Tag Archives: trade policy

25 June 2025 – today’s Federal press releases

  • PAC Covid loans report: unacceptable still no sign of the billions “mugged from taxpayers”
  • Lib Dems demand mandatory vote in Parliament before any British forces sent to conflict zones as nearly 60% of Britons back a vote ahead of any UK action in Iran
  • Trade Strategy has “missed the mark” and shows a Government “cowering in the corner” – Lib Dems

PAC Covid loans report: unacceptable still no sign of the billions “mugged from taxpayers”

Responding to the Public Accounts Committee report which states that the Government has been “dangerously-flat footed” in recovering taxpayer losses from fraudulent Covid loans, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper MP said:

Nearly a year after the Government announced its Covid corruption czar, it’s unacceptable that there’s still no sign of the billions of pounds that were mugged from taxpayers.

The Conservative Party oversaw awful abuse of the public finances, essentially allowing a dodgy get rich quick scheme to operate at the expense of people struggling with the catastrophe of the Covid pandemic. But now under this Government, those people seem to be getting off scot free.

Ministers cannot allow this situation to drift any longer. We must see real focus at the top of Government so that these people have to bear the full force of the law and these billions are returned to taxpayers pockets.

Lib Dems demand mandatory vote in Parliament before any British forces sent to conflict zones as nearly 60% of Britons back a vote ahead of any UK action in Iran

The Liberal Democrats have tabled a bill to legally require a Parliamentary vote ahead of the Government deploying British soldiers abroad, as compelling polling commissioned by the party shows that nearly 6 in 10 Britons (57%) believe Parliament should vote on any UK military action taken in Iran.

Posted in News and Press releases | Also tagged , , and | 1 Comment

Ten freeports by Spring; Boris’s post-Brexit economic miracle

What should the Liberal Democrats do about Boris’s freeports idea? It is alleged that 85,000 jobs will be created.

What is a freeport?

It is a simple idea as old as customs duties themselves. Countries designate an area of land accessible in some way from outside their territory, as outwith their national boundaries for the purposes of customs, taxes and regulations. This means the freeport is a quasi-foreign territory free of all taxes and inspections, even though physically it is inside the host country.

The point is that goods or materials can come into the territory without paying any duties …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged | 13 Comments

Brexit from afar: a Caribbean perspective…

I thought that it might be interesting to find out how Brexit looks from beyond the European Union, and this week’s commentary comes courtesy of the Barbados Advocate, and its columnist, David Jessop.

He starts by summarising what he sees as the current imponderables – the Irish border, the role of the UK Parliament in terms of the final position and, interestingly, the fault lines in both the Conservative and Labour Parties. And then, he turns to the likely impact on the Caribbean Commonwealth;

None of this helps remove the continuing uncertainty for the Caribbean about the possible shape of its future

Posted in Europe / International and News | Also tagged and | 14 Comments

LibLink: Miriam Gonzáles says free trade has won: adapt or die is the only option left to us

Writing on the Tata steel crisis in the Guardian, Miriam Gonzáles, who is a partner at the global specialist law firm, Dechert LLP, specialising in international trade, writes:

The Tata Steel sale has revived the battle between protectionists and free traders, a debate that became particularly acute in the run-up to the creation of the World Trade Organisation in 1995, which marked the success of “free traders” all around the world.

Posted in LibLink | Also tagged and | 11 Comments

Fiona Hall writes: EU exit would jeopardise Britain’s global trade

For years Europhobes have been propagating the misconception that Britain has to choose between the EU and the rest of the world.

 However, this ‘choice’ between the EU and the rest of the world is a false choice. Indeed, being part of the EU is the best way to increase Britain’s trade with emerging markets.  As Nick Clegg pointed out in his speech on Europe last week, the EU has free trade agreements in force with 46 countries and negotiations with another 78 countries are currently under way. In addition, the European Parliament last week lent its weight to launching new negotiations with the USA and Japan.

Posted in Europe / International and Op-eds | Also tagged and | 25 Comments
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Recent Comments

  • Simon McGrath
    I am afraid this article is an example of someone applying simplistic solutions in an area of which they are wholly ignorant. Even a cursory study of the vario...
  • Lin Macmillan
    I am very supportive of Christine and her decision. I am very unhappy that our MPs were not whipped to vote against the dreadful Tory amendment. I am also ver...
  • Richard Dickson
    Thank you Christine for all you've done, and doubtless will continue to do with great style, with and for people in our communities whose voice is often not lis...
  • Nigel Quinton
    “Whipped to abstain” - isn’t that the very definition of virtue signalling irrelevance? What an utter Westminster bubble farce....
  • Chris Lewcock
    Very poor group management. Christine should never have been pushed into this position....