Labour has been accused of plotting to “betray Brexit” after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the UK could join a new EU customs union.
She said the UK was “happy to look” at a proposed “pan-European and Mediterranean customs framework”.
But the Chancellor was condemned as “clueless” by Reform MP Richard Tice.
EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic has suggested Britain could join the arrangement. Known as the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean convention, it includes the EU as well as Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, six western Balkan countries, Ukraine, Morocco, Syria and Palestine.
And Ms Reeves said today: “It was really interesting to see Maros Sefcovic this week suggest the UK might be welcome in that pan-European and Mediterranean customs framework.
“We are absolutely happy to look at these different proposals because we know that the deal that the previous government secured is not working well enough.”
The Chancellor told Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips: “It’s not working well enough for small businesses trying to export, it’s not working well enough for larger businesses either.
“We’re grown-ups who admit that whereas the previous government said there were no problems at all.
“And where there are constructive ideas we are happy to look at those, as long as they’re consistent with the red lines we set out in our manifesto.”
The arrangement is designed to make it easier for the countries to trade with each other by establishing common rules for determining where goods have come from.
However, critics have warned that joining could make it harder for the UK to sign new trade arrangements with the US.
And Reform MP Richard Tice said: “Clueless Rachel wants to constrain the UK into a higher regulatory regime with no growth and high taxes. This will reduce growth and we should be going in the opposite direction.”
The Government hopes to begin trade talks with new US President Donald Trump within weeks in a bid to convince Mr Trump not to impose tariffs on imports into the US from the UK.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the UK can do a deal with the US while also improving or “resetting” relations with the EU.
The Prime Minister said: “We don’t accept the argument that there’s a binary choice between a reset with the EU and a deal with the US.”
The Treasury is believed to have carried out an assessment of the potential impact of trade tariffs but has refused to publish the figures. Liberal Democrats have laid down a House of Commons motion designed to force the Government to release the data.
A report by the International Monetary Fund has warned that Mr Trump’s threatened protectionist policies could damage economies across the globe. It said: “An intensification of protectionist policies, for instance, in the form of a new wave of tariffs, could exacerbate trade tensions, lower investment, reduce market efficiency, distort trade flows and again disrupt supply chains.
“Growth could suffer in both the near and medium term, but at varying degrees across economies.”
