“Our new Government led by Sir Keir Starmer is once again letting us all down,” says Reform's Richard Tice

Starmer’s trade plans don’t include the US - Is he simply fixated on pivoting back to the EU?

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2024

Fifth and final part in our "UK Brexports to the US" series, with Reform UK's Richard Tice and the Texas US State Governor, Greg Abbott

Yesterday the Facts4EU.Org think-tank revealed the latest official information on the UK’s State-by-State trade pacts agreed by the previous United Kingdom government across the US. GB News were ahead of the curve on this, and covered our exclusive and pre-published reports on the Martin Daubney show starting on Friday 08 November, ahead of any other broadcaster.

A Brexit Facts4EU.Org exports series
The independent UK selling to the world

PART I - Brexit Britain’s fastest growing export markets for goods and services, 2016 – 2024
PART II - Brexit Britain’s biggest customers last year (2023)
PART III - Post-Brexit, UK exports to Trump’s America grew 57% faster than exports to the EU
PART IV - UK now has EIGHT trade deals with US states - More to come in President Trump's America?
PART V (This report) - The future : Is Starmer's government fixated on pivoting back to the EU and missing a huge opportunity?

In this fifth and final report in our “UK ‘Brexports’ to the US” series, we ask if the new Labour Government of Sir Keir Starmer is interested in pursuing the massive trade opportunities with the UK’s largest trading partner, the US? Or will he continue to pivot towards the smaller and slower-growing market of the EU27?

Today we summarise the information we published in the first four reports in this series and look to the future. We do so with the help of the Deputy Leader of Reform UK Richard Tice MP, the Governor of the State of Texas, Greg Abbott, the House of Commons Library, and Sarah Elliott of Republicans Overseas UK.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Highlights from our five-part 'UK Brexports to the US' series

UK's Top 25 fastest-growing export markets : 6 of them are members of the Commonwealth
Only 5 of them are members of the EU
UK exports to the Rest of the World are growing much faster than to the EU
EU27 : +44.2% increase, Rest of World : +53.7%
US is almost 3 times more important to the UK than the EU’s No.1 economy Germany
"God bless America" - UK’s largest export market bought £187 Bn from us last year
Since 2016, UK exports to Trump’s USA grew over 1.5 TIMES FASTER than exports to EU
UK’s exports of goods and services to the US have grown by almost 70% since the Referendum in 2016
This compares with only 44% growth to the EU
In 2023 UK exports to the EU27 were £356.3 bn (41.4%)
In 2023 UK exports to the Rest of the World were £505.0 bn (58.6%)
UK now has EIGHT trade deals with US states
These 8 US states have a total economy larger than 23 EU countries COMBINED
Latest trade pact with Texas plus the other seven states together have a total GDP of $7.33 TRILLION
Only two EU countries have economies larger than that of Texas

The big question for the new Labour Government

It must be asked if the new Labour Government of Sir Keir Starmer is interested in pursuing the massive trade opportunities with the UK’s largest trading partner, the US? Or will he continue to pivot towards the smaller and slower-growing market of the EU27?

Below is the chart we published in Part II, showing just how big the US market is for the UK, compared to any EU country.

The analysis of the independent and trusted House of Commons Library researchers on Labour plans was clear.

“The new government’s plans for FTA [Free trade agreements] negotiations did not mention the US,” says independent and authoritative House of Commons Library report (end Sept).

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Summary of this fifth and final part in our “UK Brexports to the US” series

Sir Keir Starmer is warning Trump trade war’s impact “could be as big as Brexit”, (which he means negatively), and puts officials on alert
"The US is easily our most important trading partner, much more so than even the largest countries in the EU," says Reform UK's Tice
Kemi Badenoch weighs in, calling the return of President Trump “a golden opportunity”
“I worry Labour is not interested in anything except the EU”
“A US-UK FTA is one of the biggest Brexit prizes”
Starmer’s plans don’t include the US
“The new government’s plans for FTA negotiations did not mention the US,” says independent and authoritative House of Commons Library report (end Sept)

The Deputy Leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice, told us:

“This excellent suite of reports by Facts4EU.Org for CIBUK and GB News clearly shows what an excellent opportunity there is for the United Kingdom, if we grasp it.
“The facts are clear. The US is easily our most important trading partner, much more so than even the largest countries in the European Union. Whilst our exports to the EU have been holding up, we must set our sights globally and surely there is nowhere better to start than with the United States, now that Donald Trump has been re-elected in a landslide victory.

