PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE
UK-EU Trade - 5 September 2024 (Commons/Commons Chamber)

Forty-seven per cent of the United Kingdom’s total trade is with the European Union, and improving trade is a central part of the Government’s ambition to reset our relationship with Europe. Ministers have already been engaging positively on trade issues with our EU and member state counterparts, including EU Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis, German Vice-Chancellor Habeck and Italian Minister Tajani. The Government are seeking the practical changes needed to ensure smoother trade between the United Kingdom and Europe—for example, on mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which have already been mentioned.

Goods exports to the European Union are still 11% lower than in 2019, before the Brexit agreement took effect. Can the Minister confirm that, in seeking to grow the UK economy, the Government will take an evidence-based approach to the UK’s trading relationship with our nearest neighbours, and will take all possible measures to remove the barriers to trade that are holding our country back?

I thank my hon. Friend for her question and her observation on the character of trade in recent years. There has been better performance on services than on goods, but she is absolutely right to recognise the fall in goods trade with the European Union. Overall trade since 2018 has essentially flatlined. That is why the Government are determined to reset our relationship with the European Union more broadly. Within that broader objective, we will look specifically at the border in order to achieve less friction for trade.

Farmers in Clwyd East continue to raise concerns with me about trading barriers with the EU. They feel that the current arrangements disadvantage them, and that not enough has been done since we left the EU to facilitate trade between British farmers and EU countries. Will the Minister outline what steps his Department is taking to remove those barriers and get a better deal for the farming community of Clwyd East?

My hon. Friend is already establishing herself as a powerful voice for all constituency interests in Clwyd East. Alas, the concerns that she raises are not limited to that constituency. That is why, as part of the broader resetting of our relationship with the European Union, we are determined to tackle barriers to trade such as those she describes in relation to farmers, including through the negotiation of a UK-EU veterinary agreement that will help to reduce unnecessary border checks.

I call the shadow Minister.

I welcome the Minister back to the House and back to the Government Front Bench. On the final sitting day before recess, the Secretary of State slipped out an announcement that he expected trade talks to begin with a number of countries this autumn, and the Minister has just confirmed the intention to open talks with the European Union. When can we expect the Government to publish their negotiating objectives for scrutiny by the House ahead of those talks, as demanded by the Select Committee and committed to by the previous Government?

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his kind words of welcome both to this House and to the Dispatch Box. I hope that we will be able to exchange in exactly this kind of constructive dialogue in the months and years ahead. Clearly, we inherited a number of open negotiating mandates from the previous Government—not least in relation to the Gulf Co-operation Council and to India—and we are carefully reviewing those mandates, but we have already been clear that, as well as resetting the relationship with the European Union, we are keen to pursue essentially a twin-track strategy, whereby we take forward the work in relation to those free trade agreements.