Rachel Reeves is expected to say that the UK should have a “businesslike” relationship with the EU during her talks with chiefs today.
Ms Reeves will be the first Chancellor to attend the Eurogroup meeting of EU finance ministers since Brexit. Labour has been accused of trying to take “Britain backwards into the slow growth EU”.
She is expected to tell Brussels: “I believe that a closer economic relationship between the UK and the EU is not a zero-sum game. It’s about improving both our growth prospects.
“The reset in relations is about doing what is in the best interests of our shared economies and those that depend on it.”
The government is facing backlash on this decision from opposing political parties, as shadow business and trade secretary Andrew Griffith said: “If she is interested in growth, she should tell the Prime Minister to jump on a plane to the US and talk to Trump about getting a US-UK trade deal done, not trying to take Britain backwards into the slow growth EU.”
Reform MP Rupert Lowe echoed this, as he said: “It’s becoming clearer by the day that this so-called ‘reset’ is nothing more than a ploy to drag us closer to the EU.
“Labour is still filled with Europhiles who would love nothing more than to see us back in the European Union.
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The Chancellor will also focus on tackling challenges such as the war in Ukraine, championing free trade and strengthening economic partnerships.
Ministers have previously ruled out returning to the single market, the customs union and freedom of movement which the Prime Minister has described as “red lines”.
However, last week Sir Keir Starmer refused to side with the US against the EU when Donald Trump enters the White House during a speech he delivered at the lord mayor’s banquet in London.