Australia free trade deal a failure for UK, says George Eustice

Former situation caput George Eustice has savaged the UK's escaped commercialized woody with Australia and criticised Liz Truss's relation successful negotiating it.

Mr Eustice, who helped unafraid the agreement, told a Commons statement that it was "not really a precise bully woody for the UK".

It was the archetypal post-Brexit woody negotiated from scratch.

But Mr Eustice argued it gave distant "too much" aft the past commercialized caput Ms Truss "shattered" the UK's negotiation.

At the clip the authorities estimated the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, signed connected 17 December 2021, would unlock £10.4bn of further commercialized portion ending tariffs connected each UK exports.

The woody besides removed immoderate visa rules. Young radical are present capable to enactment and question successful Australia for up to 3 years. UK architects, scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants tin besides entree enactment visas without being taxable to Australia's skilled concern list.

Mr Eustice told the Commons that present helium is connected the backbenches helium "no longer has to enactment specified a affirmative gloss connected what was agreed".

Overall the UK "gave distant acold excessively overmuch for acold excessively small successful return", helium told MPs.

This includes giving Australia oregon New Zealand afloat entree to the UK marketplace to merchantability beef and sheep, portion Australia inactive bans the import of British beef, helium added.

Mr Eustice worked successful the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for astir a decennary - archetypal arsenic a curate earlier being appointed caput of authorities by Boris Johnson.

Ms Truss sacked him erstwhile she became premier curate successful September.

The UK started negotiations "with the strongest imaginable hand" but Mr Eustice said negotiators were enactment "on the backmost foot" by Ms Truss demanding that the presumption of the woody were agreed earlier a gathering of the G7 successful Cornwall connected 11 June 2021.

To conscionable this deadline civilian servants astatine the Department for International Trade (DIT) allowed Australian negotiators to "shape the terms" of the agreement, Mr Eustice argued.

He said the UK needed to larn from these "failures" and determination work for negotiations connected agriculture and nutrient to Defra.

In response, International Trade Minister Andrew Bowie said each commercialized officials were "dedicated to bettering the trading narration of this country".

Mr Bowie said each of them "without exception, person this country's champion interests astatine bosom and are moving time and nighttime for this country".