This week has been a lot less eventful (which is good, although makes this harder to write!). However, there’s still plenty for you to catch up on, so don’t worry! The headline is that the government appears to have finally decided to pick Europe over America, although not everyone’s agreed. Starmer has also picked an odd stance on the trans rights debate, and there’s a leaked recording from a Conservative shadow minister, it feels just like a film!
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said that the European Union is more important to Britain than the US.
For the past few months, the government has been attempting to negotiate a trade deal with the Trump White House, with no success so far. It seems the Chancellor has now largely given up on that prospect.
However, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reiterated his view that “it’s a false choice to make between the two”, meaning the US and EU.
Earlier this week, Reeves suggested that the UK may lower tariffs on imports of American cars as she attempts to make a trade deal with US President Trump, so it’s unclear what her aim is regarding a US trade deal - should there be one or not?
Britain currently imposes tariffs of 10% on US cars, though this may be reduced to just 2.5%.
The government’s hope is that this move would convince Trump to lower American tariffs against the UK, which are currently 25% on UK exports of cars, steel and aluminium, and 10% on all other exports.
One issue in getting a trade deal with the US is food standards, as the White House may want the UK to lower food standards so that American food could be sold in Britain. Reeves has said that she would not be reducing our food standards.
The government’s current stance on a UK-US trade deal is, well, non-existent. The Chancellor seemingly doesn’t believe in it, but was also negotiating it earlier this week, while the Prime Minister thinks it’s still completely on the table.
I doubt there will ever be a trade deal made with a Trump White House - and even if there is, he cannot be trusted to stick to it, so what’s the point?
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the ruling, saying that “it's a much clearer position”.
As a reminder, last week, the UK Supreme Court made a landmark ruling on the legal definition of a woman. You can find out more about the ruling and what it means here.
The ruling has concerned many trans people, many of whom now worry about what it actually means for them, and certainly don’t feel it provides the “clarity” the Prime Minister thinks it does.
Starmer’s official spokesperson has said that the Prime Minister does not believe trans women are women, which is an utterly bizarre stance for any Labour MP to take, let alone the prime minister.
Back in 2022, Starmer said that “a woman is a female adult, and in addition to that transwomen are women”.
The following year he said “a woman is an adult female”.
That is quite the mindset shift in such a short period of time - for a ruling supposedly providing “clarity”, Starmers’ own position seems to be anything but clear.
In a leaked recording obtained by Sky News, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has said he will “bring this coalition together” to ensure the Conservatives and Reform are not fighting each other for votes in the next general election.
Jenrick also said that he’s working hard to put Reform UK out of business, although he suggested that this position may not always be viable.
The Prime Minister said that Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has “lost control of her party”, and that Jenrick and Reform leader Nigel Farage are "cooking up their joint manifesto".
You’re over halfway through! You must have enjoyed my post to make it this far, so consider throwing a few quid my way.
Starmer has plans to take money given to claimants due to overpayments directly from their bank accounts.
This is in an attempt to reclaim the £9.7 billion in benefits overpayments made by the government each year, either due to fraud or error.
A proposed new law would allow the government to require bank statements to identify those who have the funds to repay what has been given to them due to fraud or error.
An amendment to the bill has been suggested which would ensure that only those suspected of fraud would be monitored, not those who were given an overpayment in error.
Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has said that the TV license fee is “unenforceable”, and that she’s been “very concerned about the way it’s been enforced in the past”.
The TV license fee is currently £174.50, and must be paid if you watch live TV on any channel, or use BBC iPlayer.
Nandy said she is “open to a different system”, although the government does not yet have a specific model which they’d like to replace the fee.
That’s everything for this week - not as eventful as the last few, but that’s not a bad thing! The most perplexing thing to me is Starmer’s stance on trans rights - I would expect a Labour prime minister to support it, but he doesn’t. What are your thoughts?
Cover photo sourced from Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
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