“It is very worrying that our new Government led by Sir Keir Starmer is once again letting us all down. With the House of Commons Library’s report stating that a trade deal with the US isn’t even on Labour's agenda, this begs the question of whether this government is truly acting in our best interests, or if it is acting along ideological grounds.
“The US economy is growing much faster than that of the EU and this is set to accelerate under the new administration. Reform UK’s position is clear. We would actively pursue a trade deal with President-Elect Trump’s USA. This has the potential to boost exports as well as providing a greater choice for UK consumers with good value products from the US.
“Labour’s ideological antipathy towards Donald Trump must not be allowed to stand in the way of the interests of the people of the United Kingdom.
“The US is also our most important defence partner, and we should enhance our intelligence capabilities together.”
- Richard Tice MP, commenting exclusively to Facts4EU.Org, CIBUK.Org, and GB News, 14 Nov 2024

New Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch

On Sunday, new Conservative Leader Kemi Badenoch called the return of President Trump a “golden opportunity” for the UK. She wrote in the Telegraph:

“The onus is now on the Labour Government to put aside their embarrassing student politics diplomacy, which has already shot Britain in the foot on Israel and the Chagos Islands, and go full steam ahead to secure a deal that will enrich the people and businesses of the UK.”
“I worry Labour is not interested in anything except the EU. A US-UK FTA is one of the biggest Brexit prizes.”
“We must not be held back by Labour’s barely concealed contempt for, and juvenile depictions of, President Trump.”
“Picking up our ready-made deal and making a concerted effort to get it signed would finally prove that Starmer is willing to do as he’s said, and put country before party. Anything less would be yet another betrayal of the British people’s trust.”

We get the messages out there but if you want us to keep doing work like this,
please support us with a small (or large!) gesture, or we will have to cut back dramatically.

Every few pounds helps to keep us fighting for Brexit,
and for independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom.

Please help us today if you can – it takes just two minutes and your details are kept confidential.

Here are the views of Governor Greg Abbott of the great US State of Texas

“As our ninth largest trade partner, the United Kingdom plays a critical role in the Texas economic juggernaut. Strengthening the bond between Texas and the United Kingdom is crucial for our shared economies to prosper.”
“Texas is the economic engine of America, where entrepreneurs from around the globe can cast a vision and know they can achieve it. Working with our British partners, we will chart a greater path towards success and opportunity and create an even more robust economic partnership.”
- Texas State Governor Greg Abbott

The State of Texas is just one example of the opportunities for Brexit Britain - but it's a good one

Flying over to London to cement the UK-Texas trade pact, the Governor's delegation included First Lady Cecilia Abbott, Secretary of State Jane Nelson, the Governor’s Economic Development & Tourism Office Executive Director Adriana Cruz, and Texas Economic Development Corporation President & CEO Aaron Demerson. Governor Abbott highlighted several UK companies that have made significant investments in Texas, including BP's new 187 megawatt solar project, JCB’s new construction equipment manufacturing facility, Linde's $1.8 billion investment to supply clean hydrogen to OCI's blue ammonia plant, and BAE Systems new engineering and production facility.

The United Kingdom leads all nations for the number of foreign direct investment projects in Texas, and Texas is No.1 among the states for exports to the United Kingdom. In 2023, Texas trade with the United Kingdom totaled $18.2 billion, making it the state’s ninth-largest total trade partner. In the last decade, companies from the United Kingdom have invested $8.6 billion in capital investment through 326 projects in Texas, creating more than 18,200 Texas jobs.

We end on the key question

Will Sir Keir Starmer and his new Labour government continue to pivot towards the smaller and slower-growing market of the EU27?

Observations

In this five-part series on UK exports the Facts4EU.Org think-tank team has used the latest official data to show the success of Brexit Britain in exporting since the EU Referendum, and the relative importance of the US, the EU, and world markets.

The results of our research leave the Remainer-Rejoiners with nowhere to go. The simple facts are that the US continues to be far-and-away the single most important market for the United Kingdom’s businesses and for its economy and jobs.

At the same time, we have Sir Keir Starmer’s Government saying that its focus is on the Gulf, plus India, Israel, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Our view is that the Government should be working on all of these, but it's deeply worrying if the Government does not even mention US trade at all, given that it dominates. The US is growing much faster than the EU and in any case is far more important to British jobs and to the health of the British economy.

Our concern is whether this is simply ideological. With President Trump shortly to enter the White House, surely it’s now essential to test the ground with the incoming administration in Washington DC? We can only hope the new Labour Government can put aside its ideological differences with the President-Elect, and work hard and fast towards a trade deal with the US that avoids the imminent high tariffs which it seems likely the new President will impose on foreign imports.

