UK Politics

The UK looks set to agree a post-Brexit youth mobility scheme with the European Union in a major step towards resetting Boris Johnson’s damaging Brexit deal.The move, which was being demanded by European countries and commissioners in Brussels, should help usher in much closer ties with the EU and begin to repair the shattered relationship left by the previous Tory government.It comes as Sir Keir Starmer hopes to put in place three trade agreements in two months to secure growth for the British economy. With a deal with India announced this week he will host a summit on 19 May to unveil the Brexit reset agreement. Following this he hopes to have a US deal with Donald Trump by the end of June.If Sir Keir pulls it off it could make the UK one of the world’s preeminent trading hubs.Sir Keir Starmer met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Downing Street on Thursday (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

The government is facing a backlash after the business secretary suggested the UK should not be “squeamish” about selling arms to India amid escalating tensions with Pakistan. India has launched missile strikes in what it says is a response to a terror attack in Kashmir that claimed 26 lives last month. But Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif called the pre-dawn airstrikes an “act of war” and responded with shelling. Just hours after the strikes, UK business secretary Johnathan Reynolds did not rule out supplying India with weapons.A man looks at a damaged car after Indian strikes More

Sir Keir Starmer has hailed as a ‘landmark’ an agreement to strike Britain’s biggest post-Brexit trade deal with India. Ministers say the move which will see tariffs reduced on UK whisky, gin, cars and cosmetics, will boost trade by £25.5bn and add £4.8bn a year to the UK economy, as well as boosting wages by £2.2bn annually. It comes as the prime minister hopes to secure a trade deal with the US, in a bid to offset some of Donald Trump’s tariffs, which have triggered global economic chaos. What will it mean for the whisky industry? India is the biggest consumer of whisky worldwide by volume and UK sales to the country were worth more than £200 million a year in 2022. Under the new deal, tariffs on whiskies will initially be cut from 150 per cent to 75 per cent. But after ten years they are due to fall again to 40 per cent. India is already among the largest export markets for Chivas Brothers’, which includes brands such as Chivas Regal and Glenlivet, while Diageo, whose brands include Johnnie Walker, already has 50 manufacturing facilities across India. The UK has struck a trade deal with India (Alamy/PA)How has the whisky industry responded? Very well. Jean-Etienne Gourgues, the chairman and CEO of Chivas Brothers has called the agreement a “welcome boost” for his company “during an uncertain global economic environment”. He also said that greater access to the Indian market would be a “game changer for the export of our Scotch whisky brands, such as Chivas Regal and Ballantine’s”. The deal will support investment and jobs in our distilleries and bottling plants in Scotland, he added. Diageo chief executive Debra Crew described the deal as a “huge achievement” and said it would be “transformational for Scotch and Scotland, while powering jobs and investment in both India and the UK”. What does it mean for the car industry? British high-end cars will see their tariffs fall by a whopping 90 per cent under the plans. The added tax placed on them as they enter the country will plummet from more than 100 per cent to just 10 per cent under a quota.Under the plans, the reform will start with cars with internal combustion engines but then move to electric and hybrid vehicles, “to reflect how manufacturing in the UK is evolving”. Will the deal undercut British workers? Ministers have denied the agreement undercuts British workers, after opposition politicians criticised part of the deal that exempts some temporary Indian workers from national insurance payments for three years.On Wednesday, Jonathan Reynolds described the claim as “completely false”, telling the BBC: “There is no situation where I would ever tolerate British workers being undercut through any trade agreement we would sign. That is not part of the deal.”The move is under what is known as the “double contribution convention”, which is designed to stop workers and employers paying twice, once in each country. It is also reciprocal, meaning any UK workers who work temporarily in India would pay no further taxes there and there are similiar agreements in place with other countries. Will it offset the impact of Trump’s tariffs? In a word – no. The US remains the largest key market for whisky by value, at an estimated £971 milliona year. Sir Keir Starmer hopes to secure a trade deal with the US soon – with officials suggesting it could happen this week – which would lessen the impact of Trump’s tariffs, following weeks of talks.This deal could include quotas that would exempt a certain number of UK exports from the full impact of 25 per cent tariffs on the British car and steel industry.But no matter the carve out for individual UK sectors or Britain in general, the UK will still be forced to weather the havoc the US tariffs wreak on the global economy. More

