Tories Condemned After Post-Brexit Trade Talks With Canada Collapse
Rishi Sunak has been accused of leaving post-Brexit Britain “weaker” after trade talks with Canada collapsed.
On Friday Downing Street confirmed negotiations had been stopped because the proposed deal was not in “our interests”.
Canada wanted Britain to relax its ban on hormone-treated beef and also imposed a 245% tariff on the import of British cheeses.
The UK is Canada’s third largest trading partner and when negotiations began in March 2022, the government said a deal would benefit more than 10,000 UK small and medium-sized businesses.
It means British car manufacturers could face higher tariffs when trying to sell to Canada.
And overall, the UK’s trading terms with Canada will be worse than when it was a member of the EU.
Jonathan Reynolds, Labour’s shadow business secretary, said: “This is very concerning news and another significant failure from the Conservatives to honour their promises.
“Rather than strengthening our trading position post-Brexit these failures have left us in a weaker position, particularly for the automotive sector.
“This is another blow to the British economy because of Conservative incompetence.
“It is clear that they are unable to deliver what we need to get our economy growing.”
David Gauke, the former Toy cabinet minister, made fun of the failure given Boris Johnson’s promises about post-Brexit free-trade deals.
“So we haven’t got a Canada-style free trade agreement with Canada?” he tweeted.
SNP international trade spokesperson Richard Thomson said: “Westminster’s Brexit has damaged the UK’s potential for global trade and has dragged Scotland’s economy down with it.”
Canada’s trade minister Mary Ng said: “Our government will never agree to a deal that isn’t good for our workers, farmers and businesses.”
The prime minister’s spokesperson said: “We will only negotiate deals that deliver or the British people.
“We reserve the right to pause negotiations where progress is not being made.
“That is what happened here. We are open to speaking again where we have a deal that is in our interests.”