Trade

One year after Brexit, Britain is reaping the benefits

A year ago today Britain awoke to a rather muted celebration – which seemed to consist largely of a bubble car driving around Parliament Square with a Union Jack in tow – ready to face up to a brave new future outside the EU. Who would have imagined then that the Observer would mark the first anniversary by running a leading article condemning the EU as ‘shambolic’ and instead praising Boris Johnson’s government for something Britain did all by itself? Of course, the Observer’s judgement is only in respect to one thing: the EU’s joint vaccination procurement programme. Nevertheless, it is something rather important, on which a great number of

How Boris plans to win over Biden

For all the recent talk from ministers that the UK government has plenty in common with the new Biden administration, there hasn’t been much of an opportunity yet for Boris Johnson to build ties. After Joe Biden’s inauguration today that will change. Until Biden and his team are sworn in, there can be no direct contact between them and a foreign government. This is why in recent months ministerial teams have instead focused their attention on meeting influential Democrats in the wider party and working out their plan of action for when channels open. So, who are the key players on the UK side when it comes to building on the special relationship? Boris

Will Britain trade its morals for Chinese markets?

The debate over the so-called ‘genocide amendment’ to the trade bill raises interesting questions about the balance of powers, and responsibilities, between the executive, parliament and the courts. The amendment, which has already passed the Lords, would give English courts the power to rule on whether a state is committing genocide — should the government seek a trade deal with that state, the executive would have to seek parliamentary approval first. But beyond the constitutional questions, the amendment also tells us a lot about how UK policy towards China is likely to evolve in the coming years. In the last year, the UK’s position on China has shifted dramatically. As I say in the

Full text: Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal speech

It is four and a half years since the British people voted to take back control of their money, their borders, their laws, and their waters and to leave the European Union. And earlier this year we fulfilled that promise and we left on Jan 31 with that oven-ready deal. Since that time we have been getting on with our agenda: enacting the points based immigration system that you voted for and that will come into force on Jan 1 – and doing free trade deals with 58 countries around the world and preparing the new relationship with the EU. And there have been plenty of people who have told

BMW is discovering the cost of a no-deal Brexit

Factories will close. Prices will rise. Profits will suffer. Another day, another warning of disaster from one of the major car manufacturers about the catastrophic cost of a no-deal Brexit. But hold on. Before anyone’s eyes start to glaze over, there is a twist to this one. It is a German company that is starting to worry about the hit to its bottom line. And, in truth, it is hardly likely to be the last. Yesterday, BMW, which used to be the most formidable manufacturer of upmarket automobiles until Tesla came along, went public for the first time about the financial impact of Britain leaving the EU without a deal.

Trade not aid: spending more doesn’t mean we care more

Outside the Catholic mission I walked through rows of women in traditional hide skirts, squatting or sitting with legs astride, palms upturned in supplication. Many suffered from scabies and cradled emaciated babies, and all looked 20 years older than their true age. These are my memories of the Uganda famine in 1980 and these were the survivors. Africa is a different place today and so are the methods used to combat famine. But this was where I learnt about the contradictions of overseas aid. Aid is pernicious, and injudicious aid can destroy all before it. Take food aid. It is wonderful for saving those in extreme peril, but once the

If taxes must rise, Sunak should pick on private equity instead

It’s not axiomatic that taxes must rise to pay for the pandemic, if you seriously believe the surge in growth, jobs and prosperity that will follow the rollout of a hyper-efficient national vaccination programme will generate sufficient revenues for Rishi Sunak to stabilise the public finances, albeit at the highest level of debt ever seen in modern times. On the other hand, the Chancellor is surely pondering this question: in the current mood of public gratitude for the NHS and government support for the economy, there must be taxes I can tweak that won’t lose sackloads of Tory votes and might chip the peak off the debt mountain — so

Who would risk being a government adviser?

Poor Tony Abbott. It would seem being prime minister of Australia doesn’t bring you to the attention of the British media. To come into its sights you must be put forward for a role as UK trade adviser. Then they will discover your existence and aim to destroy whatever reputation they didn’t know you had with the usual modern British charge-sheet. This time the charge was led by Kay Burley. The latest advertisements for her Sky television show boast that Burley is ‘always formidable, rigorous, fair, honest and searching’, among much else. Perhaps Burley hadn’t seen the advert. Certainly she displayed no such qualities when she discovered the existence of

The biggest obstacle to a Brexit deal

Downing Street now thinks that the chances of a Brexit deal are down to 30 or 40 per cent, I say in The Times today. The sticking point is, rather surprisingly, state aid. Since Margaret Thatcher’s election in 1979, the UK has been sniffy about the idea of government ‘picking winners’. It doesn’t use much state aid (less than half the EU average, according to the Commission’s figures), but the Johnson government doesn’t want to commit itself to something similar to the EU’s regime – it wants to use the power of the state to develop what it sees as the industries of the future. One figure with intimate knowledge of the

Liam Fox to be UK’s nomination for WTO Director-General

The UK will nominate Liam Fox to be director-general of the World Trade Organisation. I understand that the decision to nominate the former trade secretary, who has been lobbying heavily for the job, was made last night. There were those in Whitehall who were opposed to nominating Fox. They argued that it was too soon after the UK had become an independent member of the WTO to put forward a candidate and that it would be better to concentrate on some more junior positions that the UK would have a better chance of getting. Boris Johnson, however, wasn’t persuaded by these arguments. He wants to use the UK’s G7 presidency next

Trade minister quits after loan threats

Trade minister Conor Burns has resigned from the government, after a parliamentary inquiry found that he had used his position as an MP to intimidate a member of the public in February 2019. In a statement announcing his resignation, the MP said it was ‘with deep regret I have decided to resign as Minister of State for International Trade.’ Adding that ‘Boris Johnson will continue to have my wholehearted support from the backbenches.’ According to the Committee on Standards, Burns used parliamentary stationery to contact a member of the public about a dispute over a loan with Burns’s father. In his letter, Burns implied that he could use parliamentary privilege

Our Easter lamb reveals the miracle of free trade

Easter is heavily associated with lamb in Britain. The paschal lamb’s sacrifice is a gift to all but that is not the only link, the last few weeks of lent also mark the beginning of the spring lambing season in agricultural communities. This has fed through in recent decades to the consumer. This Sunday, while the churches stand empty and a great many of us are separated from our family, millions of us nonetheless will sit down to a meal of lamb. If you live in Britain though, this is actually quite an odd phenomenon when you think about it. Lamb is not really in season. New season lamb has

Globalisation is scarcely new: it dates back to the year 1000

In Japan, people thought the world would end in 1052. In the decades leading up to judgment day, Kyoto was rocked by a series of epidemics. It seemed the end was truly nigh. Of course they were wrong, but they were hardly the only people to predict the end of humanity on a specific date. For many tenth-century Christians, the year of the expected doom was 1000 AD. Valerie Hansen’s book focuses on this non-apocalyptic but significant year as the beginning of what we would think of as globalisation. Obviously with our European perspective we’re familiar with such major events of the 11th century as the Norman Conquest and the