Brexit: Britain 'scoping' free trade deals in time to leave EU in January 2019

Brexit: Trade deals could be ready to sign the day the UK leaves the EU
Virginia Mayo/AP
Hatty Collier17 July 2016
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Britain is “scoping” free trade deals with a dozen countries outside the EU in time for Brexit on January 1, 2019, it was revealed today.

Theresa May spoke to her Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull during a phone call yesterday, in which he expressed his desire to open up trading between the two Commonwealth countries as a matter of urgency.

The new PM described the call as "very encouraging" and insisted it showed that she could “make Brexit could work for Britain”.

Liam Fox, the newly-appointed international trade secretary tasked with exploring new options for Britain, revealed that numerous non-EU countries had already asked for a deal.

He told the Sunday Times he was "scoping about a dozen free trade deals outside the EU to be ready for when we leave", amid reports that he was preparing to fly to the United States next week.

Newly-appointed: International trade secretary Liam Fox 
REUTERS/Neil Hall

Dr Fox told the newspaper: "We can make Britain a beacon for open trade. We’ve already had a number of countries saying: we’d love to do a trade deal with the world’s fifth-biggest economy without having to deal with the other 27 members of the EU.”

Fox said he would line up deals ready to sign the day the UK leaves — dubbed “B-Day” in Whitehall — by January 1, 2019, while Mrs May acknowledged that Britain could not sign any deals while it was still an EU member.

Hailing Australia’s attitude to a deal as proof Brexit could benefit Britain, she said: "I have been very clear that this Government will make a success of our exit from the European Union. One of the ways we will do this is by embracing the opportunities to strike free trade deals with our partners across the globe.”

Meanwhile, Brexit Secretary David Davis said EU citizens may be blocked from staying in Britain permanently even if they arrive before the country leaves the union.

He said the Government may have to take a tough line with EU immigrants who come to the UK before Brexit happens, and therefore get the automatic right to stay permanently under free movement rules.

Mrs May has said immigration could rise in the short term if EU citizens feel they need to get to Britain before it leaves and can impose controls on European immigration.

Asked about a potential spike in immigration numbers, Mr Davis told the Mail on Sunday: "We may have to deal with that. There are a variety of possibilities.

"We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date. But you have to make those judgments on reality, not speculation."

He stopped short of guaranteeing the status of EU nationals already in the country, a position for which Mrs May has received fierce criticism from across the political spectrum.

Mr Davis said: "We will get a generous settlement for EU migrants here now and a generous settlement for British citizens in the EU."

He is part of a triumvirate of Brexit-backing new Cabinet ministers, alongside Dr Fox and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, tasked with pulling the country out of the EU.

Elsewhere Mr Johnson, who will travel to Brussels for an EU foreign ministers summit beginning on Monday, insisted the country can now become "Global Britain".

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