Tories are firing up aspirations of a dynamic Britain
THANKS to Liz Truss surging ahead with foreign trade deals we can look forward to cheaper Aussie wine and other products from Down Under. The International Trade Secretary struck this positive note as she enters the final stage of a new trade agreement with Canberra.
Australia is a key player in the Asian-Pacific market that is the fastest-growing part of the world. “We’re expecting 66 per cent of the world’s middle classes to be there by 2030,” says Truss, and that’ll mean a wealth of opportunity for UK exporters of high quality goods, from whisky and luxury cars to financial services.
“Currently, only one in 10 British businesses export,” she says. “I want to get more of them doing that.” And that could be worth £900million just in Australia.
Liz Truss has been the Government heroine of recent months, tirelessly striking a plethora of trade deals around the world. Just last week, she announced a £700 million agreement with Serbia, giving a big boost to Jaguar Land Rover, as well as AstraZeneca and JCB who are all thriving in the Balkan state. That means more jobs for British workers. It is the nuts and bolts of our economy and generates the taxes that help pay for our public services.
IT IS the prize of our struggle to free ourselves from the shackles of the EU and has already borne fruit in our swifter, more extensive vaccination rollout. Working closely with dynamic, growing nations will do us more favours than being tied to a failing bureaucratic superstate.
That is the message the Tories should be trumpeting as they enter the final days of electioneering before May 6. Thinking big for Britain is Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s undoubted talent. Yet a damaging escalation of government in-fighting looks set to threaten his poll lead. As the PM has rightly said, no one “gives a monkeys” about tittletattle from Westminster but those MPs and civil servants who’ve never liked Boris are sensing an opportunity to dent his reputation with the dripdrip of more revelations intended to scupper his May 6 prospects. A wounded PM will be easier to replace.
But in the real world, everything is looking good for Britain. Wall Street bank Goldman Sachs has upgraded its forecast of UK economic growth this year to 7.8 per cent, that’s more than the US on 7.2 per cent. First quarter GDP shrank less than expected and retail sales have bounced back since the easing of lockdown.
The EY Item Club, using the same economic models as the Treasury, has upgraded its growth forecast for 2021 to 6.8 per cent while Deloitte says consumer confidence has bounded upwards by six percentage points. “Going to a shop” topped Deloitte’s list of favourite leisure activities and recently crowded high streets are proof of that.
There is huge pent-up demand among UK consumers and economic forecasters are expecting much of our £150billion of savings to be spent at home rather than abroad, because of less effective Covid measures elsewhere.
In contrast, German business confidence has been dented by the failure of its own vaccination programme to halt a third virus wave as well as global shortages of materials. Its reputation for manufacturing export success will be hit further if Green politicians triumph in September elections and impose crippling environmental sanctions on their own industries.
While Europe dithers and delays, the UK should make the
most of its vaccination advantage and press ahead. Thanks to Liz Truss and her Department for International Trade, an increase in global exports could help underpin manufacturing jobs in just those parts of the nation the PM has promised to level-up.
The Conservatives under Boris Johnson have successfully replaced Labour as the party best representing the aspirations of working people.
VICTORY in the upcoming Hartlepool by-election would seal that shift, but if suicidal Tories continue to undermine Boris Johnson with leaks and gossip, all that hard work will be at risk.
The UK is at a crucial point where it needs to stride forward with confidence in its leadership. Boris has demonstrated he shares the patriotic values of many UK voters but he and his team will be judged on their practical achievements not just his rhetoric.
The vaccination rollout is one enormous triumph and now Liz Truss is providing the sturdy trade structure for a prosperous post-Brexit, post-Covid nation. That is the positive vision for Britain that matters to voters.
‘Boris and his team will be judged on their practical achievements’