Our campaign ahead of the Autumn Budget
In this blog, Lewis Miles, Policy and Public Affairs Manager at the BIA, reflects on an intense period of engagement with Ministers and Parliament ahead of the Autumn Budget. As global investment headwinds continue to hit UK biotech, Lewis explains the BIA’s core asks — from accelerated funding to enhanced tax reliefs — and why sustained Government commitment is essential to protect the UK’s world-leading life sciences sector.
The run-up to tomorrow’s Budget has been full of speculation and surprise, even before the Chancellor has stood up at the dispatch box. Throughout it all, BIA has been working tirelessly to ensure that any policy changes and announcements that Rachel Reeves ushers in work and deliver for the life sciences. Over the past few months, our campaign has taken us across Whitehall to the steps of No. 10, delivering the message that supporting life sciences in the current climate is of critical importance, not only for our members, but the economy as a whole.
Our submission
The anchoring point of our campaign is our formal submission to the budget itself, which clearly sets out that UK life science companies are delivering cutting-edge innovation capable of building an NHS fit for the future and transforming patients’ lives. We underline the immensity of the sector’s potential to deliver economic growth and societal benefits, and yet.
However, new data from the BIA, published in our Q3 2025 UK biotech financing report, highlights that the longest global funding drought in the sector is taking its toll, underlining just how easily global and domestic headwinds can threaten the sector. This only exacerbates the longstanding challenges of accessing scaling capital and keeping our innovative life science companies headquartered and growing here in the UK.
To reverse this course, we implore the Government to double down on investment and the Industrial Strategy, not look for short-term cost savings that risk our most valuable and highest-potential assets. The long-term economic and social returns from backing life sciences and entrepreneurs far outweigh the immediate fiscal pressures.
Our submission, therefore, calls on the Government to:
- Accelerate the delivery of Innovate UK and British Business Bank (BBB) funds – which have already been allocated – into the sector to provide immediate working capital.
- Enhance R&D tax reliefs, EIS/VCT and EMI schemes to target support for innovative companies.
- Double down on the Mansion House Accord and financial reforms to unlock investment from pension funds for venture capital and growth companies.
- Avoid raising taxes or business rates on the UK’s innovative companies and their R&D facilities.
These measures can be delivered rapidly to provide much-needed support for quality companies that are being locked out of growth by the global funding drought, and for those that have successfully built in the UK but now face challenging decisions about where they can access scaling capital to grow to the next stage.
Letter to the Chancellor
BIA felt that the instability of the current global investment climate, and the threat of measures detrimental to the life sciences – such as the increase of taxes or business rates – was such that a direct letter to the Chancellor was needed to emphasise the urgency of our formal submission.
The letter again underscored the importance of committing to long-term growth as opposed to short-term cost savings that put our most valuable and highest-potential sectors at risk – including life sciences. This proved to be a message that generated a lot of traction. The letter itself included over 200 signatures from leaders of BIA member companies across UK life sciences and biotech, and received significant coverage from The Times on more than one occasion. This collective effort strengthened our case ahead of the Budget and laid the groundwork for the continued conversations we will drive with Government in the weeks ahead.
Engaging directly with policymakers
To ensure all the key decision makers understand our message, the BIA has been attending events and evidence sessions relaying our message in as many forums as possible. Our Director of Policy and External Affairs, Martin Turner, gave evidence at a House of Lords Select Committee, repeating our central plea to the Chancellor not to raise taxes or business rates on innovative companies and their R&D facilities. He also relayed our key policy asks: the accelerated delivery of Innovate UK and BBB funds, the enhancement of R&D tax reliefs, and increased access to finance via the Mansion House Accord.
In addition, Kit Malthouse MP, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Life Sciences, which BIA runs, raised a question in Parliament, pressing for “specific, ambitious and vigorous” action from the Treasury to support life sciences ahead of the Autumn Budget.
In response, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Liz Kendall MP, said:
There is no route to future growth in this country without science and technology, particularly with life sciences at the core.
This is a fantastic sign of Government’s continued commitment to support the sector, and a clear indication that the BIA’s continued advocacy is being heard.
Finally, BIA’s Managing Director, Jane Wall, seized the opportunity of a buzzing and successful London Life Sciences Week to deliver our message at the No.10 Downing Street reception. The event was attended by multiple Ministers, including the Science Secretary Liz Kendall MP, Minister for Investment, Lord Stockwood, and Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Innovation and Safety, Dr Zubir Ahmed.
