Oral Answers to Questions

Giles Watling Excerpts

Thursday 15th December 2022 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bowie]

The hon. Member obviously was not listening to what I said earlier. Trade with the EU is actually up 18%. Instead of coming here and talking down Scottish and British businesses that are exporting to the continent and around the world, he should join us—he should be here championing Scotch whisky exports, which are up; he should be here championing Scotch beef exports, which are up; and he should be here championing the great Scottish financial services exports, which are up around the world and transforming lives for the better.

[Giles Watling (Clacton) (Con)]

T6. Can my right hon. Friend update the House on trade envoy positions? Following my recent Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office report on the Commonwealth, which I am sure he has read, will there be a specific trade envoy position for the Commonwealth family of nations?

[Greg Hands]

My hon. Friend is a tireless advocate of ties with the Commonwealth. We already have a trade envoy appointed to 15 Commonwealth nations. We have no plans to add a dedicated Commonwealth trade envoy to the programme. We have trade agreements with 33 Commonwealth members, with a further 16 benefiting from reduced tariffs, and six of the 11 trans-Pacific partnership countries are Commonwealth members.