promise of a packet of crisps", that‘s the view of a former senior civil servant at the department for international trade a global scale. but the guy who used to be most senior civil servant has, yes, is going to give a speech tonight, but has a very arresting phrase, all about giving up that three course dinner of minestrone soup and maybe rabbits and vegetables and new potatoes and apple crumble and custard and replacing it with this, a packet of crisps. here is so martin donnelly. here is so martin donnelly. if we look at where we are now with fair and equal access to the very large, rich eu market which is nearly half of our service and goods exports, plus preferential access to other markets which gets us up to about three fifths of our trade, if you are going to give that up for the promise of some bilateral deals with markets that are much less important to us, it is like giving up a three—course meal for a packet of crisps. it isjust not equivalent and we have to recognise that reality. so martin donnelly. women in syria have been sexually exploited by men delivering aid on behalf of the un and i

his speech came as a former permanent secretary at the department for international trade had described a 3—course meal in return for a packet of crisps." a comment raised by a labour mp at treasury questions. does the chancellor agree with the former secretary that giving up the single market and the customs union is like giving up a 3—course mealfor a packet of crisps in the future? if he does not agree, then can he identify what specific evidence his department has seen that future trade agreements will outweigh the damage of leaving the single market and customs union for businesses and jobs across the country, but particularly the northeast. hear, hear! well, mr speaker, it is the government's intention to maintain the highest possible access for british businesses to european union markets. and the honourable lady is right, that we should approach this on an evidence basis. we should look for the evidence of value of our trade flows with europe, what that generates in the uk in terms ofjobs, and we should look objectively at the opportunities that lie with third country trade deal

trade department bringing together investment, export promotion, export finance, trade policy. we are currently piloting a new global growth service, increasing our support for those medium—sized businesses with internationalwas launched in 2016 and has been visited by over 2.68 million users. we are reviewing our wider strategy on exports and investment including undertaking and expert strategy review working alongside the industrial strategy to identify what more we can do to help exports large and small across the uk, businesses maximising the export potential. working hard to create the right framework for business and especially our small and medium—sized businesses to enable them to make the most of their innovation, ingenuity and expertise that are the cornerstone of our economy. so what does all of this mean? for our future relationship with the european union and beyond? for those firms that trade with the eu, keeping all of their regulations, customs union, single market and external tariffs does like an easy option. but we cannot allow our future to be determined by our past. instead, we should turn our past. instead, we should turn our back into the global training winds of the future and our s

sir martin donnelly was permanent secretary in the department for international trade until last yeararket, which is nearly half of our services and goods exports, plus preferential access to other markets, which gets us up to around three fifths of our trade, if you're going to give that up for the promise of some bilateral deals with markets that are much less on to us, it's like giving up a three course mealfor a packet of it's like giving up a three course meal for a packet of crisps. it's just not equivalent, and we have to recognise that reality before we ta ke recognise that reality before we take this decision. meanwhile, the european union's chief negotiator michel barnier has insisted that any transition period with britain must be limited to a specific duration. britain is seeking a transition of about two years but says it doesn't wa nt to about two years but says it doesn't want to be restricted to the date proposed by the eu at the end of 2020. here is michel barnier. there are significant points of disagreement with the uk as to what we understand by transition, the con

i can assure him that the department for international trade is working hard to support sm ease across our network and a programme of international events and i would commend the work of colleagues who are trade envoys, including my honourable friend the member for gloucester who is the trade envoys are china and who accompanied me on that trip. i am pleased to say that last year uk export finance provided £3 billion in support, helping 221 uk companies to sell into 63 countries. 79% of those companies we re countries. 79% of those companies were smes. in 2012, the prime minister talked about, and i quote, "a future in which scotland, wales, northern ireland and england continued to flourish in side by side as equal partners". does the prime minister still stand by this? of course i continue to stand by wanting to ensure that all parts of the uk continue to flourish. i think the uk continue to flourish. i think the best way of doing that is ensuring all parts of the uk remain in the uk. of course, mr speaker, the emphasis was on equal and we are faced with a situation that there is a p

international trade secretary liam fox on brexit. dr fox stated that remaining in any form of customs union for the uk would be a ‘complete sellout‘. meanwhile his former top officials at the departmentome bilateral deals with markets that are far less important to us — well it‘s like giving up a three course mealfor a packet of crisps — it‘s just not equivalent and we have to recognise that reality before we take that decision. our economics correspondent andrew walker has been working the bbc‘s reality check team on what the true value of the uk‘s trade with the eu is worth. starting with the figures from the foreign secretary and he said the share of uk trade with the eu has declined to 44%. that is about the right figure for the percentage of uk exports of goods and services going to the eu, that has declined. and if he had the most up—to—date figures it would be even slightly lower. the value in pounds and pence of those exports has risen but exports to the rest of the world had increased more rapidly and of course that means the eu share has declined. worth mentioning that in this period we had the global financial crisis, and another wave of turmoil hitting the eurozone so ine

department was already taking action. the former secretary of state for international trade is also calling for tougher action.n opportunity for everyone to make sure that there are very clear, notjust guidelines, but actions, action, will be taken and money will be withdrawn as well quite frankly if there is inappropriate behaviour. oxfam says that after haiti, it set up a dedicated safeguarding team to deal with such issues. the charity finds itself at the centre of this particular scandal that the british government said is one example of a wider problem. andy moore, bbc news. our political correspondent emma vardy is here. what exactly are the government saying about what aid agencies and charities need to do on this in the future? well, the international development minister, penny mordaunt has spoken on very strong terms this morning about the need to root out any bad behaviour, and the need for charities to have in place very strict safeguarding arrangements, and he said that they will all be written to, across the country, being asked to set out their arrangements, and flagging up any safeguarding conc

