The Queen's Speech 2022 – what it means for a globalised economy

With Northern Ireland back in the headlines after this week’s State Opening of Parliament, some important announcements on trade in the Queen’s speech may have been overshadowed.

Here’s all you need to know on what the Queen’s Speech means for trade.

Advancing paperless trade

With the introduction of the Electronic Trade Documents Bill, the government is stating its commitment to put electronic trade documents on the same legal footing as paper, which should increase efficiency and make it easier business of all sizes to access the benefits of trading.

Paperless trading can help to facilitate trade by significantly cutting burdensome processes and so the advancement by government on this topic is welcome. Electronic documents should make it quicker, easier and cheaper to trade. By increasing efficiency and decreasing administrative costs it should enable business in all regions and nations to benefit from the advantages of trading, including increased productivity.

There are an estimated four billion paper documents used each year for shipment of goods and trade finance and digitising these would:

• cut costs
• reduce delays
• support greater technology use throughout the supply chain

These improvements would make significant gains for the trade ecosystem, particularly SMEs, who often lack the time and the capacity to manage the estimated 15 documents required per trade transaction.

Enabling the implementation of new Free Trade Agreements

The Queen’s Speech has introduced, through the Trade (Australia and New Zealand) Bill, the ability to implement the UK’s first new Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) since leaving the EU. This Bill will make changes to the UK’s domestic procurement regulations to comply with the obligations set out in each FTA.

The successful implementation of FTA’s is key for helping create and maintain thriving regions and nations, with business of all sizes and sectors within the UK benefiting – maximising uptake on these new trade deals is a key part of the CBI’s Seize the Moment campaign.

The UK-Australia FTA was the UK’s first deal created from scratch since leaving the EU and highlights the government ambition for future deals. The deal is expected to unlock £10.4 billion of additional trade, boosting the UK economy and increasing wages, while eliminating tariffs on UK exports to Australia. As a result, over £4 billion of UK exports will no longer be subject to tariffs.

Unlocking Brexit opportunities

With the Brexit Freedoms Bill, the government is seeking to replace EU laws with UK ones. The stated ambition of government is to create ‘the best regulated economy in the world and creating a regulatory environment that encourages prosperity, innovation, entrepreneurship’. With a promise to cut £1 billion in regulations for business they have identified 1,400 laws to review.

The CBI welcomes this approach to post-Brexit regulation and is eager to continue to work with government to identify the key areas where we can set regulation that works best for business. Collaboration between business and government is key in ensuring we get the policy right.

The UK can use Brexit as an opportunity to lead on bold regulatory reform in emerging industries, whilst ensuring the UK remains competitive. It will be important to pitch the UK as the smartest, most future focused regulator, winning the big bets on the economy and giving us competitive advantage on the world stage – from financial services to data, new industries can transform the UK into a global regulation rule-setter.

Speak to Helena for more information what the Queen’s Speech means, or to learn how you can get involved with our work on exports, free trade agreements and wider international policy.