UK's membership of TPP will grant access to a market set to grow far larger ... trends now
Britain’s latest trade deal gives businesses access to a market that will become far larger than the EU, the Trade Secretary declares today.
Kemi Badenoch says membership of the Indo-Pacific bloc means joining ‘the most dynamic free trade family on the planet’.
The region will be home to a billion middle-class consumers by the end of the decade, she notes. And she vows that exporters will gain access to fast-growing economies with a ‘fierce appetite’ for British goods – while the services industry will see less red tape.
Writing in the Mail, Mrs Badenoch contrasts the Trans-Pacific Partnership, whose 11 members include Australia, Japan, Canada and Singapore, with the ‘rigid’ and ‘unelected’ EU.
She calls the BBC – and Labour – shortsighted for citing official figures that the deal will add only a minuscule amount to GDP.
Kemi Badenoch (pictured) says membership of the Indo-Pacific bloc means joining ‘the most dynamic free trade family on the planet’
Britain’s accession to the partnership, formally confirmed in the early hours of yesterday, was welcomed by major business groups and the National Farmers Union.
In her article, the rising Conservative star and former party leadership contender adds: ‘Today we have opened a new era for this country as a trading nation.
‘I am convinced we will feel its benefits both in the short term and over many decades to come.’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer insisted yesterday that closer ties with Brussels were more important. He told broadcasters on a visit to Plymouth: ‘It’s an important trade deal, but the yield is very small. Hopefully that will grow over time.
‘But the rule in trade is that you’re more likely to trade with your nearer neighbours more and more often, so we do need that improved, that better trading relationship with the EU alongside any other trade deals that we sign.’
Mrs Badenoch had to fend off criticism cited by the BBC that the deal would add only 0.08 per cent to national output over the next decade and would not offset losses from leaving the EU’s single market.
She told Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘We’ve left the EU so we need to look at what to do
