Elizabeth Truss

The trade deal with Australia will act as a “stepping stone” to a wider trans-Pacific accord, Liz Truss said as she rejected farmers’ concerns about the agreement. The international trade secretary said the UK is looking at parts of the world where growth is expected in future as she defended the deal, which is forecast […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson is to unveil details of the UK’s first trade deal negotiated from scratch post-Brexit. He will welcome his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, to Downing Street on Tuesday after the two countries agreed on the broad terms of the pact. The deal is reported to have been sealed by the two premiers […]

Tariffs of up to 277% on cheese exported from the UK are set to be cut after a new trade deal was signed with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. International trade secretary Liz Truss announced the deal was agreed in principle on Friday and said it was the first to include dedicated chapters on digital trade […]

Liz Truss is a great cabinet survivor and darling of the Tory members. But will her controversial trade deal with Australia curb her ascent? Perhaps it’s a measure of misogyny in the parliamentary lobby that Boris Johnson’s main acknowledged successors are Rishi Sunak, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove. The choice of who replaces him as prime […]

Labour has warned Liz Truss against signing a post-Brexit trade deal with Australia before there is sufficient parliamentary scrutiny. Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry urged the trade minister to come to parliament to face questions about the offer she has made to Australia and what it will mean for farmers. “The first proper debate […]

Liz Truss has called on the EU to scrap “border control and paperwork” on Irish Sea trade, setting up a clash with Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Asked if the government’s aim is to remove all red tape – despite those checks being agreed by Boris Johnson in his Brexit deal – the trade […]

George Eustice and Liz Truss have reportedly rowed over a proposed trade deal between the UK and Australia. The Financial Times reported environment secretary Eustice, along with Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, were concerned about the potential impact of tariff-free access for Australian farmers on the British agricultural sector. They have concerns the agreement would further […]

Manufacturers based in Boris Johnson’s new freeports will not be able to enjoy the full benefits if they are exporting to a series of countries with which the UK has signed post-Brexit trade deals. The prime minister and chancellor Rishi Sunak have championed freeports – special economic zones offering tax breaks and lower tariffs – […]

The government’s LGBT panel has been scrapped after three members quit last month. A government spokesperson said a replacement panel “will be set out in due course”, the BBC has revealed. Some members told the national broadcaster they were willing to stay on when their terms ended on March 31. Panellists have also said they […]

Labour has written to the International Trade Secretary with more than 230 questions about the implications of the UK joining a mammoth free trade pact that includes Australia, Canada and Japan. Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry urged Liz Truss to reopen the public consultation on the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership […]

Minister for Women Liz Truss will not be attending Boris Johnson’s meeting on violence against women, Downing Street has confirmed. Johnson last night announced he would be holding a meeting of the Crime and Justice Taskforce to discuss ways to make streets safer for women and girls following the alleged murder of Sarah Everard on March 3. […]

Three of the government’s LGBT advisers have resigned as they issued sharp criticism of equalities ministers Liz Truss and Kemi Badenoch. Jayne Ozanne accused Boris Johnson’s government of creating a “hostile environment” for LGBT people and criticised the two ministers as being “ignorant” on key issues. The government’s Equalities Office also confirmed that it had […]

Joe Biden’s nomination as trade representative has said she wants to “review” the progress and objectives of negotiations on a UK-US deal. In a confirmation hearing before the Senate finance committee, Katherine Tai said she would examine the situation in the light of the UK’s Brexit deal and against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]

Liz Truss has been accused of refusing to answer questions about post-Brexit trade with Europe at the despatch box. The international trade secretary has reportedly “transferred” all questions about the topic at a forthcoming session of the Commons to other departments, despite the fact it is her job as minister to answer enquiries on trading […]

Liz Truss is tipped to receive a more senior role in government after Boris Johnson seeks to promote more female ministers in the next reshuffle. The international trade secretary is likely to join Kemi Badenoch, Lucy Frazer, Gillian Keegan and Victoria Atkins in receiving boosts in the next reshuffle, the Daily Mail reports. Housing secretary […]

Liz Truss has said it is a “matter for the courts to decide” what genocide is, and not the government, despite having voted to scrap an amendment giving judges the power to do so. The international trade minister said British courts were best placed to determine the definition of genocide. The comments come after the government […]

A minister has finally accepted that Brexit has contributed to shortages on supermarket shelves in Northern Ireland. International trade secretary Liz Truss acknowledged that Brexit had caused issues while appearing on the Peston programme, but claimed that “predictions of armageddon” had not happened. Ireland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney denied the government’s original assertion that Covid-19 was […]

The government has dismissed calls from Labour to publish the economic impact assessment of Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal with the EU. Speaking in the Commons, shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry said: “Over the last two years the government has placed, as the Secretary of State tells us frequently, more than 30 new trade agreements […]

Liz Truss has been told to “do better” with her answers in the House of Commons as the speaker asked trade ministers to end the “political games” in the chamber. Sir Lindsay Hoyle claimed Truss’ team were giving better answers to Conservative MPs than to opposition MPs over similar questions. At one point the speaker […]

Liz Truss has topped a league table of best-performing cabinet ministers – as voted for by Tory members.  The international trade secretary received an 85% favorability rating in the Conservative Home polling – up ten points compared to a month ago. She is ahead of chancellor Rishi Sunak – only 80% of support – and […]

Sections of Liz Truss’ speech on inequality and discrimination in Britain has been removed from the government’s website. Critics have labelled the speech “bonkers” after the Tory minister claimed pupils at her school were unable to read or write because too much had been taken up learning about racism and sexism. Truss went to school in Leeds […]

Liz Truss has been berated for suggesting that the debate surrounding gender and race equality issues had been dominated by “fashion” and not “facts”. The equalities minister today announced a change to government policy around systemic discrimination issues, promising a move away from “identity politics” in favour of a focus on people’s social class and individual “character”. She […]

The gender pay gap has significantly widened at the Department for International Trade (DIT) run by women and equalities minister Liz Truss, new figures reveal. Labour said the growing divide “raises serious questions” about the government’s commitment to close the gender pay gap when Truss’s department is “clearly going backwards”. The gap in the DIT, […]

Liz Truss has claimed that a trade deal between the UK and Japan goes “further and faster” than the current EU-Japan agreement, but refused to quantify how, following questions from Labour. Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry questioned the minister as the opposition continued to scrutinise the new agreement. Thornberry called for Truss to provide […]

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is to rule out a Donald Trump-style “Britain First” post-Brexit economic strategy as she criticises “values-free globalisation” in a keynote speech in London. In a speech which appears to show her manoeuvring towards appealing to US president nominee Joe Biden, Truss will say she wants a “values-driven free trade agenda” in […]

The Department for International Trade has come under heavy fire after claiming soy sauce, which Britain currently enjoys tariff-free access to as a member of the EU, will be cheaper after Brexit. Liz Truss’ department used a Japanese-themed episode of the Great British Bake Off to claim that the price of soy sauce in the UK […]

Former Australian former prime minister Tony Abbott is set to attend his first post-Brexit trade meeting as the government’s new Board of Trade meets for the first time. The new-look panel of politicians, economists and industry figures comes as international trade secretary Liz Truss said it was a “critical moment for the UK and our […]

Equalities minister Liz Truss has refused to criticise the president of the United States when he refused to condemn white supremacists in the first 2020 US election debate. During the debate on Wednesday evening, the president was asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether he was now willing to forthrightly condemn white supremacists and militia groups who […]