One of the most remarkable features of the last 20
years has been the globalised economy and the very
rapid growth and emergence of major new markets, so
inevitably the balance of our trade was going to grow
with them and decline with the European Union. We want
to remain as attractive to investors from the new
economies as to the old. It does us no advantage in our
dealings with China, Brazil and India to damage the value of
our access to the European market. Outside events have
altered this balance; it is not a failing of our EU
arrangements...
The Prime Minister had it pretty much right when she
spelled out:
“We export more to Ireland than we do to China, almost
twice as much to Belgium as we do to India, and nearly 3 times as much to
Sweden as we do to Brazil. It is not realistic to think
we could just replace European trade with these new
markets.”
The trade Ministers to whom I have spoken in the
Governments of countries such as India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh—they are all really important markets for
this country and really important friends—would welcome
the UK having the ability to offer better access for
their goods than the European Union currently does. I
am not saying that we will make a policy decision
today, but it is extremely important that the Bill
contains the ability for us to do that, and it is an
underrated aspect of the legislation. Whatever we think
of the access currently offered by the European Union,
I do not think that anybody would say that the UK would
be unable to offer better access if we had our own
preference scheme under the Bill. That has been
neglected in this debate...
To read the whole debate, CLICK HERE
