Alexandra Depledge, the entrepreneurship adviser to Chancellor John Healey, has issued a Depledge private sector warning that growth cannot be achieved through government spending or policy announcements alone, directly challenging the direction Healey and Prime Minister Andy Burnham are taking ahead of their first Budget. The comments, posted on LinkedIn, arrive as the government faces mounting pressure over its economic approach and the spectre of further tax rises.
Depledge, the founder of property start-up Resi, was reappointed to her role advising the Chancellor and will continue in the position until summer 2026, according to GOV.UK. She previously held the same role under former Chancellor Rachel Reeves. Her decision to speak out publicly makes the intervention harder for Downing Street to dismiss as external criticism.
Depledge private sector warning: what she said
‘Growth doesn’t happen because the government spends more or announces more. It happens when businesses become radically more productive, and a small fraction of them do most of the work,’ she wrote. She added that scale-ups account for around 0.6 per cent of UK SMEs but generate roughly 55 per cent of small business turnover. Her argument is that ministers should concentrate on expanding the number of firms capable of scaling globally from Britain, and that the broader economy would follow.
The post is a rebuke to Burnham’s repeated pledges since taking power in July to seize greater ‘public control’ of utilities and his claim that economic power became too privatised under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Burnham has also argued that devolving power to regional governments will help spread growth around the country. Depledge’s message points in the opposite direction: that the private sector, left to scale, is the primary engine.
This week, Burnham said his growth plan would be ‘driven with the full authority of the very centre of government.’ Depledge’s LinkedIn post, coming from inside his own advisory circle, complicates that framing.
Budget pressures mount as tax rises loom
Healey is preparing to deliver his first Budget on 28 October against a difficult backdrop. He is facing calls to increase defence spending, provide fresh support for households struggling with the cost of living, and bring borrowing under control. Burnham and Healey have both refused to rule out further tax hikes, with reports suggesting the government is weighing additional levies on capital gains, banks, and oil and gas companies.
The inheritance left by the previous administration complicates matters. The Financial Times has reported that Rachel Reeves raised taxes by £26 billion, taking the overall burden to an all-time high of 38 per cent. That record level has narrowed the political room to argue for further large-scale increases without risking a backlash from the business community Burnham needs on side.
Capital gains tax is proving particularly contentious. Lord Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs executive who advised Burnham on economic policy, said he expected the government to raise capital gains taxes, though he described such a move as the ‘last thing that should be happening when we want more growth.’ Speaking in an interview with LBC, he said: ‘It will force even more genuine risk takers to be discouraged and think about either moving or not doing as much of this kind of thing as they’ve done.’
At his first Prime Minister’s Questions, Burnham refused to rule out further tax rises or increased borrowing when pressed by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, saying only that the government was already ‘taking the action needed to get debt down.’ The Budget on 28 October will provide the first concrete test of whether Burnham and Healey intend to lean on the state or, as Depledge is urging, clear the path for the private sector to lead.
