Don’t look to the Commonwealth for post-Brexit trade deals

Those looking to the Commonwealth to secure preferential post-Brexit trade deals could well be disappointed, says Matthew Partridge.

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Relations between Britain and India are fragile
(Image credit: 2016 Hindustan Times)

Having looked at the chances of an Anglo-American trade deal (reasonable, though not spectacular) we're now going to turn our attention to the Commonwealth. This is a group of 52 nations, virtually all former British colonies, dominions and protectorates. Our guide will be Professor Philip Murphy of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the School of Advanced Studies of the University of London. While Professor Murphy is not a specialist economist, he has written extensively on the history and politics of the member countries. He also does research on contemporary British politics.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri