Rachel Reeves has expressed her continued regret at Britain’s decision to quit the EU almost a decade ago, saying: ‘I wish we had voted to Remain.’
The Chancellor acknowledged ‘we can’t go back in time’ on reversing the 2016 EU referendum result, but doubled down on her bid to forge closer ties with Brussels.
‘It would be foolish to just carry on as we are,’ she said of the UK’s current trading relationship with the EU.
Ms Reeves made the comments in an interview with The Economist after delivering a major speech in London on Tuesday.
In her Mais lecture at the Bayes Business School, the Chancellor set out plans to follow more EU rules and argued it would help bring down prices and inflation.
‘I have today fired the starting gun of where we want to go next, and that is closer alignment,’ she told the publication after delivering her speech.
‘Despite all the barriers that have been put in place, Europe remains our biggest trading partner.’
She claimed Britain currently risked ‘being stranded between powerful trading blocs’ of the EU, US and China, adding: ‘We have to decide where our national interest lies.’
Rachel Reeves has expressed her continued regret at Britain’s decision to quit the EU almost a decade ago, saying: ‘I wish we had voted to Remain.’
The Chancellor met with her Spanish counterpart Carlos Cuerpo on Wednesday as she pushed ahead with her bid for closer ties with the EU
Ms Reeves’ and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s ambition to move back closer to Brussels comes after their pre-general election promise to ‘make Brexit work’.
They have insisted the UK won’t return to the EU’s single market or customs union and there will be no return of freedom of movement rules.
But, in her Mais lecture on Tuesday, the Chancellor said she wanted divergence from EU rules to be ‘the exception, not the norm’.
‘The prize is considerable,’ she said in her speech, adding: ‘Our fate as a country is inescapably bound with that of Europe.’
On Wednesday, Ms Reeves made her first visit to Spain as Chancellor as she courts Spanish investors.
The Treasury announced a £240million investment from Spanish liquid storage company Exolum to coincide with her trip to Madrid.
Ms Reeves met with her Spanish counterpart Carlos Cuerpo to announce a work visa waiver for UK services professionals travelling to Spain for fewer than 90 days.
‘In an uncertain world, we must build growth that is secure and resilient,’ the Chancellor said.
‘We do this best through partnerships with those who share our interests, our values, and our ambitions.
‘We count Spain amongst those partners – and the prize for doing more together is considerable.
‘Our economic plan is the right one. By restoring stability, boosting investment and driving reform through an active and strategic state, we will build a stronger and more secure economy.’
EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said on Wednesday morning that he wanted to make a deal with Brussels by the time of the next UK-EU annual summit – expected in May or June – to cut bureaucracy costing businesses money to trade with the bloc.
Wielding a bundle of documents to illustrate the ‘export health certificates’ needed to send products into the EU, he told LBC he was holding ’22 pages, 56 wet stamps’ of documentation for a London-based pasta company.
‘What I want to do is to finalise, by this year’s annual summit, the legal text … I want to take away fees,’ he said.
‘So what are the specific fees? £200 to one of these certificates, £61 identity check, £1,400 if you’re selected for sampling.
‘I want to be starting to do that by the middle of next year. That is the work that I’m doing. That’s what I’m trying to do, to cut down barriers for business.’