Finance (No. 2) Bill

Callum Anderson Excerpts

Tuesday 16th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Callum Anderson (Buckingham and Bletchley) (Lab)]

I am pleased to contribute to this debate, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary on bringing forward his first finance Bill. I hope it is the first of many.

Given the limited time that I have, I will focus my remarks on the Government’s central mission: economic growth. The Government have rightly placed investment and reform at the heart of their strategy, and they are removing the barriers to economic growth that for too long have held back this country and the towns, villages and city that make up the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency—be it through major planning reforms, cutting regulatory costs, investing in skills and apprenticeships, or undertaking fundamental pensions reform to free up more risk capital. This pro-investment and pro-reform approach lays the foundation not only for our long-term economic growth across the UK, but for our long-term global competitiveness.

This country is a great place to start a business, despite what Opposition Members have said, but scaling a business has been too difficult for too long for too many entrepreneurs, and too many firms are acquired early by private capital—often from abroad—and therefore fail to scale globally. There are a number of fantastic, innovative and high-growth companies in the Buckingham and Bletchley constituency—be it Pulsar, Envisics or Carnot Engines—and I want all of them to realise their full potential in my constituency, not overseas. I believe that this Bill goes some way towards enabling that, and it is not just those companies that it will help. I have read many commendations from the Startup Coalition and the ScaleUp Institute, which have backed many of the measures that I will cover in my remarks.

Clauses 13 to 16 and clause 82 back ambition, encourage investment and reward those who want to take risks. Expanding the enterprise management incentives—by raising the employee limit to 500, the gross assets limit to £120 million and the holding period to 15 years—ensures that more high-growth, innovative companies can attract and retain the world-class domestic and global talent that they need. For many, joining a fast-growing company is a leap of faith, and when that risk pays off, the people who create the success should share in the reward.

I also welcome clauses 14 and 15, which follow the logic that I just set out with regard to the enterprise investment scheme and venture capital trusts. I particularly welcome the raising of the company investment limits and the lifetime caps, which will ensure that more early-stage companies can scale here in the UK, not overseas. Similarly, raising the respective gross assets limits before and after share deals sensibly reflects modern growth realities. I believe that these reforms will support life sciences, green technology and advanced manufacturing, all of which are sectors identified in the Government’s industrial strategy, which they published earlier this year. The reforms will enable earlier capital raising and faster, more efficient scaling, and make it far more likely that more companies will become national champions and companies of global consequence that are anchored here in the UK.

The final clause that I particularly welcome is clause 82, on the new UK listing relief, which removes the 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax on transfers for newly listed companies. This measure has been called for by UK financial services, and also by a wide range of sectors that are included in the industrial strategy, for a significant period of time. I believe that the clause will boost liquidity, incentivise more investors of all types—be they institutional or retail—to buy British, and entice more domestic companies to follow in the footsteps of Magnum, Shawbrook and the Beauty Tech Group by listing in London. I am pleased that this Bill strengthens the UK’s ability to compete globally, to support its entrepreneurs and to make sure that the UK is the best possible place to scale a company.

I will close my remarks by mentioning what I hope will be given consideration in a finance Bill in future parliamentary Sessions: the Government may wish to dedicate themselves to pro-growth and pro-enterprise tax reform. The previous Government, and indeed many Governments of different political orientations, have increased the length of the tax code, increased the number of cliff edges, complicated the tax base and, frankly, fundamentally failed to close or tackle various loopholes. As we rededicate ourselves to growth in this parliamentary Session and in future parliamentary Sessions, we would do well to ensure that simplification and fairness anchor our growth agenda.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.