{"id":534892,"date":"2025-10-29T06:52:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T06:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/534892\/"},"modified":"2025-10-29T06:52:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T06:52:16","slug":"rachel-reeves-says-brexit-is-a-big-reason-for-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/534892\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Reeves says Brexit is a big reason for inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chancellor wants to rebuild ties with the EU<\/p>\n

06:29, 29 Oct 2025Updated 06:30, 29 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"ChancellorChancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves(Image: WPA Pool, Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Brexit is partly to blame for high inflation in the UK, Rachel Reeves has said as she made the case for rebuilding ties with the EU<\/a>. The Chancellor said the cost of trading with Brussels was among the reasons for rising prices in Britain.<\/p>\n

During an appearance at Riyadh\u2019s Future Investment Initiative summit on her visit to Saudi Arabia, Ms Reeves attributed the UK\u2019s vote to cut ties with the EU to \u201ca rejection of open borders\u201d. But she said there was \u201cpublic support\u201d for the Labour<\/a> Government\u2019s move to reset relations with the bloc, including an agreement secured earlier this year aimed at cutting red tape for travellers and businesses.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Brexit was a rejection of open borders, but if you look at the UK today, when we did that deal back in May with the European Union<\/a>, to take down some of those barriers and indeed to introduce an ambitious youth mobility scheme, there was public support for that,\u201d Ms Reeves said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd actually the sort of worry, perhaps, that we had as the Government, that reopening that can of worms of our relationship with the European Union might be quite dangerous \u2013 actually, the response has been very good. Businesses, especially small businesses, who face increasing red tape since we left the European Union, for workers, who are now locked out of the jobs market in Europe, there are obviously huge benefits from rebuilding some of those relations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves is preparing to deliver a challenging Budget next month in which she is widely expected to increase taxes again to plug a hole in the public finances. Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have said she would need to raise \u00a322 billion to restore the \u00a310 billion of headroom she previously left herself.<\/p>\n

The pressure has been eased slightly by better-than-expected inflation, with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate remaining steady last month at 3.8%, but the Chancellor said on Tuesday that it was still too high. \u201cInflation is too high in countries around the world including in the UK, and one of the reasons for that is that there\u2019s too much cost associated with trade with our nearest neighbours and trading partners,\u201d she told the audience.<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves is leading a UK delegation in Saudi Arabia as the Government seeks to deepen ties with the region in a search for economic growth. On Tuesday, she welcomed a package of two-way trade and investment deals with the country which the Treasury says is worth \u00a36.4 billion.<\/p>\n

The agreements include up to \u00a35 billion in financing support from UK Export Finance for projects in Saudi Arabia, which the Government hopes will unlock contracts for British suppliers, and a new Barclays headquarters in Riyadh. \u201cThe \u00a36.3 billion package of new trade, procurement and investment commitments unveiled today will turbocharge business opportunity and create thousands of jobs at home \u2013 key ingredients for kickstarting economic growth and building an economy that works for, and rewards, working people,\u201d Ms Reeves said.<\/p>\n

Downing Street has defended the visit amid questions about Saudi Arabia\u2019s human rights record, insisting that \u201ceconomic partnership can co-exist with frank dialogue on areas of disagreement\u201d. \u201cThe Chancellor will be honest with Gulf counterparts over areas of divergence and cultural differences,\u201d the Prime Minister\u2019s official spokesman said on Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chancellor wants to rebuild ties with the EU 06:29, 29 Oct 2025Updated 06:30, 29 Oct 2025 Chancellor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[802,2000,299,5187,1699,285,619],"class_list":{"0":"post-534892","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-politics","14":"tag-rachel-reeves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115456138225969593","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}