PMQs stay: Starmer faces Badenoch as Trump tariffs loom

Badenoch says she doesn’t need pensioners to be poorer.

She asks if Starmer regrets promising to freeze council tax when that has occurred.

Starmer says, if Badenoch was against pensioner poverty, she ought to have resigned when she was in authorities. He says Badenoch was minister answerable for the council tax. And he says Tory councillors need the cap on council tax will increase eliminated.

Badenoch says Starmer claims to be bringing stability, however he’s bringing fragility. She says the roles tax will value households £3,500.

Starmer says this can be a “fantasy figure”.

And at Badenoch’s press convention she couldn’t say if she would reverse Labour’s choices, he says.

He says Badench desires the additional NHS funding paid for by the taxes within the finances, however she opposes these tax rises on the identical time.

Kemi Badenoch says from Sunday Labour’s “jobs tax” means companies should reduce wages, put up costs or sack workers. What ought to they do?

Starmer says he’s clearing up the mess left by the Tories. The nationwide residing wage has elevated by £1,400, he says. The nice and cozy houses low cost has been prolonged. And wages are going up sooner than costs.

Beneath the Tories we had the worst file on residing requirements on file, he says.

Keir Starmer begins by saying he spoke to President Zelenskyy on Monday, and Zelenskyy requested Starmer to thank Hoyle for attending.

On tariffs, Starmer says:

A commerce struggle is in no one’s curiosity and the nation deserves, and we’ll take, a relaxed, pragmatic strategy.

That’s the reason constructive talks are progressing to agree a wider financial prosperity take care of the US. That’s the reason we’re working with all industries and sectors more likely to be impacted.

Our choices will at all times be guided by our nationwide pursuits, and that’s why we’ve got ready for all eventualities, and we’ll rule nothing out.

Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, begins by saying he just lately joined fellow parliamentarian audio system at an occasion in Ukraine to mark the third anniversay of the third anniversary of the Bucha bloodbath.

Forward of the Inexperienced get together’s UQ on Gaza (see 11.43am), the get together’s overseas affairs spokesperson, Ellie Chowns, has put out this assertion.

The Inexperienced get together condemns within the strongest attainable phrases the Israeli authorities’s brutal resolution to broaden its army operations in Gaza. Seizing giant areas of territory and forcibly displacing numerous Gazans to create so-called “security zones” could be an additional violation of worldwide regulation in opposition to a inhabitants already devastated by 18 months of battle.

“his will not be safety; it’s domination and erasure. It might represent ethnic cleaning and additional collective punishment on a mass scale, and it will solely deepen the unimaginable struggling already endured by the individuals of Gaza.

Right here is the record of MPs all the way down to ask a query at PMQs.

PMQs is beginning at midday.

Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.

Patrick Harvie, arguably the longest serving get together chief in UK politics, has introduced he’s standing down as co-convenor of the Scottish Greens after practically 17 years within the function.

A Scottish Greens MSP since 2003, Harvie had just lately taken a depart of absence from Holyrood for an operation and recuperation. He introduced immediately he won’t contest this summer season’s get together management election.

In addition to serving as get together co-convenor since 2008, Harvie additionally brokered the ability sharing take care of the Scottish Nationwide get together authorities beneath Nicola Sturgeon in 2021 which noticed Greens getting ministerial roles for the primary time within the UK.

In an announcement, he mentioned:

Initially of devolution, few individuals regarded the Greens as a critical political power. However as we’ve got grown, discovered and developed we’ve got grow to be essentially the most important, sustained new motion in Scottish politics for generations. Given the rising urgency of the local weather emergency, that motion is vastly wanted.

Inexperienced options are extra mandatory than ever, and we’ve got been the one get together clearly making the case for the motion wanted to sort out rising inequality and the local weather and nature emergency. Others are glad to set targets, however then actively resist the motion wanted to fulfill them.

Harvie launched a hire freeze whereas a minister, and co-wrote the Bute Home settlement in 2021 which dedicated the Scottish authorities to extra formidable public transport, local weather and housing insurance policies, together with free bus journey for under-21s and a pilot mission to abolish peak rail fares, which has since been discontinued.

That settlement collapsed in acrimony after Humza Yousaf, Sturgeon’s successor as SNP chief and first minister, determined many Inexperienced insurance policies had been damaging the SNP’s recognition, and unilaterally ended the power-sharing settlement.

