The Labour Party’s landslide win in the United Kingdom election Thursday is renewing hope that trade talks between Ottawa and London could re-start according to Canada’s High Commissioner in the U.K.
In the hours following Keir Starmer win, Canada’s envoy in London told CTV News he believes a change in government could be a good thing since talks between the two countries were paused in January by the U.K.
“I’m sure the dialog will be will be very open and fulsome,” said High Commissioner Ralph Goodale.
Among the sticking points that stalled talks, the U.K. wants to export more cheese to Canada, however an exemption on diary quotas expired at the end of 2023.
A continuity agreement was put in place after Brexit when the U.K. withdrew from the European Union, until another deal could be negotiated since the country is no longer covered under the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).
Goodale says under CETA, the U.K. benefitted from a “generous access quota” for European cheese to flow into Canada. The high commissioner says the Brits were one of the highest users of that quota before leaving the EU, however he contends the U.K. has asked to double to volume that was afforded under CETA.
The high commissioner told CTV News that’s a non-starter.
“It’s like when you get off an airplane, and they say, ‘Now check around your seats and make sure you picked up all your personal belongings before you leave the aircraft’. The Brits left the aircraft and left their cheese quota in the rack,” said Goodale.
Starmer’s Labour party has promised to reset international relationships and start signing trade deal. While the party’s election manifesto said it wouldn’t try to reverse Brexit, it did say a Labour government would work on “”tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade” with the European Union.
Goodale believes that bodes well for any new negotiations towards a Canada-U.K. trade deal.
“So a lot of that, perhaps, tension at the negotiating table will really be supplanted by a new administration with a new point of view,” Goodale said in an interview with CTV News.
The importance of the Canada-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement was highlighted in a news release from Trudeau congratulating Starmer following his election win, where he underlined the work being done to conclude the agreement.
“Our countries enjoy robust economic ties, and I look forward to further strengthening them with Prime Minister Starmer,” read the statement from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
