Britain's future lies in the EU, claims former Chancellor Rachel Reeves
Britain’s future belongs in the EU, the former Chancellor has said, taking a sharp stance on a widening debate as she warned Brexit has made the country “poorer, weaker and less secure”.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham has previously indicated that it was time for an “honest discussion” about the freedom of movement between the UK and EU.
Now Leeds MP Rachel Reeves, having written in The Sunday Times, has thrown the strongest support yet behind steps to strengthen ties with Brussels.
“I am proud of the progress we have already made in strengthening our relationship with the European Union,” said Ms Reeves. “Brexit has made us poorer, weaker and less secure.”
Andy Burnham, in comments made over recent weeks, has sparked questions about the prospect of Britain returning to the bloc or adopting its rules over freedom of movement. He suggested it is time to consider “options” for closer ties.
Later this month he is set to lay out more detail ahead of an upcoming summit, looking at agreements around food and drink and emissions trading and with a critical deal on youth free-movement set to be struck.
But, with the Treasury declining to comment further, he has denied claims that he is preventing his top team from speaking out on his Brexit plans, insisting any change would be “for the public to decide” and left to the next parliament.
Now Ms Reeves, in her first public speech since leaving the Treasury this summer, is set to address members at the Harvard Kennedy School today.
Her comments come as the strongest to date, despite Reeves being among those to craft Labour’s 2024 manifesto which explicitly ruled out a U-turn on Brexit.
Now she said: “No one in the Treasury ever doubted where my instincts were. I do believe Britain’s future lies in the European Union.”
This is “incumbent”, she added, on supporters’ delivering an argument, demonstrating tangible benefits and getting the next steps right around the upcoming summit.
The moves have been dismissed by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch as “magical thinking”. Speaking on the BBC yesterday, she told Laura Kuenssberg she refused to “indulge” a “fantasy” over “yet another Westminster bubble argument”.
“I can’t even believe that we are reopening this debate,” she said, insisting it was time to focus on opportunities and a new future instead. “I see lots of economic analysis, a lot of it debunked, about how if we join the European Union then all sorts of magical things would happen,” she added.
“I’m not interested in magical thinking. I’m interested in reality.”
Her comments came in the wake of Chancellor John Healey’s budget last week, with the South Yorkshire MP now setting out pledges around the benefits bill. See Page 4.