- The west appears to have the votes to defeat Russia and force through changes that would give weapons inspectors expanded powers to identify those responsible for using chemical weapons in Syria. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has been arguing for those changes at a special conference of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague.
- Greg Clark, the business secretary, has urged the prime minister to adopt a Brexit deal that replicates the advantages of the single market, not just for goods but for services too. As the Times (paywall) reports, speaking at the Times CEO summit, Clark said:
He also effectively accused Brexiters of putting ideology before evidence, telling the conference:
In my experience the business voice puts evidence first before ideology. Brings actual experience of trading whether with Europe or the rest of the world. Not a theoretical view of what the world will be like. Not a speculation on how they might operate.
The experience of employing millions of men and women and helping them earn a good living, not a theoretical exercise in which you take decisions about the lives of people in imagined circumstances in imagined worlds. So the business voice seems to me to be the foundation to a successful effective negotiation.
- Jeremy Corbyn faced a double Commons rebellion and was warned against “flirting with anti-trade populism” after Labour abstained over two trade votes. As the Press Association reports, 18 Labour MPs ignored orders in two votes to have their say on parliamentary motions linked to the EU-Canada comprehensive economic and trade agreement (Ceta) and the EU-Japan economic partnership agreement. Fourteen supported the Canada motion and four voted against, while 17 voted for the Japan motion and one against. Shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner told the Commons that Ceta did not offer enough protections. He said Labour wanted to see a “comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement with Canada” but argued Ceta was not it. But the Labour former minister Chris Leslie advised his party’s front bench against slipping into a “rut” over trade matters and said decisions needed to be viewed against how they could benefit public services, particularly if they wanted to be seen as a government in waiting. As the Press Association reports, Leslie said:
All I would say to my colleagues on the front bench is be very careful about slipping into an oppositionalist rut on these particular issues.
We do, if we want to be a government in waiting, have to sometimes weigh things in the balance and take a responsible view about the prosperity of our economy because from that prosperity comes the revenues we need for our public services – for our health service, for our schools, for all of those local council services.
I just think there is a danger in flirting with an anti-trade populism if we take against globalisation – yes, we have to harness globalisation, not resist entirely.
There is a sensible, mainstream – dare I say it – centre-ground approach to being rational and sensible about trade deals.
Yes, make your points about parliamentary scrutiny but at the end of the day we’ve got to take the long view, and the long view is that free and fair trade benefits us all.
- The UK remained the top destination for inward investment in Europe last year, with nearly 76,000 jobs created across the country, according to figures released by the Department for International Trade. As the…
