UK Edition
Liam Fox has given the strongest hint yet that the Government will prioritise border controls over membership of the Single Market after it leaves the European Union.
The International Trade Secretary yesterday heralded the "glorious opportunity" of Brexit as he said for the first time that he wants Britain to become a full independent member of the World Trade Organisation.
The move makes it increasingly likely that Britain will abandon full membertship of the Single Market so it can bring in curbs on the free movement of EU migrants.
Britain is instead expected to pursue a deal which will "maximise access" to the Single Market while retaining the ability to make free trade deals.
He also suggested that "modern-day critics of free trade" such as Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, should learn from the "devastating failures of alternative economic models" such as communism.
It came as Nissan, the Japanese car manufacturer, warned that it could scrap new investment in it's UK car plant unless the Government compensates it for any tarriffs imposed after Brexit.
Speaking in Manchester, Dr Fox said that Britain's free trade after it leaves the European Union will be "at least as free" as it is now. He suggested that Europe will suffer more than Britain if it chooses to erect trade barriers.
He said: “Through the WTO the UK has helped push through the trade facilitation agreement which, once implemented, could add over £70 billion to the global economy annually, of which £1 billion will come to the UK.
“As a newly independent WTO member outside the EU, we will continue to fight for trade liberalisation as well as potentially helping developing markets trade their way out of poverty by giving them preferential access to our markets.
“The UK is a full and founding member of the WTO, though we have chosen to be represented by the EU in recent years,” he said. “As we establish our independent position post-Brexit, we will carry the standard of free and open trade as a badge of honour”.
He said that "protectionism never helps anyone at all, adding: "Who does it harm more if we end up in a new tariff environment?
"It is in everyones interests that we have at least as free trading environment as we have today, anything else may not harm institutions but it will harm the people of Europe and it is the people of Europe who should be at the forefront of our thoughts.”
Dr Fox also defended his decision to warn that businesses are “too lazy and too fat”. Speaking of his previous experience as a doctor he said: “My job was not to tell people what they wanted to hear, it was to tell people what they needed to hear to put things right.
“If that applies to being a doctor, why does it not apply to politics? A question I have always wondered.”
He told an audience of business leaders: “Protectionism never actually helps anybody at all. We want it [trade with the EU] to be as free and as open as possible and don’t just look it from a UK perspective, the European Union has a massive surplus in goods to the UK.
Carlos Ghosn, Nissan's chief executive, said: "If there are tax barriers being established on cars, you have to have a commitment for carmakers who export to Europe that there is some kind of compensation."
In his speech Dr Fox set out the “unprecedented opportunity” presented by the vote to leave and spoke of how it will be an “exhilarating time” for the UK to reclaim its place on the world’s trading stage.
He said: "Today, we stand on the verge of an unprecedented ability to liberate global trade for the benefit of our whole planet with technological advances dissolving away the barriers of time and distance.
"It is potentially the beginning of what I might call ‘post geography trading world’ where we are much less restricted in having to find partners who are physically close to us.
"It is an exhilarating, empowering and liberating time yet this bright future is being darkened by the shadows of protectionism and retrenchment. History teaches us that such trends do not bode well for the future.”
He added: "That is the glorious joy of free trade – it is not a zero-sum game, it really can be win-win."
"The EU/Korea free trade agreement (FTA), which came into effect in July 2011, is just one example. In the year before the FTA was agreed, the UK sold just over 2,000 cars to South Korea. In 2014 that number reached over 13,000."
The UK will lose the right to remain part of such an agreement when it leaves the EU unless a deal can be struck to retain the benefits of the deal as an independent state.
He also appeared to hint at a link between "closed economies" like North Korea and the EU, stating that the citizens of nations that do not embrace free trade fully are worse off.
Dr Fox added: "In 1945, both North and South Korea began from a very similar base, but while South Korea embraced open trade and free markets, Pyongyang turned inwards with the tragic consequences for its citizens that we see to this day.
"Seoul is now at the heart of a thriving economy and dynamic democracy where freedom and prosperity are shared among all its people. It should come as no surprise that while over 80 per cent of South Koreans have access to the Internet, less than 0.1 per cent of North Koreans enjoy the same.
"More tragically, there is a greater than 10-year discrepancy in the life expectancy of those north and south of the demilitarised zone. For the prize of free trade can be measured not simply in terms of economics but in human terms too.
"There is a reason why those who wish to diminish political freedoms try to have closed economies because they know that, especially in the era of the technical revolution that is the Internet and social media, open markets will sweep in empowering and liberalising ideas."