Speaking on Monday at the launch of Start Up Britain, a new campaign backed by several big companies to offer help and support to those looking to start their own business, David Cameron announced that, with the help of small business ”we can make this decade one of the most entrepreneurial decades in our history.”

Meanwhile George Osborne has been busy presenting a lacklustre Budget that delivered the least appealing IR35 reform of the three possibilities tabled, and has introduced plans to further penalise the self-employed through increased late filing penalties. HMRC is also preparing to crack down on small business bookkeeping, so Cameron’s statement that ”[We're] getting behind the start-ups” may be true, but the question remains – what are they going to do while they’re back there?

The Start Up Britain campaign is purely a private-sector endeavour – David Cameron may pay it lip-service but his Government aren’t putting in any money, the services are being provided pro bono by businesses such as HP, O2 and Google with a view to ensnaring potential customers.

However just one day after launch Start Up Britain has come under fire for letting down British designers by suggesting small businesses use an American crowd sourced design site, instead of a British alternative. Other commenters have criticised the site’s suggestions for being an un-curated “this may or may not help” selection of links. This assessment was leant some credence by the fact that one of the anti-virus services listed to help small businesses was actually malware. Regardless of the accusations being levelled against it, if Cameron and Co. are serious about helping small business they should have been more involved in the scheme, instead of just turning up at the launch and providing an eerie headshot for the website.

One of the Government’s concessions to entrepreneurs, the New Enterprise Allowance, was heavily criticised by an Accountancy body for not providing enough financial support for fledgling enterprises – perhaps if Start Up Britain had been rolled together with this package it could have provided a more complete support system for new businesses?

What do you think – is the Government doing enough to support small business? What approach would you like to see them take?

Photo by bisgovuk – CC