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Rachel Reeves has urged the EU to give greater access for the City of London, telling finance ministers from the bloc it would help grow their stagnating economies. “The UK has deep global capital markets that can fund the growth that economies across the continent need,” the UK chancellor told Euro area finance ministers on a visit to Brussels. “Openness to each other’s markets is a source of strength, not weakness,” she added, promising that the UK was not trying to become a haven of light regulation, or what some have nicknamed “Singapore on Thames”.
Britain’s self-imposed exclusion from the single market after Brexit has limited access for banks and investment firms, while the City no longer follows EU rules. Investment from City firms “can help finance start-ups, scale up businesses as well as the infrastructure investment that we need in energy and elsewhere”, Reeves added during a question session after her formal speech.
Her trip is the first from a UK chancellor since Britain left the bloc, and comes ahead of formal “reset” talks next year. During her visit, the two sides agreed to hold the next regular UK-EU financial services forum on February 12. The chancellor said she hoped Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour administration could build trust after the “chaos and the division” created by previous Conservative governments.
However, the EU has set conditions — including a ban on “cherry picking” member benefits — that may hamper the UK’s ability to carve out a fresh relationship. Reeves told a press conference after her speech that the government had told regulators to “regulate not just for risks but also for growth”. At the same question session Paschal Donohoe, the Eurogroup president, distanced himself from this approach to regulation....
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