Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether he has had discussions with Cabinet colleagues on the effect of the UK entering a customs union with the EU after the UK leaves the EU on future trade deals with third party countries.

My Rt Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Trade has regular discussions with his Cabinet colleagues on a variety of topics.

We are leaving the Customs Union and have presented two potential options for our future customs relationship with the EU: the New Customs Partnership and the Highly Streamlined Customs Arrangement.

The government will be guided by what delivers the greatest economic advantage to the UK and by our strategic objectives: to keep trade with the EU as frictionless as possible; to avoid a ‘hard border’ between Ireland and Northern Ireland and to establish an independent international trade policy.

Leaving the Customs Union will allow an independent UK trade policy to reach ambitious and innovative trade agreements with the world's fastest-growing economies.