ConservaTech

Shaping Britain's Technology Future. Conservatively.

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

The British state is running on yesterday's technology, with today's bureaucracy, at tomorrow's expense.

Today we launch our second policy paper 🇬🇧 Rewiring Britain: A Conservative Plan for a Smaller, Smarter, and Faster State.

Do check it out 👇
https://t.co/hNdef8GX9D

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

@NeilDotObrien Neil, we wrote about this in our paper: A Conservative position on digital sovereignty.

https://t.co/Am3di1XL2Z

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

This is exactly the sort of British success story I want to see more of! 🇬🇧

A UK startup building cutting-edge AI chips, now reportedly valued at $7 billion.

We’ve got some of the best scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs in the world.

Our challenge is making Britain the best place for them to build and grow world-leading companies.

We can do it with the right taxes and policies! 🇬🇧🚀

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

Fantastic news for British technology! 🇬🇧

UK chip startup Fractile has reportedly reached a $7 billion valuation, securing $720 million in new investment.

Britain has the talent and ambition to become a global leader in AI and semiconductors.

Now we need the right conditions to help companies like Fractile start, scale and succeed here at home.

More British tech giants, please!

[etn. @etnshow]

BREAKING: UK AI chip startup Fractile has hit $7B valuation after raising $720M from Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund, per the FT.

[Ben Hopkinson @Ben_A_Hopkinson]

Government imposed policy costs make up 57% of the clearing price of a new flat in London and 42% of a new home in the Home Counties.

Despite a big housing shortage and positive planning reforms, new home starts in England are declining from 182,000 in 2022 to under 125,000 last year.

While the macroeconomic context has worsened with build cost inflation and high interest rates, the Government is imposing more burdens on new homes, not fewer.

Taxes, levies, planning, and mandates add over £440,000 to the cost of delivering a home in London and nearly £225,000 nearby, with several of these imposed recently like the Second Staircase, Future Homes Standard, Building Safety Levy, Biodiversity Net Gain and Residential Property Developer Tax.

Individually these may be justified, but together they are making new homes unviable.

As a result, large developers are buying less land and small builders are going out of business; nearly 4,000 construction firms went bust just last year.

If we want to build more homes, we should be easing the burdens on them, not adding more.

Making housebuilding viable again is the most important issue in housing policy and my co-author, Edward Donovan, has completed excellent modelling showing how big the challenge is.

Read the full report: https://t.co/NWS58oqbTx

And simulate what changing the policies does with Edward's modelling here: https://t.co/IVrLBax2pz

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

Fantastic work by @Ben_A_Hopkinson and team here. Thoroughly depressing to see though and the effect this is having on building.

Lots of work for @Katie_Lam_MP to get into and fix it when the Conservatives are back in Government!

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

Basically @rcolvile is right here. What amazes me is how well Britain’s start-up and AI sector is doing *in-spite* of all these things.

Imagine what is possible if our policy and tax environment supported them.

We can do this 🇬🇧🚀 @Conserva_Tech @PeterTFortune @JuliaLopezMP

[Julia Lopez MP @JuliaLopezMP]

Why is Andy Burnham trying to drag us back to the 2017-2019 parliament, when politicians endlessly wanged on about the merits or otherwise of the customs union, single market and a second EU referendum?

The world has moved on.

Businesses have said to the Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, that they do not want ongoing uncertainty over the nature of our relationship with the EU. We now have competitive advantages on tariffs and regulations that we don't want to lose. And his own Ministers fear that he is making this push without any mandate. It's a recipe for trouble.

[Lewis Ormston @LewisOrmston]

Matt is right.

Piecemeal digitisation has left us with a government that’s fragmented and difficult to navigate.

Our latest @Conserva_Tech paper aims to put that right: one person, one government, one record – and HMRC without hold music.

https://t.co/HxYiSoLpBN

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

An early morning example of broken digital government.

Why do I have to search and navigate all the HMRC pages for this? Why isn’t it linked? Why isn’t it easy to log in?

There are some big problems in digital functions of government - as @LewisOrmston pointed out in our recent @Conserva_Tech paper, but some of them are so much easier to solve.

