Deal critics release free trade proposal
CRITICS of Theresa May's Brexit deal have published proposals for a future free trade agreement between the EU and UK which they claim will deliver the "most advanced and liberalising" conditions ever seen.
The document - part of a sequence of reports released under the slogan A Better Deal - proposes zero tariffs and no restrictions in quantity for trade in goods and agricultural and food products and "maximum liberalisation" for services.
It proposes 'state of the art' highly facilitated customs clearance arrangements between the EU and UK.
On the movement of labour, it calls for easier access to temporary business visas, while on the movement of capital it proposes free flows between the EU and UK.
The two sides would be barred from erecting technical barriers to trade or using standards as a means of making trade more difficult.
And the two sides would have to commit not to use subsidies or state aid to distort markets.
Written by international trade policy experts Shanker Singham and Robert MacLean, the document states that its proposals would preserve the UK's ability to strike trade deals around the world and make changes to its own domestic relations.
And it says that it would build on existing EU trade agreements with other countries, such as Canada and Japan.
Speaking ahead of its launch in Westminster, Leave-backing Conservative former minister Esther McVey said: "Brexit was about taking back control over our trade policy. Ninety per cent of global economic growth will come from outside the EU in the years ahead and the EU now accounts for less than half of the UK's overall trade.
"So we must develop a trading relationship with the EU that makes doing business with our closest trading partners possible, without hindering our ability to develop new trading relationships with non-EU countries.
"This proposal paves the way to a better future and a more global Britain."
And former trade secretary Lord Lilley said: "This FTA proposal minimises new trade and regulatory barriers, avoids disruption for UK and EU businesses and preserves our ability to strike trade deals with the emerging powerhouses of the global economy.
"It builds on the offer made by the EU itself back in March and mirrors similar agreements struck between the EU and countries like Japan and Canada.
"It is much more realistic and feasible than anything we've heard from the Government so far and UK negotiators would have far fewer headaches if they put this in front of the EU immediately."