Afternoon summary
Keir Starmer will be speaking to international leaders this weekend to discuss how they should respond to the Trump tariffs, Downing Street has said. (See 12.54pm.)
Downing Street has refused to confirm President Trump’s claim that Keir Starmer was “very happy” about the treatment the UK is getting under the new US global tariff regime. (See 12.34pm.)
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, has suggested that President Trump has taken US economic policy back almost 100 years with his “return to protectionism”. (See 9.499am.)
The FTSE was down almost 5% at close of play today, representing the biggest daily drop since early in the Covid pandemic, amid ongoing concern about the impact of the Trump tariffs, the business live blog reports.
Downing Street has criticised the Unite union for its conduct in the ongoing bin strike in Birmingham – and Unite has hit back. (See 1.32pm and 3.45pm.)
IFS gives its verdict on how Gordon Brown's tax credits, finally being phased on on Sunday, changed welfare
Sunday marks the start of a new tax year. It will be the day the employer national insurance contribution rise takes effect. But the Institute for Fiscal Studies says it will be significant for another reason too; it says the new financial year will mean the end of the working tax credit and the child tax credits – two important benefits that are being phased out, and replaced by universal credit.
Tax credits were created by Gordon Brown when he was chancellor. It is often alleged that he did not disclose to Tony Blair quite how much money they were going to cost, and they had a big impact reducing child poverty. The IFS has published a good briefing on how they worked and what they achieved. Anyone who thinks politicians never change anything should give it a read.
Here is the IFS’s conclusion.
The tax credit system, and subsequent increases to benefit entitlements in the 2000s, significantly boosted benefit income for families with children, reducing child poverty. It was able to do this without drastically harming work incentives by implementing higher benefit entitlements for families in and out of work – meaning that the cost of the benefit system increased substantially. Since 2010, there has been a partial reversal of direction, with benefits for larger families in particular significantly reduced. But the legacy of a larger welfare system, more targeted at children and low-income working families, lives on in universal credit.
Tory party keeps selecting wrong people to be MPs, says former chief whip Simon Hart
In their London Playbook briefing for Politico, Andrew McDonald and Bethany Dawson have what they describe as a mini-scoop – plans from Conservatives Together, a group set up by the former Tory defence secretary Grant Shapps last autumn. They explain:
The not-a-think-tank Conservatives Together — formed by ex-defence secretary Grant Shapps to playfully copy Morgan McSweeney’s Labour Together — is building an “army” of campaigners and a “fellowship” of prospective Tory candidates. Playbook has seen an internal document that lays out the path ahead for the campaign group.
Cons Together is focusing on three areas as it tries to reassure a sharply divided Tory party that it’s there to help rather than fuel factional infighting. “We’re not about policy,” the document reads. Instead, it will set up a fellowship program for Tory candidates to train them into how to be MPs … do data analysis that it will pass to CCHQ … and set up a a branded T-shirt-clad “army” of campaigners to direct to constituencies and areas with very few activists (which is most of them, right now).
The news that Shapps and his organisation are focusing on training for potential MPs will probably be welcomed by Simon Hart, who was Tory chief whip when Rishi Sunak was PM. Hart recently published his diaries, Ungovernable, and while most of the press coverage of it concentrated on his stories about the sexual shenanigans of MPs, one of the main arguments of the book was that the Conservative party is very bad at choosing candidates. At one point he writes:
Another meeting with John Redwood about Northern Ireland, about which he knows much more than me. Our meetings are always polite, but completely devoid of humour. Like [Bill] Cash, he purports to be on the government’s side but sincerely believes he knows better than everyone else on every topic. Politics just doesn’t work like that. It is a collective endeavour, involving compromise and agreement. It leaves me reflecting, more and more, about how these people get through the process of candidate identification and selection.
After recalling other encounters with awkward or unhinged MPs, Hart normally ends up making the same point. In another entry he says:
With each passing day I came increasingly to realise that our system of candidate identification, selection, training and mentoring was flawed and is at the root of almost every challenge the party and the government was facing.
Hart’s book is sometimes very funny, and worth a read, not least because he comes across as likeable, and mostly a good judge of character. He seems to like journalists (on a meeting with the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot, he says “she speaks a lot of sense” – which is true, she does), on Kemi Badenoch he says “she is another one who lives in a permanent sense of outrage, it must be so tiring” and on Lee Anderson he says: “I have tried to avoid the conclusion that he is a total knob, but he has made it nearly impossible.”
