Treasury entrepreneurship adviser Alex Depledge quits, calls founders 'a sideshow'

Alex Depledge, the Treasury's entrepreneurship adviser, leaves her post on Thursday with a blunt warning: the government treats founders as "a bit of a sideshow" while steering taxpayer money toward legacy industries.

Depledge, 45, exits after two Budgets under two chancellors. The second, delivered by Chancellor John Healey, comes on Wednesday — one day before her departure takes effect.

"Keeping 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," she said, speaking from her Surrey home. "We treat them as a bit of a sideshow."

She added: "Entrepreneurship can't be seen as a good news bonus on the margins of economic policy."

Who is Alex Depledge?

The then chancellor Rachel Reeves appointed Depledge in June 2025. She founded Resi, the property technology company, and Hassle.com, a marketplace for cleaners that a German rival acquired for €32m (£27m).

Her arrival in Whitehall was not smooth. "When I first turned up at the Treasury, it was like organ rejection," she said.

The chancellor's own departure in July left her role in limbo. Depledge said she didn't know whether she still had a job until Healey asked her to stay on at the end of August. She then had to "relitigate all the arguments I had already won" — this time with Healey and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds.

Access tells part of the story. Under Reeves, Depledge met the chancellor fortnightly. Of Healey, she said: "I've had barely any face time with him."

What does she want in the Budget?

Depledge declined to detail her Budget proposals, but said they build on last year's wins. Those included extending the enterprise management incentives (EMI) scheme, which lets young companies offer share options to key staff more easily. This time, she suggested, there could be an incentive aimed at founders themselves.

Healey has already ruled out a capital gains tax rise. A group of entrepreneurs has written to him urging protection for Business Asset Disposal Relief — previously known as entrepreneurs' relief — and tax breaks for founders who reinvest proceeds in other British businesses.

Shalini Khemka, founder of business network E2E, and Lord (Howard) Leigh, founder of investment bank Cavendish, organised the letter. Signatories include RWS chairman Andrew Brode, 55/Redefined founder Lyndsey Simpson and Woodland Group chairman Kevin Stevens.

Business Matters reported on Monday that Healey is also considering charging income tax on some family business handovers.

The chancellor has pushed back on the idea that he's anti-business. "I want to be a chancellor who backs business in Britain making a profit, and those entrepreneurs who, in the end, are the ones who challenge the status quo, come up with innovative ideas and are trying, some of them through sheer bloody-mindedness, to keep going through these sorts of pressures," Healey has said.

Why scale-ups, in her view, are 'the main event'

Depledge's core argument is about where the government points its money. "Where's the real economy? They think it's over here with steel, cars and hard hats, that this is the 'main event'," she said. "And my argument has always been: no, scale-ups are the main event."

Scale-ups — companies growing at least 20 per cent a year for three years — generate a disproportionate share of British business turnover, she said.

She has form on uncomfortable headlines. In February, hospitality leaders criticised her after she said Britain doesn't need more restaurants.

What about AI and pension capital?

On artificial intelligence, Depledge issued her sharpest deadline: the UK is "in grave danger of not having a seat at the table", and "the window is 18 months. That's it."

She also wants pension funds redirected toward growth companies. "There's £3trn of capital sitting there that is not working for our pensioners and it's not working for our high-growth companies," she said.

Her stated reason for leaving is simple: "at my very core, I'm an entrepreneur." She misses "the pace and chaos of running a business."

What happens next?

James Parsons, chief executive of UK technology consultancy Build Circle, framed the stakes: "UK plc has to capitalise on this window of opportunity – listening to leaders like Alex Depledge is exactly what the government should be doing, not pushing them away."

Healey delivers his Budget on Wednesday without a dedicated entrepreneurship adviser in place, and with founders watching whether he protects Business Asset Disposal Relief.