Cheap Australian beer and wine could flood into Britain on the back of a post-Brexit trade deal
But country's trade minister said deal won't happen for at least two and a half years and won’t start talks until we leave the EU
CHEAP Australian beer and wine could flood into Britain on the back of a post-Brexit deal, the country's trade minister has said.
But Steven Ciobo said the nations won’t be able to strike an agreement for at least two and a half years, and formal negotiations cannot start until after Britain leaves the EU.
The government body Wine Australia said ending EU import duty could slash between 10p to 15p off the cost of a litre of wine.
Britain is Australia’s number one export destination for wine, and the cost of EU tax on it was £24 million in 2015, the group said.
Asked on BBC radio if drinkers could reap the benefit, Mr Ciobo said: “Look, absolutely. Cheap Australian wine I think is a good fringe benefit of a FTA (free trade agreement) if we are able to put one in place.”
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's promise of an "early ... very strong, very open free trade agreement" with the UK was one of the highlights for Theresa May of last weekend's international G20 summit in China.
It came amid warnings from Japan over the possibility of its companies leaving a post-Brexit Britain and confirmation from Barack Obama that the US will seek trade deals with the EU and Pacific states before the UK.
But now Mr Ciobo has made it clear during a visit to London that only "preliminary" discussions are possible at this stage.
The negotiation of a formal deal will have to wait until after Mrs May has completed the two-year Brexit procedure under Article 50 of the EU treaties, which she has said she will not trigger before the start of 2017.
Mr Ciobo said an eventual deal could be struck "quite quickly", because of Australia's close historic and cultural ties with the UK, but added: "You would expect it's at least two and a half years off."
He told the Today programme: "My formal advice is that - and this is from the UK side - the UK is unable to negotiate or sign an agreement prior to the formal exit from the EU.
"We can certainly have preliminary discussions and that's part of what I'm doing here this week.
"Preliminary discussions around what a post-Brexit Australia-UK trade deal might look like.
"Some discussions about what our ambitions and aspirations are, and there's been good alignment in terms of those conversations."
Mr Ciobo and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox announced the creation of a bilateral trade working group at official level to "scope out the parameters of a future ambitious and comprehensive Australia-UK free trade agreement (FTA)".
"We want the working group to advance an agenda that will ensure the expeditious transition to FTA negotiations when the UK has formally completed its negotiations to exit the EU," they said in a statement, announcing they will meet twice a year to monitor progress.
The comments by Mr Ciobo will not help the PM, ahead of a grilling from MPs this lunchtime amid concerns the Government is struggling to agree on a strategy for Brexit.