What do the General Election Manifestos say about International Trade? Green Party

24 May 2017 Compiled by Fellows of UKTPO Brexit will leave many areas of UK policy open to change. International trade policy is among the most important of these for UK prosperity and also among the most immediate because the status quo cannot simply be extended. This is the fourth in a series of blogs reporting what the major political parties say about trade policy in their 2017 manifestos, as they become available. The UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) has set out a series of issues that it believes should be considered in any election manifesto that might form the basis of the UK’s future trade policy. The table below checks whether or not the Green Party Manifesto mentions these important elements explicitly or implicitly. Following that we offer a brief commentary on the treatment of trade policy in the manifesto. A central aim of the Green Party is for the UK to remain in the EU, or at least in the single market. The former implies no change to current trade policies and hence little need to discuss them in the manifesto. Thus their coverage of trade policy beyond that with the EU is restricted to human rights and [...]

By |2017-05-24T10:02:52+01:0024 May 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

What do the General Election Manifestos say about International Trade? The Conservatives

19 May 2017 Compiled by Fellows of UKTPO Brexit will leave many areas of UK policy open to change. International trade policy is among the most important of these for UK prosperity and also among the most immediate because the status quo cannot simply be extended. This is the third in a series of blogs reporting what the major political parties say about trade policy in their 2017 manifestos, as they become available. The UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) has set out a series of issues that it believes should be considered in any election manifesto that might form the basis of the UK’s future trade policy. The table below checks whether or not the Conservative Manifesto mentions these important elements explicitly or implicitly. Following that we offer a brief commentary on the treatment of trade policy in the manifesto. […]

By |2017-05-19T14:05:05+01:0019 May 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

What do the General Election Manifestos say about International Trade? The Liberal Democrats

18 May 2017 Compiled by Fellows of UKTPO Brexit will leave many areas of UK policy open to change. International trade policy is among the most important of these for UK prosperity and also among the most immediate because the status quo cannot simply be extended. This is the second in a series of blogs reporting what the major political parties say about trade policy in their 2017 manifestos, as they become available. The UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) has set out a series of issues that it believes should be considered in any election manifesto that might form the basis of the UK’s future trade policy. The table below checks whether or not the Liberal Democrats’ Manifesto mentions these important elements explicitly or implicitly. Following that we offer a brief commentary on the treatment of trade policy in the manifesto. The central plank of the Liberal Democrats’ manifesto is remaining in the single market and the customs union. This implies no change to current trade policies and hence little need to discuss them in the manifesto. Thus their coverage of trade policy is rather sparse. […]

By |2017-05-18T11:27:38+01:0018 May 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

What do the General Election Manifestos say about International Trade? Labour 

16 May 2017 Compiled by Fellows of UKTPO Brexit will leave many areas of UK policy open to change. International trade policy is among the most important of these for UK prosperity and also among the most immediate because the status quo cannot simply be extended. This is the first in a series of blogs reporting what the major political parties say about trade policy in their 2017 manifestos, as they become available. The UK Trade Policy Observatory (UKTPO) has set out a series of issues that it believes should be considered in any election manifesto that might form the basis of the UK’s future trade policy. The table below checks whether or not the Labour Party Manifesto mentions these important elements explicitly or implicitly. Following that we offer a brief commentary on the treatment of trade policy in the manifesto. […]

By |2017-05-16T13:46:04+01:0016 May 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|3 Comments

What can Free Trade Agreements do for UK Higher Education?

08 May 2017 L. Alan Winters CB, Professor of Economics and Director of UKTPO. Signing a Free Trade Agreement is neither necessary nor sufficient for two countries (or groups of countries) to cooperate and enhance trade in research or higher education services. Doing so helps significantly, but needs to be followed up by detailed operational agreements at a lower level.  […]

By |2017-05-08T13:43:31+01:008 May 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

‘With or without EU’ – priorities for the UK’s four trading nations post Brexit

29 March 2017 New analysis shows that the nations of the UK are exposed to trade with the EU in quite different ways. If the UK leaves the EU without a trade deal the effects across regions will be quite different and this should therefore influence our trading priorities Our Fellows have analysed trade data to examine the regional and sectoral impact of Brexit as well as the overall national impact. Their findings, portrayed in a short video animation show that choosing trade priorities on the basis of aggregate UK data does not take into account the fact that the nations within the UK are exposed to trade with the EU in different ways. https://youtu.be/3uyf9sU__XQ […]

By |2017-03-29T13:27:19+01:0029 March 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Environmental protection sidelined on the UK’s Brexit agenda

7 February 2017 Dr Emily Lydgate is a lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex and a fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory. While the UK government White Paper on leaving the EU may be light on detail, it does suggest that securing UK environmental protections is near the bottom of its list of priorities, with a scant dedicated paragraph (8.41). Compare this with its complete section on worker’s rights; or compare to the country of Wales, which includes maintaining social and environmental standards as one of six Brexit priorities. […]

By |2017-02-07T16:08:41+00:007 February 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|0 Comments

Brexit: an opportunity to develop a better import quota system

16 January 2017 Guest blog by Katie Doherty, Policy and Operations Manager at The International Meat Trade Association Though a significant challenge, Brexit presents an opportunity for the UK to devise its own import quota system. The current EU Tariff-rate Quote (TRQ) system is out of date and does not reflect the modern trade. For example, there are many frozen meat quotas that, as technology has developed, would be better suited as chilled meat quotas. Additionally, due to the exceedingly high EU MFN tariffs, it is generally not economically viable to import into the EU unless under a Tariff Rate Quota. […]

By |2017-01-16T14:17:43+00:0016 January 2017|UK - Non EU, UK- EU|1 Comment

Trade and development after Brexit

20 December 2016 In the season of goodwill, let’s not forget our responsibilities to developing countries when we leave the EU. Rorden Wilkinson is Professor of International Relations and a fellow of the UK Trade Policy Observatory  A great deal of the Brexit debate has focused on the possible shape of the UK’s trade architecture after 2019. It has, however, largely ignored how others—particularly developing countries—see or will be affected by the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU). I think this is to our peril and we should, with some urgency, turn our attention to thinking about the future of our relationship with the developing world. But we need to do so remembering to shoulder our responsibilities to weaker and poorer countries, extending ‘goodwill’ to all. […]

By |2016-12-20T12:03:32+00:0020 December 2016|UK - Non EU|1 Comment

President Trump and Brexit

9 November 2016 L. Alan Winters, Professor of Economics and Director of UKTPO. Donald Trump viewed Brexit as a great victory. He also said that the UK would not be at the back of the line for trade deals – perhaps because there would be no line! But where does Trump’s victory leave the overall strategy of Brexit? It makes keeping good access to the EU market – some form of soft Brexit – even more important than it was previously. […]

By |2016-11-09T13:25:43+00:009 November 2016|UK - Non EU|0 Comments
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