Government increases support for tech R&D Rishi Sunak said in his Spring Statement that the Government will expand R&D tax relief to include areas such as cloud computing and data storage. The Government previously said it wanted investment in R&D to reach 2.4% of GDP by 2027, compared to 1.7% in 2019. Mr Sunak unveiled a package of measures to close the gap and said it would consider making tax incentives more generous, as well as cracking down on fraud. Julian David, chief executive of trade body techUK, said the proposals to expand R&D tax credits and consult on ways to maintain the tax deduction for capital expenditure "have the potential to unlock more investment into UK innovation."