Speaking at the British Chamber of Commerce’s International Trade Conference in London earlier this month, John Longworth (pictured) — the organisation’s director-general — said that more must be done to prevent any further fall in exports of UK goods and services.

“The decline in exports is disappointing and highlights the fact that we must do something radically different. Britain faces a major challenge in improving its trade performance, so we must waste no time in supporting trade opportunities to overseas markets.

“If we are serious about promoting business investment, we must remove some long-standing barriers. Access to growth finance for small firms remains insufficient, while the business rates that firms pay are the highest in Europe. We are calling on the Government to freeze business rates for all companies until 2017’s planned full re-evaluation of premises.”

The conference coincided with the results of the BCC’s latest quarterly economic survey. Made up of responses from more than 7,000 UK businesses, this revealed that the balance for domestic manufacturing sales fell to 23% in the third quarter, down from 48% in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the balance for manufacturing exports was also down — from 30% in the second quarter to 16% in the third. In addition, the number of manufacturing companies that were at full capacity fell by 6% in the third quarter — to 40%.

Commenting on the survey results, Mr Longworth said: “The share of manufacturing firms operating at full capacity fell in the third quarter, signalling that there is more spare capacity in our production sector than was previously thought. Concerns over the strength of the pound are also high and rising. Together with a worsening outlook for the euro-zone, these factors reinforce the case against an early interest rate rise.”