Rachel Reeves warned that more than warm words are needed to woo the EU

Anton Spisak, a former UK government official now at the Centre for European Reform think-tank, said that while it was helpful for Reeves to acknowledge the cost of Brexit, unless the Labour government softened its manifesto red lines, deeper economic integration was off the table, meaning the gains for the UK economy would be “relatively small”.

The politics of the situation was further complicated by Brussels waiting for Switzerland to ratify its own new deal with the EU, he said: “Until that question is settled in a highly sensitive referendum in 2027, there is very little chance of the EU opening up new economic negotiations with the UK, let alone offering major new concessions.”