View from Britain: “Many streets in London are at 20pc occupancy. The number of people who have left is dramatic and it’s the wealthiest who have left”

Tech investors will quit Britain if Labour keep raising taxes, one of Britain’s most influential entrepreneurs has warned.

Brent Hoberman has said Britain’s goal of becoming an AI hub could be difficult over high energy costs.

Brent Hoberman, who co-founded Lastminute.com and now invests and supports start-ups, said venture capital (VC) funds were drawing up plans to move to Europe amid fears of a fresh raid in November.

“I spoke to someone yesterday from one of the top three VC funds who said ‘we’re all going if they push us any more’,” Hoberman said.

“[Aligning] capital gains to income tax would be alienating, wealth tax at 2pc would be crazy. They are seriously evaluating Italy and Switzerland.”

The warning comes as Rachel Reeves prepares to mount a new tax raid in the upcoming Budget to fill an estimated £30bn hole in public finances. The Chancellor has come under pressure from the Left of her party to follow other European nations and introduce a wealth tax. Ms Reeves is also said to be considering a “mansion tax”.

Mr Hoberman warned that efforts to target the rich could prove self-defeating. He said: “Many streets in London are at 20pc occupancy. The number of people who have left is dramatic and it’s the wealthiest who have left. As more people leave, they will start losing money.”

Economists have already warned as much after Labour’s clampdown on non-doms triggered a number of wealthy individuals to relocate. An exodus of the wealthy could lose the Exchequer £12.2bn over this parliament if half of non-doms decide to leave Britain, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has said.

Mr Hoberman is one of the most high-profile figures in British tech and led the business until 2006. He now runs Founders Forum, an organisation that supports start-ups, and backs businesses through his fund Firstminute Capital.

Britain is the biggest venture capital market in Europe, according to investor Atomico. While these funds often invest across borders, any relocation would be a blow for Sir Keir Starmer as he eyes artificial intelligence (AI) as a key way to boost Britain’s growth.

President Trump’s state visit in September unlocked £31bn of investment in Britain by America’s top technology companies, including Microsoft and Google. Much of it will go towards AI data centres.

Mr Hoberman said he believed the billions of pounds of US investment would help Britain’s startup ecosystem. He pointed to the example of Nvidia, the US chip giant, which recently invested in UK startups such as Wayve alongside its data centre plans. (The self-driving car startup is also backed by Mr Hoberman’s First Minute).

The Government must now follow US tech’s lead and work with British start-ups, he said.

“It is easier for the Government to buy from [US big tech company] Palantir than from a startup. The Government does not like to procure from companies that have a chance of failure. You know the old adage, nobody ever got fired for hiring IBM or Microsoft. No one wants to get fired for hiring from a startup that goes bust.”

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