UK Politics

Starmer and Trump hold ‘productive negotiations’ between US and UK trade dealDowning Street has admitted the UK is now likely to face Donald Trump’s tariffs this week as the US president’s threats of a global trade war sparked fears of a global recession.Markets tumbled across the UK, Europe and Asia on Monday after Mr Trump announced he is set to impose a barrage of high tariffs on imported goods from around the world on his self-described “Liberation Day” on Wednesday.No 10’s admission on Monday marked a blow for Sir Keir Starmer’s government as the UK had been hoping to secure a “UK-US economic prosperity deal”, which would exempt British goods from tariffs on imports into America.But asked whether the government had given up hope of a deal being signed before Wednesday, the prime minister’s official spokesman said that he is “not going to put a time frame on those discussions” but that they are “likely to continue beyond Wednesday”.London’s FTSE 100 was down by more than 1 per cent on Monday, and around 100 points were shaved off the index during the morning’s trading.Trump’s tariffs will have ‘drag on global activity’ Many economists believe that trade tensions sparked by Mr Trump will slow economic growth around the world.The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said earlier this month that US trade policy would be a “drag on global activity” and hit living standards around the world.“Overall, consumers face much of the burden of higher tariffs,” the OECD said in its economic outlook report, with real disposable incomes estimated to decline by 1,600 US dollars (£1,237) per household in the US.In terms of the UK impact, experts say there is a great amount of uncertainty about how tariffs will filter through to households and businesses, especially if the country avoids steep penalties.Economists at the Bank of England said the effect on inflation in the UK would depend on how other countries respond with their own trade policies, and how foreign exchange rates are affected.Economist Swati Dhingra, a member of the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee, has said the UK is sensitive to changing import prices.But she suggested that the inflation impact could be “less than feared” because the main goods that the US imports from the UK, including refined oil, were unlikely to see cost increases on account of tariffs.The Bank, which sets UK interest rates, said it was a “rapidly evolving situation” that it was monitoring closely.Jabed Ahmed31 March 2025 15:29Full report | US stock market spooked by Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on all countries this weekJabed Ahmed31 March 2025 15:09Starmer facing ‘impossible task’ of potential retaliation to Trump tariffs, says expertSir Keir Starmer is facing an “impossible task” in deciding whether to retaliate to Trump’s looming tariffs, an expert has warned.Simon Finkelstein, director of geopolitics at the Brunswick Group said “It would be foolish to do so, however, politically it might become untenable not to do so.”“Fundamentally he’s got an impossible task because the people who work for the President clearly don’t know what he’s going to do on Wednesday either,” he told Times Radio.“But I think the thing [Starmer] has got to do is continue on the same strategy, which is attempt to negotiate some sort of future deal with the US, whether that looks like something sort of wider range or more limited on technology to mitigate the worst aspects of the tariffs.” “The UK government has to at least try,” Mr Finkelstein added.Jabed Ahmed31 March 2025 14:51Pictured | Starmer welcomes the President of Finland to Downing Street for bilateral talks( More

Top Tories are in private talks with big landlords in a bid to thwart Labour’s Renters’ Rights Bill, it has emerged. In a bid to scupper the legislation, which overhauls private renting laws to give more protection to renters, senior Conservatives have met landlords to consider options, including a legal challenge under human rights law. In a meeting between some of the UK’s biggest landlords and shadow housing minister Jane Scott, the group discussed ideas including challenges in the courts and delaying the legislation with repeated amendments in the Lords, it was reported.The bill is currently making its way through the House of Lords More

More than three quarters of parents of 11-16 year olds said their child has a screen with internet access in their bedroom, according to a survey carried out in the wake of hit Netflix drama Adolescence.The show’s co-writer and actor, Stephen Graham, has spoken about how children “can be looking at all kinds of things” nowadays with internet in their bedrooms, compared with a generation before.Smartphones are the most common devices, followed by tablets and desktop computers or laptops, the exclusive snapshot survey by Ipsos for the PA news agency showed.Three quarters of the parents questioned said they are concerned about what their children are seeing, hearing or doing online, and 87% said they are not confident they know what content they are viewing.Asked if their child has a computer or any other screens with access to the internet that they use in their bedroom, 65% of parents said yes.A total of 622 parents aged 23-65 with a child or children aged between five and 16 in Great Britain were questioned online by Ipsos for PA last week.The proportion saying their child has a screen with internet access in their bedroom rose to 78% for parents with a child aged between 11 and 16.Graham, in interviews after the show’s runaway success, has spoken about the huge differences now in what children can do in their bedrooms if they have internet access.He previously told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that in his own childhood when he went to his room he could “maybe draw some pictures or I had a Casio little keyboard, we send our kids to their rooms today and the possibilities are endless, especially with the connection to the internet, and they can be looking at all kinds of things.”When it comes to their children’s safety online, 5% of parents said they do not take any specific protective measures, the survey showed.Most (61%) said they have had discussions with their children about the risks of online activity, while more than half (55%) said they have parental controls or apps on devices.About four in 10 (45%) said they restrict when or where their child can use the internet, while a fifth (22%) said they have removed devices from their child when they have had concerns.Just under a fifth (17%) of parents said they have removed a device from their child’s bedroom.About six in 10 (61%) of parents said television shows or documentaries about child safety online are likely to prompt them to take extra protective measures, while most (73%) said their children getting older is the main reason for them to put in place additional safety measures.On smartphones, most parents (about 80%) questioned said they think children should be at least 11 years old before having one for their own personal use.One in 10 said a child should be 16, while 3% of parents felt seven or eight was an acceptable age.More than half (54%) said they would support a complete ban on smartphones in schools, while almost a fifth (19%) have confiscated their child’s phone to prevent them taking it to school.More than a quarter (28%) have told their child not to take their phone to school.Last week the head of the schools watchdog Ofsted said smartphones should be banned in schools in England.Last year, under the former Conservative government, schools in England were given non-statutory guidance intended to stop the use of mobile phones during the school day.In an exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions last week Sir Keir Starmer said a change to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to require schools to ban the use of phones was “completely unnecessary”, when challenged by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch on the issue.The PM claimed “almost every school” already bans phones, and instead said the focus should be on the content children were consuming. More

