Brexit LIVE: Full list of 68 trade deals Boris has signed since UK left bloc REVEALED
A FULL list of every post-Brexit trade deal the UK has signed since leaving the EU has been revealed.
By DAN HASTINGS
23:09, Wed, Sep 22, 2021 Thu, Sep 23, 202
France ‘furious’ over Australia’s submarine deal says expert
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Boris Johnson’s Conservative Government has implemented a grand total of 68 agreements since the transition period ended in January.
The Department for International Trade (DIT) revealed the deals - which cover around a third of the globe - to BBC Newsnight’s Policy Editor Lewis Goodall this evening.
He said that the “vast majority” of these were “EU rollover deals”.
The only countries where the UK has “deals which go beyond that which we enjoyed with the EU” are with Japan, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.In total these represent about 5.5 percent of world GDP, he said.
He added: “There's also the FTA (free trade agreement) with the EU although of course that was a far worse trade deal than we enjoyed as members of the single market/customs union.”
The journalist went on to say that the UK is close to an agreement in principle with New Zealand, seeking accession to the trade block the CPTPP and "will soon begin negotiations with India”.
A spokesman also said: "We are also negotiating with Singapore on a bespoke digital economy agreement and have also recently closed our public consultations on improving our existing bilateral trade agreements with Mexico and Canada."
Mr Goodall added: “But that's it so far. Deals with countries worth around five percent of global GDP.
“Higher with the EU but as I say, net we've lost significant market access vis a vis our old position.
“The argument was that the big prizes would be US and China. Both seem completely distant prospects.
“Of course it's been a pandemic. Nations across the world have had bigger priorities than securing trade deals.
“Nonetheless the prospect of securing more FTAs was held up as one of the great prizes of Brexit, with countries "queuing up" for new deals.
“Indeed lots of versions of Brexit were rejected on the basis that it would impede our ability to do those deals.
“With so few improved deals yet achieved, pressure will be on government for more results."
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00.30am update: Liz Truss jets off to seal another Brexit trade deal paving way for £110billion agreement
Liz Truss is looking to keep up her record of bolstering Global Britain as she heads to Mexico today to boost economic cooperation.
Ms Truss became a firm favourite among Tory members after securing dozens of post-Brexit trade deals as International Trade Secretary.
Taking on her new role as Foreign Secretary last week, Ms Truss is looking to continue promoting trade with the UK around the world.
The South West Norfolk MP will today travel directly from the UN General Assembly in New York to Mexico City.
Denmark has lashed out at the European Union for siding with France in the diplomatic spat over its failed submarine contract with Australia.
Becoming the first EU nation to breakaway, Copenhagen defended US President Joe Biden as “very loyal” to Europe despite facilitating the AUKUS military pact.
Paris is furious that Canberra cancelled its contract to buy French-built submarines in favour of nuclear-powered technology from the US and UK.
Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen said: “I think it’s important to say – given the talks going on in Europe right now – that I see Biden as very loyal to the transatlantic alliance.
Dan Hastings takes over from Oliver Pritchard-Jones.
9.28pm update: Post-Brexit trade a lot 'easier' if UK joins Trans-Pacific Partnership 'Steer influence'
Post-Brexit trade will be a lot "easier" and allow the UK to "steer influence" across the world if it is able to join the Trans-Pacific partnership, according to an expert.
Former trade negotiator for Australia and free trade expert Dmitry Grozoubinski told Sky News the benefit of accession to the bloc would be beneficial to the UK's trading future following the breakdown of a potential free trade deal between the USA and UK as Prime Minister Boris Johnson failed to convince President Biden to sign the dotted line.
The expert was asked how easy it is for the UK to join an already formed trade deal with Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
He replied: “Some trade agreements like the CPTPP are designed with that process in mind.
“They have accession, the process of joining them, and a procedure to do that built right into the treaty.”
An anti-Brexit economist has claimed that Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement has no “endgame”.
Martin Wolf, the Financial Times’ chief economics correspondent, slammed the Conservative Government’s withdrawal from the EU.
Speaking at an event in Dublin this evening hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), Mr Wolf also claimed the UK has no clue how to resolve issues surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol.
He told the audience: “What’s the endgame? I think this government doesn’t know."
8.04pm update: 'Mind your own business!' Ann Widdecombe in brutal swipe at Joe Biden's Brexit 'lecturing'
Ann Widdecombe blasted President Joe Biden for interfering in the UK's domestic politics after she was asked whether a UK/US free-trade deal is being parked over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
She appeared on the Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5 where she was shown a clip of Joe Biden warning he would not want to see any threat to Northern Ireland peace or an introduction of a hard border.
