National welcomes the announcement that formal free trade negotiations will begin between the United Kingdom and New Zealand in July, National’s Trade spokesperson Todd McClay says.

“This builds on the important work started under the previous National Government including the launch of the bilateral Trade Policy Dialogue in 2016 and the strong relationship between our two countries.

“New Zealand must secure a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the UK without any trade restriction. 

“Crucially, for a deal to be judged a success, it must be equal to our Closer Economic Relations (CER) Trade Agreement with Australia, and include unrestricted trade in agriculture products especially unencumbered access from New Zealand lamb and butter to the UK market. 

“New Zealand and the UK have a long history and strong relationship. Our citizens live, work and holiday together and bringing the travel and trade under one agreement will strengthen the relationship further.

“For this reason, the Government should model the NZ UK FTA on the CER agreement with Australia, our most comprehensive agreement to date, and it should include free movement of people. 

“This is especially important given the stalled negotiations between New Zealand and the European Union.”