Streeting defends Starmer’s approach to Trump tariffs ahead of PM giving evidence to liaison committee – UK politics live
PM due to take questions on growth, international affairs and defence, and on welfare and health ahead of the Easter recessGood morning. It is the last day the Commons is sitting before the Easter recess, and Keir Starmer is giving evidence to the liaision committee, the body made up of all the other committee chairs. He will take questions on growth, on international affairs and defence, and on welfare reforms and health. These sessions are often better at producing the anticipation of news than they are at generating actual headlines, but we always live in hope. It is not as if theren’t lots of topics to ask him about.Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. Many commentators (including the Guardian’s John Crace) are increasingly exasperated by Starmer’s willingness to talk about how the government will respond to the crisis that has hit the world trading system without appearing to say anything remotely critical about the person responsible. Streeting spent quite a lot of time this morning defending this non-antagonistic approach. On the Today programme, Nick Robinson put it to Streeting that Starmer was “taking us for fools” by not saying that world trade was working perfectly well until Trump, “the man [Starmer’s] been sucking up to”, ripped it up. Streeting replied:We’ve made no bones about the fact that we disagree with the decisions being taken by the Trump administration in relation to tariffs. We don’t want to see a trade war. The tariffs, even being at the best end of the tariff regime, is still harmful to British interests, which is why we’re working secure an economic partnership …But what the prime minister has been doing, contrary to those who preferred that he would take to Twitter or pick up placards, is showing the cool, calm, level-headed leadership required, both to get the best possible trading relationship we can with the United States, as well as with our other trading partners. Continue reading...
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PM due to take questions on growth, international affairs and defence, and on welfare and health ahead of the Easter recess
Good morning. It is the last day the Commons is sitting before the Easter recess, and Keir Starmer is giving evidence to the liaision committee, the body made up of all the other committee chairs. He will take questions on growth, on international affairs and defence, and on welfare reforms and health. These sessions are often better at producing the anticipation of news than they are at generating actual headlines, but we always live in hope. It is not as if theren’t lots of topics to ask him about.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has been giving interviews this morning. Many commentators (including the Guardian’s John Crace) are increasingly exasperated by Starmer’s willingness to talk about how the government will respond to the crisis that has hit the world trading system without appearing to say anything remotely critical about the person responsible. Streeting spent quite a lot of time this morning defending this non-antagonistic approach. On the Today programme, Nick Robinson put it to Streeting that Starmer was “taking us for fools” by not saying that world trade was working perfectly well until Trump, “the man [Starmer’s] been sucking up to”, ripped it up. Streeting replied:
We’ve made no bones about the fact that we disagree with the decisions being taken by the Trump administration in relation to tariffs. We don’t want to see a trade war. The tariffs, even being at the best end of the tariff regime, is still harmful to British interests, which is why we’re working secure an economic partnership …
But what the prime minister has been doing, contrary to those who preferred that he would take to Twitter or pick up placards, is showing the cool, calm, level-headed leadership required, both to get the best possible trading relationship we can with the United States, as well as with our other trading partners. Continue reading...
