UK

Sir Tony Blair has urged Sir Keir Starmer not to retaliate against Donald Trump’s tariffs, saying such a move wouldn’t be in the UK’s “best interests”. The prime minister will hold discussions with other international leaders this weekend as the government scrambles to respond to the news that British exports to the US willl face a blanket 10 per cent levy, a move that sent global markets tumbling and sparked fears the chancellor’s fiscal headroom could be wiped out. In a rare intervention, the former PM told students at King’s College London that he supported Sir Keir’s “cool heads” approach to Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’, and he didn’t really understand the intellectual argument behind the tariff policy. “I don’t think it is in the UK’s best interest to retaliate,” he said, but admitted he did not know where developments over the tariffs would end. Tony Blair has previously offered advice to Sir Keir Starmer More

Harriet Harman has called on Sir Keir Starmer to ban smartphones in schools, amid mounting pressure on the government take action to stop tech companies from allowing harmful material on their platforms. “Is [the prime minister] going to side with parents who are terrified and want this content off their children’s phones, or is he going to accept the tech bros resistance to having to make changes?”, Baroness Harman asked. It comes after Sir Keir Starmer hosted a meeting at Downing Street with Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne and children’s charities on Monday to talk about young boys being influenced by misogyny they encounter online.Labour former cabinet minister Harriet Harman has been elected as the new chairwoman of the Commons Standards Committee (House of Commons/UK Parliament/PA) More

Donald Trump has imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all of the United Kingdom’s exports to the United States.There are higher tariffs for cars and car parts – 25 per cent – which will also extend to all computer imports, including laptops.The list includes tariff codes for engines, transmissions, lithium-ion batteries and other major components, along with less expensive parts including tires, shock absorbers, spark plug wires and brake hoses.Trump says the tariffs are the US’s “declaration of independence”.However, UK businesses have labelled them “devastating”.Here is a look at how much trade the UK has with the US, based on figures published by the Office for National Statistics.U.S. President Donald Trump announces tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House More

An extra 30,000 children have been pulled into poverty by the controversial ‘two-child limit’ on benefits since Labour came to power, according to new research ahead of the eight anniversary of the policy. Last July ministers said they would consider ditching the “cruel” cap, in a bid to head off a backbench Labour revolt on the issue. But there has been no movement since, while official documents last week showed that separate moves to slash an extra £5 billion from the welfare bill are set to drive another 50,000 kids into poverty. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Ben Stansall/PA) More

There were two insurgent right-wing populists looming over Sir Keir Starmer’s local election launch on Thursday. Donald Trump, because the US president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs threaten to blow the PM’s “plan for change” out of the water. And Nigel Farage, who Sir Keir fears will snap up hundreds of local council seats in Reform UK’s first major test since the general election.The Reform UK leader has promised to field candidates in 99 per cent of the seats up for grabs, and could stamp his party’s authority as a real electoral force, not just a passing fad, in the polls amid anger among voters at Labour’s failings. Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner launched their local election campaign in Chesterfield on Thursday More

The Conservative Party should let Reform UK win the Runcorn by-election next month as part of an “electoral pact” between the two parties, a senior Tory MP has said. As the Conservatives continue to lag behind in the polls, former Cabinet minister Esther McVey appeared to defy party leader Kemi Badenoch and advocate an alliance with Nigel Farage’s party. It comes just weeks ahead of the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, which will see both Reform and the Conservatives attempt to overturn Labour’s 15,000 vote majority in the safe seat. The area has been held by Labour for more than 40 years. Ms McVey said the by-election was a chance for the Tories to let Reform pick up a victory, with the expectation they would then allow the Tories to do the same elsewhere. Conservative former minister Esther McVey has suggested her party should stand aside at the Runcorn byelection (Jacob King/PA) More

Keir Starmer’s government could hit the US with retaliatory tariffs if the UK cannot strike a trade deal with Donald Trump. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told MPs that ministers will look at “possible retaliatory action” in response to 10 per cent levies on British goods entering the US,as officials work through 417 pages of products they could target. It comes as the prime minister was unable to rule out another tax raid or more cuts to benefits in a bid to balance the government books. The Office for Budget responsibility (OBR) had already warned Trump tariffs would wipe out all the fiscal headroom established by chancellor Rachel Reeves in her spring statement last week.And as businesses began to assess the economic turmoil unleashed by the US president the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) revealed that around a third (32 per cent) of small and medium sized firms have been hit by the tariffs.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (Jonathan Brady/PA) More