Rachel Reeves said the UK government is closing in on a trade pact with six Gulf nations, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as its next major deal. The chancellor told the BBC the agreement would be the government’s “next deal” as it looks to boost trade ties following Brexit. Reeves suggested economic growth would be strengthened through recent trade deals with the United States, the EU and India, all inked within a fortnight. Britain is in a better place than any other country in the world in terms of deals with those countries. The first deal and the best deal so far with the US, we’ve got the best deal with the EU for any country outside the EU, and we’ve got the best trade agreement with India. The chancellor also said the UK was “not looking to have trade negotiations with China”. In early April, foreign secretary David Lammy said Labour was continuing discussions with the Gulf over a trade deal, which were started by the previous Conservative government. The shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, has said that the government’s deal with the EU is a betrayal of Brexit, and accused the prime minister of making “smug” comments when announcing it. Speaking on the GB News channel, the Conservative MP for Witham said: Keir Starmer never believed in Brexit. He spent all of his time campaigning to unpick Brexit. He was being dishonest with the British public. He basically did not go into the general election last year and say that his reset would mean that we’d become a rule taker all over again. He deceived the British public. Asked about Starmer’s comment that the deal put the country back on the world stage, Patel said: Quite frankly, that is utter rubbish from Keir Starmer. Not for the first time. It was Britain that led the international efforts when it came to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. So I think he needs to go away and do some homework. And of course, it was Conservatives in government that led the way when it came to Britain post-Brexit, our place in the world, securing those trade deals, over 70 trade agreements during our tenure in government. So, we’re not going to listen to that nonsense from Keir Starmer. He just constantly wants to betray Britain and the democratic vote of the British people. And I think he needs to really go back and recalibrate his very smug comments. Any cost to taxpayers from the government’s deal with the EU will be outweighed by the economic benefits, industry minister Sarah Jones has said, insisting that the UK was not rejoining the EU. Speaking on Sky News, she said: We are not paying, through any of this, for access to markets. That is not what we are doing. We are not rejoining the EU. Where we will pay, and these things will be negotiated, where we will pay is where there are joint costs that need to be paid. Good morning, welcome to our live coverage of UK politics for Tuesday. Here are your headlines … Industry minister Sarah Jones has said the UK-EU deal announced yesterday by prime minister Keir Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen does not mean that Britain is rejoining the EU. She claimed any cost to taxpayers would be outweighed by the economic benefits Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel has said that “when Labour negotiates, Britain always seems to lose”, and accused the government of being misleading over the deal. She said the deal was a betrayal of Brexit Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the government is nearing a trade pact with six Gulf nations, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia It is Martin Belam with you today. Cabinet meets this morning. We might get a Commons statement from the prime minister later on, and the chancellor is expected to make a media appearance. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Author: Martin Belam