Beneath this management the Scottish Greens additionally shifted to grow to be an avowedly pro-independence get together, with Harvie a number one spokesman for the Sure Scotland marketing campaign through the 2014 referendum marketing campaign. He additionally vigorously championed trans rights, adopting a stance which noticed a couple of senior Inexperienced figures stop the get together.

There will likely be two pressing questions within the Commons after PMQs. At round 12.30pm a International Workplace minister will reply to a query from Priti Patel, the shadow overseas secretary, concerning the Chagos Islands. After which one other International Workplace minister (or the identical one?) will reply to a UQ from the Inexperienced co-leader Carla Denyer about Gaza.

After that Bridget Phillipson, the training secretary, will make an announcement about nursery provision.

Plaid Cymru says Britain ought to reply to President Trump’s tariffs by rejoining the EU’s single market and customs union. Llinos Medi, the get together’s enterprise spokesperson, mentioned:

With new US tariffs coming, Welsh companies face much more uncertainty.

The UK should make a strategic resolution: with 58.6% of Welsh exports going to the EU, we should present secure entry to European markets by rejoining the only market and customs union, permitting us to face as much as Trump’s reckless strikes.

Keir Starmer will not be planning to talk to President Trump immediately forward of the tariffs announcement, Steven Swinford from the Occasions reviews.

Sounds like all hopes of a last-ditch concession from Donald Trump forward of his tariffs announcement are fading

Keir Starmer will not be planning to talk to him immediately, however there are hopes that the financial deal giving Britain a carve-out could be signed as quickly as subsequent week. Sources speaking about ‘days or weeks’

However in reality No 10 doesn’t know what Trump is planning or when concessions could possibly be made. All deeply unsure this morning

David Lammy, the overseas secretary, is immediately as a result of signal an intelligence-sharing settlement with Serbia meant to disrupt individuals smuggling gangs, the International Workplace says. It says virtually 22,000 individuals had been recorded utilizing the Western Balkans to transit into Europe final 12 months. Lammy says:

With the world changing into extra harmful and unpredictable, the Western Balkans is of essential significance to the UK and Europe’s collective safety, and the UK stays dedicated to constructing resilience and stability within the area.

Heathrow Airport was warned about its energy provide within the days earlier than it closed due to an outage, PA Media says. In its story from the opening of this morning’s transport committee listening to within the Commons PA reviews:

Nigel Wicking, chief govt of Heathrow Airline Operators Committee, which represents airways that use the west London airport, mentioned there have been a “couple of incidents” which made him involved.

The airport was closed to all flights on till about 6pm on Friday 21 March, after an influence outage attributable to a hearth at a close-by electrical energy substation which began late the earlier night time.

This disrupted greater than 270,000 air passenger journeys.

Wicking informed the transport choose committee he spoke to the Staff Heathrow director on 15 March about his issues, and the chief working officer and chief buyer officer on 19 March.

He mentioned: “It was following a few incidents of, sadly, theft of wire and cable round a few of the energy provide that, on a kind of events, took out the lights on the runway for a time frame.

“That obviously made me concerned and, as such, I raised the point I wanted to understand better the overall resilience of the airport.”

Wicking mentioned he believed Heathrow’s Terminal 5 might have been able to obtain repatriation flights by “late morning” on the day of the closure, and that “there was opportunity also to get flights out”.

Heathrow chief govt Thomas Woldbye mentioned preserving the airport open through the outage would have been “disastrous”.

He informed the committee: “It grew to become fairly clear we couldn’t function the airport safely fairly early on this course of, and that’s the reason we closed the airport.

“If we had not achieved that, we might have had 1000’s of passengers stranded on the airport at excessive danger to private damage, gridlocked roads across the airport, as a result of don’t overlook 65,000 homes and different establishments had been powered down.

“Site visitors lights didn’t work, simply to provide you an instance, many issues didn’t work. Elements of the civil infrastructure didn’t work.

“So the risk of having literally tens of thousands of people stranded at the airport, where we have would have nowhere to put them, we could not process them, would have been a disastrous scenario.”

The traditional knowledge in Westminster political circles is that, whereas choosing a battle with the US may make an inspiring scene in a Richard Curtis drama, in observe it’s by no means a good suggestion.

However yesterday YouGov revealed polling exhibiting that in Britain, and in different main European international locations, there may be robust public assist for the form of retaliatory tariffs being proposed by the Liberal Democrats. (See 9.26am.) YouGov says 71% of Britons would assist retaliatory tariffs, and solely 11% could be opposed.

