian, for the launch of the UK industrial strategy today. 'Lots of brilliant opportunities for Scotland from the eight growth sectors. 'Jobs, investment, regeneration and skills.' The strategy was also praised by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. 'Labour's industrial strategy delivers for Scotland – unlocking economic potential, raising wages, boosting living standards, and delivering the growth we need,' he said. Asked about his response to the UK Government's announcement on Monday, First Minister John Swinney touted his own Government's work on industry. 'Of course, we have in Scotland our own approach to industrial strategy, which involves working with our universities, with our economic development agencies to ensure that we attract investment and can support development within the economy,' he told the PA news agency. 'Last week, we saw that Scotland, for the 10th year in a row, was the most successful part of the United Kingdom for the attraction of inward investment other than London and the south east. 'So that's an indication that the Scottish Government's got its priorities correct, its focus correct on the attraction of investment, because we're contributing to make Scotland an incredibly successful investment location.'
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Fears in Iran: ‘We are very afraid the regime might respond to the US attack'
The internet in Iran was down for a full three days [at the end of last week], and there was no way to communicate with others. This outage has added to people's fear and anxiety, as we no longer knew which cities had been bombed or which areas were under evacuation orders. If the internet outage continues, many jobs will be lost. The government has arrested [scores of] people on charges of espionage and collaborating with Israel, [people fear that the regime] is planning to execute them. Just today on the national television news, arrests and executions were announced. It's frightening – because even if, hypothetically, these individuals were spies, a fair trial should take weeks to prove such a charge. The government has deployed police patrols and checkpoints at entrances of [various] cities and main streets, [according to] friends and relatives of mine who live in different cities. I see them every day in Kerman. They are even randomly confiscating mobile phones in the city, searching cars both when entering and leaving the city, and also on the main streets during normal traffic. It hasn't happened to me yet. It seems that the United States has also joined the war. People are worried about the risk of radioactive contamination [as nuclear facilities are being bombed]. We are very afraid that Iran might respond to the US attack, and that the situation could get worse. We are also worried about a possible strike on the Bushehr [nuclear power plant] facility, [that] this could lead to another Chernobyl. A large number of people have returned to Tehran, although the bombing there hasn't stopped. People were forced to come back to the city. Many of my friends also returned because they have to work, otherwise they won't have any income. And many people don't have a place to stay outside of Tehran for many weeks. There are gasoline shortages, and even in safer cities such as Kerman, many businesses have partially shut down. Everything is semi-closed. Online businesses, tourism-related jobs, and travel agencies are shut down. The postal service is closed, which has led to the closure of online shops as well. University exams and the national university entrance exam have been cancelled. However, government offices and banks remain open. Many private companies have not paid salaries, and it's unclear when they will. I myself haven't received my monthly salary either. My company announced that due to the wartime situation, they are currently unable to process salary payments. The same goes for my husband, as production in his factory has completely halted. I have some savings, but if the war continues and salaries remain unpaid, my savings will run out in at most two or three weeks. This is the case for most people. Due to high inflation, it's very difficult for us in Iran to save much money. In smaller towns like Kerman, Yazd, or Rafsanjan, food supplies are still available, although prices are rising sharply. However, in Tehran and other major cities, there is now a significant shortage of bread, fruit, eggs, and other essential food items. [I don't know anybody who has tried leaving the country] – not yet. People are still in shock and believe that this war will end soon. It's probably a psychological defence mechanism. Many believe the war will end once most major military sites have been bombed. One of my friends, who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, has run into serious trouble. The medications for her chemotherapy used to be sent from Tehran every day, but now it is no longer possible to deliver them. With each passing day, situations like these are getting worse.
