Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers and (c) officials in his Department have had with the Canadian Government on a potential UK-Canada trade deal.

The Secretary of State met with his Canadian counterpart Trade Minister Mary Ng at the G7 in July last year; they discussed the paused bilateral FTA and agreed that senior officials should begin discussions to see what it might take to resume negotiations.

I have met with Minister Ng twice since then, including in Vancouver last November where we agreed that senior officials should continue these discussions, which are ongoing. Meanwhile, the UK-Canada Trade Continuity Agreement remains in force, underpinning approximately £27 billion in bilateral trade.