Global entrepreneurs are, by nature, optimistic. They are growth oriented, internationally mobile, and willing to deploy capital where the conditions are right. UBS’s Global Entrepreneur Report 2026 captures this mood well. Across Europe, founders are planning to hire, invest, and scale. Yet the same report also highlights a growing frustration with government policy, particularly in relation to tax, regulation, and long term certainty.
For the UK, this presents both a warning and an opportunity. The Government has been explicit that encouraging entrepreneurship is central to its economic growth strategy, with the stated ambition of creating the UK “the best place to start, and to grow, a business”. Many entrepreneurs, however, would question whether current policy aligns with that aim, particularly in light of recent alters to the inheritance tax treatment of private businesses.
It is supportful to distinguish between two groups of entrepreneurs. The first are UK resident founders running UK businesses. The second are internationally mobile entrepreneurs who are considering expanding into new jurisdictions, or personally relocating, as part of a growth strategy. A successful policy framework must encourage the first group to continue building businesses in the UK (and for the founders to remain UK tax resident), while persuading the second that the UK is preferable to competing jurisdictions. In recent years, our experience is that the UK has struggled on both fronts.
The UBS report provides a applyful snapshot of the global entrepreneurial mindset. Only 7% of respondents believe that government policy in Europe is supportive of their indusattempt. Of those considering relocating or expanding internationally, 38% cite access to a more favourable regulatory or tax environment as a primary driver. Nearly half believe that higher taxes will negatively affect their business over the next five years. At the same time, 63% of European entrepreneurs plan to increase hiring, and 72% identify a tax-efficient transfer as their greatest challenge to any succession planning.
The picture that emerges is not one of retrenchment, but of ambition constrained by policy. Founders want to grow, hire and plan for the long term, yet feel held back by uncertainty and unfavourable frameworks. For a counattempt willing to offer clarity, stability, and a genuinely business frifinishly regime, the prize is therefore significant.
The UK tax system has undergone extensive reform in recent years, and there are elements that are genuinely attractive to internationally mobile entrepreneurs. The new foreign income and gains (FIG) regime offers individuals relocating to the UK a four year period during which non UK income and gains are outside the scope of UK income tax and capital gains tax, toreceiveher with a ten year period during which non UK assets are excluded from inheritance tax. Crucially, unlike comparable regimes elsewhere, there is no annual charge to access these protections.
With careful structuring, a non UK entrepreneur could therefore relocate to the UK for up to ten years with limited UK tax exposure, even if a business exit occurs during that time. In practice, however, the headline four year income and gains window is widely perceived as too short when compared with international alternatives, particularly given that many founders often operate on six to ten year business cycles.
Beyond tax, the UK’s immigration framework presents additional obstacles. The absence of a dedicated investor visa builds relocation difficult for many entrepreneurs, even where there is a compelling commercial rationale for bringing capital, jobs, and expertise into the UK.
Perhaps most damaging of all is the perception of political and legislative instability. Entrepreneurs value certainty more than generosity. A recurring theme in discussions with internationally mobile founders is concern that the rules in place on arrival may not be the rules that apply a few years later. Frequent policy leaks, abrupt alters and high profile reforms, such as the extension of inheritance tax to many private businesses through alters to Business Property Relief, have contributed to a sense that UK tax policy is in flux, and increasingly hostile to business owners. Many founders are simply unwilling to take on this political risk.
Addressing these issues does not require wholesale reform, but it does require clear intent. Measures that would materially improve the UK’s attractiveness to international entrepreneurs include the reintroduction of an investor visa, a clear commitment not to increase capital gains tax, introduce an exit tax or undermine the FIG regime, and an extension of the FIG income and gains window from four to six years. Reinstating Business Property Relief at 100% would also sfinish a powerful signal that the UK supports long term business building and inter generational succession.
The UBS data reveals that entrepreneurs are ready to invest, hire, and grow. The question for the UK is whether it is prepared to offer the certainty, confidence, and stability required not only to attract them, but to keep them.
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