We have a Trade Secretary who was a medical doctor but who likes to give the impression he knows what he's talking about. As an example he has warmly greeted the latest ONS trade figures released this morning as you might expect. He tweets about the 4.4% increase in exports and retweets something from his own department also welcoming the trade figures. This is his tweet:
LATEST @ONS figures confirm trade deficit continues to narrow thanks to a consistent rise in high-quality 🇬🇧 exports 👉up 4.4% on the same time last year #FreeTradeUK #ExportingisGREAT— Dr Liam Fox MP (@LiamFox) 10 August 2018
But let's go to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) website for the source of the figures (HERE). Now scroll down a bit to the 4th bullet point under item 1 and you will see the ONS clearly say the trade gap has widened - as in got bigger or increased:
As for "continues" to narrow - it actually increased the quarter before that so it really "continues to widen". The Guardian (HERE) also quote from this morning's release of statistics and correctly notes the trade gap has widened. Our exports have gone up but imports have gone up even more.
What have we done to arrive at the position where the Secretary of State for International Trade, the top banana in global Britain for trade issues, does not seem to know whether the trade gap is getting bigger or smaller. He's a twerp who doesn't know his anus from his lateral epicondyle.
