Davey warns Trump victory is 'a dark day for mankind'

Donald Trump’s victory is a dark day for mankind, the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has warned.

- KATE DEVLIN

Responding to Mr Trump’s emphatic win, he called on the government to urgently repair Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union now that the world’s largest economy and its most powerful military “will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue”.

Stronger trade and defence cooperation across Europe would “help protect ourselves from the damage Trump will do”, he added.

Sir Ed’s comments were in stark contrast to those of the prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, who congratulated Mr Trump and said the UK-US special relationship would “continue to prosper” following the former president’s “historic election victory”.

In the run-up to the election, Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all imports to the US, a move that the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a British think tank, has warned could halve UK economic growth. Experts have warned of a looming trade war after Mr Trump said “Tariff is my favourite word” and threatened to impose a blanket 10 per cent minimum tariff on all imports, with the levy rising as high as 60 per cent for goods from China.