Tories claim No 10 admission UK won’t avoid new US tariffs shows Starmer has failed to protect British business – UK politics live | Politics
Tories claim No 10 admission UK won't avoid new US tariffs shows Starmer has failed to protect British business
The Conservatives have criticised the government for failing to avert the threat of President Trump including the UK in his next round of tariffs.
Responding to Downing Street saying this morning that it did not expect the UK to be exempt from the tariffs due to be announced on Wednesday (see 1.01pm), Andrew Griffith, the shadow business secretary, said:
This news is potentially a hammer blow not just to British businesses and workers but to his own chancellor whose creative accounting at the emergency budget fails to include the impact of tariffs
Labour claims talks with the US are going “well”. But, if this is what well looks like, I wouldn’t like to see what the opposite looks like. The prime minister has so far failed to come up with the goods, he needs to rekindle our US trade deal.
This is just further proof that, when Labour negotiates, Britain loses.
Key events
Tories claim No 10 admission UK won't avoid new US tariffs shows Starmer has failed to protect British business
Police will review case that led to parents being arrested for complaining about daughter's school, MPs told
UK 'back in the game' given leadership Starmer showing on Ukraine, says Finnish president
Government should have 'pushed back' against 'two-tier justice' claims, says Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti
Starmer welcomes plan for Adolescence to be screened free in schools, saying it prompts debate about radicalisation
No 10 says it expects UK will be affected by new Trump tariffs coming on Wednesday
No 10 declines to rule out abolishing Sentencing Council - but not as part of emergency bill on alleged 'two-tier justice' rules
Green party accuses Starmer of dancing 'to Farage's tune', as it renews call for more safe routes for asylum seekers
Former Irish PM Leo Varadkar calls for Theresa May's 'backstop' Brexit deal to be revived to mitigate impact of Trump tariffs
81% of voters think government handling cost of living badly, poll suggests
Ed Davey claims Lib Dems can replace Tories as party of Middle England
Home Office 'very open-minded' about whether offshore 'return hubs' might be good idea, minister says
Starmer claims he was 'shocked' by lack of coordination between police, Border Force and intelligence agencies
Enforced returns up 21% since general election, No 10 says, due to more staff being allocated for this
Starmer says 24,000 migrants have been removed from UK since Labour took office
Starmer speaks at opening of Organised Immigration Crime summit
Starmer says 24,000 migrants have been removed from UK since Labour took office
Police will review case that led to parents being arrested for complaining about daughter's school, MPs told
Diana Johnson, the policing minister, has told MPs that there will be a review of a case in Hertfordshire that saw two parents arrested and detained for complaining about their daughter’s primary school.
The case was raised by Oliver Dowden, the local MP and former Conservative deputy PM, who said it was an example of the police interfering with free expression. He also complained about the fact that a councillor who took up the parents’ case was told by police that she might be recorded as a suspect in the harrassment investigation.
Dowden said:
Many constituents in my constituency are exasperated by the fact that when there’s shoplifting or burglary the police are unable to turn up, yet at the same time they were able to send six officers to get themselves involved with a dispute with a local school and to warn local elected representatives off getting involved.
Sadly, this misallocation of resources and unwarranted police over-reach is not an isolated example. So, can I urge the minister to avoid engaging in political pointscoring and instead join me in sending a very clear message from both sides of this house that our expectation is that the police should be focused on solving real crimes and stay out of legitimate free expression and democratic debate.
In response, Johnson said:
This is an operational matter for policing and it’s quite clear the chief constable and the police and crime commissioner have set out that there will be a review of what happened in that particular case.
UK 'back in the game' given leadership Starmer showing on Ukraine, says Finnish president
The UK and Finland are “tied hip-to-hip” on Nato, Finnish president Alexander Stubb has said at a meeting with Keir Starmer in Downing Street. (See 2.57pm.)
Stubb also praised the leadership Starmer was showing on Ukraine, saying he felt the UK was now “back in the game”.
Speaking to the media in Downing Street, Stubb said much of his family had dual Finland-UK nationality and added: “Keir and I hit it off, in the beginning, straight off the bat.”
He added:
I’m really glad to see the leadership the UK is showing, not least in the war in Ukraine. And in many ways, in my mind, the UK is back, back in the game.
We’ve had an interesting week in many ways, last week in Paris with the coalition of the willing, many phone calls with Zelensky, myself meeting President Trump on Saturday, and we continue the conversations today and try to find solutions together.
But I think Finland and the UK are tied hip-to-hip and in so many places, including Nato and of course, JEF (Joint Expeditionary Force] which you guys founded.
Starmer said “on all the important issues, whether it’s Ukraine or other global issues” the UK and Finland were “very closely aligned”. He added: “And certainly I think the closer we can work together on some of these challenges, the better.”
Finnish president Alexander Stubb leaving No 10. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA
Government should have 'pushed back' against 'two-tier justice' claims, says Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti
The Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti told the World at One she thinks the government should have “pushed back” at the Tory claims that the new guidelines from the Sentencing Council amount to “two-tier justice”.
