The aim is to ensure small businesses are listened to when the government beefs up its growth strategy with a dedicated small business strategy planned, to avoid this critical part of the business community being excluded from discussions and to enable the Committee to hold the government to account.

‘There can be a sense that they don’t get a “seat at the table”, that they struggle to get heard in the national conversations about trade and economic growth that are dominated by the country’s largest companies,’ the Committee said. 

The inquiry on the UK’s small business strategy kicked off with MPs on the Committee visiting local high streets to gauge reaction from business owners, particularly retailers, and understand their key concerns.