As the bright cliffs of freedom edge ever closer and we prepare to take back control from our EU overlords, remoaners still insist on pointing out pesky facts.
For many years the tech sector has been the bonniest jewels in UK PLC’s crown, paraded as a shining example of innovation, growth and general coolness. I myself enjoyed working in and around Silicon Roundabout for many years and can honestly say that it’s been fun and utterly humbling to be around so many brilliant people contributing so much to the country’s economy. Some of them were even British.
We now had 2 years of due diligence on Brexit and the British people deserve a vote on this deal. Anything else would be highly irresponsible and undemocratic @bernardooo Click To Tweet“As a Northern Ireland native, I’ve seen first hand the difficulty that division can cause, just as I can see the major and needless impact that Brexit is having on bringing back the divisions on that island. Isolation and protectionism has never proven to be a positive long term strategy, and that is becoming clear in this case too. And with more in the tech industry, and in the UK as a whole, considering themselves citizens of the world, we risk closing our doors and driving away a diverse set of people that help make us all better.”
Rob Elkin, Busuu
Cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon @CH_Cartoon
Show me a thriving start-up that is not a melting pot of cultures from all over the world and you’d seriously be looking at an anomaly. It’s never been surprising for me to hear dozens of languages being spoken around the office, and to be constantly asking my colleagues how to best pronounce their names.
We employ a bunch of highly skilled people and 70% of our staff don’t have a UK passport. Finding and attracting great team members is a major challenge and is the single biggest constraint on our growth. Anything we can do to make it easier for smart people to come to the UK is a bonus. Doing the opposite is frankly economic suicide. Adam Fudakowski, CEO, Switchee
To me, such places are living proof that diversity breeds innovation, so to talk about adopting policies that would make Britain (to borrow some government terminology here) a “hostile environment” for immigration really seems to a move designed to drain the lifeblood from the creative industries – tech included.
We punch above our weight, which means we have a lot to lose. The country of Magna Carta and the Mother of Parliaments deserves a meaningful debate on concrete options, and a vote based on considered strategic goals @richmarr Click To Tweet“The UK and especially London has become a vibrant and globally successful centre for technology innovation. Many of the most exciting start up businesses here have been founded by immigrant entrepreneurs and grown with UK and European employees joining the companies as they grow rapidly.” Simon Murdoch, Managing Partner, Episode 1 Ventures
As anyone who’s ever worked in a start-up will also attest to, a huge part of a company’s energy and resources goes towards attracting, recruiting and retaining talent. Competition is dog-eat-dog fierce and even with freedom of movement allowing European citizens from 29 countries to come and work in London without any restrictions, it was still a challenge to get the right people on board – there just aren’t enough qualified individuals to go around, British or otherwise.
“Our world leading digital industry is being led into a back water of mediocrity by a crop of leaders who don’t even know what Brexit they want and why they want it. By keeping the best talent in the world out with central government quotas on immigration they’ve pulled down the shutters. Digital leaders will simply start up elsewhere. Toby Beresford, Rise
The Bank of England recently released figures that showed the UK economy is currently 1% smaller than expected two years ago, and this climate of economic uncertainty caused by Brexit is also affecting financing in the sector: Funding from the European Investment Fund has collapsed since the Brexit vote, and a replacement scheme has yet to be assured long-term by the government. The European Investment Bank, which backs a majority of the United Kingdom’s VC funds, has slashed deals with UK VCs and private equity groups by more than two-thirds, with no equivalent funding from the UK government in sight.
Having worked in Silicon Roundabout for many years I can say how fun and humbling it was to be around so many brilliant people who contributed so much to the UK economy. Some of them were even British Click To TweetSo it comes as no surprise to hear that over 80 UK technology and innovation leaders have signed up as supporters of new tech business group Tech For UK, calling on the Government to back a meaningful vote by the people, on the actual terms of Brexit (something that sadly seems increasingly unlikely).
The Brexiteers admit they can't deliver the Brexit they promised so we deserve a vote on the one they've got us instead @GeorgeBevis Click To TweetTech For UK represents the founders of many of the most innovative and successful businesses in the UK technology sector including Martha Lane Fox of Lastminute.com and Doteveryone, Ben Whitaker, Founder of Masabi, the UK rail ticketing startup, Bernhard Niesner, founder of the language learning giant Busuu, lending giant Zopa, and George Bevis, founder of small business banking provider Tide, among many others. It is also backing Best For Britain in its fundraising campaign for a meaningful vote on the terms of Brexit and the option to Remain and lead in the EU.
Britons voted for Brexit in the initial referendum with inadequate and often wholly spurious information on both sides of the argument @nicksaalfeld Click To Tweet'Lies run sprints, but the truth runs marathons’ - it's becoming increasingly clear that the fiction that was promised by the Leave campaign were just that @glennbookingbug Click To Tweet“It’s time the people had the chance for a meaningful vote, or through parliament, on the terms of Brexit,” says TechCrunch Editor-at-large Mike Butcher who is a co-founder of TechHub, and co-organiser of Tech For UK. “The loss of access to European funds, the flight of talent which powers UK tech companies due to the uncertainty and scandal around immigration, the loss of access to the Digital Single Market, which was never consulted over — all of these factors are adversely affecting the UK Tech industry.”
The technology sector has consistently grown faster than the UK economy in recent years, employing over 2 million people and attracting billions in foreign investment. Collectively, Tech For UK supporters have raised hundreds of millions of pounds, put hundreds of millions back into the UK economy and employed thousands of people.
