Rachel Reeves sparks fresh Brexit ‘betrayal’ as she says closer ties with the EU is ‘biggest prize’
Rachel Reeves has sparked fresh fears of Brexit betrayal by claiming closer ties with the European Union would be the ‘greatest reward’ for the UK.
The Chancellor described Sir Keir Starmer’s deal with Brussels last year as only a ‘first stage’ and promised the Labor Government would go much further.
He admitted ministers were worried about the ‘pushback’ they would receive from Leave voters but insisted they could win the political debate.
He said he was ready for greater alignment with EU rules in areas such as financial services and wanted to make it easier for ‘talent to come to the UK’ with a scheme to allow young Europeans to live and work here.
And he criticized the referendum vote held ten years ago as ‘removing the suspension bridge’ and emphasized that it was not his choice.
Speaking at an event at the London School of Economics yesterday, Ms Reeves praised the post-Brexit deals reached between the UK and the US and India, but continued: ‘The biggest prize clearly goes to the EU.’
He said he was ‘very pleased’ with the Government’s decision to reintroduce the Erasmus student exchange scheme in December, despite anger over the estimated £6bn cost.
In addition, he hoped that ‘concrete progress’ would soon be made in talks between the Prime Minister and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last May on food controls, energy trading and ‘an ambitious youth mobility plan’.
Rachel Reeves has said deeper integration with the EU is the ‘greatest reward’ for Britain, sparking fresh claims of Brexit ‘betrayal’.
He continued: ‘As we said last year, that summit was actually kind of the first stage.
‘The reality is that economic gravity is real and almost half of our trade is with the European Union. We trade with the EU almost as much as with the rest of the world combined.
‘I’m ready to make deals with India, the US and Korea, but none of them will be as big as what we could achieve by establishing better trade relations with Europe.’
When asked what the next step should be, he replied: ‘I think more integration will require more adaptation. But I’m ready for this. My government, Keir’s government, are ready for this.
‘Some of it may be unilateral and some of it may be negotiated, but I think there are opportunities here.’
Ms Reeves said London was one of the three major financial centers in the world, adding: ‘The City of London is part of what we have to offer to the EU, we don’t want to create any more obstacles. ‘We will remove these obstacles.’
He also said there are three major trading blocs around the world (USA, China and Europe) and added: ‘We want to make Europe as strong as possible, and that means not lifting the drawbridge. I know we did that when we voted to Leave; ‘This decision was made by the country, not me.’
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: ‘It’s no secret that Reeves and Starmer have wanted to back down on Brexit since day one.
‘Workers are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for their economic failures.’
