At your service: ‘why boosting services trade will open doors for UK prosperity’

Services are an often-invisible component of daily life, yet they are essential to UK prosperity. From advertising to architecture, lawyers to lecturers, software to social work, services employ almost 30 million people across the UK. And when it comes to trade, services are a major competitive strength for the UK, with its surplus in global services trade totaling £105bn in 2018.

Services are a critical contributor to the UK economy and regional growth. The UK’s position as a global leader in trade in services means that the government must have services at the heart of new trading strategies, including ambitious services provisions in every trade deal the UK strikes.

Our paper, ‘At your service: Why boosting services trade will open doors for UK prosperity’ outlines the considerable economic contribution that services make and calls on government to include ambitious services provisions in future trade deals.

The CBI recommendations to government

• Negotiate deep access to services in the EU, beyond WTO provisions
• Press for better market access within current trading partners
• Seek ambitious provisions on data, mobility and establishment rights in new trade deals with markets such as the US and Japan
• Use the UK’s newly bolstered presence in multilateral fora to champion services globally.