A leading business expert has warned that the UK's enterprise culture is being seriously damaged by the downturn in investment from big institutions.

Professor David Storey, director of small to medium business at the Warwick Business School, said that the sustained downturn since 1995 of institutional investment in smaller quoted companies has worrying consequences for the UK as an entrepreneurial centre. He said this would spell problems for the government's intention of making the UK a more attractive place for small business.