£12TRILLION BREXIT TRADE BOOST

Britain joins top table as we sign lucrative deal with vast bloc | Great victory for Brexit as Global Britain signs historic £12tn trade deal

- David Williamson and Jonathan Walker

BRITAIN clinched a huge Brexit breakthrough early today with the signing of a historic treaty to join a £12trillion international trade bloc.

Business Secretary Kemi Badenoch said it placed us at the "top table" of the Indo-Pacific group and hailed the step as the "clearest demonstration" yet of our new-found freedom outside the EU.

The deal will open major new markets for UK goods from cars and textiles to whisky, cheese, beef and lamb - and could mean lower prices for everything from coffee and kiwi fruit to clothing and electronics.

And unlike the EU, there is no requirement to surrender British sovereignty or be governed by judges sitting in a foreign land.

Economists have described membership of the 11-country bloc as a "massive global event".

Ms Badenoch, 43, who signed the treaty in New Zealand in the early hours of this morning, said this "simply would not have been possible if we were still stuck in the EU".

Britain is the first European country to win approval for membership of an Indo-Pacific trade partnership which brings together 11 major economies including Canada, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan.

Writing in the Sunday Express, Ms Badenoch said: "When people voted to leave the EU they shared my confidence that this country can break free from a bloc that imposed restrictions on our sovereignty and walk our own path."

Champions of the deal expect it to "turbocharge investment in the UK".

Almost all goods exported to this market of more than 500 million people will be eligible for zero tariffs. The bloc accounts for 15 per cent of global GDP.

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership is seen as a "gateway" to the Indo-Pacific.

The Government expects this giant region will "account for the majority of global growth" in the decades to come.