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What would the Labour party’s priorities be for trade?

International Trade conference: hear from Shadow Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry about Labour’s priorities for trade deals and the opportunities she sees for values-based global trade.

15 Oct 2020, 2 min read

CBI Deputy Director-General Josh Hardie asks Shadow Trade Secretary Emily Thornberry about Labour’s trade policy and how it would approach trade deals, the UK’s G7 Presidency in 2020 and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), if the party were in power.

Speakers 

  • Josh Hardie, Deputy Director-General, CBI 
  • Emily Thornberry, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade 

Watch the session

Highlights from the session:

  • While opposed to Brexit, Thornberry acknowledged that it would allow the UK to recover its traditional role as ‘one of the great trading nations of the world’ and take a ‘modern approach to trade’ based on ‘our values’   
  • She recounts how she has come to realise during the pandemic that the ‘best way of protecting ourselves is to make sure that trade routes remain open’   
  • She argues for a much stronger national conversation about trade, with governments legally bound to consult parliament to ensure ‘proper democratic accountability’ 
  • She urges DIT do the essential bread and butter of helping SMEs to export because business still need to feel that government is making a difference 
  • Setting out how Labour would approach trade deals, the priority is Europe and continuity of existing trade deals. She states that Labour should keep an open mind on the US or CPTPP but make our own choices before rushing into binding commitments
  • If Labour were in power now, priorities for international trade would be making climate change and food standards front and centre at the WTO.