Boost ‘growth prospects’ with reset, Reeves to tell EU finance meeting

Rachel Reeves will argue that a more business-like relationship with the EU can help Britain boost its “growth prospects”, at a meeting with the bloc’s finance ministers.

Reeves will on Monday address the European Union’s financial heads in Brussels, becoming the first Chancellor to do so since Brexit, ahead of her next overseas visit to Beijing in the new year.

Addressing the Eurogroup, she will call for more purposeful dealings with the Eurozone in order to drive UK trade, support businesses and boost economic growth in Britain.

Reeves will stress: “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.”

EU finance address

She will put strengthening the pound in people’s pockets at the centre of the government’s economic reset with the EU, in the wake of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement last week of his ‘milestones’, which included raising living standards across the country.

The Chancellor will focus on areas including: tackling joint challenges such as the war in Ukraine; championing free trade and economic competitiveness; and strengthening bilateral economic partnerships, which she will argue all contribute to lower prices and better jobs.

Reeves is also expected to 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.

“I believe that a closer economic relationship between the UK and the EU is not a zero-sum game. It’s about improving both our growth prospects.

“That means breaking down barriers to trade, creating opportunities to invest and helping our businesses sell in each other’s markets.”

While in Brussels she will also attend bilaterals with European counterparts, following Sir Keir and European Commission president Ursula von de Leyen’s meeting in October.

Trade strategy plans

The government continues to stress there will be no return to the single market, the customs union, or freedom of movement.

But a trade strategy is expected to be published in 2025 which will identify areas where the UK and EU can strengthen their cooperation, including their trading relationship worth £660bn (€750bn) each year, and collective NATO security.

British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) director-general Shevaun Haviland commented: “If our economy is to grow then we must export more. 

“That’s why we urgently need a better trading relationship with our closest and biggest market, the EU. 

“Businesses will be encouraged to hear the Chancellor talking about a reset in our relationship with the EU… a better deal can’t come soon enough for UK exporters.”