Tariff panic that shows Starmer isn't the real deal

LAST week Keir Starmer did not ask what he can do for Britain but what Britain can do for America. His attempt at a trade deal has sold our country short of the comprehensive agreement we need.

- By Andrew Griffith SHADOW BUSINESS SECRETARY

It is a rushed response to Donald Trump's tariffs that leaves almost every business with worse trading arrangements than we had in January and far worse off than when he got the job.

Starmer is parading around like the emperor with no clothes, talking about the finery of his new suit while the world averts its eyes at this sight of our embarrassing leader and his Cabinet, who understand nothing about business.

A concern is that the rush to agree the first thing on the table reflected Starmer's thinly veiled desire to rejoin the EU ahead of his "Surrender Summit" this month — that a reduction in selected tariffs, welcome though they are for British car and steel makers, was all that was obtainable in the context of his desire to revert to being a Brussels rule-taker.

We Conservatives have been consistent in our support for international trade agreements, free trade and the elimination of tariffs.

The mere fact that the UK was in the room is a concrete benefit of Brexit — the ability to determine our own future. Without that, we would be reduced to petitioning Ursula von der Leyen to represent Britain's interests with Trump — one of 27 other countries and, as ever with Europe, held to ransom for our fish.