Question to the Department for Exiting the European Union :

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, pursuant to the oral contribution by the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union on 3 May 2018, Official Report, column 459, if he will name the countries that have stated that they will not enter into a free trade agreement with the UK if the UK remains in the Customs Union.

If the UK were to remain part of the EU Customs Union, our trade policy would, as a consequence, be determined by the EU.

Some third countries have highlighted this issue. For example, in March 2018 the then Australian High Commissioner publicly said that if we were to the leave the EU but remain within the Customs Union, “all Australia’s trade negotiating would be done through Brussels and the capital cities of the major EU member states” as a result.