“I spent 12 years working in China – living over there I came to appreciate the value, and leverage, that comes with size. We are a small nation of 65m and I do not believe we are strong or powerful enough to go it alone in a rapidly globalising world. We are European and can’t pretend otherwise. We already have clients making London-based teams redundant as they move whole divisions to Ireland. I catch myself thinking “well it’s ok I’m sure the government know what they’re doing…” and instantly remember they clearly do not. Ed Dean, CEO, Woodseer Global.
Brexit is the most important decisions for generations and it would be irresponsible not to let people have a decision on the exact term of the world they will live in @vhirsch Click To Tweet
Full list of supporters:
- Adam Fudakowski, CEO, Switchee
- Adam Price, Founder, VouchedFor & Hatch
- Alex Hoye, Co-founder, The Faction Collective
- Andrea Tricoli, Co-Founder, Expressly
- Andrew Walmsley, Non Exec Chairman, Inskin Media
- Andy Cockburn, CEO & Cofounder, Mention Me
- Ben Farren CEO, SPOKE
- Ben Whately, Co-founder and COO, Memrise
- Ben Whitaker, Founder, Masabi
- Benjamin Redford, Co-founder, Mayku
- Benji Lanyado, Founder & CEO, Picfair
- Bernhard Niesner, CEO, Busuu
- Bindi Karia, Innovation Expert & Advisor
- Cassandra Stavrou, Founder, Propercorn
- Cécile Baird, Founder, Decentrl.Agency
- Charlie Dobres, CEO, Busking It Productions
- Chris Pointon, Co-founder, Racefully
- Conor Graham, Cofounder, #HackTheHub
- Courtney Glymph, Product and Solutions Communications, CA Technologies
- Daniel Appelquist, Head, Samsung Research UK
- Daniel Murray, Co Founder, Grabble
- David Batey, Founder, Nickelled Ltd
- Dimitar Stanimiroff, CEO & Co-founder, Heresy
- Dominic Campbell, CEO, Futuregov
- Ed Dean, CEO, Woodseer Global
- Fabrice Bernhard, Co-Founder, Theodo
- Frank Kelcz, Partner, Collider VC
- Gareth Quinn, Founder, Digital DNA
- George Bevis, CEO, Tide
- Gianluca Gindro, Senior Data Scientist, Geophy
- Giles Andrews, Cofounder & Chairman, Zopa
- Glenn Shoosmith, Founder and CEO, Bookingbug
- Guy Morris, Managing Director, Quiz the Nation
- Hephzi Pemberton, Founder, Kiteka
- Ian Jindal, Founder, Pencil / InternetRetailing
- Ilicco Elia, Head Of Mobile, Deloitte Digital
- Irfon WatkinsFounder, Dovu
- Ivan Mazour, CEO and Founder, Ometria
- Jack Huang, Director, TrulyExperiences.com
- James Evans, Managing Director, Bluespot.io Ltd
- James Whatley, Planning Partner, Ogilvy UK
- Jana Hlistova, Founder, Diversity Hacks
- Jessica Kennedy White, UCL Educate
- Joanna Goodman, Tech Journalist
- Jon Atkinson, Technical Director, FARM Digital Ltd.
- Jonathan Petrides, Founder, allplants
- Josh Feldberg Head of Digital, 89up
- Josh Russell, Partner, Resolve
- Katie Moffat, Head Of Digital, The Audience Agency
- Laure Claire Reillier, Co-Founder and COO, Launchworks & Co
- Laurence Kemball-Cook, Founder & CEO, Pavegen
- Madhuban Kumar, CEO, Metafused
- Marc Roberts, CTO, HiyaCar
- Marcus Greenwood, CEO, Ubio
- Martha Lane-Fox, Founder, Doteveryone
- Martin Goodson, CEO, Evolution AI
- Matthew Gardiner, Founder, Catch London
- Melanie Moeller, Product Lead, Sky Spain
- Merje ShawMD, Path59
- Michele Cuccovillo, Partner, Rock Mission
- Mike Butcher, MBE, Editor at Large, Techcrunch
- Nic Brisbourne, Managing Partner, Forward Partners
- Nicholas Katz, CEO, Acasa
- Nick Patterson, Founder, Movemeon
- Nick Saalfeld, Director, Wells Park Communications
- Nuala Murphy, CEO, Moment Health
- Peter Ward, Founder, WAYN/Humanity Inc
- Pilgrim Beart, CEO, DevicePilot
- Priya Prakash, Founder, D4SC
- Riaz Kanani, MD & Founder, Radiate B2B
- Richard Marr, Cofounder, Applied Recruitment
- Rob Elkin, CTO, Busuu
- Rob O’Donovan, Ceo, Charlie HR
- Simon Murdoch, Founder, Episode 1 Partners
- Stephen Johnston, Founder, Fordcastle
- Tamara Sword, Founder, TRM&C
- Tim Boughton, CTO, Mention Me Ltd
- Timothy Brownstone, CEO, KYMIRA
- Toby Beresford, CEO, Rise.global
- Tom Alisi, Director, deep.ventures
- Tom de Grunwald, Creative Director, Microclimate
- Tushar Agarwal Co-Founder & CEO, Hubble
- Volker Hirsch, Founder, Blue Beck / Tech North Advocates
- William Reeve, CEO, Goodlord
- William Roberts, Founder, Loyalty Bay
Alice Bonasio is a VR and Digital Transformation Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio on Twitter.
