Oral Answers to Questions

Douglas Chapman Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Elizabeth Truss]

I am proud that we have one of the most rigorous defence export regimes in the world, and those are decisions we make on the basis of our values in this country.

[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.

[Douglas Chapman [V]]

Around 250,000 businesses export to the EU and not to the rest of the world. Many of them are small, not VAT-registered and difficult to reach, and to continue to trade they will need to go through a long and tedious process to acquire an economic operator registration and identification number. As the party that wants to reduce red tape, what action are the Government taking to reduce the administrative burden to ensure that SMEs can continue, or start, to export into Europe but do not suffer disproportionately from a madcap Brexit?

[Graham Stuart]

We are working to engage with businesses, and I recommend that all businesses that have not done so go to gov.uk/transition and look at the practical steps they need to take to prepare for the end of the transition period. From my engagements with Scottish businesses, though, it is clear to me that it is the relentless pursuit of Scottish independence, rather than the support for Scottish business, that they find the concern. I want to ensure, by using the power of the Union and our global reach, that we can boost Scottish business; otherwise, if follow the path of independence, we know that would lead to a shrinking of Scottish business and a loss of opportunity for Scottish people.