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Rachel Reeves has pledged to construct a “deeper, extra mature relationship” with European buying and selling companions within the first speech by a UK chancellor to eurozone finance ministers since 2020.
Talking to the Eurogroup in Brussels on Monday, Reeves additionally dismissed the suggestion that Britain should select between nearer ties with the US and EU as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White Home.
Reeves mentioned her tackle to the group, the primary by British chancellor since Brexit, marked “the brand new UK authorities’s dedication to resetting our nation’s relationship with our buddies and allies within the European Union” as she drew a line underneath “fractious” relations with the bloc underneath the earlier Conservative authorities.
“Division and chaos outlined the final authorities’s method to Europe,” she continued. “It is not going to outline ours.”
Reeves mentioned this “reset in relations” would assist the brand new authorities’s financial targets by growing funding, reducing costs and creating higher jobs.
She highlighted three key areas of the UK-EU relationship: tackling “shared challenges” just like the conflict in Ukraine, championing free commerce as a driver of financial competitiveness and bolstering bilateral financial partnerships.
Reeves referred to as for a “mature, business-like relationship the place we will put behind us the low ambitions of the previous and transfer ahead”.
The Chancellor cited monetary providers as an space for elevated cooperation, saying: “The UK has deep world capital markets that may fund the expansion that economies throughout the continent want [which is] important to assist all our industries and modern entrepreneurs entry finance, develop and keep in Europe.”
She added that the UK and EU “should work collectively, as a result of the truth is that our monetary markets are extremely interconnected, and collectively guaranteeing monetary stability is a prerequisite for financial progress.”
Some EU officers have signalled a reluctance to revising buying and selling relations with the UK whereas ministers proceed to rule out rejoining to the only market and customs union or returning to freedom of motion.
Andrew Griffith, the shadow secretary of state for enterprise and commerce, argued Reeves ought to “soar on a aircraft to the US and speak to Trump about getting a US-UK commerce deal executed”, quite than “attempting to take Britain backwards into the slow-growth EU”.
Nonetheless, Reeves reiterated prime minister Keir Starmer’s feedback final week that he wouldn’t decide sides between the US and EU throughout Trump’s second time period.
The president-elect has dedicated to tariffs on EU and UK imports of 20 per cent, elevating issues of a possible commerce conflict as Starmer appears to protect the British economic system.
“We must always not make false selections on this new world,” Reeves argued, saying the notion “that someway we’re both with America or the EU is totally incorrect”.
“Sure, the UK will at all times stay dedicated to our relationship with the US,” she added. “And there may be a lot potential for us to deepen our financial relationship on areas resembling rising applied sciences.”
Final month, Financial institution of England governor Andrew Bailey additionally referred to as for the UK to “rebuild relations” with the EU “whereas respecting the choice of the British folks” who voted to depart in 2016, in a few of his strongest feedback but on Brexit.
Sean McGuire, director for Europe and worldwide on the CBI, welcomed Reeves’ dedication to deepen buying and selling ties with the US.
“By placing within the diplomatic ‘onerous yards’ now, the federal government can begin the method for unlocking the untapped potential of our buying and selling relationship with the EU as a part of its focus for delivering sustainable progress,” he mentioned.
