Brexit freedoms are now unleashing Britain's potential

This Conservative Government is committed to using our post-Brexit freedoms to help businesses expand, create more jobs, and grow the UK economy.

One of the best ways we can do this is by signing free trade deals, giving UK companies greater access to new markets overseas.

When we were in the EU we had to leave it to Brussels to negotiate on our behalf. Now we are in control of who we speak to and the agreements we sign.

We’ve already secured trade deals with 73 countries, plus the EU, deals that accounted for ￡1.1 trillion of UK bilateral trade last year.

And you’ll probably be aware of the agreement I signed recently to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership trade bloc - making the UK the first European country to team up with a group of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

But obviously, when it comes to trade and prosperity, there is one country you cannot ignore – the United States. The UK’s closest ally also remains the biggest economy in the world, making America a vital partner in our drive for growth.

We’ve deepened our ￡290 billion trade relationship with the Biden administration through the recent Atlantic Declaration, we’ve protected British steelmakers by renegotiating tariffs, and we’ve helped boost UK farmers by removing the long-standing US ban on British lamb.

But perhaps most excitingly, we’re now signing mini-trade deals with individual US states. These agreements give UK companies the best of both worlds - more market access at a federal level and stronger trade ties at a state level.

This new approach is making it quicker, easier, and cheaper for companies to sell British goods across the pond.

So far, we’ve signed six standalone trade pacts with individual US states – ranging from North Carolina to Washington.

These so-called ‘Memoranda of Understanding’ (MoUs) put British businesses in the driving seat and helps them to build exciting, new commercial relationships in the United States.

Take Marshall Aerospace as an example. Following our MoU with North Carolina, this Cambridge-based company has invested $50 million into a new facility and engineering hub in the US state.

We’ve only just started with these deals to prove they work, and now we are ready to kick things up a gear by targeting some of the biggest US states such as Florida, Texas and California.

The combined economic size of these three states alone overshadows the national GDP of countries like Japan, India or Germany.

On top of this, we’re supporting our world-class services professions by slashing trade barriers that hold them back in US markets and signing agreements that mutually recognise each other’s qualifications.

Earlier this year, the UK’s Architects Registration Board did just that with their US counterpart – making it easier for world-class British architects to export their expertise across the Atlantic in an agreement that could boost UK services exports to the US by up to ￡40 million a year.

Business and trade will always play a huge role in our Special Relationship with the US. Now that we’re free to trade with the world on our own terms, we can do even more business, create even more jobs and boost our economy in the process.

This article was first published in The Express on 21/10/2023 https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1826540/Brexit-freedoms-are-now-unleashing-Britain-s-potential-Kemi-Badenoch