Budget 2026: Healey bets £700m on AI to boost British tech firms

John Healey has unveiled more than £700m in funding for AI safety and British tech firms, including a new £40m unit to tackle rogue AI systems. The package, much of which was trailed ahead of Wednesday’s Budget, includes £120m for the AI Security Institute and £165m for biosecurity, as ministers seek to strengthen Britain’s defences against increasingly powerful AI models. In his maiden Budget today, the Chancellor also revealed fresh measures to tackle the risks posed by autonomous technology, including a National Agentic Security Unit tasked with detecting and responding to AI systems operating outside their intended controls. Healey told MPs that nowhere is the necessary role for the state clearer than in AI , pledging an approach built on security and sovereignty. The Treasury said AI could add between 0.4 and 1.3 percentage points to annual UK productivity growth over the next decade, citing OECD estimates, but warned that the technology also posed risks to online saf