MICHAEL Gove has a new government role promoting British business abroad – despite his involvement in Brexit chaos for exporters.
The Cabinet Office minister is taking control of the GREAT campaign, which was previously under Liz Truss’s remit. The change has been noted on Gove’s UK Government website biography, and will be officially announced shortly according to Politico.
The GREAT campaign was launched in 2012 and promotes business, investment and studying opportunities in the UK to an overseas audience.
READ MORE: Michael Gove 'conveniently ignoring facts of Brexit to avoid accountability'
According to the SNP, Gove, the former Vote Leave co-convener, is the “last person” who should be taking on the role. The Brexiteer has recently been accused of wilfully ignoring the reality of Brexit’s impact in order to avoid accountability for its “long-term damage”.
Gove and his colleagues were told they’re “sticking their heads in the sand” as reports revealed the damage leaving the EU had on exporters, and showed the UK has lost market share in key global economies.
Research from Aston University’s Lloyd’s Banking Group Centre for Business Prosperity said: “The combination of Covid, Brexit and the UK’s long-term productivity challenges will put British businesses in an adverse position for the foreseeable future.”
There have been particular challenges in Scotland, too, with Office for National Statistics data finding Brexit hit overall EU exports from the country by 63%, 20% worse than for the UK as a whole.
The most staggering drop was for the largest food export, fish and shellfish, which suffered a dramatic 83% crash.
Scotland’s Business Minister Jamie Hepburn (below) was astonished by Gove’s upcoming appointment.
"Michael Gove is one of the last people who should be trusted to look after the interests of businesses and exporters,” he said.
"He was at the heart of the hard Brexit plans which have imposed such damaging trade barriers and tariffs on firms and then failed to acknowledge the real problems they were facing for months.
"The SNP are now the only party offering Scotland a way back into the EU and a market seven times the size of the UK - and the decisive way to deliver that is by giving both votes to the SNP on May 6."
Labour’s shadow international trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, agreed. “After the damage Britain’s exporters have suffered at the hands of the Cabinet Office in recent months, the last thing they’ll want to hear is that Michael Gove has been put in charge of their publicity,” she said.
“At the very least, he should start by asking our export firms and tourist industry how this money can best be used to support their recovery, not just hand out more contracts to his PR cronies.”
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Gove’s leadership of the project comes as the Government is reportedly looking to rebrand ahead of the crucial COP26 summit, with aides claiming the climate event will be “bigger than the Olympics”.
The Tories hope they can use the Glasgow conference as a way to put Covid, Brexit and Union troubles behind them and promote the vision of “global Britain”.
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