Jeremy Hunt Wants to Make UK the ‘Next Silicon Valley’

Jeremy Hunt has outlined his vision to make the U.K. “the world’s next Silicon Valley.”

In a speech on Friday (Jan. 27), the chancellor of the exchequer called on businesses to invest in the U.K. economy, which he said could be “one of the most prosperous in Europe.”

Detailing a plan for economic growth based on four pillars he named as “Enterprise, Education, Employment and Everywhere,” Hunt said the U.K. is one of only three economies in the world with a trillion-dollar digital sector.

He pointed out that the U.K. has created more unicorns than France and Germany combined, with eight U.K. cities now home to two or more unicorns. What’s more, he added that the London-Oxford-Cambridge triangle has the largest number of tech businesses anywhere in the world outside of major hubs in San Francisco and New York.

Observing the strength and resilience of the country’s FinTech sector, he pointed out that in 2022, U.K.-based FinTechs attracted more funding than anywhere outside of the U.S.

Referring to the so-called Edinburgh reforms, Hunt said that moves to loosen regulation of the financial sector would open up access to capital, helping to propel the growth of scale-ups.

The chancellor added that this could “unlock over one hundred billion pounds of additional investment into the U.K.’s most productive growth industries.”

Hunt’s comments contribute to ongoing government efforts to boost the international competitiveness of the country’s financial sector. This includes giving the U.K.’s financial regulators, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), an expanded secondary remit to help the City of London stay competitive around the world.

On taxes, Hunt said that “we need lower taxes,” but stopped short of announcing any new cuts. Alluding to simmering tensions within the Tory party, he said, “my party understands better than others the importance of low taxes in creating incentives and fostering the animal spirits that spur economic growth.

“But another Conservative insight is that risk-taking by individuals and businesses can only happen when governments provide economic and financial stability. So the best tax cut right now is a cut in inflation.”

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