The British Exporters Association (BExA), has launched its ‘Manifesto for Exporting’, calling for the government and opposition parties to re-engage and commit to the issues of exporting.

The manifesto challenges whoever wins the next general election to:
• Support trade through action, not spin
• Use trade as a stepping stone for diplomacy
• Engage with exporters on the fast-changing issues they face
• Provide practical support for domestic and export trade, and remove bureaucratic duplications that currently exist
• Make use of the UK’s AAA sovereign credit rating to set up a state-backed insurer or reinsurer to provide trade credit insurance, as currently happens in France, for example
• Re-engineer the Exports Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD) to, at minimum, match the support other export credit agencies around the world offer
• Make government departments accountable and prove the value of the work they do

The manifesto also suggests that the UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) and the trade-related parts of the department for business innovation & skills should be merged into one organisation called the department for trade.

Susan Ross, chairman of BExA and director of Aon Trade Credit comments: “The recent slide in sterling has underlined Labour’s lack of understanding of economic management, as they still seemed surprised that the fall in the value of the pound has not automatically equated to increased sales for the UK’s exporters. Without the appropriate support by government, these sales will not materialise.

“Over the last 13 years the government has shown it is more interested in increasing consumer spending than exports. However, exporting is how the UK will get its way out of this recession. Increasing exports are a sure-fire way to create full-time, steady jobs.

“We have been lobbying the government on these issues for years, however recently they have simply disengaged on the issues and appear to be more interested in short-term vote buying. The opposition parties have yet to commit to a strategy of their own.“

Ross adds that the major parties need to signal their strategy to help restore confidence in the UK economy.