Liz Barclay: Britain Cannot Talk About Growth While Ignoring the Businesses That Create It

The Government says economic growth is its defining mission. Few would disagree. Growth creates jobs, generates tax revenues and funds the public services we all depend upon.

But growth does not emerge from Whitehall announcements or ministerial slogans. It is built day by day by ordinary people who take extraordinary risks — the self-employed, sole traders, family firms and small businesses that make up the backbone of the British economy.

That is why Sam Acton’s recent analysis asking where entrepreneurship featured in the King’s Speech struck such a chord with me. Her concerns reflect what many businesses of her size and scale are experiencing across the country.

The issue is not whether people are willing to start businesses. According to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, they are. The real problem is survival.

Too many businesses are failing before they ever reach stability.

For years, policymakers have focused heavily on encouraging start-ups. Yet very little attention has been paid to what happens after incorporation — the difficult early years when cashflow is fragile, regulation is overwhelming and founders are trying to survive rising costs while building a customer base.

This matters enormously because small businesses are not peripheral to economic growth; they are central to it.

Microbusinesses alone account for the vast majority of UK firms. They operate in every town, every high street and every community. They employ locally, spend locally and often provide services larger organisations cannot. When these businesses fail unnecessarily, the economic damage is felt far beyond the individual entrepreneur.

Sam Acton is right to point out that policy still treats small businesses as though they are one homogenous category. A sole trader working from home faces entirely different realities from a company employing 200 people, yet both sit under the same broad “SME” label.

That lack of distinction leads to poor policymaking.

Many of the measures announced in the King’s Speech may improve elements of the broader business environment, but they do little to address the lived reality of the smallest enterprises. Rising compliance costs, complex regulation, inflationary pressures and delayed payments continue to hit microbusinesses hardest.

What is still missing is a genuine entrepreneurship strategy.

Where is the framework that supports businesses through their vulnerable first five years? Where is the recognition that regulation designed for large organisations often lands disproportionately on the very smallest firms? Where is the commitment to measuring business survival rates, not simply business creation numbers?

If growth is truly the Government’s priority, these questions cannot remain unanswered.

There is also a bigger economic shift taking place that policymakers must confront honestly. Artificial intelligence and automation are already reshaping employment markets. Increasingly, more people may need to generate income independently through freelancing, self-employment or small business ownership.

Entrepreneurship is no longer simply an ambition for some; it is becoming an economic necessity for many.

That means Britain needs a business environment where small firms are not merely encouraged to start, but are genuinely equipped to survive and grow.

The entrepreneurial spirit certainly exists in the UK. What is lacking is a policy framework that properly values and sustains it.

Without that, economic growth risks remaining a political aspiration rather than an economic reality.