Afternoon summary
Keir Starmer has rejected claims that the expected imposition of US tariffs on Britain means he has been “played” by President Trump. Starmer said that the UK and the US were at an “advanced stage” in negotiating an economic deal, and he suggested that this could lead to the UK getting exemptions from US tariffs in future. (See 9.53am and 1.15pm.) According to Steven Swinford from the Times, a deal is ready to sign. “But US is refusing to sign it until after hitting UK with tariffs on April 2, aka Liberation Day,” Swinford says.
Richard Hughes, the chair of the Office of Budget Responsibility, has told MPs that the OBR is likely to downgrade its growth forecast in the autumn. As the Telegraph reports, he said the OBR’s most recent report, which downgraded the UK growth forecast for 2025 from 2% to 1%, was based on IMF projections from January, before Trump’s policies kicked in. Hughes told the Treasury committee:
Putting in place more restrictions on global trade around the world is not very good for global output, and it’s pretty reasonable to say the direction of that is going to be down.
Kemi Badenoch has given credence to a conspiracy theory about the Netflix hit Adolescence being based on a real story, but involving a black boy not a white boy – despite also admitting she has not seen the show. (See 3.59am.)
Updated
Lawyers attack ‘dangerous’ decision to halt Sentencing Council guidelines
Shabana Mahmood’s intervention to halt new guidelines on sentencing is “dangerous” and a “deliberate step backwards”, according to senior legal figures and prison campaigners, Rajeev Syal reports.