Chakrabarti, who was shadow attorney general when Jeremy Corbyn was Labour leader and who before that head of Liberty, the campaign group, said she thought Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, has misrepresented what the guidelines were doing. They say judges should require pre-sentence reports before offenders from certain groups, including ethnic minorities, get sentenced. Chakrabarti said this was a response to evidence showing there is structural discrimination against minorities in sentencing.
She said:
I certainly don’t think of that giving this kind of advice [a pre-sentence report] amounts to two-tier justice, and I think the government should have pushed back against that narrative …
I’m nervous that with Reform on the rise, and the Conservatives running scared from Reform, the government is presented with this choice and with these pressures, and it’s too easy to be drawn to the right on matters of rights, freedoms and justice. I would urge caution on that.
And I would urge caution when it comes to interfering either with independent judges or with a Sentencing Council that ought to be independent of government.
Sarah Montague, the presenter, asked Chakrabarti to respond to an argument made by the columnist Stephen Bush in the FT explaining why the guidelines can be seen as unfair. Bush says:
If we think that pre-sentence reports result in judges making better decisions, it’s not fair for some offenders to be the beneficiary of better decisions and for others to not be.
Just as an illustration of that, 64 per cent of young offenders from “other” ethnic groups are eligible for free school meals (compared with about a quarter of the school-age population), while 63 per cent of young offenders from a “Black” minority background are. It seems a fair assumption that not having very much money is an aggravating factor for going on to commit a crime. So why should the 52 per cent of young “white” offenders eligible for FSM not automatically qualify for a pre-sentence report?
Chakrabarti said in an ideal world she would like every offender to have a pre-sentence report. When it was put to her that this was not feasible, she said a range of factors should decide whether resources should be spent on a pre-sentence report. If the offender comes from a different background to the sentencer, the sentencer should be more inclined to learn more about them via a pre-sentence report, she said.
Keir Starmer has had a meeting in Downing Street with Alexander Stubb, the Finnish president. At the weekend Stubb was playing golf with President Trump in Florida, but today’s bilateral was more conventional.
Keir Starmer (right) with Alexander Stubb in Downing Street. Photograph: Jason Alden/EPA
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has renewed his call for the government to impose tariffs on Tesla cars in retaliation for tariffs imposed by the US on British goods. He said:
I haven’t read the whole of it because it was so awful, but [President Trump has] written a book called The Art Of The Deal. I got mine second-hand, I’d like to say, I don’t want to put money in his pocket.
But in the Art Of The Deal he talks about if the other guy looks desperate or weak, he’s going to walk all over you. So I think if you’re dealing with Donald Trump you’ve got to realise who you’re dealing with.
He’s not an ordinary American president where we can be friends and trust and have that great relationship we’ve had with so many American presidents, of all political parties, Republicans and Democrats. He’s not that sort of person. I think we’ve got to be tough with him.
Tesla is owned Elon Musk, who is a key figure in the Trump administration as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). Davey first called for a tariff on Tesla cars after the US imposed tariffs on British steel imports, but further tariffs are expected on Wednesday which could affect many other goods being sold to the US.
Starmer welcomes plan for Adolescence to be screened free in schools, saying it prompts debate about radicalisation
Keir Starmer has welcomed an initiative that will allow pupils to watch the Netflix drama Adolescence for free in secondary schools.
At a roundtable event in Downing Street with the programme’s creators, charities and young people, he said he had found the series very powerful when he watched it with his teenage children because of the way it prompted a debate about the online radicalisation of young men, and misogyny.
To coincide with the meeting, No 10 announced that Into Film, a charity that makes drama free to schools through its Into Film+ streaming service, will allow all secondary schools in the country to show the programme.
Starmer said this was “an important initiative to encourage as many pupils as possible to watch the show”.
Explaining why this mattered, he said:
As a father, watching this show with my teenage son and daughter, I can tell you - it hit home hard.
As I see from my own children, openly talking about changes in how they communicate, the content they’re seeing, and exploring the conversations they’re having with their peers is vital if we are to properly support them in navigating contemporary challenges, and deal with malign influences.
This isn’t a challenge politicians can simply legislate for. Believe me, if I could pull a lever to solve it, I would. Only by listening and learning from the experiences of young people and charities can we tackle the issues this groundbreaking show raises.
Starmer said that, when he was director of public prosecutions, he saw directly the damage caused by misogyny and violence.
Jack Thorne, the co-writer of the series who was at the meeting, said:
We made this show to provoke a conversation. We wanted to pose the question - how do we help stop this growing crisis. So to have the opportunity to take this into schools is beyond our expectations. We hope it’ll lead to teachers talking to the students, but what we really hope is it’ll lead to students talking amongst themselves.
Under the Online Safety Act, a law passed by the last government that is coming into force now, internet companies face much tighter restrictions intended to ensure that children are not exposed to dangerous content, including abusive and hateful misogyny and violence.
Downing Street said that the government regards this legislation as “not the end of the conversation but the foundation” and that, if Starmer thinks the law needs strengthening, he will not hesitate to do so.
