Brexit talks breakthrough: Liz Truss reveals booming future for UK after cutting EU ties

Brexiteer and Secretary of State Liz Truss claimed the UK would greatly benefit from becoming a part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after Brexit. During a speech at a Policy Exchange webinar event, Ms Truss claimed the CPTPP would allow Britain to grow in ways that it could not, had it stayed a member of the EU. Ms Truss said: “I also think it’s important to recognise these benefits we could gain by joining CPTPP that wouldn’t have been able to access as a member of the European Union.

“We would be able to accede to this agreement in ways that does not damage our national sovereignty.

“There is no ECJ and there is no harmonisation of domestic regulation and there is no seizing of our sovereign power.

Ms Truss then listed the benefits she expects the UK to see by becoming a part of the CPTPP.

She continued: “What it allows us to do is to be part of a modern, rules-based free trade area.”

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“It enables us to sign up to advanced digital provisions.

“In effect, become part of a digital free trade area and I think that is incredibly important for the UK.”

Ms Truss also claimed the UK will be a key reason for the World Trade Organisation to adopt new rules and modernise.

She said: “We are third in the world in terms of the number of our billion-dollar tech companies, after the US and China, it is a real comparative advantage for us.

She said: “If you look at the patterns of our trade, since 2001, the value of the UK’s trade with the rest of the world has grown 60 percentage points more than our value of trade with the EU.

“What we want to do is go further, faster.

“Right now we are currently negotiating free trade agreements with the United States, with Japan, with Australia and New Zealand.

“We’ve got a team of negotiators working around the clock to make this happen.

“I see this as a broader strategy of the UK becoming a central hub, a network of free trade agreements. A Networked Britain, not Fortress Britain.”