Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor, says Sir Keir Starmer will grab a baked 'review' Rachel Reeves said Labor will start talks with Brussels on “practical changes” to the Brexit trade deal in her first year in government. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA
The Shadow Chancellor criticized the “chaotic” agreement reached by Boris Johnson with the EU, and said that it needs to be substantially revised.
She added, that Sir Keir Starmer will seize on the prepared “renegotiation” of the pact, scheduled for 2025, to restore economic ties with the continent.
Last week, the Labor leader said the UK needed an “improved” deal that would lead to “closer trade relations” with Europe.
Ms Reeves told the Financial Times her party wants to ease trade frictions food, but will not bring the UK back into the single market or customs union.
It also aims for a deal to recognize professional qualifications to make it easier for people and companies to do business on the continent.
Ms Reeves told the BBC: “The trade and cooperation agreement will be reviewed in 2025 and some things will probably need to be fixed before then to ensure our great automotive industry has a future to look forward to.” look forward.
“This trade deal was full of holes. There were other industries as well. The automotive industry is one thing, financial services is another, agriculture is another, our cultural industries that feel left out and left out of a deal made a couple of years ago.
“We need to make this deal work better in our national interest. This is not about rejoining a single market or a customs union, but about some necessary practical changes.”
The possibility of a renegotiation — or a “technical exercise”?
When the Brexit trade deal was signed in 2020, both sides agreed that they would test it five years later to see how well it worked.
While some politicians in the UK see this as an opportunity to completely reopen the terms of the pact, Brussels sees it more as a technical exercise.
Conservative MPs have warned that Sir Keir wants to use the momentum to bring the UK back to EU membership in long term.< /p>
The Labor leader said “we need a better deal” than the current one and that his party will “make Brexit work” in government.
“We need to improve this deal. Of course, we want closer trade relations, we absolutely want it,” he told the BBC.
“This does not mean reversing the decision and returning to the EU, but the deal we received, it was said that it was ready for the oven, it was not even half-baked.
“I don’t think we should reunite with either the EU at all or the single market, but I really think that we have to break down the barriers.”
Ms Reeves also said on Wednesday she doesn't plan to hit families with big tax increases if Labor wins the next general election.
She said that taxes had already reached a 70-year high under the Tories, adding: “I have no plans to become a major chancellor to collect taxes.”
The Shadow Chancellor reiterated her opposition to equalizing capital gains with income tax rates, as suggested Angela Rayner, Deputy Labor Leader.
She also said she also had “no plans” to cut tax breaks that higher-paid individuals can take advantage of on their pension contributions.
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