𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Rachel Reeves has blamed Brexit for the state of the UK economy ahead of expected tax hikes in next month’s Budget. The Chancellor stressed the 2020 deal’s role in long-term damage to the UK’s productivity when speaking to the world’s leading finance ministers and central bankers.

“The UK’s productivity challenge has been compounded by the way in which the UK left the European Union,” said remarks published this weekend, at a committee at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Having previously been reluctant to stress economic downsides from the deal, it marks an apparent shift in Labour’s public stance towards Brexit.

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Ms Reeves quoted the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) calculation of a 4% long-term hit compared to remaining in the EU. She said the UK “acknowledges this” in seeking stronger trade ties.

Earlier this month, the Chancellor also told Sky News the economy was suffering from the impacts of leaving the European Union, austerity policies and Liz Truss’s infamous 2022 mini-budget.

The comments come amid fears of anticipated tax rises in her autumn budget, when she seeks to fill a black hole estimated at around £50 billion by some economists.

When the OBR publishes its forecast on November 26, which is anticipated to show a downgrade in UK productivity, the BBC reports that Brexit is expected to feature.

It comes as the UK’s most senior banker, Andrew Bailey, warned the impact of Brexit will be negative for the “foreseeable future”.

Speaking at an international banking seminar on Saturday in Washington DC, Mr Bailey said: “For nearly a decade, I have been very careful to say that I take no position per se on Brexit, which was a decision by the people of the UK, and it is our job as public officials to implement it.

“But, I quite often get asked a second question: what’s the impact on economic growth? And as a public official, I have to answer that question. And the answer is that for the foreseeable future it is negative.”

He linked a decline in the UK’s potential growth from 2.5% to 1.5% over the past 15 years to post-Brexit economic policies, lower productivity growth, an ageing population and trade restrictions.