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is “angry” at the number of migrants crossing the English Channel as he revealed deportations under Labour have topped 24,000 since the general election. The prime minister said “ordinary working people pay the price” of illegal migration, through strained public services and taxpayer-funded hotel places, calling for “decisive action” to deal with the issue. Addressing a summit of leaders from 40 countries around the world aimed at tackling organised immigration crime, Sir Keir said returns under Labour were running at their fastest for eight years. Sir Keir Starmer said he was ‘angry’ about the scale of illegal migration (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

The UK and other countries affected by people smuggling must not allow the “vile trade” to pit them against one another, the Prime Minister will tell a summit aimed at cracking down on illegal migration.Sir Keir Starmer will call on the 40 countries that are gathering in London on Monday and Tuesday to work together to stop people-smuggling gangs in the same way they would terrorists.Countries including Albania, Vietnam and Iraq – from where migrants have travelled the UK – will join the talks, which are the first of their kind, alongside representatives from France, the US and China.Ministers and enforcement staff will discuss international co-operation on illegal migration, as well as supply routes, criminal finances and online adverts for people smuggling during the meeting.Officials from social media companies Meta, X and TikTok will also join discussions on how to crack down on the online promotion of irregular migration.Sir Keir is expected to call for unity among the nations involved when he addresses the summit on Monday afternoon.”This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions, pits nations against one another and profits from our inability at the political level to come together,” he will say.The Prime Minister will point to his time working across borders to foil terrorists when he was director of public prosecutions.He will add: “I believe we should treat organised immigration crime in the same way.”I simply do not believe organised immigration crime cannot be tackled. We’ve got to combine our resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream at every step of the people-smuggling routes.”The summit will deliver “concrete outcomes” for nations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, and North America, according to the Home Office.Developments aimed at tackling illegal migration ahead of the gathering include:- The Government will expand right-to-work checks to cover gig economy workers by making amendments to the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. Businesses that do not carry out the checks could be fined up to £60,000, or face closures, director disqualifications, and even up to five years in prison.- Home Secretary Yvette Cooper signalled she wanted to crack down on the number of people who have arrived in the UK on a student or work visa and have since claimed asylum.- The Government is reviewing how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the right to family life, applies to migration cases, Ms Cooper said. Several deportation attempts have been halted by how the ECHR clause has been interpreted in UK law. Ministers have looked to a tougher approach in Denmark for inspiration.- Some £1 million in UK funding will go towards strengthened efforts to root out people-smuggling kingpins in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, the Home Office announced.- The UK has launched an advertising campaign on Vietnamese social media and messenger app Zalo, warning people about trusting people-smuggling gangs in an effort to reduce irregular migration from the south-east Asian country.Speaking ahead of the summit, the Home Secretary said law enforcement needed to “work together across borders” to bring down people smuggling gangs.She added: “Only a co-ordinated international response across the whole irregular migration route can effectively dismantle these networks.”The Organised Immigration Crime Summit is the first of its kind and will reinforce the UK’s position as a leader by securing international commitments to disrupt Organised Immigration Crime at every stage of the business model.”The summit demonstrates mine and the Prime Minister’s absolute dedication to disrupting the callous organised criminal gangs, strengthening our borders and ultimately save countless lives.”On Sunday, senior Tory shadow minister Alex Burghart said Labour should never have scrapped the Rwanda deportation plan.”It was ready to go, and Labour came in, they won a majority, and they scrapped it. There is now no deterrent programme,” he said. More

A deal worth hundreds of millions has finally broken a year-long deadlock between the government and community pharmacies over providing key health services across England.Ministers hope that it will allow pharmacists to deal with many medical issues and, as a result, free up GP time for more serious problems, although the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) warned the funding fell a “long way short of the NHS’s own estimates” of the true cost of providing pharmacy services.Speaking exclusively to The Independent, health minister Stephen Kinnock described the contract agreed between the government and Community Pharmacy England as an important step to fixing “a broken pharmacy sector”.Health minister Stephen Kinnock More

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have discussed “productive negotiations” towards a UK-US economic prosperity deal in a phone call, Downing Street said, as fears grow the UK may be landed with damaging US tariffs. The pair agreed that negotiations will “continue at pace” in the Sunday night call, which came after home secretary Yvette Cooper warned that “no option is off the table” in terms of a British response to any US tariffs.Downing Street is trying to negotiate an exemption from tariffs on all imports into the US, in talks which Ms Cooper described as “intense”. Mr Starmer and Mr Trump held a phone call on Sunday night to discuss trade and US tariffs More

Keir Starmer is being urged to adopt a trade plan that could unlock £250bn in economic growth and savings – even if Donald Trump unleashes direct tariffs on the UK.With senior government sources now admitting that tariffs from the US on UK trade are “now looking inevitable”, the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC) has published its plan for growth which it says would free up billions in investment simply by scrapping outdated paper-based systems.There was disappointment that chancellor Rachel Reeves did not mention trade in her spring statement last week as she focused on putting a squeeze on benefits to balance the books.According to the ICC, outdated paper-based trade systems are stifling economic growth and productivity, but bold action can position the UK as a global leader in 21st-century trade. The chancellor outlined her plans on Wednesday More