UK MUST leave Customs Union to secure trade deals with Commonwealth nations, ex-PM says
BRITAIN must leave the European Union’s customs union so it can make trade deals with “economically advanced” Commonwealth nations, Australia’s former prime minister has claimed.
Tony Abbott endorsed a report entitled the Free Enterprise Group, co-authored by Tory MP James Cleverly, which urged Britain to tear up the tariff-free customs union so it can strike its own deals with growing Commonwealth economies such as India, Australia and Canada.
The report claimed eight per cent of all of Britain’s exports go to Commonwealth countries – a burgeoning share which is growing and already twice the size of China.
Out of the 28 EU nations, the UK is the largest export destination for Commonwealth nations such as Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and South Africa – adding more impetuous on British authorities to secure beneficial deals for the country.
The report said that a trade-only deal should be struck with the country and urged MPs push through an updated trade white paper so products can be sold to avoid excessive red tape.
Free trade agreements will then go “hand-in-hand” with relaxing visa restrictions on skilled Commonwealth nationals who want to live and work in Britain.
Tony Abbott: Brexit will be good for the world
Free trade agreements with economically advanced Commonwealth countries are the obvious place for Britain to start
Mr Abbott said: “The best way to ensure that free trade has few losers, even in the short term, is to begin with much freer trade between like-minded countries with comparable standards of living.
"Free trade agreements with economically advanced Commonwealth countries are the obvious place for Britain to start."
In the foreword of the report, Mr Abbott claimed: "This is an exciting time for Britain and an exhilarating one for the countless millions elsewhere who appreciate Britain’s unique contribution to western civilisation.
"Brexit was not a vote against free trade because the EU has acted as a protectionist bloc against trade with outsiders.”
Mr Cleverly, who co-authored the report, said: "The Government must a publish a plan to utilise the 'Commonwealth Advantage' and build our trade links with the Commonwealth.
"A market of 2.3 billion people and some of the fastest-growing economies in the world is too big an opportunity to ignore."