UK Seals Historic Free Trade Deal With Gulf States
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
This trade deal is a landmark achievement that puts Britain ahead of every other G7 nation in securing access to one of the world's fastest-growing markets. By removing an estimated £580 million in annual duties while boosting GDP by £3.7 billion a year and raising real wages by £1.9 billion, the government is putting in the work to help employees and businesses alike prosper.
Progressive narrative
The U.K. government has sold its soul in exchange for peanuts. According to its own modelling, this trade deal will have a negligible impact on the U.K. economy. In exchange, the U.K. has abandoned any pretense of championing better human rights or labor protections in these countries, which can now sue the government over domestic policies affecting their holdings.
Conservative narrative
This trade deal is undoubtedly a win for Britain, but one that could only have been possible thanks to Brexit and the negotiating freedoms that came with it. It is ironic, then, that elements of the Labour government wish to reverse that democratic decision and drag the U.K. back into Europe, which would fatally undermine the the nation's ability to make its own trade deals.
