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\t\tDepledge also criticised the disruption caused by July\u2019s change of chancellor\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tSunday 25 October 2026 10:50 am\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\tDepledge also criticised the disruption caused by July\u2019s change of chancellor\t<\/p>\n
The Treasury\u2019s entrepreneurship adviser is stepping down after accusing ministers of treating Britain\u2019s fastest-growing companies as a \u201csideshow\u201d while directing taxpayer money towards traditional industries.<\/p>\n
Alex Depledge, appointed by former chancellor Rachel Reeves in June 2025, will leave the role on Thursday, a day after John Healey delivers his first Budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cKeeping scale-ups on the fringes underestimates the contribution of our greatest companies, and we need to support and develop them on British shores at all costs\u201d, she told The Sunday Times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe treat them as a bit of a sideshow\u201d.<\/p>\n
Depledge, who founded property technology firm Resi and cleaning marketplace Hassle.com, argued that ministers were overlooking high-growth businesses in favour of established industries.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tSUBSCRIBE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhere\u2019s the real economy? They think it\u2019s over here with steel, cars and hard hats, that this is the \u201cmain event’\u201d, she said. \u201cAnd my argument has always been: no, scale-ups are the main event\u201d.<\/p>\n Her departure comes amid mounting frustration among British founders over taxes, access to investment and the government\u2019s approach to economic growth.<\/p>\n Depledge also criticised the disruption caused by July\u2019s change of chancellor, saying she had been forced to repeat arguments she had already won under Reeves.<\/p>\n \u201cWith John Healey and Johnny Reynolds, I had to relitigate all the arguments I had already won \u2013 and win them again\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n While she held fortnightly meetings with Reeves, Depledge said she had \u201cbarely any face time\u201d with Healey.<\/p>\n Founders press chancellor ahead of Budget<\/p>\n Depledge declined to disclose the measures she had proposed for Wednesday\u2019s Budget but suggested they could include new incentives for company founders.<\/p>\n Last year, she helped secure an expansion of the Enterprise Management Incentives scheme, which allows growing businesses to offer tax-advantaged share options to employees.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tJohn Healey rules out capital gains tax hike in Budget<\/a><\/p>\n Her exit comes as entrepreneurs urge Healey to protect Business Asset Disposal Relief<\/a>, which reduces the tax paid by qualifying business owners when they sell their companies.<\/p>\n A group of founders has also called for tax breaks for entrepreneurs who reinvest the proceeds of business sales into other British companies.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a survey of 400 scale-up founders by business network Helm found that 73 per cent were not at all confident the Budget would be good for business.<\/p>\n Healey has ruled out an increase in capital gains tax and pledged to back entrepreneurs who take risks and build profitable companies.<\/p>\n But Depledge warned that Britain risked missing out on the economic benefits of AI unless it moved faster to support domestic technology firms.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in grave danger of not having a seat at the table\u201d, she said. \u201cThe window is 18 months. That\u2019s it\u201d.<\/p>\n She also called for more pension fund investment in British growth companies, arguing that too much domestic capital was flowing overseas.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s \u00a33t trillion of capital sitting there that is not working for our pensioners and it\u2019s not working for our high-growth companies\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n