International trade department should be shut down, says Brexiteer who set it up

UK ‘falling behind’ on trade in three years since Brexit, says Liam Fox

Former international trade secretary Liam Fox (PA)

Rishi Sunak should close the Department for International Trade (DIT), according to the Brexit-backing former Tory minister who first established it in Whitehall.

Liam Fox, made the first international trade secretary in 2016, said it was time for a “shake up” by folding trade into the business department.

The leading Brexiteer criticised the government’s record on drumming up trade around, arguing that the UK was “falling behind” competitors after leaving the EU.