Chris Patten and Anna Soubry: A vote for a customs union is right for our trade

Today the House of Lords debates an amendment, in one of our names, to keep Britain in a customs union. Why? Because it is the best way to support our trade both within Europe and beyond.

The Government is using this week’s Commonwealth heads of government meeting to show how a post-Brexit “global Britain” can take advantage of our ties with Commonwealth nations to boost trade. It says there is potential for improved trading ties with the Commonwealth.

This is little more than wishful thinking. In truth, the UK already has trade agreements with 44 of the 50 non-EU Commonwealth countries, and is finalising deals with two others.

Many of the poorest countries have favourable arrangements based on “everything but arms”. This gives duty-free, quota-free access for all trade but arms. These terms are extremely generous, to help less developed countries. Many have even said they would prefer the UK to stay in the EU.

In truth, we already have good trade deals with most Commonwealth countries. Even the director of the Institute for Commonwealth Studies, Philip Murphy, has said the notion that the Commonwealth “can pick up the slack when the UK leaves the EU is nonsense.”

Leaving the single market would, according to the Government’s own estimates, hit our GDP growth by around five per cent a year. Trade deals with the rest of the world, not only Commonwealth nations but also the US and others, could increase GDP by just 0.7 per cent.

These agreements, with 88 per cent of Commonwealth nations, are the result of decades of painstaking negotiation. More developed countries already have free trade agreements, which the UK would struggle to improve upon. Negotiating bespoke deals with these nations will not be easy. Even if we could replicate the existing terms, we’d be running just to stand still.

Australia has said it would impose tough terms for a new deal, including requiring us to import hormone-treated beef and allow more Australian immigration to the UK. India has also said any new trade deal would require the UK to agree much higher immigration for Indian citizens. Advocates of new deals with the Commonwealth fail to recognise that it would not offset losses in trade from the EU.

There is a solution; one that enables trade with the Commonwealth while protecting access to EU markets. Membership of EFTA/EEA and a customs union would see us retain existing deals while protecting EU trade. It would let us strike out from a position of strength, rather than scramble for any deal we can get before the clock runs out.

It would be the pragmatic choice, it would be the free traders’ choice and it would be the right choice — for the UK and for the Commonwealth as a whole.

• Chris Patten is a Conservative peer and Anna Soubry is MP for Broxtowe