A CERTAIN dreary and dismal familiarity has developed around the Tories’ desperate efforts to secure trade deals with countries outwith the European Union, having decided to turn their back on the UK’s biggest export market.

The UK egg industry has reacted with disbelief that import tariffs on eggs and egg products are to be phased out following the government announcement that the UK is set to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Forecasts suggest the UK will be 15 years late in hitting £1 trillion annual export target set by David Cameron before the Brexit referendum.

The UK’S membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership offers little gain for the British economy.

The impact of Brexit on people’s earnings could be ‘substantial’, say experts. / Millions of workers in Britain will be about £1,300 worse off a year due to Brexit, leading experts have said.

Rachel Donald looks at how the Trade Minister’s justification for a zero-tariff trade deal with Malaysia only accelerates global deforestation.

Brendan Donnelly and John Stevens review the British decision to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership or CPTPP. They believe that this decision will bring at best minimal benefits to the UK and some disadvantages. Its importance is being overstated by the British government simply as a distraction from the unfolding difficulties of Brexit.

Hidden in the small print of a technical document published by the Department for International Trade is an admission that officials could have juiced up the figures.

CPTPP member countries have a combined population of 500 million and GDP of £9 trillion. For reference, although the EU is a similar size, with a GDP of £11 trillion, the value of our total trade to the EU is much higher, at £557 billion.

James O’Brien asked Kemi Badenoch if "she's seen a map", as he argued that the trans-Pacific alliance is a weak alternative to the EU.

Brexit is to blame for the Dover travel misery blighting Britons’ Easter holiday trips to the Continent, a senior Tory MP said on Monday.

Hailed by Tory MPs as a Brexit benefit, CPTPP membership actually turns the UK into a willing pawn in Washington’s geopolitical game.

Goodbye, food standards. Hello, corporate lobbyists. Why are we doing this, for no real economic benefit?

'The second point, which has been widely ignored since Brexit, is that accession to the CPTPP highlights a major scrutiny deficit in the U.K. Parliament. Namely that Parliament is not asked to consent to this new agreement and has no veto.'

I see its "this trade deal is going to be really amazing / bad" morning, and I need to summon all my centrist trade energies in the hope a few people might see through the hype both ways and realise that UK joining CPTPP doesn't make that much impact any which way.

On fifth anniversary of referendum, nation still deeply divided by decision to leave EU.

Confrontation between London and Ottawa at talks led to other countries ‘basically throwing their hands in the air.’

UK preparing to lift tariffs on palm oil from Malaysia as price for joining CPTPP trade agreement. / Britain is preparing to sign off on a post-Brexit trade deal that campaigners say will encourage further destruction of nature, threaten the habitat of orangutans in Malaysia and make a mockery of the government’s claims of being committed to tackling deforestation abroad.

However, disenchantment with Brexit has been one of the most notable trends of 2022 with a feeling that it has not lived up to the promises made at the time of the referendum. / Two thirds or 65% of British people think Brexit has gone badly compared to just 21% who think it has gone well according to an Opinium survey in early December.

New Brexit restrictions have had a ‘disastrous’ impact on the ability of UK breeding companies to sell their stock abroad, the Farming Minister was told at the Young NPA National event in London last week. 

Claim that UK farming at risk if ‘soft’ approach pursued with countries with ‘less qualms’ about quality.

Government criticised over ‘indefensible’ proposal that could undermine climate efforts while yielding benefit of only £1.38m.

The UK will be told to lift its ban on hormone-treated beef to achieve its post-Brexit dream of joining a key trade bloc, a leaked government memo suggests.

NHS costs, food standards and intellectual property rights must be protected in any deal by the UK to join a major international trade agreement, a Lords committee has told ministers in a new report.