The government should press for closer ties with the European Union (EU) as part of a wider push to grow the UK’s services trade, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) said today.
In a new report, the business group argued that closer ties with the UK’s major trading partners would help deliver the economic growth which the new government has pledged to deliver.
“If we’re going to get the growth we need, for London and all regions of the UK, we’ve got start cheerleading our powerhouse services sector,” Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI’s director general said at the business group’s summer reception.
To help grow services trade, the CBI called on the government to “foster greater regulatory co-operation” with the EU.
“By agreeing to maintain a common commitment to base technical regulations on international standards where they exist, the UK and EU can deliver a low friction trade environment,” the business group said.
It suggested that shared standards could be agreed through the specialised committees which were established as part of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA).
The CBI also called on the government to push for sector specific mutual recognition deals with “relevant jurisdictions” which would see qualifications are recognised in other jurisdictions.
Firms cited the US and South Africa as “priority markets”, but the government should also seek “clear requirements for and paths to” mutual recognition deals with the EU when the TCA comes up for review in 2026.
In addition, the government should “create mechanisms” through which regulators can work with their counterparts to address barriers to trade.
These policies should form part of a broader industrial strategy, which prioritises the UK’s services sector. Newton-Smith said the government’s strategy needed to be “just as much hard drives as hard hats.”
Industrial strategy is the idea that there are clear objectives that the government is striving towards and that intervention in the economy – be it through regulation, direct subsidies or some other means – can help achieve those goals.
The new government has pledged to introduce an industrial strategy as it seeks to lift the UK’s sluggish growth rates.