Autumn Budget 2025

Lord Ranger of Northwood Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Ranger of Northwood (Con)]

My Lords, I also welcome the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth and congratulate him on his maiden speech, and I thank the Minister, the whole Front-Bench team and the team at the Treasury. It is hard work delivering a Budget, and it is hard work for many out there.

This morning, while I was at my son’s nativity play, I asked a fellow parent how the Budget landed for him—an investor, an entrepreneur, a wealth creator and an employer. He said: “The damage was done last year. This year, it is just on top. But at least they did not bring in the exit tax, so the option is still open to me”. So, there is some silver lining for some people.

I will focus on the sector that I have been focused on in industry and am focused on now, which is AI—something that is driving UK businesses. I have said it before, and I will say it again: UK AI businesses are booming. I refer to my registered interest as a co-founder of the Business AI Alliance community of over 170 businesses and independent experts, and as an adviser to AI businesses. From this perspective, on the surface, this Budget offers promise, but in truth, for UK AI SMEs, it falls short.

I recognise the comments from my noble friends Lady Penn and Lord Massey on the welcome changes to the expansion of the enterprise management incentives scheme, the boosted limits in the enterprise investment scheme and the improvements to the venture capital trust framework, which will help scaling businesses attract investment. The much-needed refocusing and pledges for support through UK Research and Innovation should broadly provide more support for innovation, including in sectors such as AI. Yet these measures, while helpful, in no way amount to the comprehensive, sustained support required, as the Prime Minister has said, to make the UK one of the great AI superpowers.

How does the Budget fail UK AI start-ups and SMEs in practice? First, the scale of funding is too small, scattered too thinly. The declared support for AI, for example through new growth zones, remains modest compared to the size of the task. The AI growth zones, while laudable in ambition, do not provide sector-wide grants, infrastructure investment or access to high-end compute for thousands of AI SMEs hoping to scale. Many promising AI firms will remain outside these zones, left to scrape by without meaningful support.

Secondly, there is a lack of targeted support for AI infrastructure and data-intensive needs. AI businesses, especially those working in machine learning with large language models and data analytics, need robust infrastructure, cloud compute, hardware, data access and high-performance chips. The Budget’s nod towards an advanced market commitment for AI chips is welcome on paper, but a one-off scheme, even up to £100 million, is insufficient. It does not guarantee access to the infrastructure every AI start-up needs to train models, run inference at scale or compete globally. I appreciate the difference in scale of the US, but the US CHIPS and Science Act offers over $52 billion of subsidies. Without long-term, large-scale investment in compute infrastructure, the UK risks forcing AI firms to rely on overseas providers, undermining sovereignty and cost-efficiency and costing local job creation.

Our tax incentives are too generic. While expanding EMI, EIS and VCT rules broadly helps, it does not address the unique challenges of AI SMEs. In short, the Budget offers shallow support scattered over a few nice-to-haves, but we need more serious commitment to build a thriving global AI industry in the UK. To be the player on the world stage we need to be, to attract global capital and to create high-paid, skilled jobs, we need more than promises and incremental support. We need a vision and we must be bold. A long-term fiscal strategy, at scale and to scale, is required.

Cryptocurrencies: US Regulation

Lord Ranger of Northwood Excerpts

Wednesday 12th November 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am not sure I share the noble Earl’s characterisation of the distinction between the two regimes. The US will legislate for their interests, and we will legislate for ours. The US passed legislation for the regulation of stablecoin in the summer. US regulators will publish their regulatory rules in mid-2026, with a backstop date of January 2027 for the US regime to go live. In the UK, the Government published draft legislation in April, with the final legislation due before the end of the year. Alongside that, the FCA is at an advanced stage in its consultations on the details of its regime, with a view to finalise its detailed rules and requirements in 2026. As I said at the outset, we have also created a joint UK-US Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future, to enable enhanced collaboration on digital assets.

[Lord Ranger of Northwood (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the comments from the Minister on this topic and note my interest as co-chair of Digital Markets and Digital Money APPG. Two weeks ago, I was in Washington and met members of the US Securities and Exchange Commission—its chair, Paul Atkins, and its commissioner, Hester Peirce—to discuss “Project Crypto”, the road map it announced in August to modernise regulations for the digital asset economy. Its goal is to enable American financial markets to move on-chain and to position the US as a global leader in blockchain and crypto by creating a clearer, more innovative-friendly regulatory framework. While recognising the need to manage risks in financial stability, does the Minister agree that the greater danger to the UK is falling behind jurisdictions such as the US, if they move faster to enable innovation in crypto and digital assets?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question and pay tribute, too, to his expertise in this matter. There is a lot of truth in what he said, which is partly why HM Treasury has jointly established the transatlantic task force with the US Treasury. The purpose of the task force is threefold: first, to identify and explore options for short to medium-term collaboration on digital assets, while legislation and regulatory regimes are still developing; secondly, to identify options to improve links between our capital markets, to enhance the growth and competitiveness of both UK and US markets; and, thirdly, to report, ideally, within 180 days. It is chaired by officials of HM Treasury and the US Treasury, including representatives from the UK and US regulators responsible for capital markets, so that we can share lessons between the two authorities.

Stablecoin Ownership

Lord Ranger of Northwood Excerpts

Thursday 16th October 2025 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Ranger of Northwood]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of proposals for limiting stablecoin ownership.

[Lord Ranger of Northwood (Con)]

My Lords, in light of the Lord Speaker’s Statement, let me be the first to thank him for his outstanding service. I look forward to the following months of working with him. I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper and I refer to my registered interests as a NED for the ALICE Group and co-chair of the Digital Markets and Digital Money APPG.

[The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Lord Livermore) (Lab)]

My Lords, stablecoins stand to play an important role in driving innovation in digital assets. It is important for the UK to position itself as a competitive global destination for digital assets, including stablecoins, while also addressing relevant consumer protection and financial stability risks. The Bank of England is engaging closely with the digital assets sector on its proposals for the regulation of systemic retail stablecoin.

[Lord Ranger of Northwood (Con)]

I thank the Minister for that response, but I want to press him a little. Stablecoins and their usage are growing across the world. At the beginning of this year, $200 billion-worth had been issued—by September this year, it was $280 billion—pushed by the emergence of the GENIUS Act in the US and MiCA in Europe. These regulatory frameworks have enabled corporates to take advantage of being able to move money with agility and confidence, and real-time liquidity. How are we looking to keep up with the pace of the rest of the world as the use of stablecoins looks to reach $1.9 trillion by 2030, providing a distinct competitive advantage to businesses and industry in other geographies?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his question. Before I answer him directly, perhaps I may also pay tribute to the Lord Speaker. He has been a friend to me since I first joined this House when he was an MP. I pay tribute to his outstanding service as Speaker of this House.

The noble Lord is correct to say that stablecoins have huge potential to play a significant role in both retail and wholesale payments. We are already seeing the benefits that stablecoin can provide in cross-border payments; for example, by reducing costs and improving efficiencies. He is absolutely right that it is important for the UK to harness these opportunities for the ongoing competitiveness of the UK financial services sector.

However, I do not think it is fair to say that the US is going any faster than the UK. Reading media coverage, we may conclude that, but the reality is that the US passed legislation for the regulation of stablecoin in the summer. US regulators will publish their regulatory rules in mid-2026, with a backstop date of January 2027 for the US regime to go live. In the UK, the Government published draft legislation in April, with final legislation due before the end of the year. Alongside this, the FCA is at an advanced stage in its consultation on the details of its regime, with a view to finalising its detailed rules and requirements in 2026. This will allow firms to be authorised and running in the UK regime by 2027.