Abigail MacCartney said red tape, not tax, is stifling Britain’s entrepreneurs. The Livelab founder noted that regulatory hurdles and planning delays since the start of 2026 make it hard to scale. She said, "The problems I face as an SME owner at the coal face are regulatory, not tax."
From Abigail MacCartney, Founder of Livelab; Liberal Democrat Councillor, Oakham, Rutland, UK
As a business founder (and bloody- minded entrepreneur to quote chancellor John Healey), I can imagine you have been fighting off the letters from entrepreneurs who read Aliya Shibli's article in last weekend's FT Money ("Rise in UK entrepreneurs choosing to sell up", October 24).
Wednesday's Budget has added to this debate by introducing a so-called founders' relief. This is nice, but it isn't solving the problem. The problems I face as an SME owner at the coal face are regulatory, not tax.
For example, we submitted genuine R&D claims to HM Revenue & Customs repeatedly, only to have them repeatedly rejected. We're a laboratory for heaven's sake, and do genuine R&D, so if our claims are persistently rejected, I shudder to think how others fare.
The embattled HMRC needs a new department where our external accountant/auditor can liaise directly with the agency and have a conversation with a knowledgeable agent to solve problems quickly.
Another example is planning reform. To scale this business we need a bigger premises and this has been in planning since the start of 2026 with no sign of a decision on the horizon. We have reams of letters of support from major global customers wishing to spend with us, but the planning system is broken in a doom loop where no one wishes to take responsibility for making a decision -- we're only now (eight months into the application) being asked for lighting strategies from yet another external consultant.
Why only now? Should we be successful in building our extension, it will be a significant scale up for us, and will immediately lead to a huge increase in business rates which will be levied before we have had the time to scale. How can a business scale, when at every step forward the knife of taxation is thrust between the ribs just when the business needs to take a deep breath?
As the business owner, these are the issues that erode at my mental wellbeing and every day that passes draws me closer to throwing in the towel out of frustration, despair and exhaustion.
Running a business should be exhilarating, fulfilling and rewarding. We recently celebrated our 20th anniversary of trading, I dearly hope that I can look back in another 20 years and say that we have become a regional/local success story and an asset to the area.
As a bloody minded entrepreneur, I could then happily stick it to the Treasury and say that in spite of it all, I went and did it anyway!