The Chancellor Rachel Reeves will deliver her first Budget to the House of Lords tomorrow. It will be Labour’s first budget in government in 14 years. We have already heard that a £40 billion funding gap needs to be plugged, likely by raising employer National Insurance contributions, efficiency savings within government, and growing the economy.
But some numbers are already very clear. Brexit and the UK’s status outside the single market is costing the UK economy billions of pounds every year. So the question is – why won’t the government mention the B-word on budget day?
Response from European Movement UK
Sir Nick Harvey, European Movement UK CEO, and former Armed Forces Minister, said:
“The new government has been quick to recognise the need to deepen the UK’s cooperation with its European neighbours. Being outside the European Single Market is costing our economy £115 billion a year and the public finances more than £40 billion a year.
“The Chancellor can tinker around the edges, but addressing the economic damage done by Brexit must become a priority. We need an inquiry into what our relationship with Europe could look like. Future membership of the single market and customs union must be part of that conversation.”
Professor Molly Scott Cato, Vice President of European Movement UK, said:
“How can the UK economy compete against the low costs of China, the vast subsidies of America’s inflation reduction act and the frictionless borders of the EU? We are going to be told that Reeves’s first budget is ‘a budget for growth’, but how is the Chancellor of a small market outside the main trade blocs of the world going to compete and achieve that growth?
“If we seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place, I can suggest an obvious way out: becoming again part of the single market, and not just for trading purposes. Rejoining the political institutions and taking our rightful place in designing the global bloc that puts its values of environmental protection and social standards at its heart, offers the best future for the UK to flourish in the future global economy.”
Dr Mike Galsworthy, Chair of European Movement UK and founder of Scientists For EU, said:
“Brexit does not work for working people. It can’t be made to work, and can’t be forced to work. Red-tape is having a crippling impact on our economy, especially UK businesses with supply chains that depend on the EU. The government must capitalise on their reset of our relationship with Europe and deliver long-term stability for UK businesses. It is already obvious that Brexit won’t be mentioned on Budget Day. Just as it was during the election, it will once again be the ‘elephant in the room’. A massive issue draining the financial and social wellbeing of every single one of us – and yet completely ignored as if it does not exist. This absurd situation has to end.”
European Movement UK was formed in 1949 by Sir Winston Churchill, to prevent further conflict between European countries. It remains a cross-party organisation campaigning on the benefits of close ties between the UK and EU.
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