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Going to any length to get trade deals isn’t good


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The economy will be very important post-Covid.
The economy will be very important post-Covid.

WHILE my focus remains on helping constituents through this pandemic, I am also looking to the future as we will need to rebuild our economy.

My new role shadowing international trade has undoubtedly helped with this focus, given how crucial the policy area is to the Highland economy and our business community.

Before Brexit, 62 per cent of goods made in Scotland exported to the EU and beyond. Finding ways to mitigate and repair the damage, now starkly visible, wrought on Scotland’s exports is no small task.

Until an independent Scotland returns to the EU and the world’s largest trading bloc we will need to work extra hard to plug that massive gap.

In contrast, our exports to other nations in the UK are largely made up of services, such as insurance or financial and ‘piped’ exports water, oil, gas and electricity.

Although the UK government’s proposed trade deals replace only a small fraction of what we’ve lost through Brexit, I had no issue with UK minister Liz Truss pursuing new trading partnerships. After all, the UK needs them to help survive this Brexit mess the UK government has created.

Drew Hendry MP.
Drew Hendry MP.

However, there are concerning, even sinister, aspects to their frantic approach to new deals that should worry us all.

Without the safeguard of Parliament – which was the last line of defence – having a role in trade negotiations and the mandate with which the government negotiates, the NHS will always be at risk.

Former US President Donald Trump may be gone, but his NHS is on the table comments are still in play, and the UK government’s refusal to protect the NHS in these negotiations shows their hand.

Scandalously, they also refused to rule out doing business with regimes who commit genocide. Yes, you read that correctly – last week, they blocked cross-party attempts to outlaw trade deals with countries found guilty of committing genocide.

Instead of accepting a motion – put forward by all parties and supported by even some of the hardest-line Brexiteers – to outlaws deals with these countries, they gerrymandered the voting process to avoid defeat.

The simple question is, why? The answer is that they don’t care who they deal with or the impact on others. It’s just another example of the lengths they will go to piece together trade deals.

That’s not a good look, and it’s not good enough for Scotland.

- Drew Hendry is SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey

Related news: Our Man in Westminster: The Highland vaccination programme is going well


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