The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rt Hon Rachel Reeves) delivered a speech on 9th December at a meeting of EU finance ministers regarding the mutual economic benefit of the “government’s EU Reset”.
The meeting took place in Brussels and was the first time a British Chancellor had attended a meeting of EU finance ministers since the UK left the EU.
Within her speech, the Chancellor declared that there “must be a closer economic relationship better the UK and the EU” and outlined three steps which could be taken to achieve this outcome:
“Confronting together shared challenges; including the war in Ukraine”
“Defending our collective belief that openness is the route to competitiveness”
“Deepening our economic ties”
As well as touching upon the areas listed above, the Chancellor took the opportunity to also touch upon President Trump, his upcoming inauguration and some of the public comments which have already been made. Reeves stated that “the idea that the UK, or indeed the EU, must choose between those allies, that somehow we’re either with America or the EU, is completely wrong”.
The “EU Reset”:
On the topic of the “EU Reset”, the Rt Hon Rachel Reeves explained that the reset is about “doing what is in the best interests of our shared economies” which includes “breaking down barriers to trade, creating opportunities to invest, expanding choice to consumers and helping our businesses to sell in each other’s markets”.
Labour have previously ruled out re-joining the trade bloc however, as the BBC reported, barriers impacting the farming and food industry could be removed and additional supported provided to businesses with complex supply chains. From an EU point of view, youth mobility is a key topic which they may be looking to push in any forthcoming conversations and negotiations.
Pre-empting the Chancellor’s speech in Brussels, the shadow business secretary, Andrew Griffith, urged her to “jump on a plane to the US and talk to Trump about getting a US-UK trade deal done”.
Comments