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

Cc: @andyburnham

[Alexander @alexanderrX_]

we finally have something the eu doesn't. the frontier labs made london their european base, not paris or berlin.

and the plan is to give that up to "align" with brussels? why would we sign up to their regulations, their fines, their cookie banners, their 400 page acts for software that doesn't exist yet?

there's a reason the labs aren't building in europe. the ball is in our court. don't throw it away.

[Ben Brittain @BenABrittain]

Two weeks until GTA VI, a British creative triumph from Dundee to Edinburgh, with Rockstar set up by British lads. I'd expect Gov’t to be all over this with ads, memes, reels and a proper push for 🇬🇧 gaming PLC, a great growth sector. Very sad. Instead, silence. Huge missed opp!

[Stefan Roberts @stefanroberts]

Sequoia leaving London is a big blow. Seemingly an indictment of the European scene as a whole rather than just the UK, but still, hardly a sign of confidence in the direction of travel for European startups.

[Stefan Roberts @stefanroberts]

It's enormously frustrating that this crazy legislation is only now getting any kind of public discussion, long after it was actually passed.

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

Amid all the EU rest discussions, one of the biggest things that we’re worried about is tech regulation.

It seems impossible that Burnham would look at the EU and think ah yes, that hub of innovation and growth.

But, stranger things have happened. It would be a damaging error to align ourselves with the EU on tech regulation, specifically the EU AI Act, as well as more broadly.

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

Britain is £3 trillion in debt, Russia is at the doorstep, we have more than 1 million NEETS and a welfare bill out of control.

Between this and Palestine, this is what Labour MPs are spending their time on.

Obviously ending VAWG is important. But seriously guys? I’m seeing no effort to tackle the big stuff.

[Peter Fortune MP @PeterTFortune]

Google now has a data centre satellite in orbit, built by Planet Labs in the US. Computing in space is becoming a real market for satellite makers. Britain builds some of the best satellites in the world. We should be first in the queue, not watching.
https://t.co/1rkfDy6O42

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

The @AISecurityInst is a fantastic invention from this country. There is a global leadership position available to us here - the Government needs to take it and double down on AISI.

[sam @discoplomacy]

Anthropic: “We cannot underscore enough the impact that UK @AISecurityInst has had, and will continue to have, on global AI safety and security.”

[Seb Johnson @SebJohnsonUK]

The UK budget is in. Here's everything you need to know:

🇬🇧 No exit tax or increase in capital gains

🇬🇧 Brand new "founder’s relief” - 10% tax up to £10m lifetime gains and BADR thresholds cut by half

🇬🇧 The non-compete ban we already knew about, but slightly more fleshed out

🇬🇧 The additional AI money, which we already knew about, but in more detail

🇬🇧 Some very important changes to visas to attract better talent to the UK

🇬🇧 £5bn for BBB including more money to back female founders

🇬🇧 "Young Entrepreneurs Allowance" which covers living costs for young entrepreneur

I have probably missed some bits but overall this is a lot more pro-tech and pro-entrepreneur than I think people were expecting.

Great stuff from @adepledge, @Dom_Hallas and all those working tirelessly behind the scenes to advocate for a strong entrepreneurial economy here in the UK.

LETS GO

[ConservaTech @Conserva_Tech]

It’s fantastic that we have brilliant companies like @IsembardGroup here in Britain.

What amazes us more is that they’re building all this in *spite* of high taxes and burdensome regulation.

Imagine the success this country could have if we take the handbrake off.

That’s what the next @Conservatives government will do.

[The Telegraph @Telegraph]

Britain’s defence industry is undergoing a revolution, and 33-year-old entrepreneur Alexander Fitzgerald is at its forefront.

His company, Isembard, uses AI-powered manufacturing to produce components for drones, jet engines and robotics, helping meet surging demand as Britain and its allies rearm.

@davidblairdt paid him a visit ⬇️
https://t.co/n90a3GRxhF

[Matt Day @mattdaytech]

What gives me the most hope about Britain is also the most frustrating: our problems are self-imposed.

Regulation is strangling innovation and growth.

As @matthewlesh sets out here: ‘The issue is that business are very frightened of falling into the trap of breaching regulations, so they do not pursue a project because of the risk,’