In this session, the UK Trade and Business Commission met to take a holistic look at current global trading environments.

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 what role healthcare might have in future UK trade deals.

In this session, the UK Trade and Business Commission met to hear from experts what role devolution and levelling up have in future UK trade deals.

In this session, the UK Trade and Business Commission met to hear from experts who can outline what the UK Government need to do in order to embed environmental and standards protections in future UK trade deals.

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 agriculture and fishing industries post-Brexit.

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.

The UK Trade and Business Commission took evidence on the best approaches with which to conduct future international trading relationships. Ensuring that trade maximises domestic priorities while also strengthening international partnerships is an important balance to achieve, and it is critical going forward that the UK does not sacrifice its overall aims and goals by rushing insufficient trade deals which do not feed into overall UK objectives.

Arts and culture is a cornerstone in the UK’s global influence and soft power but creative industries have been badly impacted in the aftermath of Brexit. As the government pursues new international trade deals, the UK Trade and Business Commission took evidence on the current economic challenges facing the creative sectors and what is required in future trade deals to ensure the UK's cultural sector thrives.

This session of the UK Trade and Business Commission analysed the UK’s manufacturing and construction sectors, with one hour-long panel on manufacturing immediately followed by an hour-long panel on construction.

This session of the UK Trade and Business Commission took evidence on the fashion and textile industry and the potential UK-India Free Trade Agreement.

This session of the UK Trade and Business Commission took evidence on prospective UK free trade agreements with Canada and the USA.

The UK Trade and Business Commission has taken evidence on several occasions from a wide range of stakeholders on the Northern Ireland Protocol. This involved the Commission making a visit to Belfast in March 2022. In June 2022, the UK Government introduced a 'Northern Ireland Protocol Bill' proposing significant unilateral changes to existing agreements between the UK and EU.

This sessions looked at the potential impact of UK Free Trade Agreements, the UK Trade and Business Commissioned examined the deal already in place with Japan and the negotiations that are under discussion with India. By total GDP, Japan is the largest country which the UK has a relationship with, and India is the largest country which the UK was actively negotiating with at the time of the meeting .

Witnesses provided analysis on the UK government’s approach, what benefits are expected from the deals or had already been delivered, and how different parts of the UK economy were likely to benefit.

Co-Convenors of the UK Trade and Business Commission Hilary Benn MP and Peter Norris led a delegation to Kent on Monday 16th May.

The UK government had announced the completion of two entirely new Free Trade Agreements, with Australia and New Zealand by the time of this meeting, and there has been the suggestion it may complete others including joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

On 1st January 2022 exports between Great Britain and the European Union became subject to new import checks and wider customs controls as part of a staged control of new measures resulting from Brexit . These changes focus on both import and export checks and there are also temporary arrangements for movements from Ireland. Further changes were due to be introduced in July 2022.

The Commission’s first annual report was published on the 11th March 2022 and it proposed 21 concrete interventions, aimed at improving cooperation and trade between the UK and its closest neighbours.

Led by Peter Norris and Hilary Benn, the UK Trade and Business Commission’s delegation landed early on the morning of Thursday 3rd March 2021.

This live panel reflected on the work of the UK Trade and Business Commission during 2021 before looking ahead to the Future of Trade in 2022.