Starmer Calls UK-India Trade Deal Attacks ‘Incoherent Nonsense’ After Clash With BadenochFormer Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that the Conservatives “can’t rule out” the prospect of extinction.Mr Hunt’s admission to Times Radio comes after the Tories suffered heavy losses in the local elections last week, with senior backbenchers confirming to The Indepedent that MPs are set to hold meetings this week to discuss how to remove their leader, Kemi Badenoch.Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has branded attacks on his government’s newly-struck UK-India trade deal “incoherent nonsense” as he and Ms Badenoch clashed at PMQs earlier today.Hailed as a “landmark” agreement by the prime minister, the government announced on Tuesday that it had reached a deal to boost bilateral trade with India by £25bn – in what marks Britain’s biggest post-Brexit trade agreement.The new deal – similar to those already in place with more than a dozen other countries – will immediately cut tariffs on whisky, gin, cars and cosmetics, while reducing barriers to imports of Indian textiles, food and jewellery. But opposition politicians criticised a provision in the agreement exempting some temporary Indian workers from national insurance payments, claiming this would undercut British staff.The Labour and Tory leaders also clashed over Labour’s winter fuel payment cuts, which Ms Badenoch called a “disaster”, while Sir Keir repeated his accusation that the Conservatives had left a “£22bn black hole” in the country’s finances that his party is attempting to solve.Downing St admits ‘final details’ of social security deal yet to be agreed between UK and IndiaDowning Street said the UK and India have not agreed the “final details” of their social security deal following opposition criticism of a temporary national insurance exemption for some Indian workers transferred to Britain.Asked about the arrangement, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s a separate agreement as part of a trade deal. It’s called a social security agreement, so what the UK and India have agreed to is negotiate a deal.“We have not agreed the final details with this.”He added that there were similar reciprocal agreements with more than 50 other countries.Sir Keir Starmer’s press secretary said opposition parties criticising the arrangement “have made their true colours known,” suggesting they would have “torn up” the agreements with 50 countries.Tara Cobham7 May 2025 15:40Badenoch warns of ‘big questions’ raised for British companies over UK-India trade dealKemi Badenoch’s spokesman has said that the trade deal with India leaves “big questions to answer about how this impacts British companies”.He called on the Government to do modelling on how much the social security exemption would cost and how many people it would impact.Addressing the fact that the programme would be intra-company, the spokesman said: “You can still bring unlimited workers on lower national insurance. And this comes just after one of their first acts was to up national insurance for British workers.”On similar deals in place with other countries, he said: The comparative examples of where we have this (…) are with countries with relatively similar economic status. So, you know, there is clear discrepancy here.”Tara Cobham7 May 2025 15:20Hunt admits Tories ‘can’t rule out’ party extinction after disastrous local electionsFormer Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that the Conservatives “can’t rule out” the prospect of extinction.Mr Hunt’s admission comes after the Tories were hit by heavy losses in the local elections last week, while Labour also suffered defeats.Asked by Times Radio’s Andrew Neil if extinction is a possibility, he said: “We can’t rule it out. Look at the massive earthquake in Western democratic politics in other countries and we are seeing wild swings.“I don’t think the Conservative Party will ever be extinct, but what may be extinct is the old two-party system that’s seen parties swing between one party and the other. Certainly at the moment, voters seem to be split between five parties and that’s a very, very big change.”However, he insisted that he believes there is a way back for the Tories.He added: “It’s also important not to exaggerate the woes of the Conservative Party. We’re less than a year after the heaviest defeat in our history. It’s very unlikely having kicked us out, voters are going to come running back to the Conservatives within just a matter of months and we do need to have a period of reflection and it is going to take a few years before people will give us another look.“But I think over time they will because no one speaks to the conservative values that I think most people recognise are very important for the country, a party that’s pro-business, understands wealth creation, understands aspiration and will run the economy well and I think by the time it comes to the next general election people are really going to want a party that stands for that.”Former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt has admitted that the Conservatives ‘can’t rule out’ the prospect of extinction More

