UK Politics

Keir Starmer aims to pass emergency law in one day to prevent closure of British Steel plantMPs have backed the government’s plans to take control of British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant during an emergency debate in parliament. While MPs voted in a rare emergency debate on a bill for the government to take over British Steel, workers outside of the plant blocked Chinese executives’ access to key areas, it has been reported. Sir Keir Starmer called the session on Saturday to debate emergency legislation aimed at blocking the firm’s Chinese owners, Jingye, from closing blast furnaces at the Lincolnshire site, after the prime minister warned the future of the company “hangs in the balance”.After crunch talks with Jingye, officials in the Department for Business and Trade believed its intention was to stop the supply of raw materials needed to keep the blast furnaces operating. If the furnaces are stopped, it is extremely difficult and costly to them back online.Officials made it clear on Friday the bill allowing the government to take control of the plant was being tabled in a bid to keep the site’s blast furnaces online. It was approved by MPs following several hours of debate.The legislation will give the government “the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site”, Downing Street said.Steelworkers union back government plan after Chinese owners failed to consult ‘in good faith’A union representing Steelworkers in Britain has backed the government after it won a vote to take over British Steel.Alasdair McDiarmid Assistant General Secretary of Community Union, The Steelworkers Union, said: “Community Union welcomes and wholeheartedly backs the Labour Government’s decisive action to take control of British Steel.“The government has sought to negotiate constructively and even offered to buy raw materials to stop the blast furnaces closing, but Jingye have shut down every avenue to keep the furnaces running and avoid imminent job losses.“Moreover, Jingye has not consulted in good faith with the unions, and they now need to get out of the road to give space to all those who want to see British Steel succeed.“Today’s intervention by the UK Labour government is a first step towards securing a sustainable future for British Steel and steel communities like Scunthorpe. “We will continue to work with the government to deliver this future and build a thriving UK steel industry which supports thousands of good jobs and the economic security of our country.”12 April 2025 15:40PM makes surprise visit to British Steel’s Scunthorpe plantThe prime minister met British Steel workers near Scunthorpe shortly after MPs backed a rescue plan for the steelworks.Sir Keir Starmer told the steelworkers: “You are the people who have kept this going.“You and your colleagues for years have been the backbone of British Steel, and it’s really important that we recognise that.“And I felt it was really important today, having been in Parliament this morning, to come straight up here to see you face to face to have that discussion with you.“Because this shouldn’t be a removed thing that’s happening down in Westminster, in Parliament, it should be something that’s living and breathing. It’s your jobs, your lives, your communities, your families.”The steelworkers thanked the Prime Minister for the Government’s action, with one adding: “We’re not there yet, we’ve still got a lot of hard work to do.”Sir Keir Starmer tells British Steelworkers, “You are the people who have kept this going.” More

Keir Starmer has delayed going on holiday with his family to attend an emergency session of Parliament to save British Steel. No 10 confirmed the prime minister had been planning to jet off on the trip, expected to be to southern Europe, but is now expected to leave on Sunday instead. It comes as MPs meet to back government plans to all but nationalise British Steel after the PM warned that the country’s “economic and national security is on the line”. ( More

A youth mobility scheme with the EU is on the table – but under a different name, The Independent understands, as MPs attempt to secure government backing for the agreement. A list of recommendations produced by the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly – a delegation of members from the UK and EU parliaments aimed at strengthening relations with the bloc – has urged the government to establish a “youth opportunity scheme”. It is understood the scheme would operate similarly to proposals for a “youth mobility scheme”, which had become a major sticking point between the UK and EU. It would allow 18 to 35-year olds, including those doing apprenticeships, to move and work freely between countries for up to two years.Brexitanniversary More

Rishi Sunak has unveiled his resignation honours list, with former cabinet minister Michael Gove, ex-chief whip Simon Hart and former Scottish secretary Sir Alister Jack all receiving gongs from the former prime minister.It is a well-established tradition for outgoing prime ministers to hand peerages and other gongs to key allies after they leave office. Mr Sunak has already awarded honours to a number of close aides, including a peerage for his former chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith and a knighthood for deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, which were handed out in a separate dissolution honours list to mark the end of the last parliament following the general election.But who features on today’s list, and why have they made the cut? Michael Gove Michael Gove has been handed a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours. He held multiple cabinet posts over his political career, including education, environment, and housing secretary, but never held one of the UK’s three great offices of state. However, he was a highly influential figure in successive Conservative governments and built a reputation for being able to make or break leadership bids or campaigns. He ran for the party leadership himself in 2016, scuppering Boris Johnson’s bid and sparking a long-standing rift between the pair. Mr Gove went on to serve in Mr Johnson’s cabinet but was sacked in the final hours of his time in office after calling for the then PM to resign. He is also said to have betrayed David Cameron by taking a more prominent role in the 2016 Vote Leave campaign than he was ever expected to. Asked about Mr Gove’s ennoblement, a close ally of Mr Johnson’s told The Times he is a “more worthy recipient than many”, but dubbed him “one of the most treacherous people in politics”. ‘Worthy’ and ‘treacherous’ Michael Gove More

