The Liberal Democrat’s annual party conference wrapped up this week in Brighton.
Grace Thompson, UK public affairs lead at the Charted Institute of Export & International Trade, and Charles Bowden, public affairs executive at the Chartered Institute, were in attendance to represent members and bring you some trade takeaways from the event.
Change of tone
Following the 2024 election, where the party gained 64 seats and become the third largest in Parliament, there have been questions about what’s next for the Liberal Democrats.
The Liberal Democrat conference was “buoyant with optimism. Near exhibition stands, large ‘72’ numbers were lit up, reflecting the number of Liberal Democrat MPs now in Parliament,” said Thompson.
The theme of the conference was very much about providing constructive opposition, with the Lib Dems positioning themselves as an alternative parliamentary ‘opposition’, arguing they can provide more direction than the official opposition, the Conservative Party.
Thompson added:
“Most trade policy sessions that our team attended focused on engaging with the EU going forward, as well as how to support businesses to both grow and have greater certainty on upcoming trade measures.”
Gibraltar-EU
There was discussion on the future of the EU-UK relationship.
On the topic of Gibraltar, there was discussion on how we should keep an eye on the ongoing negotiations carefully, in case there are opportunities for us to learn about a possible new approach to sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) goods.
Negotiations on the status of the territory are ongoing, according to a recent government statement. The European Commission’s (EC) Maroš Šefčovič, Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares, UK foreign secretary David Lammy and chief minister of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo all met for discussions in Brussels on movement of goods and people across the EU border.
Lord Purvis, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for trade in the House of Lords, noted that overseas territories should be treated with a mindset of “nothing about you without you”.
He said that we should look at the Gibraltar negotiations more broadly in relation to mobility agreements.
Lord Purvis also said that he was in favour of an SPS agreement with the EU and added that businesses needed more clarity, particularly with changes such as delays of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM).
‘Growth opportunities’
Michael Kauch, an observer from the German Free Democratic Party (FDP), spoke in a session with Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrats’ shadow energy spokesperson.
Hobhouse explained that the key question to ask in relation to improving the EU relationship was “where are the growth opportunities”.
She called the fact that we are currently missing out on trade opportunities with the EU the ‘elephant in the room’.
The Bristol MP added that regulatory divergence was still happening, even if unintentionally, impacting businesses across the UK.
EU
Kauch, a former member of the Bundestag and European Parliament, pointed to the other growth areas, citing Africa-EU relations.
European Commission president Ursala von der Leyen emphasised the importance of growing trade and economic relations with African states and expanding the Global Gateway programme when setting out the objectives of her new College of Commissioners.
Kauch admitted, however, that Germany is facing a similar growth challenge to the UK. He said that the coalition government, in which the FDP is a junior partner, is looking at introducing new incentives for people to work later in life as a means of boosting productivity.