On Monday 18 May, Keir Starmer used a Downing Street reception to make a pointed claim: foreign deals only matter if people outside London can see the benefit in wages, orders and new jobs. For exporters in northern towns and city regions, that is the real test. This was less about the set-piece in SW1 and more about whether trade policy can reach factory floors, food producers and apprenticeships in places that have heard grand promises before.

According to Downing Street, the guest list was built to show that argument in practice. Employers, workers, apprentices and local representatives were brought in from across the UK, with ministers highlighting everything from Scotland's whisky trade and Cambridge medical technology to fast-growing food and drink exporters. One of the clearest examples on show was the planned Universal Studios resort in Bedford. Government figures say the project, secured after meetings with Universal executives in Britain and the US, could support 20,000 construction jobs and 8,000 permanent roles, while delivering a £50 billion boost to the wider economy and nearby firms such as hotels, restaurants, taxi operators and contractors.

Starmer's line was that stronger ties abroad are already bringing "real benefits for working people at home". He said trade deals should open doors for apprentices starting out as well as experienced staff building new skills, with growth meant to be felt in pay packets and on local high streets rather than only in Westminster headlines. The Prime Minister's office also pointed to recent growth figures, saying the UK had recorded the fastest growth in the G7 before the latest shock from conflict in the Middle East fed into the outlook. Ministers are using that to argue that economic stability matters most when the global picture turns rough.

Peter Kyle, the Business and Trade Secretary, put the politics of it more bluntly, saying trade deals are not "abstract policy wins". His example was an automotive worker in the West Midlands seeing greater job security through the agreement with the United States, but the same pitch clearly reaches well beyond one region: steel, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing and supply chains across Britain all sit inside the government's export story. According to the Department for Business and Trade, the US deal keeps the UK as the only country to have agreed a 10 per cent automotive tariff within quota, a 25 per cent tariff for core steel and aluminium exports and zero tariffs for pharmaceuticals. Ministers say that should save exporters hundreds of millions of pounds a year, while a wider package of investment commitments announced during last year's US state visit amounted to £150 billion and 7,600 jobs.

Whisky was never going to be far from the stage. The Scotch Whisky Association says the US, still the sector's biggest market by value at almost £1 billion, now offers tariff-free access for whiskies produced across the UK, while the India agreement and lower tariffs in China could lift exports further once those arrangements take effect. Mark Kent, the association's chief executive, called positive trading relationships the "bedrock" of Scotch's success and urged quick implementation of the India and US deals. For regional suppliers, hauliers and hospitality businesses, that matters because a strong export trade rarely stops at the distillery gate.

The smaller-company case study was there too. Creative Nature said government trade missions helped it launch products in Japan, expand exports to 16 countries and win listings on nine airlines, while Happy Inside said Department for Business and Trade support had helped it reach six export markets and prepare for a launch in Mexico. That is where ministers will be judged in places that rely on smaller employers and export-led growth. For many firms, the question is not whether Downing Street can host a reception, but whether a food brand, specialist manufacturer or scale-up can actually grow without being swallowed by cost, delay and paperwork.

Ministers are also stacking up the next round of claims. They say the India deal secured 6,900 jobs and could lift wages by £2.2 billion a year in the long run, while the South Korea agreement could add up to £400 million a year in services exports and keep 98 per cent of tariff-free lines for UK goods. They also say the first UK-EU summit could be worth up to £9 billion by 2040, that a China trade mission secured £2.2 billion in export deals, that joining CPTPP could add £1 billion a year to real household wages compared with 2021 levels, and that a Gulf trade agreement could lift UK GDP by about £1.6 billion a year over time.

Set against a more dangerous global backdrop, with war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East hitting confidence and living standards, ministers say the answer is a steadier domestic base. Downing Street says the King's Speech will add more protection for small businesses, push through regulatory reform and give employers more certainty to invest. There was a deliberate spread to Monday's reception, and even to the menu, with Somerset cheese, Northern Irish beef, Welsh sea salt and Scotch whisky used to underline a UK-wide pitch. Rolls-Royce SMR, Octopus Energy, Whittard of Chelsea, Holland & Barrett, Make UK, the Federation of Small Businesses and apprentices from BAE Systems and Scottish Power were all invited. The bigger question now is whether communities outside London feel the gain in jobs, wages and confidence, not just in Westminster messaging.