Is the government failing to support SMEs and entrepreneurs?

According to the respondents of Smith & Williamson’s latest Enterprise Index research, 65 per cent of business leaders believe that they lack government support.

The company - an accountancy, investment management and tax group - has revealed that political uncertainty is having an impact on confidence for businesses. The Enterprise Index is a quarterly barometer testing the views of nearly 200 business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Nearly three-quarters (74 per cent) of respondents stated that such uncertainty is negatively impacting their business.

Guy Rigby, head of entrepreneurial services at Smith & Williamson, said: “Businesses are suffering. There was a belief that the government was getting to grips with the scaleup business agenda, and the benefits this offers the economy, but progress appears to have stalled in an uncertain political environment.

“The party conferences have been a mainstay of the newspapers over the past few weeks, but there has been little mention of any plans or support in this core area.”

Supposedly 59 per cent of respondents believed that the impact of Brexit is real and nearly two thirds did not expect the economy to improve over the next 12 months.

Rigby continued: “Brexit appears to be all-pervading. This appears to be to the detriment of all other policy and the health of the wider economy. We need strong leadership and coordinated activity to rebuild economic confidence.”

Yet despite lack of confidence in the government and ongoing Brexit fears, it seems that many entrepreneurs retain faith in their own business.

More than three-fifths (62 per cent) are optimistic about their own prospects in the next 12 months while 58 per cent are still planning to increase headcount in the next quarter.

Rigby concluded: “The global economy is experiencing a sustained period of growth. However, there are signs that Britain is beginning to lag behind.

“While business leaders tend to be a remarkably resilient group, they should take the opportunity of a benign world economy and Sterling weakness to explore export markets. It may not be for them but no business should overlook such an advantage.

“In addition, businesses should continually be looking at the potential to drive efficiencies. A prime way of doing this is to embrace the opportunities that tech has to offer. Big data, AI and the cloud are becoming increasingly accessible to SMEs and it’s vital that a business looking to scale puts themselves in the best possible shape.”

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