The comments made by Ranil Jayawardena, the Trade Minister, on 30 December 2020.
The United Kingdom is committed to supporting developing countries by encouraging growth through trade. The preferential terms for their key exports, such as bananas, will support jobs and economic development in Cameroon, and make sure British consumers get the products they want.
The comments made by Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, on 29 December 2020.
Today’s deal covers trade worth more than £18 billion, delivers vital certainty for business and supports thousands of jobs across the UK in the manufacturing, automotive and steel industries.
It paves the way for a new, more ambitious deal with Turkey in the near future, and is part of our plan to put the UK at the centre of a network of modern agreements with dynamic economies. More trade and investment will drive economic growth across our United Kingdom and help us build back stronger from Covid.
The comments made by Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, on 10 December 2020.
Both these agreements are vital for the UK’s future as an independent trading nation. Not only do they lock in billions of pounds worth of trade, they also pave the way for new digital partnerships and joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership. This will play to the UK’s strengths, as we become a hub for tech and digital trade with influence far beyond our shores, defining our role in the world for decades to come.
This is an important part of our vision for a Global Britain that sits at the centre of a network of deals with dynamic nations across Asia Pacific and the Americas as a global hub for services and technology trade.
International trade will help us to overcome the challenges of coronavirus and drive economic growth across our United Kingdom.
The comments made by Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, on 9 December 2020.
This is a brilliant deal for Global Britain. It secures £20bn worth of trade with a friend and ally that shares our commitment to free enterprise, democracy and free trade. It provides certainty for car and food and drink exporters in particular, and paves the way for a more advanced deal that goes further and faster in modern areas like digital and data, women’s economic empowerment and the environment.
The deal also takes us a step closer to joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a high standards agreement of 11 dynamic Pacific nations. Membership would deepen market access for our businesses, help turn us into a global hub for tech and services trade, and strengthen the global consensus for rules-based free trade.
The comments made by Emily Thornberry, the Shadow International Trade Secretary, on 9 December 2020.
Whatever long-term hopes of a US trade deal may lie behind this announcement, and whatever the truth about the legal advice the government has received, the immediate facts and consequences are clear.
Liz Truss is unilaterally capitulating in a dispute caused in part by unlawful US subsidies, even while those subsidies are – in the words of her own statement – continuing to cause significant harm to Airbus, a vital business and employer for our country.
She is doing so with no apparent guarantees that the harm being done to Airbus will come to an end any time soon, and with no public assurances from Washington that punitive US tariffs on Scotch whisky and other UK exports will be removed in response.
We are therefore left to hope against all prior evidence that the government knows what it is doing, because on the surface of this announcement, Liz Truss is leaving Airbus, the Scotch Whisky industry, and their thousands of employees totally undefended in this dispute, while receiving absolutely nothing from the US in return.
The comments made by Graham Stuart, the Minister for Exports, on 7 December 2020.
UKEF’s support for smaller businesses is shifting up a gear. The new General Export Facility will make a huge difference for entrepreneurs who need the financial backing to go global and benefit from our free trade agreements. It will help us bring genuine optimism back to exporters.
We were the only top ten exporting nation to grow exports last year. I’m determined for that success to continue as we recover from Covid-19. By transforming access to the world’s best export credit agency, we can unlock the entrepreneurial energy needed to make that a reality.
The comments made by Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, on 5 December 2020.
This agreement is a clear signal of the UK’s enduring commitment to our close bilateral relationship with Egypt and will help strengthen trade and investment ties in the future.
It will help provide both British and Egyptian businesses with new opportunities and provide them with the certainty they need to keep trading.
The UK remains committed to securing deals that support British jobs, deliver significant savings and help drive the post covid-19 recovery.
The comments made by Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, on 5 December 2020.
This agreement highlights the strength of the UK-Egypt partnership, and reflects our shared ambition to build our cooperation on a range of important issues.
Stronger trade links and more investment will grow our economies and help both our countries build back better from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The comments made by Emily Thornberry, the Shadow International Trade Secretary, on 5 December 2020.
This is welcome news for UK firms trading with Egypt, but that cannot be the sole consideration when reaching an agreement with a regime like President Sisi’s, which has jailed, executed and disappeared hundreds of political opponents and human rights activists, brutally persecuted the country’s LGBT+ population, and seen Egypt become one of the world’s 10 worst countries for workers’ rights.
In negotiating this rollover agreement to maintain Egypt’s current trade arrangements with the UK beyond Brexit, the government had both an opportunity and a responsibility to replace the toothless platitudes on human rights in the 2001 EU-Egypt agreement and its total silence on workers’ rights with meaningful, binding commitments on those issues, and serious, enforceable penalties.
We wait to see what the signed agreement says on these points, but it would be a shameful abdication of responsibility if it simply replicates the 2001 deal, and would illustrate why we desperately need the Human Rights amendment to the Trade Bill that the House of Lords will debate on Monday. As President-Elect Biden has said, there should be no more blank cheques handed to a dictator like Sisi, and it would shame Boris Johnson’s government if that is what they’ve handed him today.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Minister for the Cabinet Office, on 1 December 2020.
Once again, this government is putting the burden on businesses to prepare for the end of the transition period, when it has not explained what it is those businesses are getting ready for. Is it for tariffs or no tariffs with the EU?
The government is rebadging a basic element of preparation but still can’t tell us how many customs agents are recruited or trained or whether crucial IT is ready.
With glaring questions like these still unanswered, this government must do much more than just ‘demand action’ from UK businesses, already under huge pressure from the pandemic – and instead provide them with some much needed answers.