In a speech at Manchester Town Hall this morning, The International Trade Secretary said that Brexit presents a ‘glorious opportunity to reset our global trading relationships, place ourselves back in the centre of an increasingly interconnected world and build an economy that works for all’
He told the audience that there was now a “post-geography trading world” and predicted the UK would “carry the standard of free and open trade as a badge of honour” once it leaves the EU.
Dr Fox, whose comments about lazy businessmen preferring golf to doing deals, caused some controversy earlier this month, defended his remarks
“What I said was as a country we have been too willing to rest upon the achievements of previous generations,” he said, adding “I think the figures speak for themselves.”
He also hinted that the UK will leave the single market in a hard Brexit, saying that Britain will be a ‘newly independent member’ of the World Trade Organisation.
In a wide ranging speech he also referred to Manchester’s past
“The idea that governments should restrict the right of individuals to exchange their hard work for goods and services at an agreed price in an open market is one of the gravest infringements of personal liberty I can think of.
Just a stone’s throw away from here is Manchester Free Trade Hall: built to commemorate the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846.
The Corn Laws kept the prices of basic items such as bread artificially high to protect wealthy landowners from foreign competition.
These tariffs hit ordinary workers the hardest and they rightly saw it as an unfair attempt to preserve the wealth of a privileged minority at the expense of an increasingly hungry majority.
The echoes of this epic struggle reverberate down the halls of history and changed the course of our nation.
Today, as then, by putting the consumer first, free trade has been one of the great levellers in our society ensuring that more people can access more goods at greater value, making their incomes go further.”
