Andy Burnham made the pledge at the Innovation Nation Summit in Manchester, comparing it to the Bosman ruling that freed footballers to move between clubs. The commitment covers startups and scaling firms, but the exact scope has not been defined. A wider consultation on restrictive practices will follow the Budget, with legislation planned in the months after. The push came from UK tech companies including ElevenLabs and Synthesia, organized through the Startup Coalition, which plans to target gardening leave and non-solicitation clauses next. Court claims to enforce non-competes rose 43% in the first nine months of 2025, according to law firm Kingsley Napley, and the coalition says 87% of scale-up leaders see the clauses as a barrier to hiring. For AI founders in the UK, a ban would make it easier to hire engineers from large labs and incumbents without legal risk. The same change also makes it easier for better-funded rivals to recruit your own staff.