'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.

Saturday 20 February was the 50th day since Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) came into effect. Anyone expecting it to settle all questions, or even most of the details, of how we will do business with the EU from now on will be mightily disappointed.

A Scottish Conservative MSP was left floundering on BBC Newsnight last night as the live audience revealed what they really thought about the state of the country right now after Brexit.

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

British PM is now more likely to push for 'harder' divorce from EU.

he OBR pours cold water on hopes for a big boost from the Pacific trade deal. / Have you ever wondered how the UK, based firmly in the north Atlantic, managed to join the free trade area known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)? After all, as the name suggests, it is for countries around the Pacific.

Boris Johnson’s free trade deal with Australia could cause devastation on a scale with the Highland Clearances, a former Scottish Government minister has claimed.

The UK left the EU at the end of 2020, and according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, Brexit has already led to a significant slump in trade between the EU and the UK... / Brexit supporters endorsed the idea of CANZUK – an alliance between the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

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.

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

'Global Britain' could increase emissions by the equivalent of 44,000 transatlantic flights, research found.

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.

Tokyo is the biggest winner of the UK’s accession to the CPTPP.

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

The U.K.'s anticipated accession to an encompassing trans-Pacific economic agreement in July will provide an "imperceptibly small" boost economically and will not compensate for its exit from the European Union, said Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, in a recent interview with Nikkei.

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.

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. 

Top trade experts say conditions for hidden benefits claimed by Kemi Badenoch are ‘highly unlikely’.

The Independent revealed earlier this year government’s predicted 0.08% boost risked being an overestimate. / Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch was mocked for a prediction the deal with Asia-Pacific countries would grow the economy by 0.08%.

The vision of post-Brexit Britain was one of international trade deals that would propel the country into a new era of prosperity. That vision of “Global Britain” is now dead. Thomas Sampson argues that the only viable alternative is a closer trade relationship with the EU.

Academics say any gains will depend on the possible future expansion of the CTPPP, which as things stand looks both unlikely and undesirable.