Post-Brexit Britain will be ‘energetic champions of free trade,’ Dominic Raab says

Britain will be “energetic champions of free and open trade” post-Brexit, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said.

Mr Raab, who is in Australia as part of a tour of the region to secure trade deals, said the UK was “forging ahead” and is ready to “reinvigorate” ties with “old friends”.

The cabinet minister said a close relationship with Canberra was a “key part of the vision” for a “Global Britain” after its departure from the European Union on January 31.

In a column for the Australian Financial Review, he wrote: “On my first trip following our departure from the EU, I’m proud to be in Australia, one of the UK’s greatest partners and closest allies.

“You can see our deep relationship in the real rapport between our people, our vibrant cultural links, our world-leading educational exchanges, and our (mostly!) friendly sporting rivalry.

“We want to be energetic champions of free and open trade, so we can boost small businesses, cut the cost of living, reduce barriers and create the well-paid jobs of the future for the next generation of Australians and Britons.”

Mr Raab got his hands dirty during his visit to Sydney, picking up a spade and planting one of the first trees as part of an AstraZeneca project to plant 25 million in the country by 2025.

Pascal Soriot, chief executive officer of the Anglo-Swedish company, joked that Mr Raab brought some “fine British rain” to a country which has been blighted by drought and wildfires in recent months.

Mr Raab said: “We maybe have brought the rain, I can’t guarantee it will stop in order for us to plant the trees.”

The Foreign Secretary’s first stop of the tour was Austalia’s capital, Canberra, where he and his Australian counterpart reaffirmed their commitments to start negotiations on a bilateral agreement “as soon as possible”.

Mr Raab said he hoped the country would be part of Britain’s “first wave” of “high priority” deals being chased after its official divorce from the bloc.

He also discussed with Foreign Minister Marise Payne the UK’s decision last week to let Huawei have a limited role supplying new high-speed network equipment to wireless carriers.

Britain’s decision on Huawei is the first by a major US ally in Europe, and follows intense lobbying from the Mr Trump administration as the US vies with China for technological dominance.

Australia angered China, it biggest trading partner, by banning the tech firm on security grounds from involvement in its national broadband network and the rollout of new 5G networks.

Mr Raab assured Ms Payne that Britain’s decision would not affect its intelligence-sharing relationship with Australia, the United States, Canada and New Zealand, which form the Five Eyes partnership.

“We were absolutely clear and looked at it very clearly and there is nothing in the decision that we took that would inhibit or disrupt in any way whatsoever the Five Eyes intelligence sharing and there’s nothing in the approach that we are taking that would have an impact on, for example, the sharing of sensitive data,” Mr Raab said.

Ms Payne said she was confident Australia could strike a free trade deal with Britain.

“We are … at opposite ends of the world, yet we are very ready and able to grab a new era of opportunity for enhanced strategic and economic cooperation,” Ms Payne said.

“We also look forward to an early, comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreement because we both believe in rules-based markets for trade and investment,” she added.