Rachel Reeves has highlighted the benefits to the UK of closer ties with the European Union - calling it the "biggest prize" for the country.
The chancellor said a strong relationship with the EU would help boost trade, ease struggles faced by businesses and make goods cheaper for consumers, The Times reports.
Reeves told the London School of Economics: “The biggest prize is clearly with the EU.
"The truth is, economic gravity is reality. Almost half of our trade is with the European Union. We trade almost as much with the EU as the whole of the rest of the world combined.
“There are three big trading blocs in the world - there’s the US, there’s China and there is Europe. We want to make Europe as strong as possible, and that means not putting up the drawbridge.”
While the government has previously ruled out the prospect of the UK rejoining the EU, a closer relationship and some policy alignment is something Reeves said she and the prime minister are "up for".
She said: “My government, Keir’s government, is up for that, and we are keen to go through at a sectoral level what areas we think we could have deeper alignment in.
"Some of that could be unilateral, and some of it could be negotiated, but there are big opportunities.”