Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the EU Withdrawal Agreement on the level of market access of UK-based financial services to countries in the single market.

The Government’s ambition is to preserve the economic benefits of the most important financial services traded between the UK and the EU, and ensure stable institutional processes for governing the relationship in financial services. This is the best way to protect financial stability and open markets, and is in the interests of businesses and consumers on both sides. This ambition is reflected in the Political Declaration agreed by both sides.

The Government’s EU Exit Long-term Economic Analysis shows considerable gains to the UK’s financial services sector in the ‘Modelled White Paper’ scenario relative to no deal. The scenario also shows that many of the costs of cross-border trade that would occur in a no deal scenario would be mitigated, though barriers will still remain as the government does not seek to replicate the financial services passport which is only available in the Single Market. In the ‘Modelled White Paper’ scenario, domestic financial services also benefit significantly from the reduction in barriers to trading in goods relative to no deal.