Agreement offers more for its symbolism than what Britain stands to gain economically

The international trade secretary, Liz Truss, said it was a historic moment and in a way it was. For the first time since leaving the EU, Britain has struck a free trade deal and with the world’s third biggest economy – Japan – at that.

In practical terms, the agreement is small beer. On the government’s own estimates, the impact will be to boost the size of the UK economy by £1.5bn. Given that Britain’s annual output is about £2tn, that represents less than 0.1% of gross domestic product. What’s more, it will take time for the benefits to show up.