Updated
Former Tory MSP Jamie Greene defects to Lib Dems, saying they are party of 'ambition, openness and freedom'
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Jamie Greene, the Holyrood MSP who quit the Scottish Conservatives in protest at the party becoming “Trumpesque in style and substance”, has jumped ship to join the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Greene was unveiled as the Scottish Lib Dems opened their spring conference in Inverness on Friday in a carefully choreographed move which exposes the tensions and strains the Tories face as they shift ground to counter the rise of Reform UK.
A list MSP for the West of Scotland, he is now the fifth Scottish Lib Dem at Holyrood. He was on the one nation wing of the Scottish Tories, which grew in influence under former leader Ruth Davidson, and had offered qualified support for trans rights, in opposition to the Tories’ growing attacks on gender reform.
In his speech, Greene said:
In politics, I have worked to make life better for the people I represent and to live up to the values of ambition, openness, and freedom that have driven me all my life.
As my former party misguidedly revels in the worst aspects of our politics, I have chosen to join a party whose values align with mine - the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, said he was “over the moon” and claimed it showed his party, which hopes to win moderate, centre-right voters after losing seats to become Holyrood’s fifth party behind the Greens, was growing in strength and influence.
He said:
Jamie is respected on all sides of the chamber. He is one of the parliament’s most effective communicators and has a selfless compassion which is seldom seen in our line of work.
He speaks to a massive constituency of people who voted for Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives and are now dismayed to see that party lurching to extremes. His words have sent a shockwave through our country’s politics.
Cole-Hamilton has also welcomed the defection on social media.
I am delighted to welcome Jamie into the Scottish Liberal Democrats.
— Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP🔶🇺🇦 (@agcolehamilton) April 4, 2025
There are many who voted for Ruth Davidson’s Conservatives who are dismayed to see the party lurching to extremes.
Jamie is one of them, but he sees in the Liberal Democrats a chance to do things differently. pic.twitter.com/JJUqtULf0l
Public support for independence in Wales hits 41%, poll suggests
Public support for Welsh independence has reached 41%, a poll suggests.
YesCymru, which is campaigning for an independent Wales, has released a poll of Welsh voters saying that, in a referendum now, 41% of those expressing a preference would vote for independence, and 59% would vote against. The group says this is one of the highest pro-independence figures ever recorded.
But the pro-independence numbers are even higher if independence is linked to EU membership. When respondents were asked to “imagine a scenario where Wales could rejoin the European Union if it became an independent country” and then asked the same polling question, 51% said yes to independence, and 49% said no.
The online polling was carried out by Redfield and Wilton Strategies, with a sample of 1,000.
YesCymru chair Phyl Griffiths said:
This poll is a milestone moment for the Welsh independence movement. It shows that support is growing at a fast pace, up 5 points from the same company’s poll last year, and that nearly half of working-age adults now have confidence in Wales’s ability to govern itself.
We’re witnessing a real shift in attitudes, and people across Wales are ready to have a serious conversation about independence.
Unite hits back at Starmer over Birmingham bin strike, questioning Labour's commitment to 'working people'
The war of words between Keir Starmer and the Unite union is escalating. After No 10 issued a strong statement criticising its conduct in the Birmingham bin strike (see 1.32pm), Unite has hit back, questioning Labour’s commitment to “working people” and saying the government should intervene directly in the dispute and force the council to settle.
In a statement issued in response to what Downing Street said earlier, Sharon Graham, the Unite general secretary, said:
It is not surprising that many workers in Britian question the Labour government’s commitment to working people when it issues a statement clearly blaming bin workers in a dispute not of their making.
The bottom line about this dispute is that these workers woke up one morning to be told they would be taking up to an £8,000 pay cut. They are being made to pay the price for austerity and bad decisions by Birmingham city council.
Hold the front page, Unite has already agreed major changes, with the removal of job and knock and shift pay last year and in Unite’s current proposals there are no equal pay issues. This authority is determined to impose cuts on workers at any cost and has moved the goalposts again.
Unite’s team of decision makers has been in negotiations in good faith for weeks. It is the leader of the council who is missing in action and not been in any of the talks. Indeed the council are only scheduling meetings once a week. Unite has said it is ready to negotiate anytime and everyday if necessary.
The government is going to have to wake up and smell the coffee that they are part of this dispute, as the commissioners report directly to them and they own the £3.9bn debt of the council.