The number of “nationally significant” cyber attacks in the last eight months has doubled on the same period a year ago, a security chief has warned.Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said that the agency had dealt with 200 incidents since September 2024, including twice as many causing widespread disruption as the same period last year.Speaking at the CyberUK conference in Manchester on Wednesday, Mr Horne warned that adversaries were “probing for weaknesses” and operating daily in a grey area “between peace and war” to pursue geopolitical goals.Russia will continue to target Ukraine and supporting countries with digital espionage in order to gain strategic ground in ceasefire negotiations, he said, while the UK faces further threats from Iran, China and North Korea.The intervention comes after a wave of cyber attacks on high-profile British retailers including Harrods, Marks and Spencer and the Co-op Group in recent weeks.In a speech to business chiefs and tech experts, Mr Horne said: “In just the last few weeks, we have seen the very real impacts that cyber attacks can have and the kind of disruption they can cause for both businesses and individuals alike.“The threat picture is diverse and dramatic – at the NCSC we’ve managed more than 200 incidents since September last year.“This includes twice as many nationally significant incidents as the same period a year ago.”Mr Horne said that behind the attacks were “our adversaries”, warning that “hostile nation states have weaponised their cyber capabilities.”“While they might not be using them in pursuit or support of direct conflict, some are operating daily in the grey zone, that murky space between peace and war where states and non-state actors engage in competitive activity.”While Beijing remains the “pacing threat” in the cyber realm with the Chinese Communist Party’s “vast ecosystem” of legislation and data, Moscow has been using criminal proxies to focus on acts of sabotage, he said.“With our partners in MI5, including the National Protective Security Authority, we see a direct connection between Russian cyber attacks and physical threats to our security,” Mr Horne warned.“These threats are manifesting on the streets of the UK against our industries and our businesses, putting lives, critical services and national security at risk.“And so the role of our community is therefore not just about protecting systems, it’s about protecting our people, our economy, our society from harm.”He added: “Today, I can say for the first time, based on our assessments, that as we move closer to the possibility of a ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict it is almost certain that Russia will continue its wider cyber espionage activity against Ukraine and supporting countries to gain strategic advantage in its negotiation strategy.”Meanwhile, UK firms are being targeted by IT workers in the North Korean system to raise revenue for the country’s regime and Britain also faces a heightened threat of espionage from Iran, he said.Mr Horne said the NCSC, which is a part of the UK’s GCHQ spy agency, is able to gather intelligence about what adversaries are doing and an act on it at pace to disrupt hostile activity.But he said cybersecurity must be something that “we all need to do together” to “ensure our collective success”.“We cannot control everything, but we must control the things that we can and be prepared for the things we can’t,” Mr Horne said.Meanwhile, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden warned that Government systems are not “bombproof” and remain in need of modernisation.Speaking at the conference, the senior Cabinet minister said: “I can’t stand here this morning and tell you that the Government systems are bombproof. This is not the case.“We have new systems built on top of legacy systems and we are doing everything in our power to modernise the state and to upgrade these core systems but the Government and the country as a whole has to take this seriously if we are going to do it securely in the future.”Mr McFadden said the cyber attacks in recent weeks should be a “wake-up call” for British businesses as he announces a £16 million package to boost defence at home and abroad.The Government has unveiled measures aimed at reinforcing systems against attack, including driving investment into CHERI, a “magic chip” that builds advanced memory protections in microprocessors.Some £4.5 million will be spent helping firms bring the technology, which can block up to 70% of common cyber attacks, to market, the Cabinet Office said.A new software security code of practice will also be published on Wednesday, outlining essential steps the Government believes every organisation developing or selling software should be taking to secure their products.An extra £7 million for Britain’s Laboratory for AI Security Research will be confirmed, along with investment of £8 million in Ukrainian cyber defences and more than £1 million to “protect Moldovan elections”.Mr McFadden said cyber would also be a prime target for economic growth in the Government’s upcoming industrial strategy.“There is enormous potential for cyber security to be a driving force in our economy – creating jobs, growth and opportunities for people. It’s already a sector on the up – with over 2,000 businesses across the UK,” he said.“It is going to be a significant commitment, a vote of confidence in your sector, and one that will tell the world: the UK plans to be a global player in cybersecurity for decades to come.” More

Britain is said to be days away from to securing a trade deal with the US which would lessen the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs.The UK has been in talks with the Trump administration as part of an attempt to agree a carve out from tariffs, which are wreaking havoc on the global economy. Trade negotiators have returned to Washington this week and officials told the Financial Times that the trade deal could be agreed in the next few days. It could include quotas that would exempt a certain number of UK exports from the full impact of 25 per cent tariffs on the British car and steel industry.The UK is seeking a carve out from Donald Trump’s tariffs More

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged by his own MPs to “act now” to reverse the cut to winter fuel payments as backlash over the move grows.There has been growing public anger over the policy after Labour suffered a disastrous result at last week’s local elections, which saw Reform pick up 10 councils and more than 600 seats. The Red Wall group of Labour MPs, made up of around 45 MPs from Red Wall constituencies, warned that Sir Keir’s response that he would “go further and faster” in delivering his plans had “fallen on deaf ears”. They warned that voters across the UK had told the Labour Party “loudly and clearly that we have not met their expectations”.Sir Keir Starmer is coming under increasing pressure from his own party (Henry Nicholls/PA) More