Connect with us

Business

Whitehall ‘Frozen for Six Weeks’, Warns Reeves Entrepreneurs Adviser

Published

on

UK government borrowing hit £151.9bn—£14.6bn above forecast—piling pressure on chancellor Rachel Reeves to raise taxes or cut spending to meet her fiscal rules.

The chancellor’s adviser on entrepreneurs has warned that the machinery of government has already been “frozen for six weeks”, and cautioned that the change of prime minister amounts to a “colossal waste of energy” at the very moment British business needs decisions, not delay.

Alex Depledge, the serial entrepreneur appointed by Rachel Reeves as an adviser last June, said she feared Whitehall would remain stalled for many months while a new political leadership beds in.

“We are going to lose six months, at best, probably a year once you start to brief the new ministers coming in. It is just a colossal waste of energy. The British people deserve better,” she told an audience of business leaders at The Times Entrepreneurs Network Live event in London.

Depledge, co-founder and former chief executive of the architecture technology platform Resi, made her comments a day after Sir Keir Starmer resigned as prime minister, clearing the way for Andy Burnham to become the next leader. The future of Reeves as chancellor remains unclear.

The intervention is the latest warning from the business world about the cost of prolonged uncertainty in Westminster, a theme that has dominated boardroom conversation ever since founders and MPs began cautioning that Britain’s tax system is, in effect, telling entrepreneurs to leave.

Advertisement

Depledge said it was now very difficult to make meaningful progress inside government. “It is about carving out what we can get done within the parameters in which we are allowed to operate,” she said. “There is some stuff we can’t do any more, but there are other things you can.

“My biggest fear is that I have to spend another year trying to get new ministers and new people to understand the burning platform and the need to move at speed.”

Separately, Gareth Quarry, a Labour donor, investor and long-standing director of the legal recruitment consultancy SSQ, called for Wes Streeting to become the next chancellor.

Quarry, a former Conservative donor who gave £150,000 to Labour before the general election, said: “Wes would make an excellent chancellor because the City wouldn’t be spooked by him. I’m a businessman with a large number of businesses. I also hold significant assets in gilts.”

Advertisement

He said Streeting would “command the respect” of the City, adding: “And that is going to be fundamental as to what comes next. That’s assuming it’s not going to continue to be Rachel.”

Another Labour donor and business leader, speaking confidentially, said Ed Miliband was “too ideological” and “clearly just doesn’t understand what energy security means”. They added that Reeves, who although had “made mistakes, would not be a bad outcome” if she continued as chancellor.

The succession debate lands against a backdrop of mounting anxiety among wealth creators, with Reeves repeatedly warned against “anti-enterprise tax rises” and growing evidence that Britain is facing one of the largest exoduses of millionaires of any major economy.

Also speaking at the TEN Live event, Harry Stebbings, who has invested more than $550 million in promising young companies across a series of venture capital funds and is founder of the popular tech podcast 20VC, said that, if asked, he would advise Burnham not to raise taxes on investors and entrepreneurs.

Advertisement

“Don’t fing bring in a wealth tax. We’ll all fing go,” he said. “I have looked at Monaco and it is not as good as Dubai. Probably Milan or Athens. Touching a wealth tax would really kill the investor side and the founder side.”

His warning chimes with the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which has cautioned that the more an annual wealth tax is concentrated on the very wealthy, the more it would incentivise them to leave, or simply never come to, the UK in the first place.

Stebbings, who has previously argued the UK should adopt a zero per cent capital gains rate for global talent, said the priority should be attracting and keeping the people who build companies.

“The most important thing is that we get amazing talent-building [companies] in the UK. Let’s give unbelievably easy access to high-talented people to come and build in our country. Income tax free for the first year, why not?

Advertisement

“If you are an amazing entrepreneur and want to build your company in this country we’ll give you no capital gains for the life of your business. We could be so creative, and this is the crime of politicians, that none of them has had a proper job. When it comes to creativity and figuring out a solution that works for the country, it is ‘let’s go back to a think tank’.”

For Britain’s founders, the message from the room was blunt: the country cannot afford to spend another year with its hands tied while Westminster works out who is in charge.


Paul Jones

Harvard alumni and former New York Times journalist. Editor of Business Matters for over 15 years, the UKs largest business magazine. I am also head of Capital Business Media’s automotive division working for clients such as Red Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.

