The UK chancellor today unveiled a raft of measures to encourage entrepreneurs to build in Britain, including a “Founders’ Relief” for entrepreneurs, measures to encourage female founders, as well as making postive noises about encouraging more pension fund investment into UK startups.

UK startups applaued the Budget, which also included fresh visa reforms to help startups pluck the best global talent, saying it was the “boldest action” backing UK startups and scaleups by the UK government in years.

Chancellor John Healey today said: “The biggest barrier to fast growth firms here in Britain is investment in Britain.”

He added: "Britain does not lack great entrepreneurs. Too often, we invent technologies the world wants here in the UK and see the jobs and profits go somewhere else.”

Measures announced by the chancellor today to help UK startups and scaleups included “Founders’ Relief", a new Capital Gains Tax (CGT) relief for founders and significant early investors in UK startups.

The chancellor said: “I know starting a company means taking a risk, often leaving a secure job and building something there is no guarantee will work.

“I believe that when business founders take that risk, build an exceptional company, create wealth for Britain, we should recognise that success and keep those people here to invest again.”

The chancellor also announced a trading allowance, raising the amount people can earn from a new venture tax-free from £1,000 to £3,000.

A new young entrepreneurs allowance, which will cover a year of living costs for young founders "while they turn their ideas into businesses", was also announced.

The government also announced a new scaleup programme for female founders while the British Business Bank will be doubling its investment to female-led businesses in funds to £200m.

On AI, Healey said the government must “seize the opportunities” and "guard against the risks".

He said: “I want to ensure that the British people can benefit from the huge potential upside of AI” with AI that was "secure, safe and working for the British people".

He laid out a new deal for date centres in the UK, called the data centre covenant, with strict tests that data centres must meet, to invest in local communities, create local jobs and protect local water supplies. In return, he said, critical data centres will get the grid connections they need.

The chancellor also spoke about the importance of data sovereignty, saying that when the NHS and armed forces use AI, "we want that data here".

Commenting on the Budget, Dom Hallas, executive director, Startup Coalition, said: “The chancellor has delivered the boldest action backing startups and scaleups of any government in years.

"Between holding the line on further tax rises as well as introducing both a new Founders Relief and expanding share options schemes through EMI2 - it’s progress towards rebalancing a tax system that has misunderstood Britain’s most innovative founders for too long.”

Gary Wojtaszek, executive chairman and Interim CEO of Pure Data Centres Group, said: "Today's announcement of a new data centre covenant is welcome, particularly the commitment to prioritising grid connections for critical projects that support communities.

"Responsible developers are already investing in creating jobs, protecting water supplies, and supporting local communities - we welcome a framework that will recognise this work while helping to foster a thriving UK data centre sector that can compete on the world stage. We stand ready to help refine requirements, provide tangible examples and better understand how the requirements will influence planning and grid connections."