Did Keir Starmer’s speech at the Labour Party conference move the dial for the under-fire Prime Minister?

PR agency Be Broadcast’s Mission Control tool analysed the past 24 hours of coverage for Starmer and Nigel Farage and found that the PM had 16,952 mentions compared to the Reform UK leader’s 5,499.

“That’s a clear dominance which shows just how much his Labour conference speech has cut through,” said founder Josh Wheeler.

“Broadcasters repeatedly described the Prime Minister as clear, strong, determined, confident, and positive – signs of a leader trying to reassert authority and reset his premiership. But the coverage wasn’t without caveats: he was also called flat, weak, angry, even patronising. In other words, he may have delivered power and punch, but doubts remain about whether it’s enough to shift opinion outside the conference hall.

“Farage, meanwhile, is framed very differently. He’s less the statesman, more the combative disrupter. Discussions see him as serious, clear and strong, but also angry, divisive and inciting. He commands influence, but here it is reactive – defined by the outrage he provokes, rather than by offering a vision of the future.

“What we’re seeing in the data is a political battle of contrasts: Starmer the embattled Prime Minister fighting for clarity and control, versus Farage the insurgent voice channelling disruption.

“In the last 24 hours, Starmer has won the airtime – but the real question is whether that dominance translates into public trust.”

A University of Nottingham spinout that has developed a novel gene-editing tool has raised £2m from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund II, through its appointed fund manager, Mercia Ventures.

The investment will enable Forge Genetics to expand its commercial work developing bacteria strains for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and adapt its tool for use with human and animal cells.

Forge’s technology offers some key advantages over CRISPR, a widely-used tool that enables scientists to modify genes by inserting or removing sections of DNA. Because it is more precisely targeted, it enables more bacterial cells to survive the editing process, and can be used with a much wider range of bacterial strains. It may also provide a safer way to modify human cells. Unlike CRISPR, it can detect unwanted DNA mutations resulting from the editing process and filter out the damaged cells.

North Star Media has acquired Picture Shop Manchester’s operations from Streamland Media.

The new business will operate as Home Post Production retaining all 40 creative, technical, production, and management employees, and will continue to deliver a full-service offering to its established client base from its 22,000 sq ft facility in the city centre.

The deal was led by David Jackson, who previously owned and managed Manchester’s 422 facility, and advised by Bermans and Christian Douglas Chartered Accountants.

A firm linked to Baroness Mone has lost a £122 million PPE case brought against it by the Government.

PPE Medpro was set up by a consortium headed by Doug Barrowman, husband of Ultimo bra entrepreneur and Conservative life peer Mone, to provide medical supplies at the height of the COVID pandemic.

Mone recommended the company as a supplier and it won the contract through the Conservative government’s controversial ‘VIP lane’ system.

Following a High Court ruling, it must now repay the £122m it received from the Department of Health and Social Care to supply 25m sterile surgical gowns for hospitals in August and October 2020.

The Government has argued successfully that these gowns, manufactured in China, were unusable, claiming it was “not satisfied that the gowns were contractually compliant… a number of them were not sterile”.

David Beckham’s business ventures saw profits climb by more than a quarter in 2024.

DRJB Holdings Limited, which includes David Beckham Ventures Limited, Seven Global LLP and Studio 99 Group, reported net profit of around £35.1m)for the year, up from £29.1m in 2023.

The group has issued an underlying ordinary dividend of £39m, as reported by CityAM.

Love Finance, the UK’s fastest-growing SME lender and broker, has secured £45 million in its first debt financing arrangement.

The funding package comprises a £35m revolving credit facility from FTSE 250 specialist lender Paragon Bank, and a £10m junior medium-term note programme from LGB Capital Markets.

This milestone allows Love Finance to lend directly from its own book, accelerating decision-making and widening access to essential capital for SMEs. 

Founded in 2016, fully bootstrapped and profitable, Love Finance has grown revenue over 900% in the last four years to £9.2m in 2024 and doubled its team, while providing £300m in funding to more than 7,000 SMEs across the UK.

Salica Investments, a UK-focused investment firm, has announced the first close of its second growth debt fund.

The flagship repeat anchor investors for Fund II are the British Business Bank, which has made a £30m commitment, and West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which increased its commitment to £30m from the first fund.

The fund provides vital capital to innovative and high-growth companies across the full breadth of the UK.

Risers

Greggs PLC – +6.98%
AstraZeneca PLC – +6.56%
JD Sports PLC – +3.84%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC – +3.59%
GSK PLC – +2.86%

Fallers

Tate & Lyle PLC – -9.34%
QinetiQ Group PLC – -3.28%
Goodwin PLC – -2.92%
Babcock International Group PLC – -2.56%
Marshalls PLC – -2.43%

Author: Jason Kennedy, co-founder and CEO, Skyral

The Prime Minister is right to highlight tech investment, but the real test is whether government backs the innovators driving it.

Britain has world-class AI and simulation talent, but we need procurement reform that actually puts contracts in UK SMEs’ hands – not just talks about supporting them.

Equally critical is ensuring government and defence are set up to adopt new technology effectively once it’s procured. If we’re serious about being indispensable for AI, we need to nurture British champions that can compete globally, not just feed into someone else’s supply chain.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the Labour conference yesterday that “tech companies are queuing up to back this country… we are indispensable for the AI future”.