If the government were really concerned about the residents of Birmingham they would get the decision makers in a room of which they are clearly one, to ensure that Unite’s solutions on the table were adopted.
Yet again workers and communities pay the price for government inaction.
Some news away from the continuing fallout from Trump’s tariff announcement. Politico is reporting that the UK is reviewing how it defends critical infrastructure such as undersea gas pipelines and data cables.
Protecting “critical undersea infrastructure” will be included in the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), due to be completed by the end of the month, an MoD spokesperson confirmed to the outlet. It will assess the state of the armed forces, the threats the UK faces and the capabilities needed to combat them.
Keir Starmer last month announced significant cuts to Britain’s international aid budget to help pay for a major increase in defence spending.
The prime minister said the UK government would increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 – three years earlier than planned – as the Trump administration signalled it was no longer primarily focused on European security and that Europe would have to take the lead in defending Ukraine from Russian aggression.
Starmer has so far resisted pressure to boost defence spending to 3% of GDP, but some defence chiefs want him to go further, amid growing fears of sabotage and other forms of hybrid warfare by Russia.
Concerns over the potential sabotage of power cables, telecom links and gas pipelines have been increasing after a string of outages in the Baltic Sea following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In January, the UK took the rare step of publicly naming a Russian vessel, the Yantar, as a spy ship operating in the North Sea.
Defence minister John Healey said Yantar, used for intelligence and mapping critical infrastructure on the sea floor, entered British waters on 20 January and the Royal Navy tracked it for two days until it entered Dutch waters.
European authorities are investigating several cases of damage to infrastructure under the Baltic Sea, including to a power cable linking Estonia and Finland. Finnish authorities detained a ship, suspected of being part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” used to avoid sanctions, after that cable and others were damaged.
Updated
Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, has said the government is “working hard” to get a trade deal with the US – but without saying how long this might take.
Talking to journalists on a visit in London, she said:
Of course, we don’t want to see tariffs on UK exports, and we’re working hard as a government in discussion with our counterparts in the US to represent the British national interest and support British jobs and British industry.
Asked how long those talks might take, she replied:
I’m not going to give a running commentary on those discussions. They’ve been ongoing since our prime minister, Keir Starmer, had a successful visit to the White House to meet President Trump just a few weeks ago.
Those conversations are ongoing. We want to do everything in our power, and we’ll continue to do everything in our power to get the best possible deal for British industry, working closely with them to protect prosperity and jobs here in the UK.
Yohannes Lowe is taking over for a bit. I will be back later.
No 10 defends abortion buffer zone law that led to prosecution attacked by US on free speech grounds
Downing Street has defended the laws that led to the prosecution of Livia Tossici-Bolt, the anti-abortion campaigner found guilty today of breaching a buffer zone outside an abortion clinic.
The US state department has criticised the prosecution as an interference with freedom of speech.
At the lobby briefing, asked about the case, the PM’s spokesperson said he did not want to comment on the specific court decision. But he defended the law that was being enforced. He said:
It’s vital that a woman who decides to use abortion services has the right to choose to do so without being subject to harassment or distress.
The rules that we introduced in October protect women using these services with a 150-metre buffer zone and restates that the right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, but it does not give people the right to harass others.
Four weeks today we will be digesting the results of the local elections in England. Seán Clarke has a good interactive graphic here explaining the elections that are taking place.
Downing Street criticises Unite over its conduct in Birmingham bin strike, and urges it to negotiate settlement 'in good faith'
Downing Street has criticised the Unite union for its conduct in the ongoing bin strike in Birmingham.
At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson defended the Labour-run council’s reorganisation plans that have led to the strike, and said it was time for the union to start negotiating “in good faith”.
Unite is one of the biggest unions affiliated to the Labour party, and a major donor. When Keir Starmer was asked about the ongoing bin strike at PMQs this week, he defended the council’s decision to declare the strike a major incident, but this is the first time the government has come out so strongly against the union.
Asked why the government was not intervening, the spokesperson said:
I think we should be clear about why this situation has come about.
Unite is striking against Birmingham city council’s decision to reform unfair staff structures that were a major cause of unequal pay claims and left the council liable to hundreds of millions of claims. This was a key factor cited in the council section 114 notice declaring bankruptcy.
Under the council’s current plans, no worker need lose any money. They’ve all been offered alternative employment at the same pay, for example, training to be an HGV driver, or voluntary redundancy.
And the residents of Birmingham are our first and foremost priority.
