Is Liam Fox to blame for our lack of Brexit trade deals?

Analysis: With just six of 40 agreements signed off, Ben Chapman looks at whether the international trade secretary is at fault

(AFP/Getty)

One second after Brexit, all 40 of the EU’s trade deals will be rolled over and replaced with UK-specific versions. Or at least that’s what we were told by Liam Fox in 2017.

The confidence beaming from the international trade secretary as he set off on his world tour to convince governments to do business with “global Britain” was notably absent this week.

With little to show for his efforts, Fox was forced into an embarrassing climbdown, finally conceding that many of those trade deals had no chance of being ratified by 29 March.