BUSINESS VIEWS | WHAT DO BRITISH FIRMS NEED IN ORDER TO START EXPORTING MORE?
CHUKA UMUNNA SHADOW BUSINESS SECRETARY
To boost our exports in the long term the government must adopt active industrial strategies across the board. The Business Department has failed to adequately help firms which want to export, in particular small companies. It speaks volumes that the government’s finance scheme to boost exports only helped five firms before being quietly dropped.
SAM BOWMAN ADAM SMITH INSTITUTE
An industrial policy that picks winners is a terrible idea, based on the fallacy that ministers can predict the direction of the market better than entrepreneurs can. The government’s only ‘industrial policy’ should be to get out of the way by cutting taxes and employment regulations. Germany’s export-led success is based on the previous Schröder government’s reforms.
DAVID KERN BRITISH CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE
British exporters have untapped potential to expand, but they need more government support… We need firmer action in key areas such as trade finance, promotion and insurance. More infrastructure spending and the early creation of a business bank would make a major contribution towards stronger growth in UK exports.