UK tradeshow support withdrawn
The UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) is cancelling its Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP), which provides financial support for business to exhibit at international trade shows, which are crucial for access to new markets and for raising profiles overseas, particularly for SMEs.
Maritime UK, British Marine and the Society of Maritime Industries, have written a joint letter to the minister for exports, Graham Stuart, urging DIT to keep this vital lifeline for businesses, or risk losing Britain’s global leadership in maritime services, supply chain, marine science, technology and green innovation.
And weeks away from the government’s flagship National Shipbuilding Strategy, which will outline plans to deliver the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘bring shipbuilding back home’, the industry warns that a cancellation of the Tradeshow Access Programme will threaten any programme to revitalise the UK’s shipbuilding industry.
Ben Murray, chief executive of Maritime UK, said: “If the cancellation of these grants goes ahead, the UK risks becoming an absentee at international trade shows… And this will hit our maritime sector particularly hard, threatening our leadership on green shipping, technology and services in the global industry.”
By Jake Frith
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