As you will have seen, the local government minister Jim McMahon was in Birmingham yesterday meeting council leaders and commissioners to discuss the council’s response and make sure this has been gripped.
Following that meeting, police installed barriers at the picket line to prevent waste lorries being recklessly blocked from leaving the depots this morning to start dealing with the backlog.
Unite need to focus on negotiating in good faith, drop their opposition to changes needed to resolve long-standing pay issues and get round the table with the council to bring a strike to an end.
The spokesperson also said the strike was “causing misery and disruption to residents, which is why we are urgently pressing for an immediate agreement to be made”.
After visiting the council yesterday to discuss the strike, McMahon issued a statement saying:
Residents want this rubbish dealt with as soon as possible and I have made it clear in today’s meeting that we’re ready to support to improve conditions on the ground.
It is in the interest of all parties, and most importantly Birmingham’s residents, that this strike must be brought to a close with all parties redoubling efforts to get around the table and to find a resolution.
Updated
Starmer to hold talks with other global leaders this weekend to discuss response to Trump tariffs, No 10 says
Keir Starmer will be speaking to international leaders this weekend to discuss how they should respond to the Trump tariffs.
Speaking to journalists at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson would not give details of who the prime minister would be consulting, but he said the conversations were prompted by the need to work “even more closely” with allies in the light of what President Trump is doing.
The spokesperson said:
We are very much aware that the global economic landscape is shifting. It means we have a responsibility to work even more closely with other countries to maintain stability and strengthen our partnerships abroad.
And you’ll see the prime minister engaging with international leaders over the weekend on this.
The spokesperson also reminded reporters of what Starmer said yesterday, when he said the Trump tariffs were not “a short-term tactical exercise”, but the start of a “new era”.
Asked if Starmer favoured the sort of approach proposed by Jim O’Neill this morning – the non-US working together to deepen free trade, sidelining Washington (see 10.36am) – the spokesperson replied:
What the prime minister is concentrating on is his engagement with our global partners, and you will see evidence of that this weekend.
But, as we’ve said before, we will be maintaining a cool, headed and pragmatic approach, and one that is grounded in our national interest.
The spokesperson claimed government policies already in the pipeline showed that it was adapting to new circumstances. He said:
The global economic landscape is shifting and we need to shift with it. And, as you’ve already seen, through overhauling our planning system, bringing forward our industrial strategy and cutting excess red tape, we already embracing that new area and ready to tackle it.
The spokesperson also said the government would be “turbocharging” its work to deliver stability and created growth, and that Starmer would be saying more about this “in the coming days”.
Updated
No 10 confirms government 'disappointed' by US tariff policy, not 'very happy' as Trump claimed
Downing Street has refused to confirm President Trump’s claim that Keir Starmer was “very happy” about the treatment the UK is getting under the new US global tariff regime. (See 9.32am.) Asked about the president’s words at the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said that the government had already set out its position yesterday and that it was “disappointed” by the US tariff policy.
Livia Tossici-Bolt has been sentenced at Poole magistrates’ court to a conditional discharge for two years for two charges of breaching a “buffer zone” outside an abortion clinic in Bournemouth, PA Media reports. See 11.22am.
Labour has pulled 30,000 more children into poverty by not scrapping two-child benefit cap, charity says
Labour’s refusal to lift the two-child benefit cap has pulled 30,000 more children into poverty since the general election, the Child Poverty Action Group has said.
The charity published the calculation as Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, said that she would regard it as a personal failure if child poverty is not falling by the time of the next general election.
Last week the Department for Work and Pensions published figures showing that 250,000 more people, including 50,000 more children, will be pushed into poverty by the sickness and disability benefit cuts announced in the spring statement.
Introduced by the Tories, the two-child cap means that parents do not get universal credit child allowance, or tax credits, for a third child born after April 2017.
The policy is seen by expert as a a major contributor to child poverty. Polling suggests voters favour the cap, but most Labour MPs want to see it scrapped, and many are disappointed that has not happened already.
In a news release, CPAG said that other interventions to reduce child povert would fail without the cap also being removed. It explained:
This is because as the two-child limit applies to third or subsequent children born after April 2017, it is effectively still being rolled out, with more and more children affected every day. This means the policy acts as a brake on any alternative steps government may take. The number of children affected by the policy will continue to increase until 2035 when the first children born under the two-child limit turn 18.
Every day 109 more children are pulled into poverty by the policy.
