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.

Ministers have been accused of pushing for post-Brexit trade deals with more than a dozen countries around the world that do not guarantee workers’ rights or systematically violate employee protections.

Ministers are desperate to sign new trade deals after damaging the UK economy with Brexit.

Trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan kicking off talks in Saudi Arabia.