Penny’s dropped. So no new ‘theme tune’ for the UK. But after weeks of writing about the blue team, this week I’ll cross the floor.

Labour has published the Call for Evidence for its Start-Up Review. There are seven areas of enquiry, covering access to capital, incentives, skills, procurement, levelling up (though they call it ‘geographical distribution’), listing and diversity.

The Review Panel is chaired by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, and includes Tom Adeyoola (Extend Ventures), Alex Depledge (Resi), Julie Devonshire (King’s College London) and Lord Jim O’Neill (Northern Gritstone).

The panel will review the evidence submitted, and this will inform part of its final report. Labour wants to hear from individuals and institutions before the 12th August.

I can’t find the details anywhere online, so I’ve shared it below. We’ll be responding. You may want to share your thoughts with us – if so, drop me an email. Although I would also recommend responding to it yourself. You just need to send them through to cormac.savage@parliament.uk.

1. What more can we do to ensure new and growing businesses have access to capital, and in particular patient capital?
– Where are the gaps in the current funding landscape? (e.g. by stage of funding, by type of firm, by sector).
– Are the current set of institutions (e.g. British Business Bank and British Patient Capital) right, and do they have the right mandates?
– What regulatory and policy changes could be made to encourage deeper provision of patient capital in the UK?

2. Do we have the right incentives for growing businesses in the UK, and how do they compare to other countries?
– How does the tax system incentivise growing businesses – in particular are there complexities or contradictions that limit this?
– Outside of the tax system, how could policy or institutional features be changed to provide greater incentives?

3. Do universities have the right skills, structures and incentives to allow them to successfully spin out and grow businesses?
– How well are universities set up to encourage spin-outs and the commercialisation of research?
– How can government help ensure universities have the right ecosystem of investor networks, firms, and leaders, and the right structures to spin out businesses?
– How should universities build enterprise into their institutions and recruitment processes?

4. How do we improve access to public procurement for start-ups?
– What are the barriers to start-ups accessing public procurement?
– How could policy reduce these barriers and/or actively prioritise high-growth British businesses in procurement decisions?

5. How do we ensure we have a better geographical distribution of start-up high-growth businesses across the UK?
– What are the key barriers to wider geographical distribution?
– Can better distribution be achieved through central policy, or should it focus on (setting up) empowering local institutions?

6. Should we be encouraging more firms to list in London? If so, how?
– What are the economic benefits, and how great are they, from firms listing in London rather than elsewhere?
– How does the complexity and flexibility of the listings regime compare with other key financial centres?

7. How do we ensure that women and people from ethnic minorities can access the finance, support, and networks necessary to successfully start businesses?
– What are the key barriers to women and people from ethnic minorities starting and growing businesses?

ARIA
It’s only natural that an incoming Prime Minister scraps (or starves) some of the ideas and institutions that the previous administration came up with. However, one that they should run with is the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), which this week finally announced its new CEO and chair: Ilan Gur and Matt Clifford MBE.

I wrote last year about why I’ve been cautiously optimistic about this. Ben Reinhardt is the guy to read if you want to know more about why I'm optimistic about the potential – here, here, and sign up to his Substack here.

Whoever wins between Rishi and Liz, they should embrace this project with open arms.
Matt Clifford is a really impressive guy. That’s why we asked him to write an article on why network and talent density is the key to entrepreneurial success. If you really want to know what makes him tick, he has 224 issues of his newsletter.

I’ve not met Ilan Gur, but he has a great CV and sounds like a smart and clear thinker on this podcast with Matt on how technology collides with politics, culture and society.