CPAG’s analysis finds that on the eighth anniversary of the two-child limit (Sunday 6 April), an estimated 30,000 more children will have been pulled into poverty by the policy since the government took office.
CPAG has published details of its analysis here.
In its manifesto Labour said it would “develop an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty”. A child poverty taskforce has been set up by the government, and it is due to publish its strategy this spring.
In an interview with the i published today, Kendall refused to commit to lifting the two-child benefit cap. But she said:
We’ve got a clear manifesto commitment to tackle poverty and drive child poverty down and that is what we will deliver. Child poverty will be going down.
Asked if she would regard it as a personal failure if child poverty rates are rising at the time of the next election, she replied: “Yes.”
London mayor to get new powers to overrule councils that block pubs and clubs from opening late
London councils that block pubs and clubs from opening later could see their decisions overturned by the capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, under new powers from the government, PA Media reports. PA says:
Ministers are attempting to boost the hospitality industry by allowing the London mayor to “call in” licensing decisions for key nightlife areas in the capital.
The move could see bars open later and more al fresco dining in London and, if successful, could be extended to other parts of the country such as Greater Manchester or the West Midlands.
A source close to the mayor said: “Over recent years, London’s pubs, restaurants, clubs and music venues have been seen as a problem to be managed, rather than as a vital part of London’s economic and social scene. From al fresco dining, to late opening hours, to the impact of burdensome licensing conditions, we need to look at how we can support our venues, not work against them.”
There were three council byelections yesterday. Andrew Teale wrote a preview on his Substack blog. And here are the results, from Britain Elects. The Liberal Democrats won two seats from Labour, and Reform UK won one seat from the Lib Dems.
❗ Reform GAIN from Liberal Democrat
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) April 3, 2025
Sutton South East (St Helens) council by-election result:
REF: 44.5% (+44.5)
LAB: 36.3% (+0.7)
LDEM: 14.6% (-34.7)
CON: 4.6% (-10.5)
+/- 2022
Estimated turnout: ~18% (-12)https://t.co/QSSdXxbUXt
❗ Liberal Democrat GAIN from Labour
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) April 3, 2025
Park (Lincoln) council by-election result:
LDEM: 35.7% (+28.5)
LAB: 27.3% (-36.1)
REF: 17.6% (+17.6)
CON: 8.5% (-9.0)
+/- 2023
Estimated turnout: ~17% (-3)https://t.co/QSSdXxbUXt
❗ Liberal Democrat GAIN from Labour
— Britain Elects (@BritainElects) April 3, 2025
Cwmllynfell and Ystalyfera (Neath Port Talbot) council by-election result:
LDEM: 34.0% (+34.0)
PC: 30.2% (-26.5)
REF: 13.3% (+13.3)
LAB: 12.7% (-30.6)
IND: 8.7% (+8.7)
*Lab defence was of 2nd-placed seat in 2-member ward
+/- 2022…
Anti-abortion campaigner cited by US state department as free speech case found guilty of breaching buffer zone law
An anti-abortion campaigner at the centre of a free speech controversy involving the US government has been found guilty of breaching a “buffer zone” outside a Bournemouth abortion clinic, PA Media reports. PA says:
Livia Tossici-Bolt was convicted at Poole magistrates’ court of two charges of breaching the Public Spaces Protection Order on two days in March 2023.
The case involved the 64-year-old from Bournemouth holding a sign saying “Here to talk, if you want”.
Her case was highlighted by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, & Labour (DRL), a bureau within the US Department of State, which posted a statement on X saying: “We are monitoring her case. It is important that the UK respect and protect freedom of expression.”
District Judge Orla Austin told the court of the defendant: “She lacks insight that her presence could have a detrimental effect on the women attending the clinic, their associates, staff and members of the public.”
She added: “I accept her beliefs were truly held beliefs. Although it’s accepted this defendant held pro-life views, it’s important to note this case is not about the rights and wrongs about abortion but about whether the defendant was in breach of the PSPO (Public Spaces Protection Order).”
Earlier this week the Telegraph reported a claim that US objections to this prosecution were holding up the proposed UK/US trade deal. But Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said this case was not part of the trade talks he was involved in.
UK and other G7 allies should sideline US by deepening their own free trade links, says former Treasury minister Jim O'Neill
Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs chief economist and former Treasury minister, has said Britain and other non-US G7 nations should respond to the Trump tariffs by deepening their own free trade links.
