Britain’s new visa scheme for Hong Kongers launches today, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to leave the city state for the UK under the program. 

Millions of HK residents are being offered a path to citizenship in the UK under the scheme, which was announced in the wake of Beijing imposing a controversial national security law on the city last year.

The British government anticipates that at least around 300,000 of the 2.9 million residents of Hong Kong with British National (Overseas) status and 2.3 million dependents eligible to apply for the scheme will take advantage over the next five years. 

New Zealand’s Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor has welcomed the UK’s plans to submit a formal request to join the CPTPP trade deal. 

In a statement on Sunday, Mr O’Connor suggested that the UK’s addition to the pact would help further its objective of “maintaining and growing open, rules-based trade”, particularly in the midst of the challenges facing the global trade due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The challenges facing the global trade and economic environment have been compounded by COVID-19,” Mr O’Connor said. “In this context, New Zealand sees the CPTPP objective of maintaining and growing open, rules-based trade, as more important than ever.””

 “We believe the CPTPP can provide leadership in our region and beyond to drive post-COVID economic and trade recovery.,” he said. “The UK’s move to join the CPTPP underlines the Agreement’s importance in this regard.”

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has said it is too early to start talking about the possibility of the UK giving excess coronavirus vaccine doses to other countries. 

Speaking on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge programme, Ms Truss said that while it is vital for countries to “work together”, it was too soon to address what might happen with excess vaccine doses as the UK continues to roll out its vaccination program.

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more: 

In an op-ed published by The Daily Express on Sunday, International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said the “world craves” what Britain has to offer as she prepared to make a formal request to join a mammoth trade deal including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and other nations.

“What Britain has to offer is in demand worldwide, from our vaccines to our cutting-edge technology,” Ms Truss wrote. 

“The UK is the world’s second biggest services exporter and Europe’s top destination for tech investment.

“Our music dominates the charts, with one in ten songs streamed globally made by a British artist. The world craves British food and drink, with Cornish clotted cream dressing tables in Tokyo, and Yorkshire Tea drunk in New Zealand.

Their appetite for the best of British means more business for our go-getters across the country – whether it those making computer games in Newcastle, or robotics in Blyth,” she said. 

Following Britain’s exit from the EU, Ms Truss said joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would offer British businesses “new economic benefits, but does not require us to give up control of our laws, borders and money.”

“CPTPP’s eleven members are fully sovereign nations: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. So, we will not be subject to diktats from any foreign court and will keep control of our trade policy,” she said.

Tony Blair has blasted the EU’s short-lived decision to override the Brexit Deal on Northern Ireland as part of its vaccine export controls as a “very foolish” move. 

Speaking on Sunday, the former British prime minister said the decision, which has now been pulled, risked jeopardising the peace process. 

The UK and EU are aiming to “reset” relations following the row, but Mr Blair warned that the threat could have had lasting damage. 

Japanese economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura has said he hopes the UK will show “strong determination” to comply with the “high standard obligations” that come with joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. 

In a string of tweets, the minister confirmed that he would be meeting with International Trade Secretary Liz Truss to receive the UK’s formal request to join the CPTPP on Monday.

“We hope that the UK will demonstrate its strong determination to fully comply with high-standard obligations of the CPTPP,” the minister said. 

“Hosting the G7 Summit this year, the UK is a global strategic partner for Japan, sharing fundamental values,” he added. “I believe that the UK’s accession request will have a great potential to expand the high-standard rules beyond the Asia-Pacific.”

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has said she will formally request to join a mammoth Asia-Pacific trade deal that will include Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and other countries, on Monday. 

In a tweet, Ms Truss said joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would help “drive an export-led, jobs-led recovery across [the UK] bringing more opportunities to trade with fast-growing Pacific nations”.

According to the government, UK trade with the group was worth at least £111 billion last year, growing by 8 per cent a year since 2016.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog covering all the goings on in UK politics.