Rachel Reeves is set to beat the drum for even closer ties to Brussels in her Mais lecture this afternoon. Here is what she’ll say, for those who can’t bear to listen:
“In this changing world, Britain is not powerless. We can shape our own future. Our method is stability, investment and reform — through an active and strategic state. Today, I am making three big choices on the greatest growth opportunities for Britain in the decade to come: growth in every part of Britain, AI and innovation, and a deeper relationship with the EU.”
The government is planning a sector-by-sector audit to align UK regulations with the EU, starting with food standards, chemicals, and aerospace. There’s also a ‘youth mobility deal’ and a push to have British components counted as European under new EU content rules. Negotiations (terms of surrender) are expected to begin at a summit this summer. Any hope of achieving real growth has gone down the plumbing, so they are pulling the emergency EU lever…
Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock was asked if Burnham will take Britain back into the EU:
“Yes, sure – his commitment is authentic. He really does understand from the grassroots up why restoring what I think of as normality in our continent is vital for every party economically, politically, culturally, in terms of security, and he’s able to articulate it in language that people can understand. So yeah, he is definitely”.