Keir Starmer meeting with writer Jack Thorne (third from right) and producer Jo Johnson (second from right) from the TV show Adolescence, along with Sarah Simpkin (third from left) from the Children’s Society and others in Downing Street today. Photograph: Jack Taylor/PA
In a post on his Lawyer Writes Substack, the legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg says that emergency legislation over-ruling the Sentencing Council on the alleged “two-tier justice” guidance may have little practical impact. But it will damage government relations with the judiciary, he says. He explains:
Amending the guideline would be largely symbolic because legislation could not prevent magistrates or judges requesting pre-sentence reports for defendants in the 10 “cohorts” identified by the Sentencing Council. Equally, a sentencer may decide not to request a pre-sentence report for any offender while the full guideline remains in force if the court thinks it already has enough information about the offender and the offence.
Ministers clearly see this as a trial of strength with the judges who, by law, make up the majority of the Sentencing Council. At a superficial level it is a battle that the government will win, since the judges can be relied on to respect the sovereignty of parliament.
But at a deeper level it is a fight that will worsen relations between the executive and the judiciary. It will further damage the standing of the lord chancellor, Shabana Mahmood, among the senior judges who decided at an emergency meeting of the Sentencing Council last Tuesday evening to reject the last-minute amendments she had requested.
No 10 says it expects UK will be affected by new Trump tariffs coming on Wednesday
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson restated the government’s refusal to rule out retaliatory tariffs against the US.
Asked about the government’s response to the threat of the UK being included in the new round of tariffs coming from President Trump this week, the spokesperson replied:
We’ve been clear that a trade war with US is not in the national interest, but we will reserve the right to respond in a way that does protect British industry once we’ve seen the detail.
And in the meantime, we’re going to continue to have these constructive discussions to agree a UK-US economic deal.
The spokesperson also confirm that the government expects the UK to be affected by the new tariffs. The government is trying to negotiate exemptions, but ministers do not expect to achieve this by Wednesday.
The spokesperson said:
When it when it comes to tariffs, the prime minister has been clear he will always act in the national interest, and we’ve been actively preparing for all eventualities ahead of the expected announcements from President Trump this week, which would expect the UK to be impacted by alongside other countries.
After Home Office questions in the Commons, there will be an urgent question at 3.30pm on the political situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, followed by two statements: on the earthquake in Myanmar, and on Birmingham city council.
No 10 declines to rule out abolishing Sentencing Council - but not as part of emergency bill on alleged 'two-tier justice' rules
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson said Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, will “shortly” give an update on the plans for emergency legislation that will allow the government to block the Sentencing Council guidance, coming into force in England and Wales tomorrow, saying judges they should normally get a pre-sentence report before sentencing people from ethnic, cultural or faith minorities.
The spokesperson said the government wanted to introduce a bill “very quickly”, but would not say how long it would take to clear the Commons and the Lords. There have been reports saying ministers would like it to become law this week.
The guidelines have been described as creating “two-tier justice”, and the spokesperson said the government was acting because it was opposed to “differential treatment” for different races and religions.
The spokesperson said the emergency legislation would focus narrowly on this issue. But he also said the government was committed to considering more broadly “the role of the Sentencing Council”, but he added: “We’re obviously not going to rush that work, and we will consider it carefully.”
Despite being asked several times, the spokesperson refused to rule out the Sentencing Council being scrapped. Asked why he was not ruling that out, the spokesperson said:
I’m just not going to get ahead of the work being done. We are not going to rush into ruling anything in or out. We need to look at the Sentencing Council and its role carefully, and any futher changes will be set out in due course.
Green party accuses Starmer of dancing 'to Farage's tune', as it renews call for more safe routes for asylum seekers
The Green party has accused Keir Starmer of dancing to Nigel Farage’s tune on immigration.
In a statement released in response to Starmer’s speech this morning at the Organised Immigration Crime summit, Carla Denyer, the Green party’s co-leader, said:
The UK’s inhumane and ineffective approach to migration is costing lives, and yet Keir Starmer is choosing to dance to Nigel Farage’s tune rather than making the common sense changes needed to make the system safer and fairer.
We urgently need to introduce safe routes for people fleeing war, violence or persecution to seek safety in the UK so that people aren’t forced into the hands of people smugglers.
It’s shameful that this Labour government continues to ignore the only solution that will prevent people from dying during dangerous journeys to the UK, all because they are running scared of Farage’s Reform party.
Commenting on the Lib Dem local elections campaign launch (see 11.11am and 11.48am), Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative party co-chair, said:
The only thing serious about the Liberal Democrats is the damage they do to local services. Where they run councils, they are letting staff work part-time on full-time pay.
Only the Conservative party, under new leadership, are serious about opposing this dreadful government – and only a vote for the Conservatives on 1 May will deliver lower taxes and better services.
Keir Starmer has confirmed in comments to GB News that the government will fast-track legislation through parliament to block the Sentencing Council guidelines telling judges they should normally get a pre-sentence report before sentencing people from ethnic, cultural or faith minorities.
Here is Kiran Stacey’s story about this from yesterday.
