UK's membership of trade bloc could provide £210m boost to Yorkshire's economy, says Government

The Government will now seek to ratify the agreement, which will include parliamentary scrutiny, while other CPTPP countries complete their own legislative processes. A new government report states that one in every 100 UK workers was employed by a business headquartered in a CPTPP member nation in 2019, equating to more than 400,000 jobs across the country.

Yorkshire entrepreneurs who have welcomed the deal include William Chew, the founder of Sheffield-based Mak Tok, the chilli paste and sauce company. He told The Yorkshire Post: “CPTPP is already giving us the advantage when discussing our current deal with our potential distributor in Malaysia.

"Not only will it make the process easier, but it also gives our distributor the upper hand to widen our market share within the South East Asian market. This deal is worth approximately £50,000 in the first year, and at least two new jobs will be created as Mak Tok expands in the region”.

Speaking ahead of the signing, Ms Badenoch said: “I’m delighted to be here in New Zealand to sign a deal that will be a big boost for British businesses and deliver billions of pounds in additional trade, as well as open up huge opportunities and unparalleled access to a market of over 500 million people. We are using our status as an independent trading nation to join an exciting, growing, forward-looking trade bloc, which will help grow the UK economy and build on the hundreds of thousands of jobs CPTPP-owned businesses already support up and down the country.”

A statement issued by the Department for Business and Trade said: “The agreement is a gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific which is set to account for the majority of global growth and around half of the world’s middle-class consumers in the decades to come, bringing new opportunities for British businesses and supporting jobs.”

However, conservation campaigners and trade unions have criticised the deal. Angela Francis, director of policy solutions at conservation group WWF-UK, said the Government was “knowingly enabling trade in products that are wreaking havoc on our natural world.”

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said the agreement could lead to profits for multinational corporations being prioritised over policies like an increase in the minimum wage and bringing energy into public ownership.

“This Pacific trade pact is bad for workers at home and abroad. Once again, Conservative ministers have turned a blind eye to egregious human and workers’ rights abuses in their pursuit of trade deals,” he said.

In response, a Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “The UK sets its own labour standards – not our trade partners. Nothing in the CPTPP agreement will ever force us to diminish workers’ rights.  The UK has backed workers, including through the largest ever cash increase to our National Living Wage, and we continue to meet our international obligations on labour rights.”