Advertisement

Continue Reading
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Business

At Close of Business Podcast July 31 2026

Published

on

At Close of Business Podcast July 31 2026

Yes. Corporate subscriptions are available for teams and organisations, with discounted rates as user numbers increase. Pricing starts from $1,625 + GST per user.
Get in touch
to discuss the right option for your organisation.

Business News subscriptions are used by executives, investors, consultants and professionals who need to stay informed and make better decisions about the WA market. When you subscribe you’ll get

  • Unlimited access to WA’s most trusted business journalism
  • Data & Insights — detailed profiles of WA companies, people, projects and deals
  • MyBN — a personalised feed based on the companies, people and sectors you follow
  • Special publications and industry reports
  • Daily and weekly email newsletters

Data & Insights is a research tool built specifically for the WA market. It draws on more than 30 years of Business News reporting, updated regularly to reflect what’s happening now. Use it to:

  • Look up detailed profiles of WA companies, including financials, directors and ownership
  • Find decision-makers and track their career movements
  • Research live and completed projects across WA industries
  • Monitor deals, appointments and market activity
  • Access industry rankings and league tables

Data & Insights is updated daily by our dedicated research team, which uses the latest announcements, ASX filings and editorial coverage to keep our person, company, list and project records up to date.

Business News welcome all opportunities to make our dataset accurate, complete and current, so if you have an update request, please email the team at
general@businessnews.com.au, and we’d be happy to assist.

Advertisement

MyBN
is part of every subscription. It’s your personalised view of Business News. You can follow the companies, people, sectors and projects that matter to you, and get a news feed and alerts tailored to your interests. You can save articles to read later and retain only what you need.

Only subscribers have full access to all content on the Business News website.

Advertisement

If staying informed about the WA economy is part of your job, and/or you’re looking for networking opportunities in WA, Business News is built for you.

Business News subscribers are:

  • Executives and directors tracking competitors, clients and market movements
  • Investors and advisers researching companies, deals and industry trends
  • Consultants and professionals staying across sectors relevant to their clients
  • Business owners looking for leads, context and market intelligence

Most Business News publications cover national or global markets. Business News is focused entirely on Western Australia, which means the journalism, the data and the intelligence are all built around WA companies, people and projects — not adapted from a national feed. Data & Insights, included with every subscription, combines more than 30 years of WA-specific editorial research with live business data. There’s no comparable product for the WA market.

Advertisement

The Morning Digest Email provides a comprehensive wrap of the major headlines, relevant to WA business, and includes with a snapshot of the overnight news covering oil, gold and ASX-listed companies.

The Afternoon Wrap Email focuses on the news covered by our team of journalists during the course of the working day, including exclusive stories and analysis, all of which relates to WA business and the local economy.

The BN Weekender Email contains a wrap of the Business News from the week that was, highlighting the top stories in each area of WA business.
Sign up for free.

Advertisement

We’re happy to help.
Get in touch
and our team will come back to you.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Business

Apple faces Indian engineer’s bias lawsuit

Published

on

The Economic Times
Apple Inc. lost an early round in a discrimination lawsuit brought in the U.S. by a female engineer from India who says her two managers — one from her country, the other from Pakistan — treated her as they would in their own countries: as a subservient.

The woman’s case in California state court is the latest to allege workplace bias in Silicon Valley that focuses on cultural prejudices of some tech workers from South Asia. Cisco Systems Inc. is fighting a suit brought by California’s civil rights agency alleging bias against a member of India’s so-called lower castes, known as Dalits.

Anita Nariani Schulze is part of the Sindhi minority — she is Hindu, with ancestry in the Sindh region of what is now Pakistan. Her complaint alleges that her senior and direct managers, both male, consistently excluded her from meetings while inviting her male counterparts, criticized her, micromanaged her work, and deprived her of bonuses, despite positive performance evaluations and significant team contributions.

Schulze claims the managers’ animus reflects sexism, racism, religious bias and discrimination on the basis of national origin. The Sindhi Hindu nationality is “known for its technical acumen” and its gender equality, she says, which “exacerbated the managers’ discriminatory treatment.”

Advertisement

In a tentative ruling on Wednesday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni rejected Apple’s request to toss out the suit. While not ruling on the merits of the case, Kulkarni said Schulze had adequately supported her legal claims. Apple had argued her claims weren’t specific enough and were based on stereotypes.

But the judge rejected Schulze’s request to represent a class of female Apple employees who suffered job discrimination over the last four years. He agreed with Apple that she didn’t show a pattern of discrimination that could be applied to a broader group.