Britain's chancellor: closer relations with the EU are in our national interest

TL;DR

UK Chancellor argues deeper EU alignment is economically necessary, citing an 8% GDP Brexit hit and Europe being Britain's largest trading partner.

Key Points

• 1.Brexit cost estimated at 8% of GDP. The Chancellor cited this figure as justification for urgently resetting UK-EU trade relations to boost growth and lower consumer prices.
• 2.The May 2025 food and farming deal is projected to add 0.3% of GDP (~£10 billion) by 2040. Despite being a small sector, the Chancellor called it more valuable than any other trade deal Britain has secured post-Brexit.
• 3.The UK's new alignment strategy proposes EU norms as the default, with exceptions only in special cases. This marks a significant shift from the previous sector-by-sector approach, signalling ambition for broad single market alignment.
• 4.Rejoining the EU is ruled out, but deeper alignment is the stated goal. The Chancellor dismissed a second referendum as not in the national interest despite 54% of the public and 82% of Labour voters favouring rejoining.
• 5.The Chancellor is actively lobbying European finance ministers, including Spain's Carlos Cuerpo. He argues shared interest in resisting trade protectionism and security threats makes closer UK-EU cooperation mutually beneficial.