Rachel Reeves has doubled down on her EU love-bombing by suggesting Brussels is a more natural ally for Britain than the United States under Donald Trump.
The former Chancellor followed up a weekend of praising Andy Burnham over plans for a closer relationship with Brussels by saying Europe is the ‘obvious’ key ally for the UK.
In a major speech at Harvard University she said the ‘geopolitical centre of gravity’ was shifting away from the United States under the Trump administration.
During a guest lecture at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School on Monday, the Labour MP said Britain must once again make the EU its major political partner to secure its future.
‘I profoundly disagree with Mr (Donald) Trump’s choices that have made America’s allies poorer,’ Ms Reeves said.
‘Whether through arbitrary tariffs, military action in Iran, or the administration’s attitude to Ukraine‘s fight for freedom, you don’t get stronger by weakening your allies – you embolden your adversaries.’
Ms Reeves continued: ‘For Britain, there’s obvious economic interests, common values, and basic geography which all point towards Europe.’
The former Chancellor followed up a weekend of praising Andy Burnham over plans for a closer relationship with Brussels by saying Europe is the ‘obvious’ key ally for the UK
In a major speech at Harvard University she said the ‘geopolitical centre of gravity’ was shifting away from the United States under the Trump administration
However Ms Reeves has not always been so critical of Trump. In 2025, when she was still in No11, she said the UK could do with more of his ‘boosterism’, adding: ‘I think we do need more positivity.’
In her Harvard speech she also echoed her words in a recent column for the Sunday Times, telling attendees that ‘Britain’s future lies inside the European Union’.
Ms Reeves said the bloc represented the ‘single biggest opportunity to boost living standards and generate the revenue to invest in public services, but also deepening our security’.
She said: ‘Estimates now put the cost of Brexit as high as 8 per cent of GDP or £200 billion. It is simply not serious for anyone who claims to have a plan of better services and lower taxes to ignore such stark evidence.’
Ms Reeves argued that it was up to the Labour government to convince both the British public and the EU, which she described as ‘serious and open to compromise’.
She added that this month’s EU-UK Summit was the perfect opportunity to put forward Britain’s case and to deepen their ‘dynamic alignments’.
In her Harvard speech she also echoed her words in a recent column for the Sunday Times, telling attendees that ‘Britain’s future lies inside the European Union’
In her speech, Ms Reeves pointed out how Labour has been working since Brexit to rebuild ties with the EU, including toward the return of the Erasmus student exchange programme, the UK’s contribution to the Ukraine Support Loan and plans to develop a revised Youth Mobility Scheme which would make it easier for people aged 18 to 30 to enter the UK for employment.
It came as Andy Burnham has said he has not proposed the return of freedom of movement between the UK and EU.
The Prime Minister said an ‘honest discussion’ was needed about how temporary migration from Europe had been replaced by long-term settlement in larger numbers since Brexit.
He wants to lock in deals on food and drink, emissions trading and a youth mobility scheme at a Brussels summit on November 20 but told ministers that the period beyond that would be to ‘explore options’ for the long-term relationship that will eventually be put to the public.
In a sign that a food and agriculture deal is almost finalised, a draft text has been circulated among the 27 EU members, the BBC reported, along with similar documents on the emissions trading and the youth mobility plans.
Mr Burnham’s remarks in recent weeks have fuelled questions about the prospect of the UK returning to the EU or adopting its freedom of movement rules.
In an interview with ITV airing on Tuesday, the Labour leader said: ‘I have not proposed freedom of movement coming back.
‘I do believe that we should have an honest discussion with people about how immigration has changed since the Brexit vote because the shorter term migration of people coming from Europe and then going back has been replaced with long term settlement in bigger numbers, and that was the Boriswave.’
He said this had ‘led to more illegal migration because we can’t share data anymore’ with European partners.
Mr Burnham, who fought a by-election in Leave-voting Makerfield that served as a stepping stone into No 10 with a promise not to ‘re-run’ Brexit arguments, said he had noticed during the campaign that public opinion had changed in the constituency over the decade since the 2016 Brexit vote.
He continued: ‘I think public opinion has changed nationally.
‘But I want to be really clear on this issue. I will not run ahead of public opinion. The public need to be the boss when it comes to whatever happens with Brexit.’
