Chancellor says Government still committed to growing exports

CHANCELLOR George Osborne says the EU is in danger of “pricing itself out of the world market” and says he understand growing British frustration with Europe.
 
Speaking to around 20 business leaders at an event organised by UK Trade and Investment in Peover in his Cheshire constituency, Osborne said he was still in favour of being a part of Europe, but change needs to happen.
 
With UKIP gaining its first MP last week and its popularity in the polls growing, Osborne and other senior Conservatives are under pressure to take a tougher stance on the EU.
 
He said: “We want and need change, things happen too slowly, Europe is not working for many businesses. I don’t think we can be immune to growing British frustration with our membership. People increasingly come up to me and say ‘What’s in it for us?”.
 
“If Europe wants to price itself out of the market, Britain doesn’t have to be a part of that.”
 
He said the referendum on EU membership, which the Tories have pledged to hold if they win next year’s General Election, would, like the recent Scottish referendum, “force people to think hard and show their hand”.
 
The Chancellor said the Government was still fully committed to growing UK exports, both in Europe and in to new high growth markets.
 
“At a time when I have had to cut other budgets, UKTI’s has doubled, and this is because we want to see more businesses selling to the world,” he said.

“Unfortunately, compared to countries like Germany and The Netherlands we are behinds in terms of our exporter numbers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses.”
 
“We’ve transformed UKTI over the last three years and it’s sharper, more focused and more commercial.”
 
He said too the Government has committed more resources to UK Export Finance in a bid to de-risk the process for SMEs, but this Direct Lending facility, which is available to exporters’ overseas customers was being “under-utilised.”