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P.ublished 17th March 2026
business
Response To Chancellor’s Mais Lecture
The Chancellor
Photo: Gov.UK
“The Chancellor’s focus on driving up productivity and investment are the right ones. Enhancing growth resilience is ever more vital as the UK continues to be buffeted by shocks. Reinforcing the UK’s trade connections, maximising opportunities across regions and gripping the AI opportunity are sensible priorities. And doing so hand-in-hand with business will help shape policies that will work in practice. It is good to see policy consistency coming through, for example through policies to deliver Oxford-Cambridge and Northern growth corridors. And there’s a welcome reference to the role regulation can play in inhibiting investment by businesses – this regularly appears in the top four factors negatively affecting investment amongst business leaders.
“We welcome the Chancellor’s focus on empowering every region of the UK through targeted investment, stronger city‑region leadership and a roadmap to fiscal devolution. We particularly support measures that back local strengths, including the city investment funds and clusters investment programmes, as these will help unlock private investment and create high‑quality jobs.
“These are a good set of measures aimed at helping to lift investment and growth. However, businesses continue to report that the main factors constraining their ability to invest are significant rises in employment costs and high levels of uncertainty. While swift and consistent delivery of these policies will be welcome, it must be accompanied by action to address the cost of doing business in the UK.”
“We welcome the government’s continued ambition for the UK to lead the G7 in AI adoption, alongside its commitment to scaling quantum computing. The £2.5 billion investment in AI and quantum, including a new AI Economics Institute and AI Adoption Business Summit, reflects a clear recognition that these technologies are critical to long-term growth.
“It is right that digitalisation and AI adoption are positioned as foundational to a more productive, competitive and resilient economy. We are also encouraged to see this linked to closer European collaboration and regional growth. Technology does not exist in isolation, depending on strong talent pipelines and markets to succeed.
“However, AI cannot be treated as a universal solution to productivity challenges. A nuanced approach, grounded in sector-specific contexts, safety and public trust, will be essential.
“Equally, leadership must be built on sovereign capabilities. The UK should not only deploy technologies developed elsewhere, but ensure that British companies are starting, scaling and succeeding at home. The £500 million Sovereign AI Unit and procurement commitments are positive steps, but impact will depend on effective execution.
“Above all, the test will be scalable delivery. For many SMEs, the immediate pressures of costs, energy and regulation remain acute. Policy remains fragmented, with limited coordination across technology, finance, energy and skills, and tech adoption support mechanisms are often hard to navigate and insufficient to offset the risks and costs. If the UK is to translate ambition into real leadership, the roadmap must connect frontier innovation with the operational realities and enabling conditions for businesses on the ground.
“The direction is clear. The urgent priority now must be moving from vision to meaningful and responsible AI diffusion, underpinned by clear governance frameworks, and detailed, measurable and evidence-based implementation.”
“We support all efforts to improve the UK’s trading relationship with the EU, something business leaders see as a key confidence booster looking into the long term. It is especially important that the UK seeks to deepen cooperation with its closest and biggest trading partner given the impact that global conflict is having on the trading landscape.
“We welcome dialogue on strengthening relations and removing friction, and firms continue to express positive sentiment on broader regulatory alignment in helping to remove administrative barriers to trade. However, the government should tread a careful balance between prioritising quick economic gains and achieving the best regulatory outcomes for the UK’s own businesses and wider society.
“We would urge the government to provide greater specificity on the long-term goals for the UK-EU reset. There is still a lack of clarity on what the finished reset product looks like within the parameters of the UK and EU’s respective red lines, how it fits into the broader objects of the UK’s trade strategy, and how the government plans to shape the regulatory relationship so that it benefits both the economy and business environment.”
“Amid global uncertainty, businesses will welcome the Chancellor’s clear focus on the drivers of sustained growth by addressing the UK’s longstanding productivity problem.
“Backing the UK’s strengths in AI and quantum, accelerating the OxCam corridor, and strengthening ties with the EU together form a coherent set of next steps for advancing the UK’s growth mission – combining world-class innovation, place-based investment, and access to key markets.
“Using public procurement to create early markets for quantum, support for AI adoption, and maximising the growth potential of the OxCam corridor, will help anchor the development and deployment of cutting-edge technologies in the UK.
“The Chancellor is also right to outline her priorities for strengthening ties with the EU – our largest trading partner. Business supports closer regulatory alignment where it serves our national economic interest, enhances mutual recognition, and deepens bilaterial industrial co-operation.
“The immediate challenge for firms is the high cost of doing business, compounded by the risk of prolonged conflict in the Middle East. Businesses want to seize growth opportunities but lack the headroom to invest in skills, trade support, and technology.
“To ease the pressure on firms and unlock elusive economic growth, the government should work with business to address the longstanding issue of high energy costs, ease regulatory burdens, deliver practical solutions on employment rights, and build a simpler, more competitive tax system. The ambition is there, now is the time for delivery.”
“The Chancellor is right to focus on stability, investment and reform as the foundations for long-term growth. Commitments to the Oxford Cambridge corridor, alongside plans to expand Luton Airport and invest in regional water infrastructure, reflect a more interventionist approach to unlocking growth. At the same time, measures to accelerate delivery, including potential use of compulsory purchase, underline the government’s intent to move quickly.”
“We know that investment in infrastructure and skills is fundamental to growing business investment in areas like R&D and innovation that are critical if the UK wants to lead in AI and other emerging technologies. The announcements today, including the investment into new quantum computing capabilities, are therefore important and significant to the nation’s future prosperity.”
“That said, there is undoubtedly more that still needs to be done. Data shows that businesses are not investing in areas like R&D and innovation in the UK as much as they are in many other countries around the world. What the UK now needs is greater focus on areas where it can be genuinely globally leading, supported by clearer conditions for business investment.
“The challenge is not a lack of ambition or capability but ensuring that this translates into sustained business activity and growth. This means creating an environment that supports not just investment, but a stronger entrepreneurial culture, where businesses have the confidence to scale, innovate and invest alongside government, underpinned by clear priorities, alignment and long-term direction.”