Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what discussions the Government has had with the government of China on a potential free trade agreement between the UK and China.

In due course, Britain will be leaving the EU. This offers us an opportunity to forge a new role for ourselves in the world: to negotiate, in time, our own trade agreements and to be a positive and powerful force for free trade. But it would not be appropriate to provide a running commentary on initial discussions with individual countries. My Rt hon Friend the Prime Minister has established the Department for International Trade to promote British trade across the world and ensure the UK takes advantage of the huge opportunities open to us. We will engage fully with a broad range of stakeholders, including both governments and business over the coming weeks and months as we prepare for the negotiation with the EU and other international partners.