Trade minister Douglas Alexander has admitted the UK’s decision to leave the EU has led to “significant disruption.” Still, he says re-opening Brexit agreements with the European Union is “off the table,” as he sets to reveal a new trade strategy in spring 2025.
On his first visit to Brussels as prime minister earlier this month, Keir Starmer vowed to “put the Brexit years behind us” to renew ties with EU member states. During the visit, Sir Keir said: “Better co-operation with the EU will deliver the benefits the British people deserve – securing our borders, keeping us safe and boosting economic growth.”
This week, trade minister Douglas Alexander doubled down on the prime minister’s remarks saying talks with Europe will re-open next year. However, according to the Irish Examiner, he revealed the government won’t re-open Brexit agreements such as the Windsor Framework.
“The red lines that we set out in the manifesto was essentially the basis of which we were elected with a large majority, which is not re-opening the question of EU membership, no return to the customs union, no return to the single market and free movement of labour being off the table.
“We’re developing an ambitious work program in terms of what those negotiations will include. At the same time, I’m developing a trade strategy that we will publish in the spring of 2025”, he said.
He added: “One of the curiosities of the previous government in the years after Brexit was that they didn’t trouble themselves to publish a trade strategy. So this will be the first trade strategy published since Brexit. Looking at exactly how we can support small- and medium-sized businesses and address some of the frictions at the border, will be a central feature of that trade strategy.”
These decisions have been announced after Michael Mainelli, the Lord Mayor of the City of London, claimed the UK’s exit from the European Union has smashed almost 40,000 jobs in London’s financial hub.
His estimates claim that Londoners have moved to European cities such as Milan, Paris, and Amsterdam to work due to Brexit, with Dublin alone benefiting from 10,000 skilled employees.
When asked about this, Douglas Alexander said: “If you look at the story of post-Brexit British trade, we have underperformed relative to expectations in goods and overperformed on services against expectations. In that sense, particularly in advanced business services, financial services, and in technology, there’s huge scope.”
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