The Facts4EU.Org site and its activities such as conferences, TV & video interviews, forums, etc, are :-

Advert-free : no annoying distractions or ‘pop-ups’
Paywall-free : Reading our news and reports does not require you to sign up and pay
Merchandising-free : We don’t try to sell you t-shirts or coffee mugs advertising us
Sponsorship-free : No corporate sponsorship funds our reports – we’re independent
We’re funded by donations from you – the public

The content :-

Unique, original, well-researched reports
No ‘re-hashing’ of articles you’ll read elsewhere
Based on official data, statements and reports, analysed by us
Transparent sources : Whether it’s the EU Commission, the ONS, or the IMF, we state where we obtained our data
We rely solely on donations from you – the public - to keep us going

NOTICE : Facts4EU has now scaled back to publishing 5 days-a-week

For over eight years we have worked seven days-a-week. As far as we are aware we are the only organisation of our type to have done this. We are grateful to those of our readers who have made donations but sadly the level of our funding is now such that we must make it stretch for as long as we can. This means team members taking other paid work and reducing our output to five days-a-week.

Please, please help us to carry on our vital work in defence of independence, sovereignty, democracy and freedom by donating today. Thank you.

[ Sources: As stated above and in our previous reports in this series. ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Thurs 14 Nov 2024

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget actually to post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 10

1. Ashley Great Britain , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 08:39:

Sadly this report highlights the probable truth. Labour absolutely detest Donald Trump, as they do Brexit and Farage. They will not engage with America unless forced to do so.
They don't care about any economic hit and have eyes and actions to be tied to the EU as much as possible.
As expected Labour are proving to be a disgrace and a danger to the nation.
With Trump about to veto and deny the chagos surrender, let's hope he can keep Labour in check until Reform uk win the next General election.

2. Joe and lorna Murray , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 09:13:

We just read this. Absolutely disgusting , Mr Starmer YOU HAVE NO RIGHT !! to LEAVE AMERICA OUT.
OF THIS.
MANY PEOPLE DON'T WANT TO KNOW, about EU .
Tough if you don't like this, we don't care what you think.!! Time you listened to what your people who pay your massive BILL for your wages WAGES .!!
End of story.

3. Sparky , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 09:41:

2 J&LM. Don’t worry this is all speculation. However a trade deal with USA under Trump would face significant hurdles due to differing policies on climate change and US access to UK Govt procurement including the NHS. But if you really want to be disgusted, wait until discussion around chlorinated chicken.

4. David , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 10:14:

As well as the prospect of increasing trade with the USA once Trump becomes President,
we will officially join the CPTPP on 15th December provided this incompetent Labour government
of student politicians does not pull us out of it.
The great advantage of the CPTPP is that it is just a trading organisation.
It is not trying to create a federal United States of the Trans-Pacific.
It has no plans to introduce a single currency like the Euro and it does not have a supra-national
parliament making laws for all the countries in the CPTPP to follow.

5. LuxuryBalloon , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 11:10:

Our trade with the USA seems to be doing really good already. Hence I think it is reasonable for the UK government to focus on CPTPP … that is where the real growth is.

6. Gazzablack , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 14:34:

3, Sparky McSparkless
.
Fun fact 1. Hiroo
Canada, with whom the EU has a trade deal, chlorinates it's chicken
.
Fun fact 2. Hiroo
Australia with whom the EU wanted a trade deal chlorinates it's chicken
.
.
The silly thing about the chlorine washed chicken issue is that foodborne bacterial illness is a serious health matter in the United Kingdom.
Gastrointestinal illness associated with UK produced chicken is estimated to cost the NHS hundreds of millions a year.
And that's just the direct cost, let alone the cost of work time.
.
A fair competitive market where UK consumers could choose which product they prefer could help raise food standards, not lower them.

7. Have You Wondered , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 18:00:

.
How will Starmer square the fact that the USA might want a trade deal to pull the UK away from the EU but Starmer wants an idealogical socialist integration with the EU? What will win - the good of the nation with trade or idealism?
.

8. NH , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 18:36:

In the long term the UK's trade with the EU is only sustainable because of the large surplus we have with the USA. The pandemic resulted in a large increase in global debt which has made the UK's trade situation far more fragile. Starmer has no choice but to maintain good relations with the USA and the USA government will be perfectly aware of this.
.
For the UK to join the EU, in what ever form, when it's sandwiched in a trade war between China and the USA would be economic suicide.

9. ann , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 20:37:

the last time LIEbour were in power they DESTROYED almost 3 TIMES the manufacturing that thatcher did !!, go check on the ONS !!

10. Adam Hiley , Thursday, November 14, 2024, 22:40:

This Government is dangerous it must be forced out as soon as possible I understand why people wanted to see the Conservatives out they were a spent force the could be very well back in Government sooner than later as I believe this Government is on borrowed time

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.