Rachel Reeves sparks Brexit fury as she demands closer EU ties in major speech

The Tories said Rachel Reeves “wants to blame everybody else but herself for her dreadful management of the economy”.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride added: “After £66 billion in tax rises, growth has stalled, business confidence has collapsed, inflation is higher and unemployment is rising.

“But instead of owning the damage she’s done, Reeves is dragging us back into the old Brexit arguments.

“The Chancellor is utterly deluded and gaslighting the public to cover her own failures.”

Rachel Reeves has set out plans for the UK to align more closely with European Union rules.

The Chancellor said deviating from the regulations set in Brussels should be “the exception, not the norm”.

She said: “There are areas in which regulatory autonomy may be necessary for sectors with unique characteristics or strategic importance for the UK, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

“To get this right, we must work more closely with businesses, both here and across Europe, but when the economic gains exceed the costs, the trade-off is worth making.”

Regional mayors could be given control of a share of income tax to invest in their areas under plans set out by Rachel Reeves.

Giving the annual Mais Lecture, the Chancellor said: “I have asked my officials to work with mayors and businesses to develop a road map for future fiscal devolution to be published at this year’s budget.

“This will set out plans to give regional leaders control of a share of some national taxes which have, for too long, been allocated by central government.

“They will look at income tax alongside other taxes, with reforms initially targeted at those places that have the greatest capacity to deliver them and the greatest potential to benefit.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her goal of driving economic growth across the country rather than “just a few parts of Britain”.

She said the plan was “about being a country where every citizen can achieve, succeed and contribute to our national prosperity no matter what their parents do, where they grow up, or where they choose to settle down”.

She added: “Each part of Britain can carve out its own niche in industries crucial to the UK’s prosperity and security, drawing on the skills of their workforce, their existing industrial strengths and the natural assets on which they are built.”

The UK has been left in danger of being “stranded” between rival trading blocs by Brexit, Rachel Reeves has claimed.

The Chancellor, delivering the annual Mais Lecture at Bayes Business School in London, said: “Brexit created profound uncertainty, raised new barriers to trade and leaves Britain facing an additional danger today: the risk that we find ourselves stranded between powerful trading blocs as globalisation retreats.”

Rachel Reeves is giving a major speech in the City of London.

The Chancellor will use the Mais lecture to set out her “three big choices” for the decade to come: deepening ties with the EU, expanding AI and other technology, and “growth in every part of Britain”.

The Conservatives accused Reform UK of “another fantasy promise” after the party said it would scrap VAT and green levies on household energy bills

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “Their policy of scrapping the carbon price support appears to be completely uncosted, while their VAT proposals would cost billions but they have no detail on how they would pay for it.

“Reform are simply not being honest with the public about their sums and have been saying openly that they are ‘not interested in the numbers’.

“Meanwhile, the rest of their ideas seem to be copy and pasted from the Conservatives’ cheap power plan announced last year. Reform are a one man band, the only original thinking they seem capable of is to pile up ever more unfunded promises.”

Downing Street allays fears of fuel shortages, insisting: “Petrol stations are well stocked. Drivers should fill up as normal.”

Downing Street said Ministers discussed the impact of the Iran war during this morning’s Cabinet meeting.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister opened cabinet by referencing the impact of the Iranian conflict on the economy and the cost of living, before turning to the Chancellor to update.

“The Chancellor set out how the conflict has impacted oil and gas prices.

“She said the work done since coming into office put the government in a better place to weather a storm.”

Nigel Farage has insisted the King’s visit to the US must go ahead to keep a working relationship between London and Washington.

The Reform UK leader said tension between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump has intensified in recent weeks.

But Mr Farage said the King’s visit to the US is now more important than ever.

The number of people in England and Wales claiming the main disability benefit has hit a new record high of nearly four million, figures show.

Personal independence payments (Pip) are intended to help with everyday tasks and extra living costs if someone has a long-term physical or mental health condition or disability.

Plans by the Government to change the eligibility criteria for the payments had to be put on hold last year, after a rebellion by MPs in the House of Commons.

Nigel Farage has warned Rachel Reeves is “totally out of date” by calling for closer ties with the EU.

The Reform UK leader slammed proposals for a closer alignment, claiming it will alienate businesses.

A Treasury minister declined to say whether the Government was planning for petrol rationing if the Iran crisis continued to disrupt the global oil market.

Asked if the Government was making such plans, Dan Tomlinson told Times Radio: “At the moment, it is too early to tell what the impact of this crisis will be in the coming months.

“What we have seen in the last two weeks is that there has been sharp increase in the cost of oil used to heat people’s homes, and the Government has stepped in and said we’re going to provide £50 million of support for people across the UK who are reliant on heating oil.”

