Starmer needs to publicly say Trump is wrong and give more reassurance over tariffs, Harriet Harman urges
Sir Keir Starmer needs to reassure the public more over tariffs – and tell them Donald Trump is wrong, Harriet Harman has said.
Speaking to Beth Rigby on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, the Labour peer said ministers were avoiding the “elephant in the room, which is that Trump is wrong on this, we don’t agree with him”.
The US president placed 10% tariffs on all UK goods exported to the US, and while other countries were much worse hit, the FTSE 100 fell by about 1,000 after Mr Trump’s “liberation day” announcement last week.
It then kicked off its best day in five years on Thursday after Mr Trump decided to defer the worst of his tariffs for 90 days. Financial markets around the world reacted similarly.
Baroness Harman said there was no need for “gratuitous insults” but that the prime minister needed to “own the narrative” because there is “a danger” if the leader of the country is not saying what is actually happening.
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PM reacts to tariffs at liaison committee
A minister under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, Baroness Harman said that when the US put steel tariffs on imported steel in 2002, Mr Blair “did say ‘this is unacceptable, this is wrong, it’s unjustified, it is breaching the World Trade Organisation rules'”.
“He was able to say ‘we do not believe this is how you should be within the world organisation and Bush has got it wrong’,” she added
“I think it feels as if there’s a kind of restricted vocabulary amongst ministers at the moment where they are speaking in code.”
The Labour peer said she also thought Sir Keir should be “being more positive and giving reassurance”.
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Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump at the White House in February. Pic: AP
She acknowledged there was “a lot of criticism” in the first six months of Labour’s tenure and the government “didn’t help the economy by rather talking it down”.
There is a danger of being “too pessimistic”, she said, and Sir Keir needs to be “realistic”.
“But I think that giving people reassurances – we’re not going to panic, we’re not going to make mistakes by knee-jerk retaliation,” she said.
“I think the story needs to be told to the country that this is a really difficult problem and Trump has caused it and he is wrong to do this, but we will be okay with this government.
“And I think he’s entitled to say that, and I think people will want to hear that.”
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Politics
Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
Read more:
Reeves won’t rule out tax rises
What is a wealth tax and how would it work?
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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.
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