FPB welcomes calls for US trade talks to coincide with EU negotiations but requests bolder actions

The Forum of Private Business has welcomed calls for trade talks with the USA to proceed alongside the EU trade negotiations.

The proposal was made by the Legatum Institute’s Shanker Singham at this week's International Trade Select Committee. He explained that by holding trade talks with the US alongside talks with the EU it would provide an incentive for the EU to give the UK a more favourable deal upon Brexit.

Ian Cass, Chief Executive of the FPB, said: “We welcome these comments made by Mr Singham and would urge the government to go further. As part of our Get Britain Trading campaign we are calling on the government to support Britain’s businesses in trading across the globe.

The Forum's Get Britain Trading campaign has six key elements and after receiving backing from former Chancellor George Osborne, Mr Cass hopes that senior government officials will begin to incorporate it into the governments longer-term plans.

Notes to editor:

The six key elements are:

1. Helping to improve the performance and productivity of members

2. Re-launching the ‘Hall of Shame’ to highlight bad behaviour of UK businesses, which damage the trust and reputation of UK PLC.

3. Ethical and compliant behaviour from businesses, for which the Forum has developed an Ethical Workbook and a Compliance Handbook, both of which are being circulated to members in the coming months.

4. Creation of a Business Partner Scheme, with members registering to host Ministers, local MPs, Civil Servants and Educational Establishments to come and work within their businesses for a few hours, and gain a deeper understanding of the issues that they face on a day to day basis.

5. Provision of clear and direct feedback from members to Government with a view to ensuring all initiatives from Government are kept simple and workable.

6. Lobbying for a smooth Brexit transition and for a favourable post-Brexit business environment, across the Forum’s already issued Post Brexit Plan.


About Forum of Private Business

The Forum of Private Business is a not-for-profit comprehensive business support organisation founded in 1977. Our membership is spread throughout the UK and primarily made up of companies that employ between 1-50 employees, helping them to manage employees, saving time, giving advice, support and protection where a business needs it. We are a recognised leading authority on business issues and represent the interests of business owners on many consultative bodies. We have built a solid reputation, being influential in many areas of policy-making, in changing laws that affect small businesses, and we continue to campaign for the fair treatment of businesses within the UK. Everything we do is about making sure our members’ businesses operate profitably. This means that every penny we make goes back in to supporting our members, providing the support and resources that will enable businesses to flourish and grow.


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