Boden, Gail's and Franco Manca say stop the creep of taxes on Britain’s entrepreneurs
- Over 90 business leaders and MPs sign Helm’s open letter calling the Chancellor to stop the creep of taxes on British businesses. - The letter warns that Britain is “training entrepreneurs for export” as tax rises push founders overseas. - Signatories include 19 MPs and leaders from Boden, Gail’s Bakery and Franco Manca.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Over 90 business leaders and MPs have signed an open letter calling on the Chancellor Rachel Reeves to stop the creep of taxes on Britain’s entrepreneurs.
Signatories include Luke Johnson, Chairman of Gail's Bakery, Johnnie Boden, Founder of Boden, Marcel Khan, CEO of Franco Manca and The Real Greek, and Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm.
Priti Patel, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Andrew Griffith, Shadow Secretary for Business & Trade, and Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary are also among the 19 MP signatories.
The letter is written by Helm, Britain’s largest network of scale-up founders, and marks the beginning of its Stop the Creep campaign.
In November 2025, the Chancellor pledged to make the United Kingdom the most attractive place in the world for founders to start and scale a business. Signatories say the opposite is happening.
The letter warns of a “death by a thousand cuts” - Employers’ National Insurance and Capital Gains Tax is up, while Business Asset Disposal Relief, Business Property Relief and Agricultural Property Relief have all been cut.
It argues that while Britain “tightens the screws” on its founders, other nations are “rolling out the red carpet”. The United States offers zero tax on the first $10 million of a company sale, while Cyprus, Portugal, the UAE and Singapore are all actively “wooing Britain’s founders with low-tax regimes and pro-growth regulation.”
The letter calls on the Chancellor to stop the creep before Britain loses its founders for good.
Andreas Adamides, CEO of Helm, said: “Britain’s founders take the risks, forgo the salaries and create the jobs that power our economy. Yet the tax system is telling them to leave. The relentless creep of taxes on those who scale businesses is corrosive, and it sends exactly the wrong signal to the people we most need to back.
“The Government promised to make the UK the best place in the world to build a business. I want to believe that promise. But warm words won’t keep founders here, only action will.”
For more info, visit: www.helmclub.co
ENDS
For more information and interviews contact:
Isabel Jones
07711149791
Open letter:
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
Notes to editors
- Helm (known as The Supper Club until 2022) was founded in 2003 and is the leading membership community for scale-up founders and CEOs in the UK.
- Scale-up businesses are those that have moved beyond the start-up phase and are experiencing rapid, sustained growth.
- The average Helm member is the founder of a company with annual turnover of £21 million. - The 400 members have a combined revenue of £8 billion.
