IT has been an even busier week than usual in Westminster. On Tuesday afternoon I was at the despatch box representing the Government for the report stage of the Financial Guidance and Claims Bill. With this legislation, we are looking to protect consumers by banning pensions cold calling as soon as possible.

In a similar vein, I was also pleased yesterday to announce a crackdown on loan sharks. We are significantly increasing funding to tackle this scourge and encourage the greater use of credit unions by vulnerable people currently at risk of being preyed on by illegal lenders.

Away from my ministerial responsibilities at the Treasury, Brexit continues to drive constituents’ emails to my inbox – particularly on the issue of the customs union. Although I voted Remain in the referendum, my position since then has always been clear. The customs union is an integral part of the EU and therefore leaving the EU necessitates leaving the customs union as well. Exiting the EU but staying fully within the customs union would effectively mean leaving the bloc in name only.

I know from conversation with my colleagues who campaigned to leave the EU in 2016, that a central goal of the Leave campaign was to pursue an independent trade policy. It would be disingenuous for those of us who were less convinced about Brexit at the time to now claim it was not discussed two years ago and therefore there is no mandate for leaving the customs union.

We need to avoid the trap of equating leaving the customs union and single market with Britain shrinking into itself and embracing a ‘Little England’ mentality. Indeed, the precise opposite is the case – there is a strong case for us to reconceptualise the UK as a global country not just a European one.

This is not because we are driven by a backward-looking, imperial nostalgia. It’s simply a recognition of the realities of the global economy and where we all are now headed. According to the latest estimates from PwC, by 2050, the EU27 will only account for nine per cent of global GDP. We need to make sure we are building a robust economy that is match fit to harness the export opportunities that fast-growing, emerging markets are guaranteed to offer us. Our future prosperity will depend on it.