Government abandons exports target ahead of post-Brexit trade talks

Liam Fox has abandoned a long-standing Government target to double UK exports to £1 trillion by 2020, even as he launches post-Brexit trade talks

The International Trade Secretary said he no longer believed the ambition was achievable, blaming a slowdown in global trade – rather than the challenges of EU withdrawal.

“I think it’s unlikely to be achievable by 2020. I think it’s an achievable target in the years thereafter,” Dr Fox told a parliamentary inquiry.

The move comes despite Dr Fox insisting Britain will leave the EU with “no turbulence and no vacuum”, in 2019, under Theresa May’s timetable.

The Prime Minister would succeed in striking a “full and comprehensive free trade agreement with the EU” after Brexit, he told the International Trade Select Committee.

The target to double UK exports of goods and services – which stood at £515bn in 2015 – was set by George Osborne in the last Parliament.

Liam Byrne, a Labour MP who sits on the committee, said: “Liam Fox confirms to me that Britain's £1 trillion export target will indeed be missed.”