Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, with reference to her statement at the British Chamber of Commerce webinar on Building Supply Chain Resilience and Diversity, what the evidential basis is for her statement that extending the transition period will lead to more uncertainty for businesses; and if her Department has conducted a revised economic impact assessment of its trade policy in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

The Government has made clear that it will not seek to extend the transition period, and if the EU asks, we will say no.

Extending the transition would simply prolong the negotiations with the EU and prolong business uncertainty. It would mean further payments into the EU budget and keep the UK bound by EU legislation at a point when we need legislative and economic flexibility to manage the response to the pandemic.

The Government is tracking trade developments and monitoring external forecasts of the impact of the pandemic on global and UK trade, and continues to engage with UK businesses to understand the challenges they are facing as a result of the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

The latest official trade statistics are for February. We are committed to transparency and will ensure that parliamentarians, UK citizens and businesses have access to the information they need on our trade policy and analysis.