Sir Keir Starmer has been warned against sacrificing too much in an attempt to secure a trade deal with Donald Trump, as hopes of avoiding tariffs appear to be fading. It comes after an adviser to the US president said it would take an “extraordinary deal” for the UK to improve on the 10 per cent tariff Mr Trump has placed on the country.Meanwhile, UK ministers appear to be increasingly downbeat about the prospect of a US-UK deal, with health minister Stephen Kinnock admitting that it might take some time. It comes despite officials previously insisting that talks were at an “advanced stage”.US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Carl Court/PA) More

The government will table a bill to take control of British Steel as MPs are recalled from recess for an extraordinary Saturday sitting to debate the future of the beleaguered firm. Downing Street on Friday stopped short of saying it would nationalise the firm, but said its emergency bill will give ministers “the power to direct steel companies in England, which we will use to protect the Scunthorpe site”. It means MPs will be recalled on a Saturday during recess for the first time since the Falklands War began in 1982, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds attended talks with Jingye More

Veteran Conservative politician Michael Gove has received a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s resignation honours list. Mr Gove, who stepped down as an MP at the last general election, features on the list alongside former chief whip Simon Hart and former Scotland secretary Alister Jack – both close allies of the former prime minister. Mark Harper, who served as transport secretary under Mr Sunak, former attorney general Victoria Prentis, ex-Conservative Party CEO Stephen Massey, and Eleanor Shawcross, former director of the No 10 policy unit, have also been handed peerages. Meanwhile, former Cabinet ministers Jeremy Hunt, James Cleverly, Grant Shapps and Mel Stride have been given knighthoods, as well as former England cricketer James Anderson.Michael Gove stepped down as an MP at the last general election More

