Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for what reason the figures in the Red Book, published on 22 November show growth in exports of goods and services in the UK falling from 3.4% in 2018 to 0.1% in 2020.

The Budget takes its trade projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) autumn forecast. Details of the OBR’s forecast can be found in its Economic and Fiscal Outlook for November 2017. As the OBR stresses, there is considerable uncertainty around these forecasts.