{"id":479533,"date":"2026-03-17T01:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479533\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T01:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T01:29:09","slug":"deeper-ties-to-europe-and-ai-the-best-ways-to-boost-economic-growth-chancellor-to-say-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/479533\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Deeper’ ties to Europe and AI the best ways to boost economic growth, chancellor to say | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artificial intelligence (AI) and “deeper” ties with Europe are the best ways to get the economy growing, the chancellor will say on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Rachel Reeves<\/a> will argue that the UK cannot afford to “bury our heads in the sand”, and allow other countries to lead the development of AI<\/a>, in the annual Mais lecture.<\/p>\n

While she will also say that closer ties with the European Union<\/a> (EU), as well as regional growth, are key to kickstarting the economy.<\/p>\n

Politics hub: Follow the latest<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms Reeves will commit \u00a3500m to back the most promising AI companies in the UK.<\/p>\n

She will also say that quantum computers, which can work on multiple potential answers at once, vastly reducing the time it takes to get a solution, are the next great leap in technology that the UK needs to be ahead of the game in.<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves will announce \u00a31bn investment to buy commercial-scale quantum computers.<\/p>\n

More on Artificial Intelligence<\/p>\n

Her lecture comes following anaemic growth figures. The economy didn’t grow at all in January, and only grew by 0.2% in the three months to January.<\/p>\n

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) downgraded its growth forecast<\/a> for 2026 a fortnight ago – although it is forecast to grow slightly quicker than previously expected in 2027 and 2028.<\/p>\n

\n OBR’s GDP growth forecast\n <\/p>\n

2026: 1.1% (decreased from 1.4%)<\/p>\n

2027: 1.6% (increased from 1.5%)<\/p>\n

2028: 1.6% (increased from 1.5%)<\/p>\n

2029: 1.5% (unchanged)<\/p>\n

2030: 1.5% (unchanged)<\/p>\n

Ministers are also grappling with the economic consequences of the Iran war<\/a>, which threatens to push up energy prices and inflation if the conflict continues for much longer.<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves met with Ireland’s finance minister, Simon Harris, on Monday, and discussed deepening economic ties with the EU.<\/p>\n

UK must ‘chart our own course’ on AI<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves will tell an audience from the City of London: “In this changing world, Britain is not powerless. We can shape our own future. Our method is stability, investment and reform – through an active and strategic state.<\/p>\n

“Today, I am making three big choices on the greatest growth opportunities for Britain in the decade to come: growth in every part of Britain, AI and innovation, and a deeper relationship with the EU.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

\n ‘Certainly not good for the British economy’: Reeves on Iran war\n <\/p>\n

The chancellor will say the UK must “chart our own course” on AI.<\/p>\n

“AI is the defining technology of our era,” Ms Reeves will say. “The choice is this: we can bury our heads in the sand and leave it to other countries – whose values may differ from ours – to shape and own this technology.<\/p>\n

“We can leave it to the market alone, and let the balance of risk and reward be determined by a super-wealthy few. Or we can chart our own course,” she is expected to say.<\/p>\n

She wants the UK to achieve the fastest adoption of AI in the G7 group of wealthy nations.<\/p>\n

In response to her published comments, shadow chancellor Mel Stride said: “It’s no secret that Reeves and Starmer have wanted to row back on Brexit since day one – and we can expect to hear more detail on Labour’s plan to drag us closer to the EU at the Chancellor’s speech<\/p>\n

“Labour are desperate to blame anyone but themselves for their economic failures.<\/p>\n

“Under increasing pressure having mismanaged the economy, Reeves would rather point the finger at Brexit than accept their poor choices have been a disaster for our economy.”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The annual Mais lecture is the City of London’s foremost banking and finance event, hosted by City St George’s University.<\/p>\n

Ms Reeves previously gave the lecture while shadow chancellor in 2024, while other recent speakers have included Rishi Sunak, George Osbourne, Mark Carney, and Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Artificial intelligence (AI) and “deeper” ties with Europe are the best ways to get the economy growing, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479534,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[554,733,4308,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-479533","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-artificialintelligence","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479533","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479533"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479533\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}