Clifford Chance

Public procurement, Brexit and Boris Johnson's 'buy British' pledge

3 October 2019

In July, when campaigning to lead the Conservative Party, Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised party members that he would “roll back the influence of the state” by changing public procurement rules in order to favour UK companies when bidding for billions of pounds worth of Government work and turbo-charge the advantages of the UK economy. Here we look at how such a “buy British” pledge might be implemented, the effect it may have on British companies bidding for contracts outside the UK under WTO terms and the implications that such a policy might have on the UK agreeing Free Trade Agreements.

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