Stress is mounting on the Chancellor to scrap adjustments to analysis and growth (R&D) tax credit in subsequent week’s price range as over 150 start-ups and Britain’s largest small enterprise physique launch a contemporary offensive on the Treasury.

In an open letter printed final night time, the group of start-ups wrote to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt warning that deliberate cuts to the R&D credit, outlined within the Autumn assertion in November, will “considerably injury the UK’s start-up ecosystem”.

Hunt’s plans will see the the breadth of the present scheme scaled again from the beginning of April and can slash the quantity of R&D spend that start-ups can declare again from 33 per cent to 18.6 per cent.