He said in Liverpool: “The energy of the future – we’re backing it. Carbon capture here in Merseyside. The Celtic Freeport in South Wales. Off-shore wind turbines – made and built in Humberside. Brilliant scientists in the heart of middle England. Developing nuclear fusion. Is that broken Britain, conference?

“Look at the investment. Tech companies queuing up to back this country, saying that we are indispensable for the AI future. Now those companies can invest anywhere in the world, but they are choosing us.”

HM Treasury has invested more than £63.6 million on cloud services over the past three years, with the department moving to a model of 100% reliance on cloud and zero on-premise IT infrastructure as part of a broader digital transformation push across public spending and tax policy.

The State of Digital Government Review shows that around 60% of public sector IT systems now operate in the cloud, reflecting a steady shift in how departments deliver services.

The data was retrieved under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and analysed by the Parliament Street Think Tank, observing departmental IT spend and infrastructure allocation between August 2022 and July 2025.

Global tech business SYSPRO has signed a 4,000 sqft lease at MediaCity’s Tomorrow building.

The move follows a recent £1.2m refurbishment project of the 5th and 6th floors of the building which are now 70% let, with a significant number of pre-lets.

SYSPRO, a software provider for the manufacturing and distribution industries, joins a wide range of global businesses relocating to MediaCity, which is now home to over 250 SMEs alongside major international names in finance, education and the creative industries.

Author: Jonathan Symcox

Acuity Knowledge Partners has completed the acquisition of a Bristol- and Munich-based provider of AI-powered digital transformation services.

Ascent, which was founded two decades ago and now works with over 170 businesses across Europe and North America, will now look to build a global technology services business unit.

The acquisition expands Acuity’s global workforce to over 6,500 analysts and industry experts, and takes it into new sectors, including reinsurance, pharma, manufacturing and retail.

Fashion faces a hidden crisis, according to ZERØTEC, a London-based tech startup.

Textile waste costs the industry over $300 billion every year before products even reach the shelves, it says – enough fabric to cover Austria every year.

ZERØTEC, launched this year, is tackling this problem at source, using AI to optimise the pattern design and cutting process of textiles in clothing production. It claims to save up to 15% more material than conventional methods, making fashion more environmentally sustainable and profitable.

It has now raised a £642,000 pre-seed round led by Bethnal Green Ventures, with contributions from SFC Capital, SCE Freiraum Ventures, Cranfield University Seed Fund and angel investor Benjamin Manwaring.

Manchester InsurTech Ripe has appointed Sean Carney as its new chief underwriting officer.

He joins from Simply Business, where he was managing director MGA, and has over 15 years of experience in insurance leadership spanning strategy, underwriting and operations at both Simply Business and Hiscox.

Tate & Lyle’s shares have dropped 9.48% to 407p following a trading update. 

The FTSE 250 constituent, which produces food ingredients for manufacturers and the food and drink industry, said revenue for the first half is now expected to be 3–4% lower.

EBITDA is also projected to be down by a ‘high-single-digit percentage’, as slower market demand offsets early gains from its CP Kelco combination.

Greggs shares have risen 7.36% to 1,722p today after the bakery chain posted stronger third-quarter sales.

Total sales grew 6.1% in the 13 weeks to 27 September, with like-for-like sales in company-managed shops up 1.5%.

Trading picked up in August and September after a weaker July and year-to-date sales are now up 6.7%.

The company, led by Roisin Currie, has also opened 57 new shops this year, taking its estate to 2,675 stores, while its Bake at Home range is now stocked in Tesco and Iceland.

Bite Investments has secured £18.5 million in strategic growth capital from NewSpring Growth, the growth equity arm of NewSpring Capital.

The raise will fuel the expansion of the London-based firm’s technology platform, allow it to grow its team and enhance its services to asset managers and investors globally.

Bite’s flagship product, Bite Stream, is a cloud-based, modular suite that aims to unify investor onboarding, communication, reporting and portfolio management in a single portal.

The platform enables both limited partners and retail investors to view all their holdings in one place.

Image-sharing platform Imgur has shut down access for UK users, with anyone visiting the site now met with a message stating that content is unavailable in their region.

The block, which took effect on September 30th, prevents UK users from logging in, viewing, or uploading images and Imgur embeds on third-party sites no longer display.

The company has not linked the move to the UK’s new Online Safety Act, which requires strict age verification on certain platforms.

Instead, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said Imgur’s withdrawal was a commercial decision, while confirming its investigation into how the site handles children’s data is ongoing.

The firm’s parent company, MediaLab, faces a potential fine after the ICO issued a notice of intent earlier this month, but regulators have said that leaving the UK will not absolve it of responsibility for past breaches.

Three former executives from Google, YouTube and the BBC have launched HERA, the UK’s first female-founded video podcast network.

Founders Rosie Allimonos, Nishma Patel Robb and Kirsty Hunter have raised seed funding and unveiled plans to back female and non-binary creators with original shows, brand partnerships and a membership programme offering training, mentorship and tech support.

The trio say HERA arrives at a pivotal moment, with half of UK adults now listening to podcasts monthly and video podcasting growing rapidly on platforms like YouTube and Spotify.

With only 20% of the UK’s top podcasts hosted by women, they are aiming to close the gender gap in a now-thriving sector.