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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business and Trade (Blair McDougall)
Today the Government are setting out the next phase of delivery of the industrial strategy and a major package to strengthen the United Kingdom’s position as a world-leading destination for exceptional international talent.
Delivering the Industrial Strategy
We are moving further and faster to realise the vision set out in the industrial strategy to increase business investment in our highest potential sectors and create high-quality jobs across the UK. In a world where geopolitics is not something that happens somewhere else—and what happens across the world shapes the cost of energy, the price of food and the security of jobs—delivering this strategy is essential not just for raising living standards, but for supporting national security and sovereignty.
Today we are announcing a package of measures to support scale-ups, accelerate battery innovation and reduce unnecessary regulatory burdens. This builds on the “Entrepreneurship in the UK” prospectus published at the Budget, which committed to change how the Government work with founders to back firms to start, scale and stay in the UK. Together, these actions mark a co-ordinated approach to ensure that UK businesses feel an immediate positive impact, unlocking investment and supporting innovation to boost economic growth.
Today’s announcement follows last week’s publication of the latest quarterly update on delivery of the industrial strategy. This was published alongside the Industrial Strategy Advisory Council’s 2026 mandate letter, which commissions the council to provide impactful advice and analysis on key delivery priorities. We have also announced three new members to the ISAC—Amelia Gould, Keith Anderson and Dana Strong—to broaden the council’s insight across UK industry.
In today’s global economy, we must use every tool of Government—domestic and international—to fight for the interests of working people, as well as fighting for British interests abroad.
BBB
The British Business Bank will be making a £25 million investment into Kraken Technologies as part of Kraken’s $1 billion demerger from Octopus Energy Group, the bank’s largest direct investment to date; and two £50 million scale-up fund investments into life sciences, via Epidarex Capital, and into deep tech, via IQ Capital. The last quarter has seen a step change in the activity of the British Business Bank, committing or deploying £1.03 billion in the last quarter.
UK Export Finance
So far this financial year, UK Export Finance has provided over £9 billion of support to help UK businesses grow, invest and secure new contracts overseas. We have introduced legislation to Parliament that will significantly expand UKEF’s firepower from the £80 billion it has today, so that it can back more British firms to seize opportunities in fast growing international markets. Later this month, the Secretary of State will convene major high street banks to unlock additional finance for high growth exporters.
Battery Innovation Programme
The Government are making their largest ever investment in UK battery research and development, with £180 million of battery innovation programme funding going towards supporting UK small and medium-sized enterprises to: secure private capital; accelerate the development of high-risk, high-reward technologies; and commercialise cutting-edge, home-grown battery innovation here in the UK, reducing exposure to volatile global supply chains.
Regulation package
Building on the Government’s regulation action plan progress update in October, the Secretary of State and the Chancellor have commissioned all Departments to set out plans by March to meet the 25% administrative burden reduction target, and the Government will update on further progress towards the target in due course.
The Government will also:
Launch deep-dives, working with industry and trade unions on health and safety regulation and farming and agritech regulation, building on the approach and lessons of the Fingleton review;
Launch the competition consultation “Refining our Competition Regime”, delivering on the commitment in the regulation action plan. This will include proposals to deliver increased pace, predictability, proportionality and improved processes across the UK’s competition regime, such as amending the decision-making model in mergers and markets investigations;
Not proceed with the proposed Audit Bill, avoiding further business burdens; and
Bring forward the consultation on modernising corporate reporting to early 2026, expanded to include virtual annual general meetings.
The Business Secretary and the Chancellor will also ask Ministers to develop and set outcome focused growth goals for key watchdogs that still lack clarity from Government on what growth means for them.
The industrial strategy was never about a single publication at a single point in time. These measures go further and faster, building on existing commitments to ensure that we succeed in ushering in 10 years of stability, growth and investment—the decade of national renewal, even as global pressures evolve.
Talent Package
We have seen competition for top talent around the globe intensify, particularly in research and technology. This is an opportunity for the UK to issue a clear and confident signal: that we welcome the world’s best minds to come and help us drive our industrial strategy and wider growth mission, and that they will find the environment, support and opportunities they need to thrive here.
This Government know that attracting top international talent is a catalyst for creating British jobs, boosting investment and increasing productivity. We are continuously working to better welcome top researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs to the UK, ensuring that we respond swiftly to changes in global mobility trends.
Today’s announcement follows the launch of the global talent taskforce, a new concierge service to support top talent to lay down roots in the UK; and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s £54 million global talent fund, which sits as part of a wider £5 billion HM Government offer on research talent, and which has already secured the relocation of top researchers and their teams to work in our industrial strategy priority areas.
The 2025 immigration White Paper set out plans to improve and expand key visa routes for talent, making it easier to move to the UK for exceptional researchers, entrepreneurs and future leaders.
And, in her 2025 autumn Budget, the Chancellor also expanded the enterprise management incentives scheme, so that scale-ups can offer more competitive equity, and increased the venture capital trust and the enterprise investment scheme investment limits to help high growth companies raise more capital as they scale.
Today’s package continues to build on this work with a series of targeted and practical measures designed to enhance the UK’s offer to exceptional talent. We are:
Doubling the resourcing of our global talent taskforce, including bringing in specialist private sector head-hunting expertise and emboldening our concierge offer to the world’s elite talent, starting with a dedicated focus on international AI talent;
Reimbursing visa fees in a limited and targeted manner for those with skills that will further our deep tech, innovation, and research and development aspirations, including in AI, quantum and semiconductors;
Expanding the global talent visa to make it simpler and easier for those with a relevant academic or research appointment and those in industry to get their visa, ensuring the UK can access the talent it needs, including those working in cutting-edge industries;
Launching a referral route to fast-track sponsorship licences for high-growth and high-potential firms supported by the global talent taskforce or the Office for Investment; and
Providing new Government-funded scholarships for International Mathematical Olympiad gold medal winners.
We are also adding a new talent pathway on business.gov.uk to provide a single, clear “shop window” for exceptional global talent considering relocating to our country.
This Government remain committed to exploring how we can best attract and retain the world’s top talent. By welcoming exceptional individuals through these initiatives, the UK is powering research and innovation that creates jobs, builds our science capabilities, attracts investment and strengthens our economy for the long term. These initiatives form part of our industrial strategy and broader growth mission to strengthen the UK’s global competitiveness, and strengthen cutting-edge industries—now and for the future.
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