BHETA is working with Export Partners UK to press for stronger, more practical Government support to help British businesses – particularly SMEs – grow their exports.
Exporting offers significant opportunities for BHETA members, but entering new international markets requires investment, expertise and long-term commitment. UK businesses can also find themselves competing with overseas companies whose governments provide substantially greater financial and practical assistance to exporters.
BHETA believes that growing UK exports should be a central part of the country's economic growth strategy – and that Government and industry need to work much more closely together to make that happen.
Through Export Partners UK (EPUK), BHETA is helping take that message directly to Government, MPs and policymakers.
The challenge facing UK exporters
For many BHETA members, international growth represents a significant commercial opportunity.
But developing an export market is rarely straightforward.
Businesses can face:
- The cost of exhibiting at international trade shows
- Travel and market-entry costs
- Finding and assessing suitable distributors and customers
- Customs and regulatory complexity
- Additional barriers when trading with the EU
- Different technical standards and compliance requirements
- Difficulty accessing suitable Government support
- Competition from overseas businesses backed by more generous national export programmes
- Limited resources within SMEs to research and develop new international markets
These challenges are particularly significant for smaller and medium-sized businesses.
Historically, programmes such as the Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) provided financial assistance to help UK SMEs exhibit at important international exhibitions.
EPUK believes the loss of this type of sustained, practical support has left UK exporters at a disadvantage compared with competitors from countries where governments continue to invest substantially in helping their companies enter international markets.
BHETA shares that concern.
BHETA strengthens its voice through Export Partners UK
BHETA is an active member of Export Partners UK, a cross-sector alliance of UK trade associations working together to improve support for British exporters.
The coalition brings together industries ranging from manufacturing and engineering to fashion, automotive, healthcare and consumer products.
By working collectively, participating associations can demonstrate that the barriers faced by exporters are not isolated sector issues.
They affect businesses across the UK economy.
For BHETA, participation in EPUK means the experience of housewares, small electrical, DIY, garden and home improvement suppliers forms part of a much larger cross-industry case presented to Government.
What BHETA and EPUK are asking Government to do
The campaign centres on a simple principle:
If Government wants UK businesses to export more, businesses need practical support to help them enter and develop international markets.
BHETA and its EPUK partners are calling for:
- Practical financial support for SMEs: A new, sustainable programme of support to help SMEs attend strategically important international trade fairs, undertake trade missions and investigate new export markets.
The objective is not to subsidise established exporting indefinitely, but to help businesses overcome the significant initial cost of developing markets where genuine commercial opportunities exist.
- A level playing field with overseas competitors: British companies frequently compete against businesses whose governments provide substantially greater financial and practical export support.
EPUK is calling for a UK export-support system capable of competing internationally and giving promising British exporters a fair opportunity to succeed.
- Better Government and industry collaboration: Trade associations often have detailed knowledge of the markets, exhibitions, distributors, buyers and commercial opportunities relevant to their particular industries.
BHETA believes this specialist knowledge should be used more effectively.
Government does not need to identify every export opportunity itself. Working with established trade associations can help ensure public support is directed towards markets and activities with genuine commercial potential.
- Stronger overseas support: UK embassies, consulates and overseas trade teams can play an important role in helping exporters identify contacts, understand local markets and overcome barriers.
EPUK is calling for a properly resourced international network that works closely with individual industries to create opportunities for British businesses.
- A long-term approach to export growth: Building an export market takes time.
BHETA and EPUK are therefore pressing for a more stable and predictable export-support framework rather than frequently changing short-term initiatives.
Taking exporters' concerns into Westminster
In May 2025, BHETA joined fellow EPUK members for a meeting in Westminster with Antonia Bance MP, a member of the Business and Trade Select Committee and an officer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Manufacturing.
BHETA was represented by Will Jones.
The meeting enabled EPUK members to explain directly some of the barriers preventing British companies from taking full advantage of international opportunities.
Discussion included:
- The need for practical support alongside new trade agreements
- The value previously provided by trade-show support programmes
- Barriers affecting UK-EU trade
- High industrial energy costs
- Increasing employment costs
- The importance of looking at export competitiveness across the whole business environment
The central message was that trade agreements alone do not create exports.
British businesses still need the resources, market knowledge and practical support required to turn theoretical access to a market into actual sales.