Ms Widdecombe was asked whether Joe Biden may be stalling on a UK/US free-trade deal as he awaits issues over the Northern Ireland Protocol to be ironed out. The ex-Conservative minister argued Mr Biden should "mind his own business" regarding Brexit, adding the Northern Ireland Protocol was already bad.
7.02pm update: Northern Ireland Protocol 'unworkable' but will remain 'permanent sore'
The Northern Ireland protocol is “unworkable” but it won’t be scrapped and will remain a “permanent sore” in the Brexit process, Martin Wolf, chief economics correspondent with the Financial Times, has claimed.
Addressing an event in Dublin hosted by the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), Mr Wolf said the UK government had no clear Brexit endgame, and no idea how to resolve the problems with the protocol.
He described the rules governing the North’s post-Brexit trading relations as “unacceptable and unworkable”, and most likely not fully understood by UK prime minister Boris Johnson when he agreed them.
Under the protocol trade between Northern Ireland and Britain is subject to customs checks. The additional red tape has significantly damaged trade between the two locations, particularly the flow of goods from Britain to the North.
6.25pm update: Gibraltar row: Totally disproportionate! Brexit fury at EU plea – talks on knife edge
Foreign Officer Minister Wendy Morton will today be quizzed by MPs on the European Scrutiny Committee on why Gibraltar was left out of the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation agreement.
Although "the Rock" has also left the EU, the British territory is not covered by the trade deal which regulates tariffs and the movement of people.
Gibraltar is instead currently relying on temporary arrangements to keep open its critical artery with Spain as thousands of workers commute to and from the island every day.
It is likely that the committee will examine the differences in the UK and EU negotiating positions, whether the temporary arrangements are stable and what will happen if no deal can be reached with the EU.
5.35pm update: VDL mocked after 'Little Napoleon' Macron's 'humiliation' – EU 'trying to be important'
Brexit Britain has taken to the Internet to mock a desperate attempt by the EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen to make the EU look "important again".
Following the AUKUS deal in which Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States signed a security pact, some Brits have labelled the angry French reaction as "Little Napoleon's humiliation”.
With the French leading the revolt against the agreement, one Express.co.uk reader, Muncher89 suggested Macron would seek to influence the EU Commissioner to seek a legal response.
They said: “Next move will be Macron demanding VDL take the Aussies, the Yanks and the UK to their kangaroo court.”
4.36pm update: 'Get a grip and give me a break!' PM rages in French as he loses patience with Macron
Boris Johnson has lost his temper at Emmanuel Macron over Frances's reaction to the AUKUS pact between the US, UK, and Australia.
Boris Johnson has erupted into polished franglais during a question and answer session with the press in Washington as the Prime Minister lost his temper with Emmanuel Macron over the French President's reaction to the new alliance between the UK, US, and Australia.
Sam Coates told Sky News: "Switching into peerless franglais, the Prime Minister said 'Prenez un grip and donnez-moi un break.'
3.05pm update: Flotilla enters River Thames as furious EU super trawler row erupts – Boris urged to act
A fishing ship flotilla sailed down the Thames to Westminster today, demanding the Government protects British waters from mostly EU-based super trawlers.
Greenpeace activists are supporting the demonstration, handing banners from Westminster and Lambeth bridges which read “No fish, no future”.
Fishermen are calling for supertrawlers and bottom trawlers, which are predominantly based in EU ports, to be banned from British waters in the English Channel and North Sea.
Oliver Pritchard-Jones taking over from Richard Percival
2pm update: Scottish Governments halts work on Brexit customs checkpoint over 'unanswered questions'
Scottish ministers have halted the construction of a customs checkpoint started as a consequence of Brexit because they say Westminster has so far declined to pay for it.
A border control post (BCP) at Cairnryan in Dumfries and Galloway is due to be used to inspect goods arriving in Scotland from Ireland and the wider EU via Northern Ireland.
Checks on animals, fish, plants, food and feed are required to ensure products entering the market do not present a risk to public health, and these checks are the responsibility of Scottish ministers.
1pm update: Joe Biden's Ireland remarks a 'timely reminder' to Boris Johnson on US trade deal hopes
Joe Biden has given Boris Johnson a "timely reminder" that he would risk any future US trade deal if he ditches Brexit's Northern Ireland Protocol, a Sinn Fein minister has said.
Stormont Finance Minister Conor Murphy said that was his interpretation of remarks made by the US President as he met Mr Johnson in the White House and expressed concern at any moves to create a "closed border" on the island of Ireland.
