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| Liam Fox's ministry criticised for lack of Brexit readiness | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Liam Fox’s international trade department has faced sharp criticism over its lack of readiness for Brexit, after it emerged that the creation of the watchdog tasked with protecting UK companies from unfair global trading practices was behind schedule. | |
| The government said on Wednesday that the UK’s Trade Remedies Authority (TRA), an independent watchdog to protect UK industry against unfair trading practices used by other countries, would not be established in time for a no-deal Brexit from as early as next week. | |
| The organisation exists in shadow form only, as a part of the Department for International Trade, and is currently without a chairman after the designated chairman unexpectedly quit last week for personal reasons. | |
| Answering the questions from the Commons trade committee on its plans to cope with a no-deal Brexit, George Hollingbery, a trade minister, said there was a team of staff ready to protect British companies’ interests, even in a no-deal scenario. | |
| “They are up, they are running. The part of the department is fulfilling the job that the TRA would fulfil.” | |
| However, he said: “We would much rather that this was the arms-length body we would wish to see in place.” | |
| Chris Leslie, the Independent Group MP and member of the trade committee, warned that Britain was left with a “flimsy arrangement” and that he did not see “a robust defence, economic defence for those companies whose markets could be decimated by dumped goods coming in without the sufficient defences”. | |
| “We still haven’t got a trade remedies authority established in order to deal with that. Why is this such a mess?” he said. | |
| Responding to Leslie, Hollingbery said: “I can be confident with you today that I disagree entirely with your portrayal of whether or not there will be trade remedies in place.” | |
| Sir David Wright, the chair designate of the TRA, told ministers last week he no longer wanted to take up the role, before the body has formally launched. | |
| The creation of the watchdog has been plagued by delays amid opposition in parliament and as the government’s attention is distracted by Theresa May’s Brexit plan. | The creation of the watchdog has been plagued by delays amid opposition in parliament and as the government’s attention is distracted by Theresa May’s Brexit plan. |
| “He decided to move on, that is not something that the department can control. Our job and the right and proper response to that is not to worry particularly why he went but to find his replacement as soon as possible,” Hollingbery said. | “He decided to move on, that is not something that the department can control. Our job and the right and proper response to that is not to worry particularly why he went but to find his replacement as soon as possible,” Hollingbery said. |
| The minister said he did not know why Wright, the UK’s former ambassador to Japan and Korea, had decided to leave. | The minister said he did not know why Wright, the UK’s former ambassador to Japan and Korea, had decided to leave. |
| The watchdog was expected to be a key component of the government’s post-Brexit drive to expand world trade after leaving the EU. | The watchdog was expected to be a key component of the government’s post-Brexit drive to expand world trade after leaving the EU. |
| The body was intended to propose measures to remove any injuries suffered by UK industry from other countries’ trading practices, such as foreign goods flooding into the UK with the help of subsidies from overseas governments, or tariffs imposed on British imports. | The body was intended to propose measures to remove any injuries suffered by UK industry from other countries’ trading practices, such as foreign goods flooding into the UK with the help of subsidies from overseas governments, or tariffs imposed on British imports. |
| Wright was unveiled by Fox, the secretary of state for international trade, as the chair designate of the TRA in late October. | Wright was unveiled by Fox, the secretary of state for international trade, as the chair designate of the TRA in late October. |
| Fox said at the time: “The TRA will protect UK industry against unfair trading practices, so it is in our national interest to ensure it is set up and appropriately staffed now in the case of no deal.” | Fox said at the time: “The TRA will protect UK industry against unfair trading practices, so it is in our national interest to ensure it is set up and appropriately staffed now in the case of no deal.” |
| International trade | International trade |
| Brexit | Brexit |
| Liam Fox | Liam Fox |
| Economics | Economics |
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