Healey to ask EU finance ministers to let UK into industry scheme
The chancellor wants the Made in Europe programme to deepen ties with the UK "rather than erecting new barriers".
By BBC News
Rachel Reeves is set to ask EU finance ministers to let the UK join the bloc’s Made in Europe industry scheme, according to the BBC report. The Treasury wants the programme to strengthen ties with the UK rather than create new barriers.
The report says the chancellor will raise the issue at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin on Friday. It also says he will argue for closer co-operation with the EU in technology, defence and manufacturing.
Treasury sources said the plan is to avoid a repeat of the row over Britain’s possible participation in an earlier EU defence loans scheme. That dispute centred on how much the UK would have to contribute.
The Made in Europe plan is described in the report as an industrial policy designed to protect EU manufacturing from unfair competition and to guard against imports from outside the bloc. UK officials are concerned it could affect British firms in European supply chains.
The BBC report says the UK wants any agreement to support access for British businesses to suppliers and customers across Europe.