2 days Ago By Evening Standard
Sir Keir Starmer was accused of being “supine” to Donald Trump by not threatening to retaliate against US tariffs being imposed on the UK . Former M&S boss Lord Rose also claimed that the Government was “sitting there with our little begging bowl” and hoping the US president will “be nice” to the UK because of his links to the country. The Government has sought, but failed so far, to negotiate a deal to exempt Britain from the wave of tariffs being announced by Trump on Wednesday evening.
Some reports suggest that the US import levies imposed on the UK will be lower than those for the European Union. But Tory peer Lord Rose believes the Government has adopted the wrong tactics. “We have been supine,” he said.
“We all have power to change anything. “Sitting there being supine will get us nowhere.” He added: “We are now supplicants to the USA, waiting here with bated breath until the president of the United States gets up tonight and tells us what our fate is.
“We should be quite firm, and say ‘listen guys, we believe in free market economics, we have got a situation here where our trade is relatively balanced, we clearly don’t want to be unfairly hit, and if you do hit us I’m afraid we are going to reluctantly retaliate’. “It’s quite sad, in the 21st Century, that we are sitting there with our little begging bowl hoping that Mr Trump because he had a Scottish mother and owns a golf club in Scotland is going to be nice to us.” The US president is expected to unveil sweeping tariffs at an event at the White House around 9pm UK time, in a move he has dubbed “liberation day”.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson saids “discussions are ongoing” between the UK and US aimed at securing an economic deal. But she warned “this is going to be a difficult period”, with the tariffs set to deliver a significant blow to the UK economy, businesses and the public finances, which could lead to tax rises later this year. On the US-UK talks, the Cabinet minister said: “Our teams are working at pace, have been working really hard in recent weeks, to put us in the best possible position to secure a deal.
“But I think we all recognise this is going to be a difficult period, but there won’t be any knee-jerk reactions from this Government. “We will reserve all our options in terms of the responses that are available to us, but our focus at the moment is on continuing those discussions and seeking to get a good deal, that’s in the national interest.” Economists at the Office for Budget Responsibility have warned that US tariffs could eliminate Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s “headroom” against her debt target, requiring more spending cuts or tax rises to meet the rules she has set herself, as well as knocking up to 1% off the size of the economy.
Analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research suggested 25 per cent tariffs on US car imports would put 25,000 UK jobs at risk and “completely destabilise the UK car manufacturing industry”. A trade deal with the US could include possible changes to the digital services tax, which imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies, in exchange for a carve-out from the tariffs..
