Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Gareth Thomas

Tuesday 23rd June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

I have been working hard in this Labour Government to reset the relationship so damaged by the choices of the Conservatives. That is why we have committed to this second UK-EU summit, after the agreement between President Ursula von der Leyen and our Prime Minister last year to finalise the deal on food to help our farmers, on youth mobility to help our young people, and on emissions trading to help keep the cost of energy down.

[Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

Given what my right hon. Friend has rightly said about the disastrous deal negotiated by the Conservatives once we left the EU, when the next UK-EU summit does eventually happen, will it not be time— after we have successfully concluded discussions on the priorities of the UK-EU reset—to discuss the opportunity, costs and benefits for more key parts of our economy of rejoining the single market?

[Rachel Reeves]

I understand why my hon. Friend makes those arguments; we are clearly poorer outside the European Union than we otherwise would have been. We made a manifesto commitment that we would not rejoin the single market or customs union, or return to the free movement of labour. Those red lines stand, but within them there is an awful lot that we can do to improve relations. We are doing just that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Rachel Reeves and Gareth Thomas

Tuesday 9th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Rachel Reeves]

The number of jobs has increased by 329,000 this year. That is the record of this Government in getting people back into work. The youth guarantee is dealing with the fact that when we took office last year, one in eight young people were not in education, employment or training. That is the Conservatives’ record; this Government are addressing it.

[Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) (Lab/Co-op)]

I commend the steps that my right hon. Friend took to support those on low incomes, both in the Budget and through the recently published financial inclusion strategy, but may I encourage her to go further on the issue of savings, given that a quarter of the people in the UK have little by way of savings and, indeed, one in seven have no savings at all? Will she encourage employers to work with local credit unions to help those who want to save automatically, and to save even a small amount from their pay packets, to do so?

[Rachel Reeves]

Through the financial inclusion strategy led by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, we are extending Help to Save within the universal credit system, and working with banks and building societies. I know that, as a Labour and Co-operative MP, my hon. Friend works closely with the co-operative movement and with building societies to ensure that more people from low-income backgrounds can save for the future.