While the OECD highlighted better-than-expected UK economic growth, which strengthened to 0.7% between January and March, it cautioned that "momentum is weakening" due to "deteriorating" business sentiment.
Changing the rules will also mean more money for areas of the North and Midlands, including the so-called "Red Wall", where Labour MPs face an electoral challenge from Reform UK.Reeves is not the first chancellor to review the Treasury's investment rules; former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also reviewed the book as part of the Conservatives' Levelling up agenda.
Sunak had also announced some of these same projects, including the development of a mass transit network in West Yorkshire, in his Network North plan, intended to compensate for the decision to scrap the HS2 line north of Birmingham.Labour reviewed these projects when they came to power in July, arguing they had not been fully funded.Conservative shadow Treasury minister Gareth Davies accused Labour of copying and pasting announcements made by the Conservative government".
Conservative mayor of Tees Valley Ben Houchen said Labour's decision meant projects in his area had been delayed by a year which was "frustrating" but added that he was "absolutely delighted" the funding had now been given the go ahead.North East Mayor Kim McGuinness said the £1.8bn funding for her area was a "game changer", while Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said the investment was a "massive vote of confidence in our region".
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper warned the chancellor must now deliver, because "these communities have heard these same promises before, only to be left with phantom transport networks".
She added: "Extra investment in public transport must also focus on cutting fares for hard-pressed families being clobbered by a cost of living crisis.""What is interesting to see is that there is a strong de-consumption of what we call the big reds, made in the US. Wines with a lot of alcohol, aged in new wood."
Less sun and lower temperatures in Burgundy, even with climate change, means less sugar in the grapes and lower alcohol content.Mr Labet remembers when, for 18 months of his first presidency, Donald Trump hit European wine with a 25% import tariff during a dispute over airlines.
"We were hostages of that situation, and it really did affect our sales to the US. We had a drop of about 50% of our exports to the US."Regarding the current 10% Trump tariff, he predicts that French wine producers and US merchants will split the cost of the new import duty between them in order to maintain sales.