Our election manifesto promised to deliver a closer and more beneficial relationship with the EU, one that respects the Referendum vote but helps ensure we have the access and partnership to help our economy and security.
Our new deal with the EU means:
- A £9 billion boost to GDP over the next 15 years, making us more attractive to new business and investment and providing more income to boost public services and cut the deficit.
- A better deal for UK business, with less red tape and improved access for businesses exporting to the EU. The EU is the UK’s largest trading partner. After the 21% drop in exports and 7% drop in imports seen since Brexit, the UK will also be able to sell various products, such as burgers and sausages, back into the EU again, supporting these vital British industries.
- Food and drink products flowing more freely between the UK and the EU, helping lower costs and boosting choice on supermarket shelves. Everyone has been hit by higher prices over the last five years and this deal will help bring down shopping bills.
- A new electricity arrangement to bring down prices to help keep our bills lower.
- A landmark emissions-trading deal, meaning UK exporters will avoid £800m of carbon border taxes.
- Closer co-operation on energy security, without UK business being hit with increased taxes.
- Better sharing of security intelligence data, to boost our ability to catch dangerous criminals.
- Less time queuing at airports, with more British holidaymakers able to use more eGates in Europe – and the introduction of ‘pet passports’ for UK cats and dogs – eliminating the need for animal health certificates for every trip.
- Access for UK defence industry to bid for £150bn worth of export contracts in the defence procurement project, a 430,000-jobs strong sector. And with most EU countries now committing to spending more on defence, this market will only grow.
Critics of the deal seem to want to constantly focus on a binary view in which a good deal for one party must be a bad deal for the other, but a good trade deal should make us all better off. That is why it is receiving wide support from major business groups who have called the agreement a “leap forward” which made “genuine progress”.
Organisations who have praised the deal include the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the British Poultry Council, Salmon Scotland, Dairy UK, the Federation of Small Businesses, the British Retail Consortium, and many more. Big supermarkets such as Morrisons and Asda have praised the deal and stated that it will bring down food prices.
This deal follows on from our recent trade deals with the USA and India – a hat-trick of new deals in just two weeks – showing that our country is strong, growing and back to its best on the world stage. These deals will mean more jobs, more growth and wages rising.