Labour would open talks with Brussels on renegotiating the Brexit trade deal within months of entering government, Rachel Reeves has said.
The shadow chancellor criticised the “chaotic” agreement Boris Johnson reached with the EU and said it needed a significant overhaul.
She added that Sir Keir Starmer would seize on a baked-in “review” of the pact, scheduled for 2025, to rebuild economic ties with the continent.
Last week, the Labour leader said the UK needed an “improved” agreement that would result in a “closer trading relationship” with Europe.
Ms Reeves told the Financial Times her party wanted to ease friction on trade in food but would not take Britain back into the single market or customs union.
She is also targeting a deal on recognition of professional qualifications to make it easier for people and companies to do business on the continent.
Both sides agreed when the Brexit trade deal was signed in 2020 that they would carry out a review five years later to see how well it was working.
Opportunity to renegotiate – or a ‘technical exercise’?
While some politicians in the UK see this as an opportunity to completely reopen the terms of the pact, Brussels views it more as a technical exercise.
Tory MPs have warned that Sir Keir wants to exploit the moment to drag Britain back towards membership of the EU in the longer term.
The Labour leader has said that “we need a better deal” than the existing one and his party would “make Brexit work” in government.
“We do need to improve that deal. Of course we want a closer trading relationship, we absolutely do,” he told the BBC.
“That doesn’t mean reversing the decision and going back into the EU but the deal we’ve got, it was said to be oven-ready, it wasn’t even half-baked.
“I don’t think we should rejoin either the EU generally or the single market, but I do think that we should break down barriers.”
Ms Reeves also said on Wednesday that she does not plan to hit families with big tax rises if Labour wins the next general election.
She said that taxes had already reached a 70-year high under the Tories, adding: “I don’t have plans to be a big tax-raising chancellor.”
The shadow chancellor reiterated her opposition to equalising capital gains with income tax rates as proposed by Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader.
She said that she also has “no plans” to cut the tax breaks higher earners can benefit from on their pension contributions.
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