In this session, the UK Trade and Business Commission met to hear from experts what role future UK trade deals can have in skills development and inward investment.

In this session, the UK Trade and Business Commission met to hear from experts who can outline what the UK Government can do to support the growth of Financial Services and FinTech industries.

This session of the UK Trade and Business Commission took evidence on the cost of living crisis, querying if the recent UK Government action had worsened the crisis.

The UK has become entrenched in one of the worst cost of living crises since records began at the time of this session, and one facet in which this is being felt most sharply is on food prices. Whilst this crisis is ongoing, the UK continues to determine its post-Brexit food and agriculture policy.

This meeting considered the impact of changing UK trade arrangements specifically on Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) across the country. There was a global concern that smaller companies find modern trade barriers disproportionately hard to overcome, and anecdotally it seemed that smaller UK exporters had been particularly badly hit by the changes to trade relations with the EU since January 2021, which could have had an particularly bad influence on some regions of the UK.

This meeting considered the short and long-term impact of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement on the UK’s financial services sector. Witnesses were asked to outline the nature of UK trade in financial services, the impact of barriers to trade with the EU, and opportunities available elsewhere. Whilst the supporting professional services environment in London was referenced it was not the main focus of this session. The intention was rather to focus on the detail of the financial services sector, the nature of the change from member to third country, how this affects UK trade, and what practical steps can be taken with the EU and other markets to strengthen the UK.

This meeting considered the likely short and long term economic impacts of the change in UK-EU trade relationship from membership of a customs union and single market, to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Witnesses were asked to comment on the immediate impacts and longer term prospects for UK-EU trade, including integration within cross-European supply chains, and whether the effects on trade with the EU will be compensated for by greater trade with the rest of the world.