Britain can DOUBLE its exports and show the best of business with a revolutionary post-Brexit trade blitz, ministers promise today.
Anne Marie Trevelyan will unveil her landmark 12-point plan this week to boost sales of everything from Scotch, salmon and lamb to F1 cars, jet engines and our top financial services.
The new commercial chief has promised to take Britain back to its heyday of production, where ships from Belfast, steel from Sheffield and cotton from Manchester were the envy of the world.
The ministers say that exporting companies pay more, are more productive, resilient and profitable, but many fear to take the step or do not know how to do it.
Writing for The Sun today to mark the start of the first International Trade Week, she says Britain has lagged behind our competitors in Germany and the Netherlands because “too many companies don’t see themselves as potential exporters.”
Only one in ten companies in England sells their products abroad and one in 20 in Scotland.
The Secretary of Commerce promised: “We know that doubling our exports by helping more companies sell more products in more countries will make the UK a high-wage, highly-skilled economy. Let’s do it.
“Our plan is to provide a world-class support package for companies and then work together to take advantage of the new markets that we are opening with our free trade agreements.
“I want to take pride in what we do and sell, and make Britain a nation of exporters again. “
A new national ad blitz called “Made in Britain, Sold to the World” will launch tomorrow with a nationwide poster campaign.
And 100 events across the UK will provide companies with one-on-one expert support to grow their businesses abroad.
Let’s make our amazing exporters proud
By Anne Marie Trevelyan, Secretary for International Trade
MADE in UK is a quality brand known throughout the world.
Whether it’s a glass of whiskey, an F1 car, the latest fintech software, or an episode of Doctor Who, our products and services have never been in greater demand.
So why are we as a country so eager to humiliate ourselves? As Secretary for International Trade, I want to rekindle a sense of global pride in British business.
This is why Made in UK – Sold to the World, the campaign we launched today, is so important.
We know that companies that export are more productive, pay higher wages and improve their skills. Exports have the power to drive the upgrade program across the UK.
But too many companies don’t see themselves as potential exporters. That is why we have lagged so far behind our continental competitors in countries like Germany and the Netherlands. It’s not that we don’t make things, it’s that we don’t sell them to potential buyers.
Only 1 in 10 British companies exports. In Scotland it’s 1 in 20. We know that doubling our exports by helping more companies sell more products in more countries will make the UK a high-wage, highly-skilled economy. Let’s do it.
Our plan is to provide a world-class support package for companies and then work together to take advantage of the new markets that we are opening with our free trade agreements.
We all know the glorious past of this country: when ships built in Glasgow or Belfast were the pride of the oceans, when the mineral wealth of Wales fed the world, and when Sheffield steel, Stoke pottery and Manchester cotton were the slogans of local pride.
I want to take pride in what we do and sell, and make Great Britain a nation of exporters once again.
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