Overview
- Rachel Reeves said Brexit has not been good for growth or prices and called EU alignment in the national interest the biggest prize for the economy, describing closer single‑market alignment as a big bet.
- Sir Keir Starmer is reported to be preparing a bill to give ministers powers for selective, dynamic alignment with EU law in areas such as food standards, animal welfare and pesticide rules.
- Britain will rejoin the Erasmus exchange programme next year, and Reeves said negotiations on a youth mobility scheme with the EU are live while stressing this would not mean a return to free movement.
- Reeves will pair the EU push with a domestic growth plan that includes turning the Oxford–Cambridge corridor into a tech hub, creating a Greater Oxford development corporation and doubling land and infrastructure funding to £800 million.
- The policy shift comes as official data show growth flatlined in January and as energy‑price pressures linked to conflict in the Middle East raise near‑term risks, with Reeves arguing the UK is now fiscally better placed to cope.