Oral Answers to Questions

Alexander Stafford Excerpts

Thursday 21st October 2021 Commons Chamber

[Anne-Marie Trevelyan]

The new TAC will be charged with some very clear direction, and given independence for it to be able to scrutinise both the Australian and New Zealand trade deals and all the other trade deals that we are looking to strike in the months and years ahead.

[Alexander Stafford (Rother Valley) (Con)]

3. What recent progress her Department has made on securing free trade agreements with countries around the world.

[Mark Pawsey (Rugby) (Con)]

13. What recent progress her Department has made on securing free trade agreements with countries around the world.

[The Minister for Trade Policy (Penny Mordaunt)]

We now have trade deals with 68 countries around the world, plus the EU, covering trade worth £744 billion last year.

[Alexander Stafford]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that the trade deals we have secured, especially those with Commonwealth partners—such as the excellent deals with Australia and, more recently, New Zealand—are a shining example of global Britain in action, and that they are opening up fantastic opportunities for British businesses and consumers, be they in Rother Valley or across our great country?

[Penny Mordaunt]

Global Britain means using our expertise, resources, talents and values as a force for good in the world, and furthering not just our interests, but the interests of the whole of humanity. My hon. Friend’s part of the world is helping us to do that; last year, Yorkshire and the Humber exported more than £240 million-worth of goods to Australia alone. I want those businesses in his constituency to benefit from the removal of tariffs.