Industry and Exports (Financial Assistance) Bill

Alex Brewer Excerpts

2nd reading
Monday 15th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Ben Coleman (Chelsea and Fulham) (Lab)]

I am most grateful to the Minister for his statement. I hugely welcome the Government’s determination to increase trade, especially in the aftermath of Brexit. That is what it is all about: expanding and clarifying the spending limit for UK Export Finance. As we have heard, UK Export Finance has a very proud history of boosting British exports, and supporting thousands of companies and tens of thousands of British jobs. The Bill means that it will be able to do even more.

I am delighted to say that I have had the privilege of seeing UK Export Finance in action at first hand in my capacity as the trade envoy to Morocco and francophone west Africa. Just last month, I had the privilege of heading the UK delegation to the francophone West and Central Africa Forum in Togo. It was attended by nearly 1,000 people from business and Government from the UK and 10 rapidly growing African countries, all of them seeking new opportunities for trade and economic partnership. UK Export Finance did an absolutely brilliant job of co-organising the event. In my opening speech to the forum, I was very proud to be able to set out a UK approach that is based on co-production rather than extraction, an approach based on mutual respect—so different from what they have perhaps learnt to expect from other countries in the past.

Ambassadors have been mentioned. I very much appreciated having UK Export Finance’s expert support alongside our ambassadors in the bilateral meetings that I was able to hold with the President of the Council of Ministers of Togo and with representatives of the Governments of Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Cameroon and the Republic of Congo, where we explored numerous opportunities to go further on trade, for example on electricity networks or, as the Minister mentioned, Scottish whisky—that also came up. Now, UKEF is building on what it achieved. Its hard work means that the forum will turn into investable projects, which will in turn translate into jobs, exports and impact. The theme of the forum was “success breeds success”. I am delighted that, through the Bill, we are enabling UKEF to create even more success in the future for the UK economy and our trading partners.

Closer to home, we should point out that UKEF also has an important role increasing our trade with the massive European Union market on our doorstep. The disaster—the absolute disaster—of Brexit has damaged our economy hugely. More than 16,000 SMEs have given up trading with the EU since it happened. We have lost billions in tax revenue for our NHS and schools. The idiot comment from the previous Prime Minister that the NHS would get money from Brexit turned out to be totally the opposite: we have lost billions in tax revenue for the NHS.

Alongside my determination to increase trade with Africa, I have high hopes for increasing trade with the EU, as do many, many Members on the Labour Benches; there is no single part of the House that has a monopoly on wishing, sensibly, to trade more with the European Union. The Government’s reset is very welcome. I am keen for them to be even more ambitious. We must recognise that there is no swifter route to growth than getting rid of Brexit red tape. I welcome the fact that the UK and the EU are currently negotiating an agreement to ditch much of the Brexit bureaucracy that has hit our food and drink exports and imports. I hope that will lead to lower food prices and new job opportunities for the British people. I would like to see us go even further. For example, let us boost our manufacturing industry by seeking mutual recognition with the EU of conformity assessments. Let us boost our services sector by seeking mutual recognition of professional qualifications.

[Alex Brewer (North East Hampshire) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman talks effusively about the benefits of our biggest trading partner, Europe, and the disaster of Brexit. Does he agree with me that we should be forging a new customs union as soon as possible?

[Ben Coleman]

I am immensely surprised to hear that intervention—almost as surprised as I was to see Liberal Democrat Members put forward the customs union idea the other day! We struck a deal with the EU in May. We need to implement that deal. We need to see through the deal we are negotiating on food and drink. We need to talk about youth experience and a whole range of other things. Let us do those. Let us deliver on what we promised. Let us implement what we promised. Let us build the trust.

I sat down the other day with about a dozen ambassadors from EU countries, and let me tell the House, there is very little appetite for Britain going into a customs union until we have shown that we can be trusted and have delivered what we are already promising to deliver. Yes, that sort of comment might arouse the interest of some, but at this stage it is not the best thing for Britain to plough forward in that direction. Let us deliver on the deals we have, not throw them aside, reject them or say they are pointless. They will deliver jobs and lower prices for British people and that is what we need in the aftermath of Brexit.

As this Government seek every opportunity to enhance trade and economic growth, ensuring that UK Export Finance has the resources it needs to underpin export growth is the right way forward. The winners will be businesses in every part of our country.