Government increasingly recognises the challenge
There are encouraging signs that the importance of export support is gaining greater recognition within Government.
The Government's UK Trade Strategy acknowledges that businesses see Government export support as a major priority, and that SMEs in particular want simpler and more accessible help.
The strategy also recognises the importance of Government working with businesses and intermediaries to help companies enter overseas markets.
Government has introduced and expanded a number of export-related initiatives, including additional UK Export Finance capacity and changes to its wider business-support infrastructure.
These are welcome developments.
However, BHETA and EPUK believe there remains a significant gap in the practical support available to SMEs seeking to attend key international exhibitions, research new markets and develop overseas customers.
The campaign therefore continues.
Next step: taking the case to the House of Lords
The next major stage of the campaign will take place on 16 November 2026, when Export Partners UK will hold a major parliamentary reception at the House of Lords.
Hosted by Lord McNicol, the reception will bring together parliamentarians, trade associations, exporters, SMEs and apprentices under the theme:
Exporting Britain: Growing the Economy Together
The event is designed to move the export debate beyond simply identifying barriers and towards a positive partnership between Government and industry.
Its message will be that exporters can play a central role in rebuilding and growing the UK economy.
Exports can:
- Create higher-value employment
- Support manufacturing and reindustrialisation
- Encourage businesses to invest in skills and apprenticeships
- Drive innovation
- Support regional economic growth
- Increase business productivity
- Create opportunities for ambitious SMEs to scale
The central proposition is positive:
Government and industry can achieve considerably more by working together to unlock UK export growth.
Building stronger relationships in Parliament
The House of Lords reception has three principal objectives.
- Build a stronger parliamentary network
EPUK wants to develop long-term relationships with MPs and Peers from across the political spectrum who understand the importance of exports to their constituencies, industries and the wider economy.
The ambition is to attract around 30 parliamentarians to the reception.
- Bring parliamentarians together with real exporters
Rather than discussing export policy only between policymakers and trade bodies, EPUK wants MPs to meet the businesses affected.
Participating associations are therefore being encouraged to connect parliamentarians with exporters, SMEs and apprentices from their respective industries.
This gives policymakers an opportunity to hear directly about both the opportunities available to UK businesses and the practical barriers preventing companies from achieving their full international potential.
- Establish regular Government engagement
A key longer-term objective is to establish a more structured relationship between Export Partners UK and Government.
EPUK wants Ministers and officials to engage regularly with the coalition so that the practical experience of exporters can inform future policy.
For BHETA members, this would create another route through which the issues affecting suppliers can be taken directly to Government.
BHETA will take members' experience to Parliament
BHETA will participate in the November House of Lords reception and use the opportunity to represent the interests of members with international growth ambitions.
Our aim is not simply to ask Government for more funding.
It is to make the commercial case for a stronger partnership between Government, trade associations and British businesses.
BHETA and other specialist trade associations already understand their sectors, their international exhibitions, their exporters and the markets that offer the greatest opportunities.
Combining that expertise with Government's international network and resources could deliver a much more effective export-support system.
The campaign continues
There has not yet been a Government commitment to the comprehensive export-support programme EPUK is seeking.
Our priorities therefore remain:
- Securing practical financial support to help SMEs develop international markets
- Improving support for participation in strategically important international trade fairs
- Establishing stronger Government-industry collaboration on export promotion
- Ensuring the UK's overseas network delivers practical help for exporters
- Reducing unnecessary barriers to UK-EU trade
- Giving UK exporters support comparable with that available to international competitors
- Establishing regular dialogue between EPUK, Ministers and policymakers
The November 2026 House of Lords reception represents an important next step in building the political relationships needed to achieve those objectives.
Giving BHETA members a stronger voice on exports
One of the advantages of trade association membership is the ability to raise issues collectively that individual companies may struggle to place on the Government agenda.
Through BHETA's membership of Export Partners UK, the experiences of our members form part of a cross-industry campaign representing thousands of British businesses.
At the same time, BHETA continues to provide members with practical export support, market information, international contacts and events designed to help businesses identify and pursue international opportunities.
Are export barriers preventing your business from growing internationally?
BHETA wants to hear from members about the markets they are targeting, the obstacles they face and the Government support that would make the greatest difference.
Your experience helps us build a stronger case with EPUK and Government.
