BGC Welcomes Poppy Gustafsson Appointment as Minister of Innovation
The Labour government’s appointment of Poppy Gustafsson as the new UK minister for innovation has got the green light from the BGC.
The appointment of a new government minister has been backed by the BGC. ? Jean-Louis SERVAIS Pixabay
BGC Happy With the Appointment Of ‘Accomplished Entrepreneur’ Gustafsson
The Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) has backed the appointment of Poppy Gustafsson as the government’s new minister for innovation.
UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said in a statement announcing the move that Gustafsson is set to bring “invaluable experience to the role”.
Reports indicated that the Labour government had been struggling to fill the important role.
Ben Wegg-Prosser, the founder of the Global Counsel advisory firm, is said to have rejected the chance to become the minister for innovation.
Gustafsson’s appointment has now been confirmed and the BGC, which describes itself as a standards body for the gambling industry, has given her arrival a thumbs up.
Chief executive Grainne Hurst said: “Poppy is an accomplished entrepreneur and brings a wealth of much needed business and financial experience to this new role. I’m also delighted to see that she will be a joint minister across the Department for Business and Trade and the Treasury, where I know her private sector expertise will make a huge contribution.”
Who Is Poppy Gustafsson?
Gustafsson made her name as one of the co-founders of Darktrace, a listed cybersecurity company that is worth billions of pounds.
After the sale of the British technology firm was confirmed recently, with a US private equity business taking over, Darktrace’s chief executive Gustafsson stood down from the role.
Gustafsson had set up Darktrace back in 2013 with the financial backing of Mike Lynch’s Invoke Capital. She had previously worked with Lynch’s software company Autonomy and Darktrace had a successful listing on the London Stock Exchange under her leadership in 2021.
As a result of being named the UK’s latest minister for innovation, Gustafsson becomes a peer and takes a seat in the House of Lords ahead of the inaugural International Investment Summit.
She will take charge of a bolstered Office for Investment and Gustafsson said her appointment is a “huge privilege” in a statement released to confirm her new role.
“I am excited to get started,” she said. “I have first hand experience of building and scaling a business here in the UK and I am thrilled to have the opportunity to share with the international investment community what I already know to be true; the UK is a great place to do business.”
BGC Wants Solid And Stable Regulatory Footing
Gustafsson’s role includes overseeing the growth of the UK’s gambling industry, with the BGC claiming its members contribute more than ￡7 billion to the wider economy.
Labour suggested it would target regulation of the industry prior to its victory at the 2024 general election, but Hurst issued a warning.
“Our sector needs a solid and stable regulatory footing and tax environment to be able to unlock new investment and grow across the whole of the country,” she said in the BGC’s statement.
“That is particularly true for our land-based casino members, where policy is already set, but needs to be implemented, to unlock vital new investment.”