In an interview on the Today progamme, he said that it was perfectly feasible for leading nations still committed to free trade to in effect sideline the US, and trade more with each other.
O’Neill, who served as a Treasury minister in David Cameron’s government for a year and who is now a crossbench peer, said that G7 countries could take the lead in this, but that India and China should be included too.
He said the government was right to carry on talks with the US about a possible trade deal. But he went on:
But I think our approach should be to slightly stand back and think, what does Britain want, and can it get from the rest of the world, and what can we contribute?
And in that regard, it’s important to realise that the rest of the G7, except the US, collectively are the same size as the United States. And I would have thought a very sensible thing to be doing is having a serious conversation with the other members about actually lowering trade barriers between ourselves, especially for cross-border services, which is what the UK has a marginal advantage in, which would be very healthy for all of those countries because it’s the one area of global trade where most countries haven’t done enough in.
O’Neill said that the US was on a “kamikaze path” and that its tariffs were “rather insane”. But other countries had the clout to resist, he suggested.
Asked if it was possible to just ignore the US, he replied:
The US is the biggest economy in the world still, but it’s not anything like as important for global trade as it is in global finance and global security.
So if the US wants to do this [impose global tariffs], then it’s perfectly within the bounds of feasibility for other large economies to structure themselves, stop this addiction to the US consumer, and start to consume more themselves, as well as between each other.
O’Neill said, by turning his back on free trade, Trump was turning his back on “the major thing which has made the United States so prosperous over the last 40 to 50 or more years”. Other countries “shouldn’t get sucked into the same game”, he said, because overall, “whether it’s life expectancy or wealth”, the whole world has benefited from this model.
The Liberal Democrats and the Greens have both said Keir Starmer should respond to the Trump tariffs by strengthening economic links with countries like Canada and the EU. But Starmer has rejected this idea, saying it would be wrong to choose between being close to the US and being close to Europe.
Updated
Plan to increase access to NHS dentists in England ‘a complete failure’, MPs say
The official plan to increase access to NHS dental services in England has been a “complete failure”, and some of the government’s initiatives have worsened the crisis, a damning report warns, Andrew Gregory reports.
Lammy suggests Trump has taken US economic policy back almost 100 years with 'return to protectionism'
David Lammy, the foreign secretary, is at the Nato HQ in Brussels this morning, where Nato foreign ministers are meeting. Speaking to the media, he said President Trump was taking US economic policy back almost a century by embracing protectionism. He said:
The United Kingdom, like France, is a great maritime nation.
We are a nation that believes in open trade, and I regret the return to protectionism in the United States, something that we’ve not seen for nearly a century.
As you know, we are consulting with business and industry. At this time, we are engaged in discussions with the United States to strike an economic agreement and an economic deal.
And of course, we have been absolutely clear that all options are on the table as we ensure the national interests of the British people, who will be very concerned at this time about how this affects the bottom line for them and their economic welfare.
We will put their national interest first, and it’s in their national interests to be negotiating with the United States an economic agreement at this time, but keeping all options on the table.
Updated
Minister won’t back Trump’s claim that Starmer ‘very happy’ about how UK affected by US global tariffs
Good morning. The British government, like the rest of the world, is still preoccupied with trying to absorb the consequences of Donald Trump’s decision to obliterate global free trade with a blizzard of tariffs. In London, the stock market has opened, and shares are still heading down. Graeme Wearden has the latest on that on his business live blog.
James Murray, a Treasury minister, has been giving interviews this morning. In terms of explaining the government’s policy, he did not say anything that went beyond what Keir Starmer and Jonathan Reynolds were saying yesterday. While not ruling out retaliatory tariffs, the government views them as a last resort and hopes that the trade deal it is negotiating with Washington will lead to the UK tariffs being reduced, or removed completely.
But Murray did have to answer a question about whether Donald Trump was right when he told reporters on Air Force One yesterday that Starmer was “very happy about how we treated them with tariffs”. It is rare to hear anyone from the UK government say anything negative about Trump in public, but even the ultra-loyalist, fourth-most-senior Treasury minister drew the line at pretending Trump was right about this. In response to the question, Murray told Times Radio:
We’re disappointed at tariffs being imposed globally. We are in a better position than many other economies moving forward because we’re on the lowest band of tariffs. But our focus is to get that economic deal.
There is not much formally in the diary today (parliament is not sitting), but politics never stops, and there is bound to be news, on the Trump tariffs and other matters. There will be a lobby briefing at 11.30am.
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Updated
