At a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels today [9 December], UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to call for an ‘economic reset’ with the EU. Reeves will be the first UK chancellor to attend a meeting of EU finance ministers since the UK left the EU.
According to HM Treasury, the chancellor will set out in her speech that part of the government’s mission to drive economic growth and make working people better off will be achieved through a closer relationship with the EU.
She will say: “This is the first time a British chancellor has addressed the Eurogroup since Brexit. And there could be no more important moment to do so, than now.
“It is a signal of the new UK government’s commitment to resetting our country’s relationship with the European Union, and the importance I place in realising the economic potential of our shared future.”
She’ll add: “I know that the last few years have been fractious. Division and chaos defined the last government’s approach to Europe. It will not define ours.
“We want a relationship built on trust, mutual respect and pragmatism. A mature, business-like relationship where we can put behind us the low ambitions of the past and move forward, focused instead on all that we have in common.
“And all that we might achieve together to keep our countries safe, secure and prosperous.”
Improving the UK’s trade and investment relationship with the EU by ‘tearing down unnecessary barriers to trade’ was one of the key economic policies outlined in Labour’s pre-election manifesto. Reeves and the Labour government will be hoping to make steps towards that goal today and going forward.
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