Business founders have spoken to LBC about a “scary” trend of people leaving Great Britain because of the high cost of living and an economy which is not doing enough to support growing enterprises.
The warning comes despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves telling LBC this week she included a “big” package to support entrepreneurs in the Budget and her message was “if you build in Britain, Britain will back you”.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics released on Thursday showed an estimated 252,000 Britons left the UK in the year to June 2025, a similar number to recent years but higher than pre-pandemic levels.
But the majority were some 180,000 adults aged between 16 and 30 who decided to leave the UK.
Rita Kastrati, 26 from London, founded Pioneering People, which connects thousands of workers in the gig economy with same-day jobs and income, and told LBC the number of people ditching Britain was “nerve-wracking”.
Ms Kastrati said: “I just spoke at an investor panel and that was a really hot topic. It’s really sad to see because, you know, the UK and London is my absolute home, I was born here, raised here and never left. But now the most trending topic is, are you leaving and when are you leaving?
“I think that’s a bit scary because we don’t want that brain drain. We want the fantastic entrepreneurs that have all the great ideas, the innovation, the people that are really going to bring our economy from what it is now, to the next big thing, to stay here. But it just doesn’t feel like it’s an environment for that.”
Another business founder told LBC the UK economy struggles to support start-ups looking to grow and scale-up, and that the cost of living was also a big barrier to keeping talent in the country.
Grace Almendras-Castillo is chief executive of the company Gifftid, a platform which supports small and medium enterprises to grow. She moved from Canada to start her business here, but now has her own staff asking about a move abroad.
“There are opportunities here. That’s why I actually moved here. The opportunity is that there’s a bigger market, the public and private. But the challenges are more around cost of living, particularly for the staff. Also, the rise in national insurance from last year for a startup like us is quite hefty in terms of the cost of doing business.”
Responding to Wednesday’s Budget, the Entrepreneur’s Network, which connects the sector with policymakers, welcomed the focus on supporting business founders through measures including an expansion of the Enterprise Management Incentive scheme (EMI), providing tax relief for investors backing smaller, high-growth companies.
But founder Philip Salter said entrepreneurs were still being held back by structural issues in the UK around the availability of finance used to grow innovative business which are often relying on foreign capital.
He said: “It’s not in every case a bad thing [to seek investment abroad], as long as they’ve got a footprint in the UK and employing people here, paying taxes here, then it’s not bad for the UK.
“What is happening increasingly, and which is concerning for government and concerning for people in the ecosystem in general, is businesses doing that at earlier stages. When you’re at a really early stage, you don’t have much of a footprint in the UK and so everything gets built outside. There’s not really much benefit to the UK.”
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “This Government is supporting entrepreneurs to thrive – they are a key theme of our Small Business Strategy to drive economic growth across the country. “We are very supportive of start-up accelerators and other forms of support for entrepreneurs to help them build and grow their businesses across the UK.”