Britain's International Trade Secretary Liam Fox. Credit:AP "One of the things we looked at was whether [Chequers] would enable us to join the TPP, and it would," May said. Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox had been "championing" the idea since he came into office, May said. On Monday, at his meeting with Birmingham, Fox said the British government "look forward to beginning the really big chapter which is the new free trade agreement between [the UK and Australia] and potential UK accession to CPTPP". At the end of December, when the TPP came into force, Fox said if Britain joined the alliance it would boost export of Scotch whisky.

Loading Last year, the British government held a 14-week public consultation to "inform our future relationship with the countries that make up the CPTPP", foreshadowing that it could launch formal negotiations to accede to the group. But Birmingham warned Britain would find it slow going. Last weekend, the issue of "interest from other parties to join the TPP" was a key topic of discussion at the first conference of TPP parties since the pact came into force. "I would imagine there would be nations in the TPP family willing to engage [with potential new members]," Birmingham told an Australia-UK Chamber of Commerce breakfast in London on Monday.

"But I do think that from the feedback of the other TPP nations there is still a view of: let’s see the initial 11 [members] all get through their ratification process, all become party to it, let’s perhaps deal with some of the other nations of interest in the Pacific region. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "It is, after all, a trans-Pacific partnership. The UK is some distance from the Pacific the last time I checked, so [let's] deal with some of those local factors as well." Birmingham said the TPP members were "well aware of the strong interest from the UK" in joining. "But my sense is that it will be easier for the UK to be able to strike, initially, a bilateral agreement with Australia and possibly with other nations, than it would be to bypass that and simply [join] the TPP."

Loading All 11 TPP members would have to agree if new members were to join the trade pact. Speaking to media after the breakfast, Birmingham said "ultimately" Australia would be very welcoming to any country, including the UK, that wanted to join the TPP and "meets the standard of ambition that’s requires". But, practically, a bilateral deal would be faster and more effective to conclude, he said. A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade said existing CPTPP members, including the Australian prime minister, had "expressed strong support for the UK's potential accession to CPTPP".