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Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she plans to scrap “needless form filling” in a bid to boost business growth.

Speaking at a regional investment summit in Birmingham, the chancellor said the reforms would boost growth and “make the UK a top destination for global capital”.

Ahead of the Budget next month, Reeves acknowledged that “for too many people” the economy was “not working as it should”.

The government has been criticised by firms who say increased employers’ National Insurance contributions and the Employment Rights Bill add to the burdens facing businesses.

The chancellor said the changes will save firms almost £6bn a year by the end of the parliamentary term.

The measures include plans to reform the company merger process. New “simpler corporate rules” will remove requirements for small businesses to submit lengthy reports to Companies House, the Treasury said.

The changes will apply to over 100,000 firms such as family-run cafes.

Earlier on Tuesday, Business Secretary Peter Kyle defended Labour’s approach to business, telling the BBC the government would implement changes in a way that is “pro-worker and pro-business”.

The measures could include temporary exemptions for new AI software from regulation, Kyle told the Today programme.

“In certain circumstances when new AI technology is being developed, we can remove it from all regulation for a period of time to give it the space to really grow, to develop, to be commercialised really rapidly,” he said.

This, he said, would enable the tech to be used “to benefit the health, the wealth, the education of our nations”.

“We’ll use that in a very targeted, a very safe way.”

The government has pledged to reduce the administrative cost of regulation by a quarter by the end of this Parliament.

Kyle said the previous government “did not do enough on deregulation” despite pledging to do so, particularly after Brexit.

“If you look at some of the reporting that needs to be done by directors, for example, directors’ reports to Companies House, I’m eliminating a great deal of that today because some of it is just so unnecessary,” he said.

But pushed on whether the government’s changes to employment rights would add costs to businesses, Kyle insisted that the changes would be fair for both employers and employees.

“We are making sure that the rights and responsibilities that people have in the workplace as employers and as employees [are] right for the age we’re living in.”

Jane Gratton, the deputy director of public policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said the plans would be welcomed by businesses.

“The burden of unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy ramps up their costs and damages competitiveness,” she said.

Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, said Tuesday’s announcement will “ring hollow” if the chancellor raises taxes for employers in next month’s budget.

“The true test of whether Rachel Reeves will deliver for business will be at the Budget – small firms and entrepreneurs have heard these warm words on regulation before.

“The burden of compliance – in terms of money, time, and stress – weighs heavily on small firms, and cutting it needs to be a project undertaken by every part of the government.”

But the Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said: “If the chancellor was serious about cutting red tape she would tackle the mind-blowing two billion extra pieces of business paperwork created by Brexit by pursuing an ambitious tailor-made UK-EU customs union.”

The Trump administration on Wednesday laid out a plan that aims to make it easier for companies to quickly develop and deploy artificial intelligence technology.

The initiative shows how Silicon Valley tech executives who backed Trump during the election are shaping federal policy that will impact their businesses as they compete globally to dominate the AI race.

“Artificial intelligence is a revolutionary technology with the potential to transform the global economy and alter the balance of power in the world,” said David Sacks, the White House’s AI and crypto advisor, in a statement. “To remain the leading economic and military power, the United States must win the AI race.”

Sacks is a co-founder and partner at Craft Ventures, a venture capital firm in San Francisco.

Tech companies have forged stronger ties with the Trump administration by donating money, showing up at high profile events such as his inauguration and showcasing their U.S. investments.

Shortly after Trump took office, OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank announced that they planned to invest a total of $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years. Billionaire Elon Musk, who runs Tesla and SpaceX, donated more than $280 million to the 2024 election and was tasked with slashing government spending. Apple, which has faced criticism from Trump for building its iPhones overseas, said it would invest $500 billion in the United States.

The AI plan underscores how Trump is taking a different approach to AI regulation than his predecessor, former President Biden, who focused on AI’s benefits but also potential risks such as fueling disinformation and displacing jobs. Trump had revoked Biden’s executive order in January that placed guardrails around AI development.

Tech companies started investing in artificial intelligence long before the rise in popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a chatbot that can generate text and images. But the emergence of more rivals has sparked a fierce competition among companies that are trying to release new AI tools that could reshape industries from healthcare to education.

The rapid pace of technological development has raised concerns about whether the government is doing enough to regulate tech companies and safeguard the public from AI’s potential dangers. Some fact-checkers have noted that AI chatbots can spew out incorrect information. Parents are worried chatbots their children use could pose a threat to their mental health.

But regulation has a tough time keeping pace with how fast technology moves. The government also has to balance concerns that too many rules can hinder how quickly companies can release new AI-powered products. As major tech giants from Google and Meta face OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, they’re also going head to head with rivals in other countries including Chinese AI company DeepSeek.

The plan outlines removing “bureaucratic red tape” and “onerous federal regulation” that would make it tougher for companies to quickly build and develop AI technology. It also mentions revamping permits for data centers, infrastructure needed to power AI systems.

Data centers house computing equipment such as servers used to process the trove of information needed to train and maintain AI systems. But the amount of water and electricity data centers consume concerns some environmentalists.

Ahead of the plan’s release, more than 80 civil rights, labor and environmental groups signed a “people’s AI action plan.”

“We can’t let Big Tech and Big Oil lobbyists write the rules for AI and our economy at the expense of our freedom and equality, workers and families’ well-being, even the air we breathe and the water we drink — all of which are affected by the unrestrained and unaccountable roll-out of AI,” the competing plan said.

The White House’s plan also tries to address one of the biggest concerns about the rapid deployment of AI: the potential that technology could replace humans in some jobs. The building of infrastructure to power AI systems, for example, will create high-paying jobs for Americans, the plan said.

“AI will improve the lives of Americans by complementing their work — not replacing it,” the plan said.

It also said that AI systems must be free from bias. The plan recommends that the National Institute of Standards and Technology eliminate references to “misinformation, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and climate change” in its AI risk management framework.

The plan emphasized the importance of national security. It mentioned that the U.S. should export its “full AI technology stack” that includes hardware and software to its allies and partners but deny advanced AI to its foreign adversaries.

Some tech executives on Wednesday quickly praised the AI plan.

Box Chief Executive Aaron Levie said that the plan is “quite strong.”

“It has a clear a mission to win the AI race and accelerate the development and use of AI by removing roadblocks or aiding adoption. Importantly, it focuses on the positive benefits of AI, which we’re all seeing every day,” he wrote on X.

Fred Humphries, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of U.S. Government Affairs, also praised the plan.

“President Trump’s plan will accelerate infrastructure readiness so AI can be built and used here, and help students and workers with skills needed to win in an AI-powered global economy,” he said on X.