Starmer says trade war ‘in nobody’s interest’ and government will take ‘calm, pragmatic approach’
Keir Starmer starts by saying he spoke to President Zelenskyy on Monday, and Zelenskyy asked Starmer to thank Hoyle for attending.
On tariffs, Starmer says:
A trade war is in nobody’s interest and the country deserves, and we will take, a calm, pragmatic approach.
That is why constructive talks are progressing to agree a wider economic prosperity deal with the US. That is why we are working with all industries and sectors likely to be impacted.
Our decisions will always be guided by our national interests, and that’s why we have prepared for all eventualities, and we will rule nothing out.
Key events
Badenoch says the Labour government lost the country’s most experienced trade negotiator. She asks what Starmer is doing to protect the car industry.
Starmer says Badenoch was trade secretary. He says she cannot criticise Labour for not having a trade deal with the US when she did not negotiate one.
Badenoch says the UK had the fastest growing economy in the G7 when the Tories left office.
Starmer accuses Badenoch of talking the country down. He says growth is forecast to rise over the course of this parliament.
Badenoch turns to Birmingham, and says normally an emergency is declared because of an act of nature, not an act by Labour. She asks if Rachel Reeves will stick to her fiscal rules.
Starmer says the situation in Birmingham is unacceptable. He supports the council in declaring an emergency.
Badenoch says she does not want pensioners to be poorer.
She asks if Starmer regrets promising to freeze council tax when that has happened.
Starmer says, if Badenoch was opposed to pensioner poverty, she should have resigned when she was in government. He says Badenoch was minister in charge of the council tax. And he says Tory councillors want the cap on council tax increases removed.
Starmer says Tory claim ‘jobs tax’ will cost families £3,500 a ‘fantasy figure’
Badenoch says Starmer claims to be bringing stability, but he is bringing fragility. She says the jobs tax will cost families £3,500.
Starmer says this is a “fantasy figure”.
And at Badenoch’s press conference she could not say if she would reverse Labour’s decisions, he says.
He says Badench wants the extra NHS investment paid for by the taxes in the budget, but she opposes those tax rises at the same time.
Kemi Badenoch says from Sunday Labour’s “jobs tax” means firms will have to cut wages, put up prices or sack staff. What should they do?
Starmer says he is clearing up the mess left by the Tories. The national living wage has increased by £1,400, he says. The warm homes discount has been extended. And wages are going up faster than prices.
Under the Tories we had the worst record on living standards on record, he says.
Starmer says trade war ‘in nobody’s interest’ and government will take ‘calm, pragmatic approach’
Keir Starmer starts by saying he spoke to President Zelenskyy on Monday, and Zelenskyy asked Starmer to thank Hoyle for attending.
On tariffs, Starmer says:
A trade war is in nobody’s interest and the country deserves, and we will take, a calm, pragmatic approach.
That is why constructive talks are progressing to agree a wider economic prosperity deal with the US. That is why we are working with all industries and sectors likely to be impacted.
Our decisions will always be guided by our national interests, and that’s why we have prepared for all eventualities, and we will rule nothing out.
Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, starts by saying he recently joined fellow parliamentarian speakers at an event in Ukraine to mark the third anniversay of the third anniversary of the Bucha massacre.
Ahead of the Green party’s UQ on Gaza (see 11.43am), the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Ellie Chowns, has put out this statement.
The Green party condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli government’s brutal decision to expand its military operations in Gaza. Seizing large areas of territory and forcibly displacing countless Gazans to create so-called “security zones” would be a further violation of international law against a population already devastated by 18 months of conflict.
“his is not security; it is domination and erasure. It would constitute ethnic cleansing and further collective punishment on a mass scale, and it would only deepen the unimaginable suffering already endured by the people of Gaza.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs.
Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs
PMQs is starting at noon.
Patrick Harvie to stand down as co-convenor of Scottish Greens, saying he’s helped them become ‘serious political force’
Severin Carrell
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Patrick Harvie, arguably the longest serving party leader in UK politics, has announced he is standing down as co-convenor of the Scottish Greens after nearly 17 years in the role.
A Scottish Greens MSP since 2003, Harvie had recently taken a leave of absence from Holyrood for an operation and recuperation. He announced today he will not contest this summer’s party leadership election.
As well as serving as party co-convenor since 2008, Harvie also brokered the power sharing deal with the Scottish National party government under Nicola Sturgeon in 2021 which saw Greens getting ministerial roles for the first time in the UK.
In a statement, he said:
At the start of devolution, few people regarded the Greens as a serious political force. But as we have grown, learned and developed we have become the most significant, sustained new movement in Scottish politics for generations. Given the growing urgency of the climate emergency, that movement is greatly needed.
Green solutions are more necessary than ever, and we have been the only party clearly making the case for the action needed to tackle growing inequality and the climate and nature emergency. Others are happy to set targets, but then actively resist the action needed to meet them.
Harvie introduced a rent freeze while a minister, and co-wrote the Bute House agreement in 2021 which committed the Scottish government to more ambitious public transport, climate and housing policies, including free bus travel for under-21s and a pilot project to abolish peak rail fares, which has since been discontinued.
That agreement collapsed in acrimony after Humza Yousaf, Sturgeon’s successor as SNP leader and first minister, decided many Green policies were damaging the SNP’s popularity, and unilaterally ended the power-sharing agreement.
Under this leadership the Scottish Greens also shifted to become an avowedly pro-independence party, with Harvie a leading spokesman for the Yes Scotland campaign during the 2014 referendum campaign. He also vigorously championed trans rights, adopting a stance which saw a few senior Green figures quit the party.
