City minister Siddiq to hold talks with British tech champions

The City minister will on Thursday hold talks with some of Britain's most valuable technology start-ups as the government seeks to convince them to float in London.

Sky News understands that Tulip Siddiq, economic secretary to the Treasury, will meet the Unicorn Council, whose members include companies such as Monzo, the digital bank, and Zilch, the consumer lending platform.

Ms Siddiq's meeting with the council will come after she addresses a conference organised by Innovate Finance, the fintech trade association.

Sources said attendees were expected to raise issues such as a potential increase in capital gains tax in this month's budget, although any questions on tax policy would be evaded by ministers so close to a major fiscal event.

The Unicorn Council was set up earlier this year in an attempt to promote the policy asks of large UK-based tech companies.

It is co-chaired by Janine Hirt, chief executive of Innovate Finance; Philip Belamant, CEO of Zilch, and Charles McManus, Clearbank's chief executive.

Among its other members are executives from GoHenry, Oaknorth, PrimaryBid, Revolut and Truelayer.

Many of the companies represented on the council are expected to sell shares publicly in the coming years.

Reforms to listing rules have been introduced to make the London market more attractive to growth companies, although their effectiveness remains to be seen.

The Treasury declined to comment.