The new government wants to work more closely with the European Union on trade issues. However, the reversal of Brexit is not going to happen, said the new Trade Minister, Jonathan Reynolds, in an interview with Sky News on Sunday.
The Labour politician also suggested that internal struggles within the defeated Conservative Party have put pressure on the relationship between London and Brussels. Reynolds assured that Labour will not change the “constitutional” points of Brexit. “But when we look at trade, it’s mainly about food quality requirements.”
Reynolds pointed out that the UK and the EU have the same standards. “If we can sell more whisky or salmon in a market that is so important to us, we must of course investigate those opportunities,” the minister replied when asked if the government is renegotiating certain trade agreements between the UK and the EU. “And frankly, I think that a relationship that is not determined by the internal party politics in the Conservatives is very much in the national interest,” he said.
Due to Brexit, the UK has not been a member of the European single market since 2021. As a result, checks on, for example, meat and horticultural products at the border returned, making mutual trade difficult. During the election campaign, Labour leader Keir Starmer said he wants to remove unnecessary barriers to trade.
