Ms Reeves, delivering her annual Mansion House speech to the financial services sector, said changes were needed for the UK to stay competitive.

BBC director-general Tim Davie had earlier condemned the ‘serious racist term’ the Australian-born presenter was alleged to have used.

The clashes began with a series of tit-for-tat kidnappings and attacks between members of local Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze armed factions.