Politics latest: ‘You have to make trade-offs’

Is this new trade agreement a post-Brexit triumph or a miserly replacement for what we had with the EU? Depending on who you listen to, the UK's accession into CPTPP is either a triumph for post-Brexit global Britain or a miserly replacement to what we had with the EU. So which is it?

The honest answer - as unsatisfying as it may be - is both and neither. The government's own impact assessment puts the economic boost of this trade deal at just 0.08%. Contrast that with the Office for Budget Responsibility's forecast of a 4% reduction in economic growth caused by Brexit, and it's clear CPTPP doesn't slot into the gap once filled by EU membership.

But nor should it, because this deal is a completely different beast to what we had in Europe. While standards still matter, the emphasis on countries mirroring each other's rules that dominated EU talks isn't there with CPTPP. That's why ministers say the UK will still be able to maintain agricultural standards and block things like hormone-injected beef from Canada.

So if this isn't a case of "the deal is done, let the good times roll", what is the upside? For the government, CPTPP is more of a strategic and symbolic win. The trade secretary characterised it as "getting in early" with a start-up business that will go onto great things.

Those "great things" are a boom in middle-class consumers in the region and potentially new and bigger countries joining the block in the future. Then there's the diplomatic context. This deal can be seen as part of a broader UK pivot to the Indo-Pacific region that was kicked off by the Integrated Review of foreign policy and built on by the AUKUS defence pact with Australia and the USA.

Part of the reason for this is building a presence in regions where Beijing wields great influence.

So given China wants to join CPTPP, it will now eventually fall to the UK and allies like Australia to decide whether to allow what would be a controversial accession to the block.

As the chancellor put it today, "that shows that our influence in this part of the world is becoming more significant".