CHANCELLOR’S TAX DECISIONS HAVE ‘OVEREXPOSED’ UK TO GLOBAL ECONOMIC TURMOIL, TORIES CLAIM
CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves’ decisions on tax have “overexposed” the UK to global trade turmoil, according to Shadow Treasury Minister Gareth Davies.
He told GB News: “I’m a conservative on free trade, I want to see lower tariffs because they are tax on consumers, and so it is important that this government acts with urgency to secure a free trade agreement for the thousands of people who are going to be impacted by the tariffs in this country.
“It is positive at least that as a result of leaving the European Union, we are in a lower tariff band than they are in Europe, but that free trade agreement is what will ultimately secure our future and help provide that security for jobs across the country.
“But in terms of the economy, that when you run a G7 economy, there are global factors all the time. What you don’t do is overexpose your economy to those global factors. And as we’ve seen with Rachel Reeves and what the IMF has said this week, it is the domestic choices of this Chancellor that have exposed us.
“It’s the £40 billion tax raid, it’s the debt that is increasing more than anybody expected. Those the decisions that I think we have to hold the Chancellor to account on which have overexposed us to global factors.”
On talks about a US trade deal, he said: “I think this is a delayed process. Labour could have acted much quicker.
“If you remember back in terms of Donald Trump’s first term, we did make great progress in negotiating close to a free trade agreement with Donald Trump, but then he lost the election to Joe Biden, and Joe Biden made it clear it wasn’t a priority for him.
“They could have taken that up immediately with Donald Trump to make sure that we’re not in this position today…Kemi would have acted much quicker.
“We’re now in a situation where this is a delayed free trade agreement, and it’s British families and jobs that could be at risk as a result of that.
“But it is positive at least that Rachel Reeves is in Washington this week, and we urge her to make progress with Scott Bessent the Treasury secretary and Keir Starmer with the president of the United States. This is going to be absolutely critical for our economy.”
Asked about a deal with the EU on youth mobility, he said: “We want less migration, not more migration, and we know that Labour are cozying up to the European Union. And we know that when Labour negotiates, Britain loses.
“Just look at the Chagos deal. Just look at the union deals that they secured and the fact that strikes are still going on in Birmingham, so I don’t have much confidence in this Labour government to deliver for the British people.
“We’ve got a problem with migration, and we were partly responsible for that, as we’ve said before, but what would not help is a youth mobility scheme.”