US bond markets erupted on Wednesday as panicked investors scrambled to cash them in in the wake of Donald Trump’s tariffs and the trade war that followed.The yield, or interest rate, for US government 30-year bonds spiked – a possible indicator of economic downturn – forcing the US president to perform a dramatic U-turn that saw him announce a temporary pause on tariffs for all countries but China.“The bond market is very tricky, I was watching it. But yeah, I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” said Mr Trump as he laid out a 90-day pause on retaliatory levies.The humiliating backtrack has striking similarities with Liz Truss’s rapid downfall as prime minister – also prompted by the bond market response to her disastrous mini-budget.Here The Independent looks at the financial turmoil caused by both and what it might mean for Mr Trump’s future in the White House.Has Trump really reversed the damage?Ms Truss’s tenure in Downing Street lasted just 49 days after her mini-budget tanked the markets and saw the pound sink to a 37-year low against the dollar.Alongside then-Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, she announced the biggest raft of tax cuts for half a century in the September 2022 statement. The pair were eventually forced to climb down over their plan to scrap the top rate of income tax for the highest earners.But where Mr Trump has intervened quickly to row back on his tariffs, Ms Truss was criticised for acting too slowly – a move that largely contributed to the economic turmoil in the UK.“One advantage Trump has over Truss is that his inconsistency means he changed his mind pretty rapidly, unlike Liz Truss, who was doggedly determined to head over the cliff,” Sir John Curtice, the leading British pollling expert, told The Independent.But other analysts are more cautious on Trump’s tariff row back, highlighting that the measures are only delayed for the time being, and the China levies – which have now climbed to 125 per cent, with reciprocal tariffs of the same amount also fired back by Beijing – still upsetting the markets.“The pause has improved conditions in the bond market, but it hasn’t entirely alleviated the concerns that have been caused by this trade policy debacle,” explains Laith Khalaf, head of investment analysis at AJ Bell. “Tariffs are, as far as we know, still coming in in 90 days. And let’s not forget that there are still very large tariffs on China, and China has imposed large tariffs on the US,” he added.US government bonds saw yield rates spike in a “bond market meltdown” following Trump’s tariff announcements. According to government data, the US 30-Year Treasury yield has been broadly increasing since the beginning of April, after a dip when the US first unleashed new tariffs.Late on Tuesday night the yield rate reached 5 per cent before hovering around 4.9 per cent; with the latest figures at 4.83 per cent at time of writing. Meanwhile 10-year yields rose to 4.5 per cent.US bonds are used as a benchmark for the cost of borrowing worldwide, and higher yields increase the cost of debt.“The government bond markets form the bedrock of financial markets, and none is more important than that of the US,” explains Mr Khalaf.“Treasury bonds are viewed as the basis of a risk-free asset, from which other assets are priced. Rising bond yields mean higher costs for companies to borrow, and of course governments too.”Similarly, the panic around Truss’ mini budget saw 30-year gilts (bonds) reach 4.99 per cent on September 27 – a huge rise from just 3.78 per cent before she announced her plans.Gilt yields had already began to climb slightly before Ms Truss came into power, but the mini-budget brought those rates to new highs at sustained rates.The move forced the Bank of England to intervene by buying up up to £65 billion worth of government bonds to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling out of control.That extraordinary intervention caused bond yields to stabilise but they remained higher than pre-Truss levels, and climbed again shortly after. The fluctuation in the US bond market caused by Trump’s tariffs, however, has been much smaller.“So far selling in the bond market has not been as dramatic as during the Liz Truss era,” said Mr Khalaf. “The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond is now only a touch over where it started April, though it’s been far from a straight line from there to here. The volatility in bond markets reflects the rollercoaster ride markets are on at the moment.”But while Ms Truss’ actions only affected UK markets, Trump’s tariffs have sent shockwaves around the world. Graham Slade, international economist from financial researchers Morningstar said: “The rise in US treasury yields has lifted sovereign borrowing costs globally, with yields on UK and Japanese government debt rising in concert. The increase in borrowing costs comes at an inopportune moment for the UK government.”The value of the pound began to plummet after the mini-budget in 2022, and hit a record low of just $1.03 on September 25. The dollar index (DXY) has seen similar movement since Mr Trump came into office. While the value of the dollar climbed steadily when Mr Trump was elected in November, it has been steadily falling since his inauguration on January 20. The biggest drops have taken place in early March – when tariffs on China, Mexico and Canada came into effect – and since the beginning of April, when Mr Trump geared up for the slew of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on countries worldwide.Now, the dollar index is at just 101.6, compared to 109.3 on inauguration day. By comparison, it grew stronger over the first three months of Joe Biden’s presidency. Will bonds spell trouble for Trump in the polls?The mini-budget and bond crisis undoubtedly brought about Ms Truss’s downfall, with the public – and MPs – placing blame for the state of the economy firmly at her door. She lost the backing of the Conservatives and was ultimately forced to resign.In the current US political sphere, it is hard to know what it might take to rock the seemingly unshakeable support Mr Trump has from his die-hard Make America Great Again (MAGA) supporters. But his approval ratings are taking a tumble, and the economy is an influence.In the UK, governments who preside over periods of economic turmoil often suffer, Mr Curtice said.In the US, however, markets tend to be stronger as they are backed by the dollar; but this level of turbulence across stocks, bonds and trade could buck the trend. “Even Trump seems to be reaching his limits,” Mr Curtice added. “But whether this will sway Trump supporters is a different question.”Ms Truss’s fall from grace was quite spectacular, with her approval ratings falling from -2 per cent (Ipsos) at the start of her tenure to -70 per cent (YouGov) just six weeks in. But Mr Trump is not immune either. His approval rating among Americans was at +4 per cent at the start of his second term (January 28), but has slowly crumbled since mid-February, according to YouGov polls.Now, his approval rating is net negative, at -7 per cent as of April 7; taking a significant dip in recent weeks amid his escalating trade war. When asked what are the most important issues among the American public, respondents consistently place inflation and prices (22 per cent), and jobs and the economy (12 per cent), as top concerns. Since coming into office, taxes and government spending have also become a higher concern for Americans, with 9 per cent saying it is the most important issue (up from 5 per cent in early January). Global and US economies remain at riskBeyond Mr Trump’s political support, the market volatility and pressures in the bond market could have greater risks for a major economic event, warns Mr Khalaf.“The big risk is that wildly volatile market prices lead to something fundamental breaking, as we saw with Long Term Capital Management in 1998, Lehman Brothers [that sparked the Global Financial Crisis] in 2008, or LDI pension funds in 2022,” he said. “No doubt the US Fed will find itself in the spotlight as markets look for signs of a rescue, with some discussion of an emergency rate cut. That could put a floor under falling markets, but might stoke inflationary problems further down the line.”As the US dollar underpins global markets, and Trump’s tariff policies are taking aim at international trade, any economic downturns will inevitably be felt worldwide. More