Former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has been named Canadian prime minister after winning the Liberal Party leadership in a landslide victory.

Mr Carney, who also used to head up Canada’s central bank, had emerged as the frontrunner as his country was hit with tariffs imposed by President Trump.

He ended up winning 85.9% of the vote.

During his victory speech, he told the crowd: “Donald Trump, as we know, has put unjustified tariffs on what we build, on what we sell and how we make a living.

“He’s attacking Canadian families, workers and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

Mr Carney said Canada would keep retaliatory tariffs until “the Americans show us respect”.

Mr Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his talk of making the country America’s 51st state have infuriated Canadians.

The American national anthem has been repeatedly booed at NHL and NBA games.

“Think about it. If they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life… America is a melting pot. Canada is a mosaic,” Mr Carney added.

“America is not Canada. Canada will never ever be part of America in any way, shape or form.”

An easy pick for his party – but now he must win over Canada

Diana Magnay

International correspondent

@DiMagnaySky

Mark Carney had no problem convincing the Liberal Party he was the best man for the job. 85.9% of the vote speaks for itself. Now he must convince the country.

After unparalleled experience as central bank governor, both of Canada and of the UK, albeit at different times, he has the economic wherewithal to fortify the economy against the battering Donald Trump seems intent on dealing it.

He has made it very clear he is ready for the fight to come. “In trade, as in hockey, we will win!” he told his fellow liberals to wild applause. “We’re strongest when we are united,” he told the country on X.

His conservative rivals had what seemed like an unbeatable lead in the polls until just a few short weeks ago, but Trump’s trade tariffs have rallied Canadians behind the flag and their government.

That gives Mr Carney momentum ahead of a general election that will likely come sooner rather than later. Now he must exercise the political genius to capitalise on that.

The 59-year-old will replace Justin Trudeau, who has served as prime minister since 2015.

Mr Trudeau announced he was stepping down in January after facing calls to quit from a chorus of his own MPs.

The 53-year-old’s popularity had declined as food and house prices rose. He will stay in post until Mr Carney is sworn in.

Mr Carney will soon have to decide when to call a general election – a vote must take place on or before 20 October.

In 2013, he became the first non-UK citizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694.

His appointment came after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries.

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During leadership debates, Mr Carney argued he was the only person prepared to handle Trump.

“I know how to manage crises,” he said.

“In a situation like this, you need experience in terms of crisis management, you need negotiating skills.”

The surge in Canadian nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election.

Parts of the planning system could be stripped away by the government in its attempts to speed up house building.

Consulting bodies like Sports England, the Theatres Trust and the Garden History Society will no longer be required for those looking to build under the new plans being considered by ministers.

It is hoped a reduction in statutory consultees will reduce the waiting times for projects.

Angela Rayner, who is both deputy prime minister and housing secretary, said: “We’ve put growth at the heart of our plans as a government, with our Plan for Change milestone to secure 1.5 million homes and unleash Britain’s potential to build.

“We need to reform the system to ensure it is sensible and balanced, and does not create unintended delays – putting a hold on people’s lives and harming our efforts to build the homes people desperately need.

“New developments must still meet our high expectations to create the homes, facilities and infrastructure that communities need.”

Consultees will not be completely excised from the planning process under the changes.

However, instead of it being mandatory to get the opinion of such bodies, their scope will be “narrowed to focus on heritage, safety and environmental protection”, according to the government.

The government says it has identified issues like consultees failing to engage “proactively”, taking too long to provide advice, re-opening issues that have already been dealt with, submitting automatic objections which they later withdraw, and submitting advice for “gold-plated” outcomes that are unrealistic and difficult to achieve.

More than 300 planning applications have been sent up to the secretary of state’s desk in the past three years because of disagreements.

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The government has highlighted examples like a project to construct 140 homes in Bradford that was delayed because the application had “not adequately considered the speed of cricket balls”.

As well as reducing the number of consultees that have to be brought in, local authorities will also be told they only need to speak to the bodies if necessary, and decisions should not be held up by more than 21 days.

The government states that “existing open spaces, sports, recreational buildings and land, including playing fields, should not be built on unless an assessment has shown the space to be surplus to requirements or it will be replaced by equivalent or better provision”.

Sport England said its remit in the planning system is to protect playing fields and other spaces for physical activity.

“Britain’s childhood obesity crisis is rising and low physical activity levels cost our economy £7.4bn a year, making it vital we protect the places that local communities can be active,” a spokesperson said.

They added they “look forward” to taking part in the consultation exercise and “arguing the importance of protecting playing fields and places where local people can keep active”.

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Sam Richards, CEO of pro-growth campaign group Britain Remade and former Conservative adviser said: “I’m glad the deputy prime minister has taken on board many of the recommendations I made in my review of statutory consultees for the last government.

“It’s a step in the right direction – but there’s still more they can do. For example, they’ve not introduced a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to objections. This would remove the chance of statutory consults to intervene after they miss their deadline.

“There is also some irony in the fact that their decision to remove consultees from the process…has been put out to consultation.”

The owners of Kantar Group, the global market research firm, are to explore a £5bn-plus sale of the division which supplies closely watched data on the performance of Britain’s supermarkets.

Sky News has learnt that Kantar’s Worldpanel arm could be put up for sale later this year.

The move, which has yet to be formally approved by Bain Capital and WPP Group, Kantar’s owners, would leave the company as a pureplay brand strategy consultancy.

Kantar Worldpanel is in the process of combining with Numerator, a US-based business which was acquired in 2021.

Collectively, the enlarged business provides data representing five billion consumers globally.

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Banking sources said on Sunday night that the Worldpanel business could fetch well over £5bn in a sale.

That would leave the Kantar brand strategy business to be listed or sold separately, according to the sources.

Alternatively, Bain Capital and WPP could elect to float the entire group instead of pursuing the Worldpanel sale.

Bankers have yet to be appointed to handle any auction.

A sale at a bumper valuation would deliver a rare piece of good news to WPP, which has seen its shares hammered amid doubts about its strategy in a marketing services industry increasingly susceptible to disruption by advances in artificial intelligence.

Kantar and Bain Capital have been contacted for comment.