Trade Minister Lord Maude has said that the government’s plan to double exports from the UK to £1 trillion in the next five years is a lofty ambition, not the first time that Whitehall has been warned that it is in danger of missing the target set out in 2012 by George Osborne.
Lord Maude said that the trade arm, UK Trade and Investment, is too insulated from the rest of the government and will need to work alongside other organisations more closely in order to promote the UK abroad, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Exports of goods and services in the UK reached £515 billion, figures from the Office for National Statistics show, while in July 2015 the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted that total exports would peak at £630 billion in 2020, one-third less than the government’s goal. In order for the OBR target to be hit, exports would need to grow at approximately four per cent each year, Lord Maude observed.
“UKTI has been too insulated from the rest of government,” he said. “This should be a project for the whole of government with different ministers taking responsibility for different sectors.”
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