Keir Starmer’s post-Brexit ‘reset’ of relations with the EU could trigger an arms race that leads other countries to offer the UK better trade deals, senior Whitehall figures believe.
The prime minister has promised to fix Britain’s damaged relationship with the European Union for the benefit of “generations to come”.
But insiders believe the move could also make the UK more attractive to do business with and spark competition among other nations to offer the UK improved agreements.
“We hope that the ‘reset’ with the EU can have an important knock-on effect. And that would be that other countries, not in the EU, offer us enhanced trade deals,” a senior Whitehall official said.
Before Brexit the UK was part of the EU when it came to negotiating trade deals.
But since leaving the bloc, Britain has been trying to strike its own agreements with countries around the world.
However, this has proven difficult.
Earlier this year the UK suspended its trade talks with Canada after two years of negotiations, in a row over agricultural products such as beef.
And Boris Johnson has been accused of “embarrassing” Britain with a disastrous £10 billion trade deal with Australia he is alleged to have blundered into amid farcical scenes.
The Australians considered the deal so unbalanced in their favour they made fun of it on national television.
At the time a furious Liz Truss, then the foreign secretary, was reportedly told by a crowing Australian delegation that her boss, Mr Johnson, had already “given away the kingdom”, a former minister involved in the talks told Politico.
In extraordinary scenes, then prime minister Johnson is said to have told the Australians, included the country’s PM, that he had agreed to the terms because he wanted to apologise for Britain’s decision to join the EU 50 years ago.
At the time a spokesperson for Mr Johnson claimed the report was “total nonsense”.
David Henig, UK director at the trade policy think tank ECIPE, said: “The EU reset should open up the space for deeper trade deals with other European countries (outside the EU) like Turkey and Switzerland, but it is harder to see obvious positive knock-on effects with others such as the Gulf or India.”
