Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of potential challenges for producers exporting goods to the EU after the UK leaves the EU.

In 2016 there were 210,000 UK VAT registered importers and exporters for trade in goods with the EU, of which 138,000 traded solely with EU Member States.

In July, my Rt Hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for International Trade, appointed Andrew Mitchell as Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe to lead the Department’s efforts to grow the UK’s trading relationship with the EU.

The recently announced £5 million uplift for our overseas network in Europe will build upon and strengthen our trade and investment links with European partners as we leave the EU, and support UK businesses to be able to sustain and grow exports and investment as we move into a new trading environment in Europe.