Rachel Reeves’s Brexit betrayal debunked – 9 reasons she is selling Britain down the river | Politics | News
Chancellor Rachel Reeves ready to fight for closer relationship with EU (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to make a major speech setting out his aims to bring Britain closer to the European Union as he battles to remain Prime Minister. Labor needs to stop pro-EU supporters leaving the party to the Greens and Liberal Democrats.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already announced the extent of her ambitions to “harmonise” Britain with EU regulations. His plans horrify Brexiteers, who fear the UK will have to comply with EU rules they had no part in making. Speaking in Mais earlier this year, he stated that “Brexit has caused profound damage” and declared: “Our fate as a country is inevitably tied to the fate of Europe.”
Key points from the plan regarding EU connectivity are as follows:
Read more: Keir Starmer accused of restarting Brexit wars to ‘save his own life’
1. He thinks Brexit is bad for the UK
Michael Gove and Boris Johnson battle for Leave vote (Image: PA)
He said: “Latest independent research suggests the GDP impact could be as high as 8%. This means higher costs for businesses and therefore higher costs in our stores. This means markets for UK exporters will contract as protectionist barriers increase, and our strategic industries will be exposed.”
2. Believes international trade agreements are no alternative to EU ties
Rachel Reeves does not see trade agreements such as the one with India as a substitute for EU links (Image: AFP via Getty)
Ms Reeves argued: “[No] A trade agreement with any country can outweigh the importance of our relationship with a bloc with which we share a land border, with which our supply chains are tightly intertwined and which account for almost half of our trade.
“There is also a strategic imperative for deeper integration between the UK and the EU because of our shared need for greater economic resilience. So my choice, the choice of this Government, is not to turn back the clock but to look to a new and stable future relationship.”
3. Adaptation to the single market is on the agenda
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Keir Starmer have a warm relationship (Image: Stefan Rousseau/PA)
The Chancellor said: “As the Prime Minister has said: Where it is in our national interest to comply with EU legislation, we must be prepared to do so, including in other areas of the single market.”
4. Britain has three tests for when it should align with the EU
The future direction of EU policy must be in line with Britain’s values, says Rachel Reeves (Image: Kirsty O’Connor/Treasure)
He said: “First, the adjustment decision must mean higher growth and investment, and greater business and consumer benefits in the long term. Second, the future direction of policy must be sufficiently stable and aligned in terms of values and objectives. And third, the UK’s economic and national security and resilience must be protected or enhanced.”
5. Creating our own regulations would be ‘the exception, not the norm’, he says
Boris Johnson after signing the Brexit trade deal in 2020 (Image: Getty)
Ms Reeves said: “There are now areas where regulatory autonomy may be required for sectors that have unique characteristics or are strategically important to the UK. But this should be the exception, not the norm.”
“We need to work more closely with businesses, both here and in Europe, to get this right. But the trade-off is worth making when the economic gains exceed the costs.”
6. Wants integration in energy and defense
Ed Miliband wants to change the way energy is produced in the UK (Image: PA)
Announcing the “reward” to be given to the UK, he said there would be reduced costs of doing business, new opportunities for exports and travel, work and education, adding that there would be “a more resilient and more efficient energy system across Europe and a deeper, more integrated defense industrial base among close allies to repel common threats”.
7. He argues that this would also be good for the EU
Britain’s relationship with France will be critical to any UK-EU deal (Image: AFP via Getty)
The Chancellor said: “If we want to increase the competitiveness of European industry in the face of global competition, we must work together, remove barriers between us and prevent collateral damage between trusted partners. It is in Britain’s and Europe’s collective interest to respond to global challenges as a partnership, strengthening our global competitive advantage.”
8. He thinks no partnership is more important than the UK’s relationship with the EU
Rachel Reeves sees partnership with US no more special than EU (Image: Bloomberg via Getty)
Britain may be known for its “special relationship with the US” and has gained access to trading partnerships with countries overlooking the Pacific Ocean, but Ms Reeves said: “Britain’s future prosperity will be built not in isolation but through partnerships with those who share our interests, values and ambitions. And no partnership is more important than the partnership between the UK and our European neighbours.”
9. Ready for a fight
Rachel Reeves sees closer alignment with EU as ‘the right way forward for Britain’ (Image: PA)
The Chancellor said: “This will require us to have and win the political debates. And believe me, I am ready for that. Because I believe that closer alignment is absolutely the right path for Britain; a path chosen as a sovereign nation, a path chosen in our national interests.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel this week warned the Prime Minister not to press for closer alignment with the EU as part of his bid to stay in power.
He said: “Starmer is so desperate for his own survival that he is resorting to reopening the divisions of the Brexit years in the hope of winning support for himself. Starmer is so weak and focused on fighting Labour’s civil war that he has no answers to the huge challenges facing our country and wants to take us back to 2016.”