department was already taking action. the former secretary of state for international trade is also calling for tougher action. an opportunity for everyone to make sure that there are very clear, notjust guidelines, but actions, action, will be taken and money will be withdrawn as well quite frankly if there is inappropriate behaviour. oxfam says that after haiti, it set up a dedicated safeguarding team to deal with such issues. the charity finds itself at the centre of this particular scandal that the british government said is one example of a wider problem. andy moore, bbc news. what exactly are the government saying about the way that aid agencies need to be behaving in future? we have had some very strong m essa 9 es future? we have had some very strong messages today. penny mordaunt saying that the charities will be expected to set out their safeguarding guidelines, and told in clear terms that if there are any issues that they would have to be flagged up to the relevant authorities. the consequences of not adhering to this will be that you will lose yourforeign adhering to this will be that you will los

department was already taking action. the former secretary of state for international trade is also calling for tougher action.ow an opportunity for everyone to make sure that there are very clear, notjust guidelines, but actions, action, will be taken and money will be withdrawn as well quite frankly if there is inappropriate behaviour. oxfam says that after haiti, it set up a dedicated safeguarding team to deal with such issues. the charity finds itself at the centre of this particular scandal that the british government said is one example of a wider problem. andy moore, bbc news. our political correspondent emma vardy is here. a pretty tough warning from the government to the aid agencies on this? absolutely. the department for international development has made it very clear that it will now be scrutinising very carefully the kind of procedures charities have in place to ensure safeguarding, and every single charity is going to be written to. those who receive government aid money. they must flag up government aid money. they must flag up any government aid money. they must flag up any concerns government

many chinese companies because of this delegation and the work of the department of international trade before that have approached us for our specific solutions >> asher bennett, thank you very much >>> sticking with brexit, theresa may says european citizens coming to britain after may of 2019, may not get the same rights as those here now. this could set up a clash with the brussels power base which last week said the eu nationals should have full residential rights during the almost two-year transition period after britain leigh leaves the block britain is set to release to parliament a series of leaked brexit reports which suggests the economy would be worse after brexit the government was initially hesitant to hand over this analysis saying it could damage its negotiating pow wer brusser brussels speaking to cnbc in davos last week, the uk chancellor, philip hammond, defended the decision to delay the release >> while it would suit some people to have all of our analysis laid out for everybody to see, to some extent we need to play our cards close to our chest. we will publish what we think we can publish without p

be an intensification of dialogue between the department of international trade to ease trade restrictions on both sides, and perhaps lay the foundation fort. otherwise, we had a ceo roundtable, which again intensified the dialogue between china and u.k. businesspeople. we have seen a few wins. fe saw the restriction on bee will be lifted, other changes in terms of dairy products, which is all good for the u.k.-china trade relations. yvonne: how tough of a sell will minister toe prime open to the chinese market? evenit came to macron, with mr. trump, it was almost like these deals were repackaged mou's, which these are nonbinding. is it going a sell to be? >> you have to look at what was said in davos a few weeks ago about how china will be opening up further in the coming years. that is what the u.k. business communities looking forward towards. there is talk about opening the service sector to international businesses. year, weck end of last opened upial services in terms of foreign investment restrictions. we are hoping to see words turn into action opened up here in cd we see and more even playing field for british and international p

department was already taking action. the former secretary of state for international trade is also calling for tougher action.is now an opportunity for everyone to make sure that there are very clear, notjust guidelines, but actions, action, will be taken and money will be withdrawn as well quite frankly if there is inappropriate behaviour. oxfam says that after haiti, it set up a dedicated safeguarding team to deal with such issues. the charity finds itself at the centre of this particular scandal that the british government said is one example of a wider problem. andy moore, bbc news. time to speak to a political correspondent. we heard some of these allegations just now. correspondent. we heard some of these allegationsjust now. this is an extremely strong statement from her. she speaks to a wider problem that the department for international development is dealing with. she speaks in strong terms, saying it is horrific sexual exploitation and abuse continues to exist in the aid sector of britain. oxfa m exist in the aid sector of britain. oxfam received £32 million of funding from the government last year

department was already taking action. figures from 0xfam show the organisation dealt with 87 claims of sexual exploitation last year, 20 members of staff were dismissed. the former secretary of state for international tradealso calling for tougher action. this is now an opportunity for eve ryo ne this is now an opportunity for everyone to make sure that there are very clear and notjust guidelines but actions, action will be taken and money will be withdrawn as well quite frankly if there is inappropriate behaviour. 0xfa m inappropriate behaviour. 0xfam says that after haiti, it set up 0xfam says that after haiti, it set upa 0xfam says that after haiti, it set up a dedicated safeguarding team to deal with such issues. the charity finds itself at the centre of this particular scandal but the british government said is one example of a wider problem. andy moore, bbc news. the israeli military has described the air strikes it carried out in syria on saturday as probably the biggest of their kind in the last 30 years. a spokesman said 12 sites were hit, including four iranian targets in syria. the attacks took place after an israeli military aircraft was brought down. the us and russia have raised concerns an