Barry Gardiner MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for International Trade, commenting on a report from Change Britain that 400,000 jobs could be created if we withdraw from the Customs Union and conclude trade agreements with those countries that have expressed an interest in doing so already, said:

“This report from Change Britain is pure diversion. They are attempting, yet again, to mask Brexit as an exercise in pursuing free trade whilst calling for us to leave the largest free trade area in the world. The economic cost and the sheer volume of jobs at risk in the immediate aftermath of a withdrawal from the Customs Union has been ignored whilst celebrating jobs which may or may not be created in the future.

 “The Government stated in 2014 that 3.3 million jobs in the UK were directly tied to trade with the EU. The loss of that trade could see a substantial number of those jobs lost. Furthermore, trade agreements can take a long time to conclude, even in the simplest of cases. It is not enough for the Tories to promise that jobs may be created in the future: they need to address now how jobs and trade will not be lost in the present.”