Early evening summary
Keir Starmer has said that the Trump tariffs are the start of a “new era”, and not just “a short-term tactical exercise”. (See 3.52pm.) He was speaking at Labour’s local elections campaign launch as Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, was in the Commons updating MPs on the government’s formal response to Trump’s plan. Reynolds said the government would consult on retaliatory tariffs, and his department later published a 417-page list of US goods that could theoretically be subject to tariffs. (See 2.15pm.) But the consultation will take four weeks, and the government says retaliatory tariffs would only be a “last resort”. The government is still committed to agreeing a trade deal with the US and Reynolds said he hoped this would lead to all tariffs being removed. (See 10.09am.) Starmer and Reynolds have played down concerns that this could involve the Online Safety Act being watered down, or big US tech companies having their liabilities under the digital services tax reduced, but they have not ruled out the proposed UK/US deal involving changes to these two policies.
Keir Starmer has accused Reform UK of “fawning over Putin” as the prime minister used the launch of Labour’s local election campaign to attack Nigel Farage repeatedly over his past comments about the Russian leader. In response, Farage has rejected the claim, saying what Putin has done in Ukraine is “absolutely wrong”. (See 5.32pm.)
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