Rachel Reeves has said she is “absolutely delighted” to consider joining a pan-European customs area to ease restrictions on trade, Mirror reports.
Maroš Sefcovic, the new head of the EU’s trade body, said last week that the UK joining the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM) is “something we could consider” as part of the post-Brexit reset. It would allow tariff-free trade in goods across Europe, as well as some countries in North Africa and the Levant.
The Chancellor told Sky:
“We are absolutely happy to look at these different proposals because we know that the deal that the previous government secured is not working well enough. It’s not working well enough for small businesses trying to export, it’s not working well enough for larger businesses either. We’re grown-ups who admit that, whereas the previous government said there were no problems at all. And where there are constructive ideas we are happy to look at those, as long as they’re consistent with the red lines we set out in our manifesto.”
Labour has ruled out joining the EU customs union or single market before the 2024 election. But Keir Starmer wants to seek closer ties with Europe after years of fighting over Brexit.
The comments immediately sparked howls of outrage from the Tories, who said it risked “cancelling Brexit from the back door.” Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith said:
“This scheme is not the silver bullet to growth the Government thinks it is. Whenever Labour negotiates, Britain loses. So, we need to make sure they don’t surrender important assets like our fishing rights. We must avoid undoing Brexit by the back door by aligning with the EU’s low-growth model.”
Expressing a more optimistic tone than in recent months, she told the BBC:
“My optimism for Britain has never burned brighter than it does now and that’s why we are going further and faster in removing those things that are blocking investment and blocking businesses from creating the wealth and prosperity in our country.”
“Rachel from accounts”
Reeves also noted that people had “underestimated” her before and she had “spent her life proving people wrong” when asked if she was offended by critics calling her “Rachel from accounts.”
Asked if she thought she would be labelled condescending if she were a man, the chancellor told Sky News:
“Some people don’t want this Government to succeed. Some people don’t want me to succeed. I spend my life proving people wrong, proving that I can do stuff, that I’ve been underestimated.”
Asked if she was hurt by the nickname, she said:
“I’ve probably been called worse things… in the end people are going to judge me on the job that I’m doing now, that I’m doing as Chancellor of the Exchequer.”
