Shadow international trade secretary takes bite out of minister as she raises steaks in debate
You can relax now. A saviour has risen from these streets. Thanks to the UK-Australian free trade agreement announced on Tuesday – the first such deal to be negotiated from scratch since Brexit – the country’s gross domestic product will increase by 0.02% over the next 15 years. Just another 250 or so similarly hugely advantageous deals to be struck to offset the loss in GDP following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
Not that Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, chose to dwell on any of the possible downsides when she made her statement on the Australian deal in the Commons. Rather, she was keen to parade the agreement that had been concluded by Boris Johnson and the Aussie prime minister, Scott Morrison, in just about an hour over a boozy lunch in Downing Street as the gold standard by which all future trade deals should be measured.
