Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the Governments of EEA and EFTA member states on the future of trade with those countries in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

As we leave the EU, the UK remains committed to continuing our close trading relationships with our EEA and EFTA partners. The Government is working to ensure there is no disruption to our trading relationships, including maintaining the effects of our existing preferential trade arrangements with Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Most recently, the Secretary of State signed trade agreements with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Ministers and officials in the Department for International Trade continue to work closely with counterparts in the EEA States to put in place new arrangements should the UK leaving the EU without a deal. Fully replicating the effects of the existing arrangements will be challenging if we do not reach a deal with the EU due to the high degree of alignment with the EU internal market.