Asked again whether the Government was making contingency plans to ration petrol, Mr Tomlinson said: “We will monitor the situation, and we’ll monitor it carefully.”

The Reform UK leader is facing questions over his deputy’s tax affairs

Nigel Farage says the Royal Navy should be deployed to help keep the key waterway open.

But he warns that we struggle to do so because our forces are so depleted.

“When it comes to aiding the Americans in freeing the Strait of Hormuz, well, I think in many ways we ought to. I think it is in our national interest to keep the oil flowing, but we can’t. We haven’t got the assets.

“So I think the first very big lesson that comes out of all of this is that we have denuded the Royal Navy and our forces to such an extent that, frankly, we’ve been humiliated on the world stage.

“Our defence spending for next year is due to be just a fraction over 2% and we’re going to have to find ways to significantly and rapidly up that budget.

“To be fair, this is not all the fault of this Labour Government. Fourteen years of Conservative government have run down our armed forces to a state, frankly, as I say, of total global embarrassment.”

Sir Keir Starmer has refused Donald Trump’s pleas for warships

Scrapping the 5% VAT levied on on energy bills would cut a family’s energy bill by around £85 a year, while axing the renewables obligation and carbon price support tax would save another £115, Reform claimed.

The measures would be funded by a 7.5% reduction in the budgets of unprotected arm’s length bodies, known as quangos, which Reform said would save £2.5 billion per year in 2029/30.

Robert Jenrick says the lucky winner of a Reform ‘tombola’ will have their energy bills, as well as everyone else on the same street, paid – for one year – by Nigel Farage.

He told a press conference in London: “If you give us your details on that website, in the next week or two, we’re going to draw one of those names, and Nigel (Farage) is going to come to your house and he’s going to pay your energy bills and those of everyone who lives on your street for an entire year.

“So if that sounds good, then go to our website, enter our draw, spread the word, pass it to your friends and your neighbours and your colleagues on Facebook, on Twitter, and know this today – Reform can only cut the energy bills of one street in this country, but a Reform government will cut the energy bills of every single street in every part of our country.”

This includes scrapping Ed miliband’s green levies

We are going to get rid of the heating tax. VAT on bills will be gone.

The Government should “immediately” step up efforts to ensure the most vulnerable households receive help with energy bills amid predictions of a £250 hike as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, the industry has said.

Energy UK said latest projections from suppliers suggested customers could face an increase of as much as £250 on their annual bill as the United States and Israel continue to bomb Iran, although it added it was too early to be sure of the impact.

Analysts at Cornwall Insight have forecast that household energy bills could rise by more than 10% from July, following sharp increases in wholesale gas prices.

Its latest forecast predicts that Ofgem’s price cap for July to September will surge to £1,827 a year from the current £1,641 for a typical dual fuel household.

The Reform UK leader and Robert Jenrick will take aim at Labour’s economic failings.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander and Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper were pictured heading into Number 10 this morning, as Sir Keir Starmer prepared to address his Cabinet about events at home and the Middle East.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit Downing Street later, to agree a new defence partnership aimed at tackling cheap attack drones.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and Tory Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho are out promoting their call for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to scrap her planned 5p increase to petrol duty.

Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson squirmed as he was pressed on whether the Government was planning for petrol rationing.

Asked if rationing might be needed, he said: “At the moment, it is too early to tell what the impact of this crisis will be in the coming months.”

Read the full story here

Dame Emily Thornberry has said she believes it would be safer to delay the King’s state visit to the US – which is reportedly scheduled for next month – because of the ongoing war in the Middle East.

The visit has yet to be officially announced but Charles and Camilla are expected to visit Washington DC and New York in April to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Tuesday, Dame Emily said there was a risk Charles and Camilla may be left feeling “embarrassed” due to the current crisis.

“If it was to go ahead, it would go ahead against a backdrop of a war and that, I think, is quite difficult – and the last thing that we want to do is to have their Majesties embarrassed,” she said.

Asked if she was in favour of delaying the visit, Dame Emily replied: “I don’t know what the programme would involve but I think it needs to be thought through very carefully as to whether or not it’s appropriate to go ahead now, or maybe have a limited program or delay it – but we can’t just pretend that there isn’t a background of war.

“I suspect it would be safer to delay it, but I don’t know the details.”

Royal Navy Destroyer HMS Dragon has arrived in Gibraltar on its way to the Gulf, Gibraltar’s broadcaster says

A Treasury minister declined to say whether the Government was planning for petrol rationing if the Iran crisis continued to disrupt the global oil market.

Asked if the Government was making such plans, Dan Tomlinson told Times Radio: “At the moment, it is too early to tell what the impact of this crisis will be in the coming months.

