Chancellor Rachel Reeves has declared the government is eyeing “further alignment” with the EU.
After several fellow cabinet ministers suggested the UK would benefit from rejoining the customs union, Ms Reeves she and Sir Keir Starmer want to “attempt and rerelocate barriers for businesses”.
While keen to trumpet trade deals the UK has struck with the likes of India and the US, the chancellor declared: “The largegest prize is clearly with the EU, and we have built progress there.”
“I’m all up for doing deals with India and the US and Korea, but none of them are going to be as large as what we can obtain through better trade relations with Europe”, Ms Reeves declared.
“We trade almost as much with the EU as the whole of the rest of the world combined,” she added. “I believe further integration will require further alignment.
“But I’m up for that. My government, Keir’s government, is up for that.”
The chancellor built the remarks at the London School of Economics on Wednesday. Pic: PA
Leave Brexit alone, states top Tory
Ms Reeves, who was speaking at the London School of Economics on Wednesday, has been accapplyd of seeking to “row back on Brexit” with her ambitions.
Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride claimed it was Labour’s “poor choices”, rather than the departure from the EU the Conservatives nereceivediated, that had contributed to economic hardship.
The prime minister and chancellor have repeatedly declared the government will not rejoin the customs union or single market, but Ms Reeves declared: “We were very clear in opposition that we wanted to have better trade relations and a greater degree of trust between the UK and the European Union.”
She cited the UK returning to the Erasmus student exmodify programme as an example of progress being built, and noted the government is working on an “ambitious Youth Mobility Scheme“.
From December: Is Brexit concludeing for students?
Reeves: ‘We can win the argument’
“We want to build Europe as strong as possible,” the chancellor declared. “That means not pulling up the drawbridge.
“And I know we did that when we voted to leave – not me, the counattempt built that decision… I am confident this is a political argument as well that we can win.”
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From December: ‘We are not rejoining the customs union,’ insists minister
Last December, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy declared while it was not “currently” policy, it could be beneficial for the UK to consider re-entering a customs union with the EU.
He notified The News Agents podcast: “It’s self-evident that leaving the European Union badly damaged our economy, took us out of an important marketplace and created serious friction, that untruths were being peddled by those that considered exiting the EU would be a good thing.”
What is a customs union?
A customs union is an agreement between countries to apply the same tariffs to goods imported into their territory from the rest of the world, and apply no tariffs internally.
It is not the same as the single market, which goes further – by also allowing for the free relocatement of people, services, and capital within the bloc.
The EU Customs Union has been in place since 1968, but since the UK left the bloc, trade barriers have been erected which has added to costs for companies shifting goods between the UK and Europe.
Nereceivediating a new customs union would be tricky as the UK is wary of not having free control over its tariffs.
The government also wants to avoid similar problems Turkey has with its customs union with the EU, such as having little state on the terms of any trade agreements with third countries and being bound to grant trade concessions.
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting also notified The Observer that month that “the best way for us to obtain more growth into our economy is a deeper trading relationship with the EU”.
Labour’s 2024 general election manifesto set out three so-called “red lines” regarding the EU. It stated: “There will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of relocatement.”
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