Liam Byrne is the chair of the Parliamentary Business and Trade Committee. He is also the Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North.
Britain’s story has always been a trading story.
From the medieval wool merchants of Hull to the shipyards of Belfast, from the steam power pioneered in the factories and forges of Birmingham to the software labs of Cambridge, trade has been key to our prosperity. Trade is how Britain rose - and trade is how we will renew in new times.
But it will not be easy. Around the world far too many nations are building walls, not bridges. Sometimes tariffs - but more often knots of red tape. The next few years will be defined by our work to cut through.
The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has promised that by the end of the parliament, the UK will enjoy the fastest growth in the G7. Trade is key to realising that ambition. But growth does not come from speeches. It comes from exports.
Benefits of exporting
Exporting firms grow twice as fast as those that don’t. Britain is already fourth in the world for goods and services exports - and second only to the United States in services alone. We are punching above our weight. But we’re fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
Since the new government took office, the government has made serious progress: a new reset with the EU; the first economic prosperity deal with the US; a free trade agreement with India; we have formally joined Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and are now, along with Japan, one of the two largest economies driving the partnership forward.
We have pushed forward our presence at the WTO. Now under negotiation are critical new deals with the Gulf Cooperation Council, Switzerland, South Korea, and Turkey.
Around the world, Britain is not only standing up for free trade; we are defending our free trading allies. Powerful new defence partnerships - like AUKUS, GCAP-Tempest with Japan, our deepening defence ties in the Gulf and Turkey, plus our renewed investment in NATO - all point to a nation that is prepared to stand by our allies in good times and bad.
The three steps
Three next steps should define the next year.
First, we need to get the deals under negotiation over the line. We are close in most cases. But the deals must be sealed.
Second, we need to add a third dimension to the relationship; not just free trade; not just defence - but economic security too. We are now in a world where allies must lock much more closely together to de-risk critical minerals, critical supply chains and intellectual property development.
Third, we need to turn deals on paper into processes that actually systematically take down the trade barriers, the paperwork, the regulation and red tape that actually cost business a fortune when they try and sell abroad.
AI-enabled trade
Let’s start where the world is moving - at the frontier of technology. Britain can lead a new age of AI-enabled trade.
A Single Trade Window, digitally driven and intelligently verified, could transform our borders from barriers into catalysts - where one certification unlocks many markets, where paperwork vanishes into code and where innovation drives inspection, not the other way round.
And yes, we should use AI not only to accelerate customs but to build domestic capacity - to make Britain’s border technology the best in the world. If we are smart with our procurement pounds, we can spark a whole new ecosystem of export-tech innovation.
We stand where past generations once stood - at the start of a great rebuilding. But if we are to build a New Deal for the Age of AI at home, then it has to work for exporters too.
Our country has learned over the years that a country that builds is a country that trades, and a country that leads. That lesson from history is what should inspire us today.
Picture credit: Liam Byrne ©House of Commons. Licensed under Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0)
Member exclusive
