Our latest research asked people around the UK about their consumer priorities from post-Brexit trade deals. What are yours?
When it comes to trade deals, what matters to you? Do you understand the risks, the benefits, the complexities?
These are questions too big for a survey so, back in August, Which? invited 97 consumers from around the UK to join a series of virtual workshops where they got to hear from experts, deliberate, and talk to us about their priorities for trade deals.
We wanted to ensure that the government’s approach to the negotiations took greater account of consumer interests.
The aim of this was not to build consensus, but instead to understand the range of views from consumers all over the UK.
Priorities in common
Four main themes emerged from what people told us during these conversations – weve set them out below, along with an example of some of the feedback we recieved:
🇬🇧 Maintaining health and safety standards for food and consumer products
“I don’t think choice overrides the need for safe and good quality products”
🇬🇧 Protect consumers’ data and digital rights by maintaining data security regulations
“I’m concerned to learn that the privacy protection is virtually non-existent in the USA and that, for me, would present major, major problems in the long-term. We, as a country, in the UK, have the complete opposite of that”
🇬🇧 Help address regional inequalities by protecting and promoting jobs, skills, and industries across the UK
“Again, building the economy, but not just for these big corporations, but for little Joe Bloggs that runs a greengrocer on the high street”
🇬🇧 Protecting the environment
“If we don’t have a planet, we can’t trade”
Visual minutes were kept for each regional session, which show how these themes emerge and vary across the nation.
Visual minutes for the east coast of Scotland pic.twitter.com/ROzhYeRdID
— Which? (@WhichUK) November 11, 2020
You can read the full National Trade Conversation, along with the methodology behind it, here (PDF).
What are your priorities?
What stands out from you from these consumers’ views? Do you share the same priorities, or are there others you would want to see included in future trade deals?
