Keynote speeches from David Lammy MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Paul Dreschsler, Chair of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Keynote speeches from Lord Bilimoria CBE, DL, Founder of Cobra Beer, and Nick Thomas-Symonds, Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade.

Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain, talks Trade Unlocked with Ayesha Hazarika. Naomi reflects on the discussions and ideas covered during the day and explains how delegates and all businesses can make an impact on government policy.

Opening remarks by Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain and Juergen Maier, Chair of the Trade Unlocked Organising Committee and former Chief Executive of Siemens UK.

Part of the Brexit prospectus was the ability for the UK to diverge from what were perceived as overly burdensome EU regulations that were holding business back. Business has however largely demanded continued alignment, seeing instead a burden if UK rules were to diverge from what are often global norms.

London plays an outsize role in UK trade and investment. While there are exporters and specialisms across the country, it is the capital city that dominates inward investment as well as the UK’s services exports. Other parts of the country frequently feel left behind, poorly connected to each other, and far too little consulted.

Transitioning to the net-zero economy is one of the great policy challenges of the coming years, with inevitable interplay with trade. Openness should facilitate the spread of technologies to help tackle climate change, yet it could also encourage the offshoring of emissions to avoid regulations.

In this session, Professor Bart van Ark, Managing Director of The Productivity Institute, will present a diagnosis of the specific UK issues that have been identified in its research to date. A panel of experts and practitioners will then discuss and explore the things that businesses and government need to address in order to make the UK a competitive and productive place.

While there has been much talk since 2016 about the opportunities for the UK to do things differently after Brexit, in practice this has proved difficult. In particular given that the EU is the leading global regulatory power, the costs of change from this have become more evident.

Governments and political leaders seem to have been slow to understand the implications of supply chains, in their decisions around movement of people and goods. While there is now greater awareness, it is far from clear that the right framework is in place for the UK economy.

Open trade governed under commonly agreed rules is under threat. World Trade Organisation members are unable to agree to new rules in crucial areas such as climate change and subsidies, while its appeals body is non-operational due to a US boycott. No longer a member of one of the world’s trade superpowers, the UK finds itself as a middle power, dependent on global trade rules, but with only a limited amount of influence over them.

The UK Trade and Business Commission recently published a comprehensive assessment of the state of UK trade containing 114 recommendations to remove barriers to growth and prepare the UK economy for the challenges and opportunities of the next decade. Our panel, composed of members of and advisers to the Commission, discuss this report in further detail.

Trade barriers facing UK companies have risen, and are higher in general than those facing their competitors in neighbouring countries. While new Free Trade Agreements with Australia and New Zealand are in the process of being implemented, few are expecting to make significant use of them.

Various suggestions have been made as to how to understand the UK inward investment picture. There have been suggestions that the UK is doing much better for services rather than manufacturing investment, that the UK is no longer attractive as a base for sales to Europe, and / or of a shift from greenfield to asset investing, reflecting that the UK is still regarded as a safe haven.

For those wishing to visit the UK, new restrictions have curbed school visits while there are long-standing issues with the cost and smallprint of working visas, particularly for smaller business sponsors such as entertainment venues. In negotiating trade agreements, the UK approach to commitments on labour mobility can be a serious problem preventing reciprocal gains.