Alex Depledge on BBC Newsnight

Entrepreneur Alex Depledge MBE appeared on BBC Newsnight to discuss the current climate of British business amid the government’s crackdown on immigration.

Depledge, who built and sold household services platform Resi, brought a founder's perspective to an issue that has divided the business community. While many executives have expressed concern over reduced access to international talent, she offered a more nuanced view — welcoming Keir Starmer's renewed focus on tackling the domestic skills shortage that has long held British industry back.

Rather than framing tighter immigration controls purely as a constraint, Depledge made the case that necessity can be a powerful driver of creativity. Drawing on her own entrepreneurial experience, she argued that some of the most inventive business solutions emerge precisely when easy options are taken off the table. Investing in homegrown talent, she suggested, is not simply a political compromise — it could prove a genuine catalyst for longer-term economic resilience.

It is a perspective rooted in Depledge's track record of building businesses in challenging conditions. As a founder who has navigated funding pressures, scaling difficulties, and shifting market landscapes, she has consistently argued that constraints force sharper thinking and bolder problem-solving. That philosophy, applied to the national skills debate, positions her as a distinctive voice in a conversation often dominated by either unqualified optimism or straightforward opposition.

Her Newsnight appearance reflects a broader moment in which entrepreneurs are being called upon to shape — not just react to — policy discussions that will define British business for years to come. As the immigration debate intensifies, voices like Depledge's offer a grounded, experience-led counterpoint to the noise.