Chancellor’s visit to EU meeting looks for smoother trade to improve growth but youth mobility scheme remains sticking point

Rachel Reeves is seeking a “deeper, more mature relationship” between Britain and the EU: this was her central message to the bloc’s finance ministers in Brussels a fortnight ago.

In her brief speech to the meeting of her European counterparts – the first a UK chancellor had attended since Brexit – Reeves mentioned the UK’s “relationship” with the EU, nine times.