Rachel Reeves confident Gulf trade deal can be done ‘very soon’; European shares ease from record highs – business live

News comes as chancellor faces £20bn-plus hit to public finances from UK productivity downgrade

Rachel Reeves has expressed confidence that a trade deal with Gulf countries can be done quickly, saying she had “really good” meetings in Riyadh.

“I am really confident we can get that deal over the line,” she said at Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment summit held in the Saudi capital, adding she was hopeful that the agreement could be reached “very soon”.

The chancellor hopes to deepen the UK’s relationship with a state that has been widely criticised for human rights abuses.

Reeves, who is the first UK chancellor to visit the region in six years, wants to use the trip to speak with her counterparts from Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar to advance a trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a six-nation group.