UK Politics

British firms have been hit by a 10 per cent tariff on all exports to the United States as Donald Trump ushered in a new era for global trade and pledged America “will no longer be ripped off”.The US president said his “Liberation Day” announcement – in which some nations will pay as much as 34 per cent – was a “declaration of economic independence”.It means that Sir Keir Starmer’s government has failed to secure a carve-out for Britain from tariffs, but while the UK was 13th on a “naughty list” of nations brandished at a White House press conference, it had the joint lowest tariffs along with nations such as Brazil.European Union nations face 20 per cent penalties while China will pay 34 per cent and Cambodia an eye-watering 49 per cent. Switzerland was also hit hard with 31 per cent. Taiwan, which is struggling for survival against threats from China, faces 32 per cent and India is getting 26 per cent.A Downing Street source said: “We don’t want any tariffs at all, but a lower levy than others vindicates our approach. It matters because the difference between 10 per cent and 20 per cent is thousands of jobs. “We will keep negotiating, keep cool and keep calm. We want to negotiate a sustainable trade deal, and of course to get tariffs lowered. Tomorrow we will continue with that work.”Donald Trump with a list of countries that will be subject to ‘reciprocal tariffs’ More

Working age households will be £400 worse off on average next year due to tax hikes, soaring bills and stagnant benefits, a leading think-tank has warned.Days after Rachel Reeves boasted that Labour’s policies will leave families £500 better off, the Resolution Foundation said the outlook for living standards is actually “historically bleak”.In a blow to the chancellor, the left-leaning think tank said Labour’s tax hikes, the Tories’ ongoing freeze on personal tax thresholds and below-inflation increases to working-age benefits will lead to a £400, or one per cent, fall in disposable income for a typical household. The Chancellor made the spring statement last week (Ben Stansall/PA) More

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that his centrist political party was the target of a cyberattack, and suggested that it could have been interference from the east — meaning Russia or Belarus — ahead of Poland’s presidential election next month.Tusk announced on the X platform that his Civic Platform party’s computer system was targeted.“Foreign interference in elections begins. Services point to eastern trace,” Tusk said.Jan Grabiec, the head of Tusk’s office, told the Polish state news agency PAP that the cyberattack consisted of an attempt to take control of computers of employees of the Civic Platform office and the election staff over about a dozen hours on Wednesday.Asked if Tusk was pointing the finger at Russia or Belarus, Grabiec said that would be for Poland’s secret services to comment on, but that in past cases Belarusians have infiltrated Poland’s systems on behalf of Russian intelligence services.Poland is weeks away from the first round of a presidential election, scheduled for May 18. The frontrunner is the Civic Platform candidate, Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, who like Tusk is a pro-European Union centrist. He has been polling around 35%.His main contenders include a conservative backed by the Law and Justice party, Karol Nawrocki, who is second in most polls at a bit over 20%, and a co-leader of the far-right Confederation candidate, Sławomir Mentzen, who has been polling around 20%.If no candidate wins outright with at least 50% of the vote on May 18, a runoff will be held June 1. More

An extra 400,000 people could be signed off as unfit for work under Labour’s controversial welfare reforms, the government’s own figures show.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall declared ministers were being “ambitious for our people and our country” as she announced plans to slash £5bn from the benefits bill earlier this month. Alongside the cuts, she pledged changes to the system designed to get the long-term sick back into work. ( More

