Markus Andrews

Starmer: We must lower the temperature on Supreme Court ruling debateRachel Reeves is preparing for crucial talks with her US counterpart as she pushes to secure a trade deal amid economic uncertainty.Official figures published on Wednesday showed the government borrowed more than expected for the latest financial year, the third-highest level of borrowing since 1947. Activity across the UK’s private sector has also plunged to a more than two-year low as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs hammered exporters and caused a collapse in confidence.The chancellor will have her first face-to-face meeting with US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent as she spends three days in Washington DC for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s spring meetings.Her trip comes after the IMF slashed the UK’s economic growth forecast, warning that the fallout from Mr Trump’s trade war will hit Britain harder than the rest of Europe.Mr Trump implemented 10 per cent levies on all UK goods as he announced sweeping tariffs on imports from the rest of the world earlier this month.While ministers have said talks on a deal remain ongoing, figures in the Trump administration have cast doubt on their prospect of success.Comment | ‘Security’ is a sound enough slogan – but can Labour deliver it?Read the full Voices article from Andrew Grice:Jabed Ahmed23 April 2025 15:29US Treasury’s Bessent calls on IMF and World Bank to refocus on core missionsUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to refocus on their core missions of macroeconomic stability and development, arguing that they have strayed too far into vanity projects such as climate change that have reduced their effectiveness.Me Bessent, in remarks outlining his vision for US engagement with the IMF and World Bank on the sidelines of the institutions’ spring meetings, said that they serve critical roles in the international financial system.”And the Trump administration is eager to work with them – so long as they can stay true to their missions,” Mr Bessent said.”The IMF and World Bank have enduring value. But mission creep has knocked these institutions off course. We must enact key reforms to ensure the Bretton Woods institutions are serving their stakeholders – not the other way around,” he said, calling on U.S. allies to join the effort. “America First does not mean America alone.”( More

Robert Jenrick has vowed to “unite the right” ahead of the next general election, signalling an electoral pact between the Conservatives and Reform UK. The senior Tory, seen as a leadership contender waiting to replace Kemi Badenoch, said “one way or another” he is determined to form a coalition between the parties. Speaking to a group of students in March, he said his worry is that Reform UK “becomes a permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene”. Robert Jenrick is seen as a leadership contender waiting for Kemi Badenoch to fall More

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to apologise to MP Rosie Duffield over historic disagreements on trans issues, instead accusing Kemi Badenoch of using the topic as a “political football”. Ms Duffield, who now sits as an independent after quitting the Labour Party, has been accused of transphobia for her push to protect single-sex spaces and has previously claimed the prime minister has “a problem with women”. At Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the Tory leader and the prime minister took swipes at each other over last week’s Supreme Court judgement on biological sex, with Mrs Badenoch accusing Sir Keir of “hounding [Ms Duffield] out of the Labour Party”. The prime minister declined to apologise to Rosie Duffield More

When Rachel Reeves turns up at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today she already knows that she needs a near miracle to turn things around.The dire predictions by the IMF itself ahead of the summit of finance ministers in Washington DC saw the UK set to have the highest inflation of advanced economies at 3.1 per cent while growth was slashed by 0.5 per cent to 1.1 per cent.For a woman whose mantra during and after the election was “growth! growth! growth!” the news could not be worse for the chancellor.And while the IMF’s revisions are a result of Donald Trump’s planned tariffs, the reality is that Ms Reeves was already struggling and under siege from competing demands from all sides.The chancellor now needs to land a number of apparently contradictory achievements to turn the UK economy around and save her political career and reputation.Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (James Manning/PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer should be held “personally responsible” if trans women are assaulted after he said they should use men’s bathrooms, a member of Labour’s ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) has said. The prime minister is either going to “put trans people in dangerous situations where they are vulnerable or force them out of society”, Jess Barnard told The Independent. “Both of which are an appalling state for us to be in,” she added. Jess Barnard condemned Sir Keir Starmer’s comments More