Right-wing papers like the Sun have been busy praising the deal for paving the way for ‘cheaper booze and chocolate’.
Brexiteers have been heaping praise on the Tory government and hailing Brexit freedoms after Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch signed the UK up to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between 11 countries across the Indo-Pacific, including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam – and now the UK.
Right-wing papers like the Sun have been busy praising the deal for paving the way for ‘cheaper booze and chocolate’.
Yet we ought to remember that according to the government’s own previous estimates, the CPTPP deal will increase UK gross domestic product by just 0.08 per cent over a decade. That amounts to £1.8bn. Slow hand clap for the government.
The OBR meanwhile estimates that the economic hit caused by Brexit to the UK economy will mean GDP is reduced by 4%.
And as Marianne Schneider-Petsinger of Chatham House pointed out, the ‘economic benefit of joining is minimal and does not compensate for the cost of leaving the European Union (EU).’
Marianne also adds: “The UK already has bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with nine of the eleven current CPTPP members, which limits potential economic effects.”
The TUC has also condemned the CPTPP. It said in a statement: “The TUC believes the UK should not join CPTPP as we share concerns of trade unions across CPTPP countries that the deal significantly threatens workers’ rights, regulatory standards, public services and democratic decision making and puts millions of jobs at risk.”
The deal then certainly isn’t the ‘Brexit boost’ Brexiteers had hoped for.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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