The UK has pledged further action with allies and social media platforms to tackle people smuggling adverts online as part of efforts to cut small boat crossings and other illegal migration services.A new agreement made at the UK’s Organised Immigration Crime Summit on Tuesday will see the UK, US, Albania, Sweden, Tunisia and Vietnam take more collective action to target criminal gangs advertising illegal migration online, and share more data on the issue.The agreement will also see governments work with social media companies – including Meta, TikTok and X, who were present at the summit – to design out methods being used by criminal gangs to advertise and glorify their people smuggling activities online.The Home Office said 18,000 social media accounts used to sell spaces on small boats have been taken down by the National Crime Agency (NCA) since last July – 10,000 more than the previous year – but that further action is still needed.As part of the new collective action agreement, governments will work with online platforms to help improve detection and moderation tools for identifying content linked to people smuggling.Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt said: “Criminal gangs are exploiting online platforms to prey on vulnerable people, luring them into dangerous and illegal journeys that undermine our border security.“This international agreement is a vital step in shutting down their online operations and dismantling their networks across the world.“These organised crime groups operate across borders, which is why the UK has united with five nations to take decisive action – strengthening intelligence-sharing and taking away platforms that these criminals depend on for their business.“Under the Government’s Plan for Change, we will continue working with global partners to dismantle smuggling networks, bring perpetrators to justice, and protect vulnerable people from falling into their hands.”The summit has also seen nations agree to increased intelligence-sharing, including between law enforcement agencies, while the UK is to lead work on investigating how criminal gangs are using online spaces.Graeme Biggar, director-general of the NCA, said: “Yesterday we saw law enforcement from over 40 nations come together in a shared endeavour to stop these criminal gangs.“We have explored challenges, sought solutions, and reinforced our shared commitment to tackling the threat and harm caused by people smuggling.“International intelligence-sharing and co-operation is absolutely crucial to track criminal activity across borders, allowing us to put a stop to these dangerous criminals, and this summit has ensured that we can build on our work to put a stop to these gangs, protect our borders and save lives.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has reportedly offered big US tech companies a major tax break in a last-ditch bid to dodge Donald Trump’s damaging tariffs. The prime minister is prepared to lower the rate of the government’s digital services tax (DST) in a bid to win concessions from the president as a global trade war looms, it has emerged. It comes after a scramble in government to strike a deal with the US ahead of what Mr Trump has dubbed “liberation day”, with the president set to impose tariffs of up to 20 per cent on all imports to the US. The PM conceded this week that an agreement would not be reached before the tariffs take effect, but his business secretary Jonathan Reynolds has said the UK could be the first country to do a deal with Washington on a carve-out from the levies. There is reportedly a deal on the table ready to be signed, covering areas such as artificial intelligence and other future technologies. But The Guardian on Wednesday also reported the UK has offered significant changes to the DST. The move would reportedly see Britain lower the headline rate of the tax, in a major boost to major American firms such as Amazon, Facebook owner Meta and Google owner Alphabet, while at the same time applying the levy to companies from other countries. The Government still hopes to secure a carve-out from Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs (Carl Court/PA) More

Britain “must prepare for the worst” from new import tariffs, the foreign secretary David Lammy said yesterday as the world awaits the start of Donald Trump’s trade war. The United States president has threatened to impose fees of 20 per cent or more on imports from around the world with immediate effect in measures expected to be announced on Wednesday – which he has dubbed “Liberation Day”. Global market jitters continued over the potential impact of a trade war, as one study estimated it could cost the world £1.1 trillion.In Britain alone, 25,000 jobs are at risk according to the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR), which said the new White House trade policy would “completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing industry”.Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs analysts expected Britain’s GDP to suffer a greater hit than previously feared even if a UK trade deal were agreed, due to “larger negative spillovers” from tariffs levied against the European Union. As a result, the bank now expects 0.8 per cent of UK growth this year and 1.2 per cent in 2026 – down from 0.9 and 1.3 respectively.Chancellor Rachel Reeves told a cabinet meeting that there would be a serious impact from the tariffs.And while business secretary Jonathan Reynolds tried to be optimistic about the prospect of a UK-US deal, he was unable to give a timeline on when one might be completed. Ministers were also forced to deny the Trump administration was making demands about free speech in the UK as part of any potential trade deal.Mr Trump has previously announced a 25 per cent tax will be introduced on all cars imported to the US. He has also announced similar tariffs on steel and aluminium.However, the announcement on Wednesday is expected to be far more wide-ranging.Foreign secretary David Lammy More

Foodbank use and homelessness are set to rise, charities have warned as ‘awful April’ pushes up the cost of crucial bills, including energy and water, for millions of households across the country. People across the country are struggling to afford the bare essentials and with somany costs rising at once, from gas to council tax, has led to fresh calls for ministers to help limit the impact. From Tuesday, the annual average energy bill will go up by £111 a year, or £9.25 a month, to £1,849, after Ofgem raised the energy cap.Water bills are also set to soar by an average of 26 per cent, or £123 a year, in England and Wales, while council tax will rise by £108 a year on average, after ministers confirmed they would be allowed to increase by at most 5 per cent.Matt Downie, chief executive at Crisis, the housing charity, warned it was becoming “even harder for people on low incomes to afford the basic essentials. This is leaving them dangerously exposed, forced into debt and in real danger of being pushed into homelessness as the cost of living crisis continues to bite.” Rachel Reeves’ decision to freeze housing benefits from Tuesday in last October’s Budget would also “push people deeper into poverty and homelessness,” he added. Trussell warned more people would be forced to turn to food banks (Danny Lawson/PA) More