Whilst in Stockholm today (13 February 2018), I will be
meeting with Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson to
ensure that the bonds between our citizens and
businesses strengthen over the coming years.
Our two countries are linked by shared economic
principles: we both aim to maximise our trade
opportunities globally, and we both have deep expertise
in our respective financial sectors. Our economies are
closely linked: from Spotify to IKEA, we Brits consume
Swedish products at an astonishing rate. Nearly 7% of
all Swedish exports end up in the UK, making us
Sweden’s sixth most important export partner.
As you know, the British people have voted for Brexit,
and the British government is committed to delivering
this in a way that protects the interests of families
and businesses. We will leave the EU in March 2019, but
we are not leaving Europe. We want to maintain the
close connections between the UK and the economies of
the EU27.
In the short term, our priority is to offer certainty.
To do this, we must agree a time-limited Implementation
Period after we leave the EU. Again, this is in both
our interests because businesses across Sweden, the UK,
and Europe will have time to prepare for a single set
of changes once we know what our future partnership
will look like.
Of course, Sweden did not vote for Brexit, but you have
a strong interest in a successful outcome. You rightly
want to maintain the integrity of the Single Market and
the Customs Union while avoiding damage to trade and
economic growth. If we can be ambitious in agreeing a
new model of cooperation, one that looks beyond models
that already exist, then I am confident that we can
agree a deal that is good for the UK, for Sweden and
for the EU.
This future partnership must cover the length and
breadth of our economies, including financial services.
This will benefit all of us: in the UK and the EU. The
City of London is a global financial centre, which
attracts capital and people from across the world and
channels finance into the European economy. London’s
strengths – concentration of activity, depth of
expertise, and ability to channel capital – cannot be
easily replicated. We can and should approach
negotiations with the aim to preserve this European
asset, securing a deal that benefits both our
economies.
We want to establish a new economic partnership with
the EU that recognises our existing deep
interconnectedness. A spirit of pragmatic cooperation
is vital to achieving this.
I say this because both sides need to be clear about
what they want from a future relationship. The
complaint from Brussels has been that the UK “hasn’t
made up its mind what type of relationship it wants”
but in London, many feel that we have little signal of
what future relationship the EU27 would like to have
with a post-Brexit Britain. I don’t believe this can be
a question only for British politicians and British
voters to resolve.
If we can work together on the basis that a good deal
is in everybody’s interests, we can agree a future
partnership preserving the best of what we have –
allowing our businesses to continue trading together in
goods and services.
Two weeks ago the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge came to
Sweden to celebrate your energy, creativity and
innovation. Let us use this same energy to agree a new,
deep and special partnership that keeps our
relationship growing strongly in the future.
