Britain is underestimating the power of trade
New figures show the UK conducts more than £5bn of trade every single day, yet we barely celebrate it and the jobs it creates, writes Carl Richardson
As business leaders and politicians struggle to keep up with wildly fluctuating global stock markets and energy prices in light of events in the Middle East, today’s latest trade figures may seem like a minor distraction.
In reality, global trade points to the UK’s underlying strengths, which we must emphasise if we are to safeguard our prosperity and security in this time of acute global uncertainty.
Get trade right and we boost the economy, generating additional revenue for the Treasury which in turn pays for our schools, hospitals and vital needs for our armed forces.
The latest statistics show that the UK is conducting more than £5bn of trade every single day. Our trade in services in particular is booming, with today’s figures showing that our surplus in services has increased by £1.3bn to £54.2bn.
Exports generate high quality jobs for Brits
Exports are one of the key drivers of job creation, and a healthy export market is the most reliable engine for local recruitment. When a British firm wins a contract in a new market, the benefits are felt in job security and new hires in communities across the UK.
Government data shows that exporters are more productive and pay higher wages than firms that only serve the domestic market. That matters for living standards: if we want more people in places like the West Midlands – where our own international investment business has a base – the North East or South Wales to access quality jobs, we need more businesses in those regions plugged into global markets.
However, while there is good news in today’s figures, there are also some real challenges that must be addressed. As today’s figures show, there is no getting away from the fact that the gap between services and goods is growing, and we clearly have a two-tiered economy.
It seems vital that steps are taken to counter this.
The Jobs Foundation recently polled more than 1,150 family businesses and brought the human reality of this debate sharply into focus, finding well-meaning frustration with successive governments in this space. Family businesses are the backbone of British employment, accounting for 85 per cent of all private sector businesses and more than half of all private sector jobs.
They are not just commercial entities, but community institutions, often rooted in the same towns and streets for generations, measuring their ambitions in decades rather than financial quarters.
The same polling showed that three-quarters of family business owners believe successive governments have lacked the ambition to make the UK a truly great place to do business. There is a real and pressing opportunity for this government to change that story, and trade is one of the most powerful levers it has to do so.
Trade deals are the key to Britain’s future
Should we be looking at alliances new and old to find ways in which we can reduce barriers and work better together in order to bring about more trade? It is encouraging that ministers in both the previous and current governments have set about developing new global trade partnerships like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The prospective UK-India deal offers the promise of unlocking a vast and fast-growing market with deep historical ties. Alongside these headline agreements, quieter but no less significant initiatives like memoranda of understanding with individual US states demonstrate a flexible, sub-national approach to trade diplomacy, enabling the UK to build sector-specific relationships in the absence of a federal UK-US trade deal. Taken together, these strands point to an agile, outward-looking trade policy.
There is also a deeper strategic logic emerging, one that echoes themes articulated by Canadian leader Mark Carney in his recent Davos speech: that in a more fragmented and uncertain global economy, “middle powers”, like the UK, must work more closely together to uphold open markets and shared standards.
Since entering office in 2024, the government has spoken of the importance of bringing about growth to the economy and this approach to trade is encouraging. Indeed, it was encouraging to see the Chancellor in her Spring Forecast speak of boosting trade as a key pillar in achieving that.
This really matters. Behind the data, trade can play a major role in securing good jobs at a time when many, especially those starting out in their careers, are struggling to secure roles.
We need to ask ourselves whether we are currently doing all we can to use the current geopolitical environment as an opportunity to boost trade, and in turn, expand the number of people who can access good, secure work?
With careful diplomacy, we may be able to take advantage of geopolitical uncertainties to forge stronger relationships with like-minded allies across the world, boost trade, and in doing so, create more high-paid, high-skilled jobs across the UK.
Carl Richardson jointly leads the Richardson business, a multi-generational, international investment firm