Failing to meet export targets – Osborne has got it wrong again, says Mahmood

Today, Shabana Mahmood, Shadow Treasury Minister, has explained how George Osborne is on course to fall short of export targets he set for himself.

Writing for PoliticsHome, Mahmood has released figures on British exports, which, she explains, “show that there are still major concerns about how balanced the recovery has been so far.”

Two years ago Osborne said that by 2020 he would double exports to £1 trillion. However, Mahmood cites figures that suggest it looks highly unlikely that the UK could meet this target because  “in the last two years exports have grown by just 0.5 per cent and 2.1 per cent respectively in nominal terms – considerably lower than in 2010″. Meanwhile, “the goods trade deficit hit £9.4bn, from £9.2bn in May – a five month high.”

In order to reach Osborne’s target by 2020, exports would now “need to grow by over 10 per cent a year.”

Mahood will highlight that this is quite clearly a failure of the Government’s policy – and not a reflection of a global trend – because “UK export growth since 2010 is 6th in the G7, 16th in the G20, and 22nd in the EU.” 

In response to these figures and to reiterate the stark difference between Labour’s and the Tories’ approach, Mahood writes:

Labour in government after 2015 will balance the books and get the national debt falling as soon as possible within in the next parliament. But we will do so in a fairer way, which includes reversing Cameron’s tax cut for millionaires, tackling tax avoidance including through greater transparency and measures like tackling abuse of the quoted Eurobonds exemption, and cutting the winter fuel allowance for the richest pensioners.

That is the plan which Labour is arguing for – one which genuinely backs British business to succeed overseas and helps the UK earn our way to higher living standards