Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lia Nici and Neil Hudson

Thursday 18th June 2020 Commons Chamber

[Lia Nici (Great Grimsby) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all parts of the UK benefit from future free trade agreements.

[Dr Neil Hudson (Penrith and The Border) (Con)]

What steps her Department is taking to ensure that all parts of the UK benefit from future free trade agreements.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Trade (Graham Stuart)]

When the UK left the EU, we had successfully signed trade continuity agreements with 48 countries, accounting for £110 billion of UK trade in 2018. Now we are seeking new trade agreements so that UK trade is diversified and better aligned with global growth. Analysis shows that the US deal, for instance, will benefit all parts of the United Kingdom, although Scotland and the midlands will gain most. That US deal could reduce tariffs and non-tariff barriers for everything from Scottish cashmere to automotive manufacturing in the midlands, machinery manufacturing in the north-west and our world-class services sector in the south-east, the midlands, Northern Ireland and elsewhere.