Theresa May insists UK is 'global champion of free trade'
The PM looks to frame the UK as a global free trade champion - but Labour says the politics is more of the same.
Monday 14 November 2016 07:36, UK
Theresa May will tell the City of London Britain is well-placed to do "new business with old allies" as the Prime Minister looks to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
The Prime Minister will insist the UK is the "global champion of free trade" in an effort to reassure business.
However, Sky News understands she will not provide any more detail about the sort of trade deal she might be looking for.
Mrs May's attempts to forge a special relationship with the new President-elect were who became the first British political leader to have an audience with US president-elect Donald Trump.
The UKIP interim leader has offered to help No 10 foster UK links with the US.
Speaking at the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet at Guildhall, her first as Prime Minister, Mrs May will pay particular attention to how those left behind by globalisation could benefit from it in the future.
She will say: "To be the true global champion of free trade in this new modern world, we also need to do something to help those families and communities who can actually lose out from it.
"That is why in Britain, we are developing a new industrial strategy that will seek to ensure working people in every part of the country can really benefit from the opportunities that trade brings."
Potentially with the BHS scandal in mind, the speech will also take aim at business figures who "appear to game the system".
In the past 24 hours, the retailer's former owner
The Labour Party, responding to the speech, said the Prime Minister "simply represents more of the same politics".
Jon Tricket, Labour's national campaign co-ordinator, said: "She talks about leading Europe but has no plan for Brexit and she talks about extending opportunity but Britain's working people are worse off."