Time in government reduced for good measure in small county (7)
I believe the answer is:
rutland
'small county' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'time in government reduced for good measure' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'government' becomes 'rule' (rule can mean government or control).
'reduced' means to remove the last letter.
'for good measure' becomes 'and' ('for good measure' can mean 'and' or 'as well').
'rule' with its last letter taken off is 'rul'.
't' placed within 'rul' is 'rutl'.
'rutl'+'and'='RUTLAND'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for rutland that I've seen before include "Smallest of the historical English counties" , "Oakham area" , "Small English county" , "England's smallest county" , "East Midlands county" .)