The All-Parliamentary Party Group (APPG) for International Trade & Investment is seeking to answer two fundamental questions: how are the recently released government strategies working and are SMEs accessing the benefits?
An APPG is an informal group of MPs and peers. They are normally cross-party, meaning that MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and others will sit together, and focus on one particular subject area.
Regional growth and SMEs
The Trade and Investment APPG – of which the Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade is a co-secretariat – is focused on boosting growth across the UK.
One of its focuses is the ongoing inquiry into the ‘Trade Triangle’ of strategies – the Trade Strategy, Industrial Strategy and Small Business Plan – and investigating how these impact SMEs in the UK’s nations and regions.
“The APPG is a mixture of MPs and peers from various different political parties coming under one umbrella”, said Oliver Greensmith, a senior public affairs executive at the Chartered Institute.
“This investigation looks at whether this ‘trade triangle’ is working, and how it can be improved. The Chartered Institute has long advocated for more businesses – particularly SMEs – to export their goods abroad.
“We’re exploring the trickle-down impact on businesses across the UK, seeing if SMEs can capitalise on these strategies.”
The inequality problem
The UK currently experiences some of the highest levels of regional inequality in growth and trade. For decades, the South East of England has outpaced the rest of the country in a number of areas, including investment, GDP growth and exports.
Research from the Chartered Institute, together with Flint Global, in 2023 found that London and the South East accounted for 60% of UK services exports.
Multiple reasons behind the disproportionate dominance of these two regions were identified, including geography, language, skills and regulations.
A recent past
The current inquiry, then, has its roots in a long-standing issue.
Various governments have tried to solve this issue: from New Labour’s regional development agencies, to David Cameron’s ‘northern powerhouse’ and ‘Midlands engine’ to Boris Johnson’s ‘levelling up’. Local administrations have also launched plans to deal with this issue, notably Tees Valley mayor, Lord Ben Houchen, and Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham.
Overall, these have had mixed results at best. Regional inequality has continued to grow, fuelling issues such as lower-quality jobs, lower productivity and regional brain drains.
In opposition, the Labour Party committed to ‘Power up Britain’, stating in the ‘Power and Partnership’ plan that:
“The British people deserve an economy that works for the whole country, with control over the things that matter to them. Regional inequality is hitting people in their pockets, holding our economy back and embedding insecurity into our way of life.”
New resources on offer
Whether or not these plans will succeed is still uncertain. Most were launched less than a year ago and are positioned as being part of a 10-year vision for the UK.
Labour MPs point to the fact that, in many of the previous plans, few new additional resources were made available to support their implementation.
The new support on offer in the three strategies – including £80bn in new capacity for UK Export Finance, £9bn in funding allocations for “frontier technologies and industries”, and a promise to reduce high industrial energy prices – is being touted by the government as a major benefit.
Additionally, the release of quarterly updates on the industrial strategy is designed to make the strategy more reactive.
“The Trade Triangle inquiry offers a much-needed opportunity for SMEs to have their say on the government’s recent trade-related strategies,” said Mike Reader, Labour MP for Northampton South and chair of the APPG.
“As the government has made clear, the Industrial Strategy is an organic component that will grow alongside ongoing feedback.”
Feedback
As part of its inquiry, the APPG is seeking business input, particularly from SMEs, many of whom struggle to participate in policymaking due to the time it can take.
Lord Houchen, then the APPG’s co-chair, hosted a live evidence session in Teesside Airport on 9 October. Altogether, 21 SMEs from the Tees Valley provided evidence. The APPG is still looking for more businesses to directly input.
“Our inquiry provides businesses with a unique chance to have their voice heard and shape what future support and trade policy looks like. After reviewing your feedback, we will put forward recommendations directly to government,” said Reader.
Anyone interested in contributing to the inquiry can fill out a ‘Call for Evidence’ form here, or email their comments to Greensmith directly to oliver.greensmith@export.org.uk.
The deadline for submission is 6th March 2026.