“What we have seen in the last two weeks is that there has been sharp increase in the cost of oil used to heat people’s homes, and the Government has stepped in and said we’re going to provide £50 million of support for people across the UK who are reliant on heating oil.”

Nigel Farage will pledge to scrap VAT and green levies on household energy bills if Reform UK wins power at the next General Election.

Mr Farage and his allies believe the move will save the average family £200 a year.

The war in Iran has sparked fears of rocketing energy bills, fuelled by Iranian forces attacking ships as they transit through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has effectively shut the vital oil and gas shipping route by targeting vessels in response to the US-Israeli air strikes.

Asked whether he accepted AI adoption would lead to job losses, Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson told Sky News: “In the vast history of the UK economy, when big shocks come, when you have the Industrial Revolution, or big changes in the technology that people use, there are changes to the amount of jobs that happen in the economy, or the types of jobs that we have, you don’t see job losses overall.

“And actually, if you look at the next five years, the Office for Budget responsibilities say that employment is going to increase in every single year of their forecast.”

Ministers should consider a “catch-up” vaccination campaign for young people in the wake of the meningitis outbreak in Kent, a former minister has said.

Helen Whately, Conservative MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, told Times Radio there had been vaccinations against meningitis B for babies since 2015, but those affected by the current outbreak “won’t have been vaccinated as babies in that way because they were born before that”.

She said: “So they do have a vulnerability.

“And one of the things that the Government (and) UKHSA will need to look at is if there is now a greater risk around this outbreak – and in future – should there be some kind of vaccination catch-up for that group.”

A Kent MP has questioned whether the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) could have communicated with the public sooner about the meningitis outbreak in the county.

Asked whether she had concerns about a “potential delay” in communications, former health minister Helen Whately told Times Radio: “I do, I would like to have UKHSA come forward and explain the timeline there.

“I first heard about the outbreak through picking it up on the internet, on Facebook on Sunday evening, but it sounds like actually they knew about it earlier than that.

“I didn’t get an update myself until I contacted the Health Secretary first thing on Monday morning.

“I then had a briefing from the chief executive of UKHSA, Susan Hopkins, and we spoke about the importance of reaching the school kids, as well as the students from the university because of the mixing.

“But there is a question about could that have been acted on quicker if there’d been more public engagement sooner.”

Britain’s relationship with America “will definitely persist”, a minister has said following Donald Trump‘s latest criticism of Sir Keir Starmer.

Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson told Sky News: “Different people say different things at different times.

“But if you look behind the words that are said day-to-day, we’ve got a really significant defence and security partnership with the Americans, there’s massive trade between our two countries.

“The depth of our partnership will definitely persist over time and it’s definitely worth focusing on.”

Sir Keir Starmer will hold talks with his Cabinet today after Donald Trump’s latest criticism of him amid the Iran conflict.

The domestic impact of soaring oil prices triggered by the Middle East crisis is likely to top the agenda as the Prime Minister chairs the weekly meeting with his senior ministers.

It comes after the US President said he was “not happy” with Britain after he demanded countries send warships amid Tehran’s blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which is a key global shipping route for oil and gas.

Reform UK accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of being “out of ideas” amid her push for closer EU ties.

The party’s Treasury spokesman Robert Jenrick said: “The idea that Labour’s EU reset is going to bring back jobs and leave people with more money in their pocket is for the birds.

“Rachel Reeves is out of ideas and has been reduced to trying to dig up failed policies from the past. She should start fixing the mess she made, beginning by scrapping her ridiculous plan to raise fuel duty.”

The Tories accused Chancellor Rachel Reeves of seeking to blame Brexit for Labour’s economic mismanagement.

Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: “It’s no secret that Reeves and Starmer have wanted to row back on Brexit since day one – and we can expect to hear more detail on Labour’s plan to drag us closer to the EU at the Chancellor’s speech today.

“Labour are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for their economic failures.

“Under increasing pressure having mismanaged the economy, Reeves would rather point the finger at Brexit than accept their poor choices have been a disaster for our economy.”

Rachel Reeves will set out her three key priorities for Britain’s economy including closer ties with the EU in a major speech today.

Giving the Mais lecture in the City of London, the Chancellor will unveil her “three big choices” for the decade to come: deepening ties with the EU, expanding AI and other technology, and “growth in every part of Britain”.

She is expected to say: “In this changing world, Britain is not powerless. We can shape our own future. Our method is stability, investment and reform – through an active and strategic state.

“Today, I am making three big choices on the greatest growth opportunities for Britain in the decade to come: growth in every part of Britain, AI and innovation, and a deeper relationship with the EU.

“Our plan is clear. To build for growth, to champion innovation, and to make Britain the place where the industries of the future are created.”