Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Douglas Chapman and Martyn Day

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Douglas Chapman (Dunfermline and West Fife) (SNP)]

What discussions she has had with (a) business representatives and (b) Cabinet colleagues on reducing the administrative burden on businesses seeking to (i) export for the first time and (ii) increase their volume of exports.

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

What discussions she has had with (a) business representatives and (b) Cabinet colleagues on reducing the administrative burden on businesses seeking to (i) export for the first time and (ii) increase their volume of exports.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

I talk regularly with businesses, business representatives, and ministerial colleagues about how we can make exporting easier for businesses across the country. That is why I was delighted to announce our new Scottish trade hub in September, which is staffed by expert trade advisers and dedicated to helping Scottish firms to grow internationally. I am pleased to say that our work to reduce barriers to trade and increase exports is paying off; the UK overtook France in 2019 to become the world’s fifth-largest exporting nation. All nine of the other 10 largest exporting nations in the world saw their exports fall last year, according to UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development—the exception was the UK.