Appearing on the BBC One Breakfast show, the Black Country Chamber of Commerce President said: "We urgently need a national export strategy. The EU and Russia are much more volatile and businesses are feeling that often there is just too much risk.
"A national strategy that integrates advice, promotion, trade finance and insurance is needed now. We know that the road to full economic recovery cannot come from continued consumer debt. This is simply unsustainable. We want our businesses trading with new markets across the world and we also want a way of sharing the risk.
"The results from our Quarterly Economic Survey show nationally for the first three months of 2015 domestic sales and orders went down. This is not good news. However, we cannot expect that our businesses will significantly increase their operating risks. We need government to meet us half way and ensure that the costs of trading abroad are not prohibitive. If our business leaders have the courage to expand their operating model they should not be penalised because the global market has become less certain.
"The Cole Commission has made some very interesting recommendations. Only a genuine, long-term and equal partnership between business and government can deliver a step change in the UK's trade performance, which has disappointed for decades. The Cole Commission is right to say that we must put international trade at the very heart of Britain's economic plan, and at the very heart of government. Its independent recommendations present an opportunity to kick start a revolution in how we approach international trade in the UK. This must be at the top of the agenda for whoever forms the next government."
