Five decades of small business policy in England: policy as a value proposition or window dressing?

• Published in: British politics Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 300 - 319
• Main Authors: Irwin, David, Scott, Jonathan M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Palgrave Macmillan UK 01-06-2023; Palgrave Macmillan
• Subjects: British Politics; Comparative Politics; Crises; Entrepreneurship; Government; Innovations; Original Article; Policy making; Political Science; Political Science and International Relations; Political Science and International Studies; Politics; Public policy; Small & medium sized enterprises-SME; Small business; Startups; Success; Small business; Longitudinal; Policy formulation; Entrepreneurship
• ISSN: 1746-918X; 1746-9198
• DOI: 10.1057/s41293-021-00179-3

Governments formulate public policy to address perceived problems. Sometimes governments need to respond quickly, say, to a health crisis. One policy domain, however, rarely sees a crisis and that is small business. Governments might, therefore, be expected to take a long-term, evidence informed and rational approach, learning from the success of practitioners and policies implemented by other governments and seen to be successful. However, our review of 50 years of small firms policy in England suggests that it has been poorly conceived, short term and without strategic coherence. Part of the reason may be that small firms ministers spend an average of just 19 months in post and are driven by a desire to do something to make their mark. We conclude that this somewhat irrational approach to policy making is driven by a self-imposed “pressure to act swiftly”.