Kyle backs British tech firms as government weighs takeover powers

Peter Kyle is putting the case for a more assertive industrial policy just as Westminster keeps one of its sharpest tools for stopping foreign takeovers. As business secretary and president of the Board of Trade, he is now at the centre of a debate over how far Britain should go to keep strategic tech firms in British hands without scaring off the foreign capital that many scaleups need to grow.

Kyle took over as Secretary of State for Business and Trade on 5 September 2025, after serving as science, innovation and technology secretary from 5 July 2024 to 5 September 2025. His comments fit neatly with the government’s digital-and-technologies strategy, which aims to make the United Kingdom one of the best places in the world to create, invest in and scale a technology business. That effort includes AI Growth Zones to unlock investment in AI-enabled data centres and the infrastructure around them.

The political message has been blunt: ministers want promising British companies to scale at home rather than be forced overseas. A government growth package for scaleups framed the policy in those terms, pairing support for fast-growing firms with a red tape review. The aim is to build domestic champions in sectors where Britain has talent, but not always the deep pools of capital needed to compete globally.

AI policy has become a central part of that strategy. In June 2025, the government said 7.5 million UK workers would gain essential AI skills by 2030 through an industry partnership. By January 2026, that target had been raised to 10 million workers under the AI Skills Boost initiative, underlining how closely ministers now link workforce policy with the country’s technology ambitions.

At the same time, the state is keeping the power to stop deals that raise security concerns. Under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, the government can scrutinise acquisitions that could harm national security, impose conditions, unwind transactions or block them entirely. The regime applies to certain acquisitions completed on or after 12 November 2020 and came into force on 4 January 2022.

That leaves Kyle and his colleagues with a hard balancing act. Britain wants more scaleups, more AI investment and more home-grown tech champions, but it also wants the right to intervene when a takeover threatens strategic assets. The question now is not whether the government can act, but how often it should be willing to do so, and whether protecting national security may increasingly mean accepting a more cautious stance toward foreign buyers.