Flattery gets Starmer somewhere as The Donald stays awake to toot tariff deal | John Crace

Three days ago, Donald Trump promised an announcement that would be very possibly the greatest announcement in the whole history of announcements. Come Thursday morning, he said the US and the UK had reached a full and comprehensive trade deal.I guess a lot depends on what you mean by the words “greatest announcement” and “full and comprehensive”. As details of the deal began to emerge, it rather looked as if the UK had managed to negotiate a worse deal with the US than we had even two months ago. One that was hardly transformative

Disability benefit cuts impossible to support, 42 Labour MPs tell Starmer

More than 40 Labour MPs have warned the prime minister that planned disability cuts are “impossible to support” and have called for a pause and change in direction.The letter from parliamentarians spanning the new intake and veterans, and from the left and right of the party, sets Keir Starmer up for the biggest rebellion of his premiership when the House of Commons votes on the measures next month.There has already been widespread concern among Labour MPs about proposed changes including a significant tightening of eligibility for personal independent payments (Pips), saving about £5bn annually.They would also involve cuts or freezes to incapacity benefits for people who apply for universal credit but are judged unfit to work. According to internal Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) forecasts, the planned disability benefit cuts would affect 700,000 families who are already in poverty

New UK-US trade deal is a relief for Starmer but doubts, and tariffs, remain

Thursday’s trade agreement between the US and the UK fell far short of the superlatives heaped on it in Donald Trump’s excruciating televised phone call with Keir Starmer. But it is worth having, nevertheless.As Starmer made clear by appearing in front of an audience of Jaguar Land Rover workers in Solihull, reducing the 27.5% tariff on 100,000 car exports will come as a mighty relief for that industry.Steel and aluminium tariffs will also go completely, according to the UK side – though the fact sheet from the White House stopped short of saying that explicitly, instead saying a “new trading union” would be created in these two sectors

UK politics: Tariffs cut on UK cars, steel and aluminium in US trade deal, says Starmer – as it happened

Keir Starmer is at a Jaguar Land Rover factory. Summing up the deal, he says:This is a deal that will protect British businesses and save thousands of jobs In Britain, really important, skilled, well paid jobs. It will remove tariffs on British steel and aluminium, reducing them to zero. It will provide vital assurances for our life sciences sector, so important to our economy, and grant unprecedented market access for British farmers without compromising our high standards.And he says the deal means US tariffs on cars from the UK will be cut from 27

Cars, steel, beef and films: the key points of the US-UK trade deal

The UK and US have announced a new trade deal, or at least some elements of it, following a slightly chaotic transatlantic speaker phone call between Keir Starmer and Donald Trump.So what does it involve – and what was left out? Here is what we know and don’t know.With Starmer heading to the Jaguar Land Rover plant in the Midlands to herald the announcement, this was expected to be a major part of the deal, and it is.Tariffs for UK cars imported into the US will be cut from 27.5% to 10%, up to a maximum of 100,000 cars a year, close to total exports last year

Reform’s success shows how little Labour has offered voters | Letters

Polly Toynbee is right that there will be far worse to come for Labour if it carries on down its road of making the poorest yet poorer (The lesson for Labour? Until it can improve local lives and stop fearing Farage, more losses are coming, 6 May). She says: “They will be challenged by Reform UK in towns such as Barnsley.” Barnsley is the 38th most deprived local authority in England. Almost a quarter of its children live in poverty. Reform is a party with no poverty-alleviation policies and a “contract” with voters that states: “All job seekers and those fit to work must find employment within 4 months or accept a job after 2 offers