UK's free trade deals ‘do not align with service-dominated economy'
The government should focus on targeted deals that play to the UK's strengths in services and digital trade, rather than broad, slow-moving free trade agreements, a new report from the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) has said.
The institute said that traditional, heavily goods-focused deals were slow to negotiate and less aligned with Britain's service-dominated economy. It added that following the progress on the free trade agreement (FTA) with India, the UK now had agreements in place or pending with most of its major trading partners.
Instead of pursuing diminishing returns from traditional broad-based FTAs, the government should shift more of its resources towards negotiating market access deals that focused on the UK's strengths, such as in digital services, the report added.
Between 2020 and 2024,
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
29 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
SNP's Kate Forbes on Scottish business relationship and income tax
The Scottish Government's relationship with the business community was sharply in focus at that point and, while the spotlight on this is probably slightly less intense, it is still bright. Asked if she believed the overall relationship between the Scottish Government and business had improved over the last year, Ms Forbes replied: 'I think so. I mean, the first meetings I had when I became Economy Secretary was with all the business organisations one by one, to understand what their top asks were.' Ms Forbes declared the Scottish Government had since then worked through the first programme for government, then the Budget last December, and now the most recent programme for government 'to try and deliver against those asks'. She said: 'I think the business community understand that we can't do everything overnight, but we can either stop doing things that would otherwise have made the cost of business higher, or do things that lower the cost of business. The most recent programme for government led with economic growth and prosperity. So our sentiment, my sentiment is pro-economy, pro-prosperity, pro-business.' Of course, the greater income tax burden for higher earners in Scotland relative to the rest of the UK has been very much in focus over recent years. Ms Forbes said in the exclusive interview last June that this would be kept 'under review', taking into account 'how easy it is for taxpayers to shift'. These comments appeared at the time to be a signal of the stance of the then new leadership team on this crucial issue, and that turned out to be the case. Ms Forbes noted last week: 'The First Minister was very clear when he became leader that he didn't believe that you could continually raise income tax, and that we should provide certainty. And that's what last year's Budget delivered - the Budget announcement last year for this financial year. And the programme for government then built on that in May - being very clear that there wouldn't be further divergence from the rest of the UK on income tax for the remainder of this parliament. 'And the reasons for that is because certainty matters in a world that seems to be constantly in flux with lots of global headwinds and challenges of recruitment for businesses. The more certainty that we can provide, the better. And the only changes to income tax was essentially a small reduction for the basic and intermediate rate-payers because of the above-inflationary increase to the thresholds.' Income tax would appear to be one of the key issues when it comes to what some in the business community think of the Scottish Government. Asked about the reaction of business to the income tax stance, given this was an issue that had been highlighted previously, Ms Forbes replied: 'I think we have seen a lot of positive comments from the business community.' Taking the previous comments from people in business about Scottish income tax at face value, you would certainly have thought they would have been happy that there has been no further divergence when it comes to the burden on higher earners north of the Border. Read more Offering further thoughts on her perception of the reaction of business people to the stance on income tax since she took up her current roles and John Swinney became First Minister in May last year, Ms Forbes said: 'They have indicated that they feel the Scottish Government is listening, that they are taking any concern seriously and that we're on their side in navigating these choppy waters. Now, we obviously only…have limited powers over taxation.' The Deputy First Minister has been heavily critical of the UK Government's decision to raise employers' national insurance contributions. This move, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Budget last October, is aimed at raising about £25 billion a year. Ms Forbes last week contrasted this national insurance move with the stance on income tax in the wake of the change at the top of the Scottish Government last year. She said of people in Scotland's business community: 'What's really hit them hard this year was the increase to employers' national insurance contributions, which is essentially a jobs tax, and it was, for many of them, a total surprise because it hadn't been flagged in Labour's manifesto. 'So I think in that context, the more that the Scottish Government can do to provide stability and certainty, the better, and the strong signals from the business community is they feel they are getting that now from the Scottish Government.' It will be interesting to watch how the relationship between the Scottish Government and business develops. Ms Forbes also highlighted the importance of restoring confidence in the Ferguson Marine shipyard at Port Glasgow, which has been owned by the Scottish Government since 2019. She said: 'I have been crystal clear that Ferguson Marine's future relies on them being able to competitively bid in the open market for new work.' And, in one of many attention-grabbing comments, Ms Forbes added: 'I would like to think that all parties in the Scottish Parliament want to see Ferguson Marine succeed and survive, which is why we need to build confidence, not knock it.'
Finextra
36 minutes ago
- Finextra
Mobey Forum 25 years: By Bo Harald
What was the original vision for Mobey Forum, and how has it evolved over time? Driving paradigm shifts: E-banking – the fundamental paradigm shift – started for our part in 1982 New ways of interconnecting customers – not only with payments, trade finance, treasury and capital markets services – but also with e-identification, e-signatures, e-invoicing and e-salary was the next good-for-society-at-large paradigm shift. Taking all traditional banking services and especially the ambition to take the new interconnecting customers to always- there mobiles was the third paradigm shift. Now – when all corporate and private customers (and their AI-agents) will be able to exchange verified data with EUDI-interoperable wallets - the next paradigm change for banking - will happen. Verifiable data from ID-wallets to safely employ and empower wallet-carrying AI-agents will be the next paradigm shift. What role do you think Mobey plays in shaping the (future of) financial services? Very clear: Make sure that banks see to it that all their customers will get the data the need for their business and life events to interoperable identity building wallets. Make sure that banks can lower risks and costs by helping customers to supply the needed Make banks central in the creation of a global Trust Infrastructure (together with Trust over IP, EU and the Open Wallet Foundation) If you were to explain Mobey's relevance today to a new banking innovator, what would you say? The all-important action is to join the wallet-work for customer value, automation and risk management 3.0 and now also making it safe and easy to use verifiable data for employing organisational and private ID-wallet carrying AI-agents (the LLM-initiated fifth paradigm shift). Be ready for the dynamic ID-wallet&AI-agent duo..
Finextra
36 minutes ago
- Finextra
Begin with the End in Mind. Crystallised.: By Bo Harald
This particular End is a Trust Infrastructure where: All citizens can download – and most have - at least one general purpose identity building wallet free of charge in all EU Member states. All public sectors and progressive enterprises have installed organisation wallets and use (only) these to send and receive a wide range of verifiable data to and from each others and citizens and to sign documents. Most enterprises and a many citizens have used their wallets also for employing and empowering ID-wallet carrying AI-agents. Mission completed… But what should I do today ? As an employee in the public sector you will see to it that: a suitable organisation wallet is taken in use from the market without delay, all organisations, citizens and AI-agents are told that wallets will become the sole interfacefor exchanging verfied credentials, that new issuing and verification processes are in place and integration of chosen wallet to own data storage have started If you work in an enterprise you will see to it that: your organisation and business association understands the big improvements in productivity, customer value, security and risk management the organisation wallets will enable, a suitable organisation wallet is taken in use from the market witout delay all suppliers, customers, staff and public sector units are told that wallets will become your sole interface for exchanging verifiablecredentials, that only verifiably identified AI-agents with verifiable tasks will be dealt with As a citizen you will:
