SMALL businesses in Surrey are being encouraged to export despite uncertainty around Brexit.

Baroness Rona Fairhead, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, said she understood there was some concern around the Government negotiating a deal but urged small and medium-sized business (SMEs) owners to continue looking to sell products and services abroad.

She said there were a number of international trade advisers based “on the ground in Surrey” to help SMEs with information about the market and to set them up with distributors and funding.

She said: “When you take the jump to become an exporter we make sure that you have funding to do that and ultimately after you have done the work you get paid. People are continuing to look to export. What I’m finding is there is a real confidence in UK companies.

“Yes, there is uncertainty, and I know businesses don’t like uncertainty, but what the Government is doing is making sure there is a deal that will provide continuity with the important market of Europe as well as allowing us to have an independent trade policy that will enable us to go outside the EU.”

Her comments came as she met with business leaders on October 18 at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in Surrey Research Park in Guildford, including members of the Local Enterprise Partnership, to discuss the export strategy.

According to the Surrey Chambers of Commerce, businesses in Surrey exported £71m of goods to more than 91 non-EU markets in 2016.