Bilateral Free Trade Agreements

Debate between Lord Johnson of Lainston and Lord Londesborough

Tuesday 20th December 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Londesborough]

To ask His Majesty’s Government how many bilateral free trade agreements they expect to sign in the next 24 months.

[The Minister of State, Department for International Trade (Lord Johnson of Lainston) (Con)]

I refer noble Lords to my interests in the register. Our free trade agreement programme is being delivered at a pace unprecedented in global history. We are continuing negotiations to join the CPTPP, currently negotiating with India, Canada, Mexico, Israel, the GCC and Greenland and preparing for a new trade deal with Switzerland. We have an ambitious programme, but negotiating comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreements is our priority and we will not sacrifice quality for speed.

[Lord Londesborough (CB)]

I thank the Minister for that, but the truth is that we are well behind the target set in 2019 for free trade deals. Some of these FTAs are now described by the Government themselves as “not very good”. The trade and co-operation agreement with the EU is a case in point. HMRC reports that the number of exporters to Europe fell by 33% last year, with 9,000 out of 27,000 British businesses giving up on exporting to our largest export market. The Prime Minister before last promised us a bonfire of red tape, not a bonfire of exporters. How will the Government address this?

[Lord Johnson of Lainston (Con)]

I thank the noble Lord for that very important point. The Department for International Trade has worked extremely hard to make sure that we have a global trade web of deals and that we support our European traders. I draw noble Lords’ attention to the export support service, which has had remarkable success in ensuring that some of the glitches and hitches in trade with the European Union have been removed.