Alexandra Topping has a narrative with extra on what Bridget Phillipson mentioned in her morning interview spherical. Phillipson mentioned the UK wouldn’t have interaction in a “kneejerk” response to any tariffs imposed by President Trump – which can also be what Keir Starmer was saying yesterday.

Public satisfaction with the NHS is at a file low and dissatisfaction is at its highest, with the deepest discontent about A&E, GP and dental care, Denis Campbell and Tobi Thomas report.

Feedback on the weblog will open at 10am.

Good morning. Keir Starmer is taking his final PMQs earlier than the Easter recess at midday, however the large occasion immediately will come at 9pm tonight (UK time) when President Trump proclaims sweeping international tariffs, upending the free commerce consensus seen as the idea for a century or extra of western prosperity. Right here is our newest international story on this, and right here is our in a single day UK story, by Pippa Crerar, Heather Stewart and Richard Partington.

Bridget Phillipson was doing interview obligation on behalf of the federal government this morning. As training secretary, she will not be concerned in commerce coverage and her message was a lot the identical as Jonathan Reynolds’ when he was in the identical broadcast studios yesterday. She mentioned that the UK was “well-placed as a nation” to achieve an financial take care of the US (which could result in tariffs on the UK being lowered) and that talks had been nonetheless underway.

Keir Starmer’s stragegy – which could be crudely however precisely described as sucking as much as President Trump within the hope getting the absolute best end result for Britain – is supported by Labour MPs, and likewise by the Conservative get together. At a press convention yesterday Kemi Badenoch mentioned that the UK ought to positively rule out retaliatory tariffs, as an alternative of holding the choice open, however in any other case she is backing Starmer on this difficulty. And the distinction is slight as a result of Starmer doesn’t sound in any respect doubtless to deploy retaliatory tariffs anyway.

However others are urging Starmer to take a unique strategy. The Liberal Democrats have been urging the federal government to be way more sturdy with the US president, and immediately they’re escalating that, saying Starmer needs to be forming a united entrance with the EU and Canada to battle Trump with retaliatory tariffs and different measures. In an in a single day assertion Calum Miller, Lib Dem overseas affairs spokesperson, mentioned:

Regardless of weeks of refusing to criticise Donald Trump’s damaging behaviour, it’s now more and more obvious that the federal government won’t safe a carve out for the UK forward of Trump’s international tariff struggle.

Trump has proven himself to be an unreliable companion on the economic system. Nobody, not even the US’s oldest allies, are protected from the financial hurt reaped by this White Home.

We have to finish this commerce struggle as shortly as attainable. Meaning working with our Canadian and European allies in a united entrance in opposition to Trump, together with retaliatory tariffs the place mandatory – in addition to negotiating a bespoke new customs union settlement with the EU to raised shield British companies.

Intriguingly, Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, and a journalist with intensive establisment contacts, says there are lots of people in enterprise and politics who agree with the Liberal Democrats on this. He defined why in a protracted submit on social media final night time. Right here’s an extract.

Starmer has organised his army coalition of “willing” nations to defend Ukraine in opposition to Putin within the occasion of a peace deal. My conversations with senior authorities officers, enterprise leaders and economists reveal a starvation for Starmer – or Canada’s Carney, or any elected chief of a sizeable democratic nation – to organise an “economic coalition of the willing”, to champion free commerce in opposition to Trump and his tariffs.

The idea, half of which I’ve defined earlier than, is to counter Trump’s bullying commerce techniques – tomorrow’s announcement by him of tariffs on all imports to America – by threatening collectively to impose tariffs on America’s exports double or treble no matter his tariff charges grow to be.

This in itself would terrify American producers and farmers, if it was a collective risk by the UK, Canada, the EU, Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, Mexico and Australia, inter alia.

Will this concept get any traction? Possibly not immediately, however sooner or later sooner or later it might take off. There may be some proof that No 10 is nervous about being seen as too accommodating to Trump. Yesterday, in a briefing so implausible nobody took it significantly, Downing Avenue in impact sought in charge the king for Trump getting a state go to!

Right here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Kim Leadbeater holds a press convention about her assisted dying invoice, which has completed its committee stage and is again within the Commons chamber later this month.

9.15am: Heathrow Airport CEO Thomas Woldbye offers proof to the Commons transport committee concerning the electrical energy substation fireplace that closed the airport for a day.

Midday: Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs.

2.15pm; Lord Hermer, the lawyer normal, offers proof to the joint committee on human rights.

2.30pm: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, offers proof to the Commons Treasury committee.

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