The Australia deal shows life post-Brexit will not be better for the UK, but significantly worse

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‘Trade negotiations with Australia have left our vital farming community with a feeling of betrayal' (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

It is hard for the layman to sift through the arguments, to see behind the posturing, and to judge what the overall effects (positive and negative) of an Australian or any other possible trade deal would be. But Ben Chu’s balanced assessment brings it back to the fundamental question that we all had to consider at the referendum. Would the speculative advantages of new free trade deals outweigh the certain disruption in relationships with the EU and significant losses of trade with what had for years been our major trading partner?

Everything that has happened since Boris Johnson’s deal with the EU seems to suggest that life will not be miraculously better for the UK, but will be significantly worse – and probably progressively so. We are seeing disadvantages in the new dispensation on almost every front. There are disputes and unresolved issues with the EU affecting many UK industries, which were apparently unforeseen by the government – and which it still will not acknowledge honestly. Moreover, the government is clearly struggling to sign acceptable large trade deals with almost anyone else.

Gavin Turner