Downing Street has contradicted Rachel Reeves with an insistence that Donald Trump is not responsible for the UK economy’s dire straits, despite the Chancellor earlier indicating the US President was to blame. The Telegraph has more.
A No. 10 spokesman denied that the US President’s tariffs were to blame for a contraction in the economy.
Ms Reeves had appeared to point the finger at Mr Trump’s administration after official figures showed the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) shrank unexpectedly in January by 0.1%.
However, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said “no” when asked if the US President was at fault.
He added: “We know the cost-of-living crisis is not over, and this Government is determined to make people better off, and that’s why economic growth is the Prime Minister’s number one priority.
“Growth is what funds our public services, it is what enables investments in our hospitals and schools and, of course most importantly, raises living standards for everyone, everywhere.”
Ms Reeves had said “the world has changed and across the globe we are feeling the consequences” after official figures delivered a blow to her growth ambitions.
Mr Trump was inaugurated in January and had promised to impose tariffs on his first day in office after his election in November.
Ms Reeves would not comment directly on the US President but suggested his tariffs would damage the economy.
Worth reading in full.
The timing in January is obviously wrong for Reeves to blame the current ‘Trump slump’. As the Telegraph‘s Eir Nolsøe notes: “While nervousness about possible tariffs may have made output a bit weaker in January, there was still little certainty about what Trump would actually do. Stock markets were still relatively sanguine about the impact of his policies then, with many investors still counting on a boost rather than bust.”
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Clearly one left hand doesn’t know what the other left hand is doing.
Bearer of right hand last seen tearfully leaving Downing Street over 30 years ago. New left hand transplanted a few years later and patient stuck with two left hands tied behind back ever since.
Anyone coming across the missing right hand, please urgently contact Matron Badenoch.
And there was I thinking it was Reeves and her pals who were stifling growth and undermining the UK economy.
Why is she not sacked yet? I keep hearing rumours she’s going to resign but she’s still there. Starmer is never going to get rid of any of the Gonk Brigade, is he? They’re going to just be allowed to stay put and continue to wreak havoc, all with his blessing. I’d sack Rayner just for her horrifically offensive fashion sense. Meanwhile, you’ve now got a Muslim in charge of Ofsted;
”A woman in nun’s garb, obviously devout, would be treated as a non-starter if proposed for this role.”
https://x.com/prwhittle/status/1900499575338627422
Good man. Keep speaking up, as he speaks for many. But this is in no way only down to Labour and is very much a Uniparty issue;
”The backbone of Britain is beginning to assert itself.
Labours’ betrayal of the working class they were founded to represent will be their undoing, and it won’t be pretty.”
https://x.com/ForeverScept/status/1899702833512935893
I predict a reshuffle of the Marxist Morons will take place in May, to divert attention from the results of the Local Authority elections, and (I hope) Runcorn.
He can’t sack her, she is literally the brightest they have. I suppose he could give it to Lammy, he went to Harvard (probably as a day trip, just embellished his cv a bit), or perhaps the one man wonder, the prophet that is milliband.
The £20 billon black hole excuse has worn thin so the new excuse is Trump Tariffs. It will be a different excuse in a few months’ time but I doubt it will be Labour incompetence.
Well short term “economy woes” might be due to actions taken by other countries but they are surely not that important. What’s important is the underlying health of the economy, which develops over the medium to long term and is determined by factors such as natural resources, human capital, education, whether you engage in wars or closing down the country for a cold for a couple of years, your approach to welfare, infrastructure, levels of regulation. All things that successive governments over the past few decades have done their best to make much WORSE.
I’ve already heard people blaming Trump for our economic troubles. That’ll be the excuse when it starts getting worse.
Funny you say that, someone just posted this on the Lockdown Sceptics subreddit:
From an investment fund company we have dealings with –
“Before we attempt to explain the ongoing volatility within global investment markets, we should take a step back and reflect.
Year to date, the FTSE100 is +4.2%, the Eurostoxx50 is +8.9% and the S&P500 is -5.0%.
What is driving current market uncertainty in the US comes straight from the White House. First, tariffs. President Trump’s first term in office seems relatively benign given modest goods tariffs were applied only to imports from China. This time round, those tariffs have been increased on China and now new tariffs applied to imports from the EU.
Second, there is tariff uncertainty. Over the last six weeks tariffs have been applied, then delayed, then applied, then delayed, to imports from Canada. Something similar has occurred with Mexico. Tariffs are also being threatened on India and possibly Japan. Market uncertainty is understandable given the unpredictability of President Trump.”
Hmm, the office tea maker was slapped down by No 10 – I hope it was with a suitably large, smelly wet kipper and her brewing rights were removed!
Basically the UK economy has been F****d since Blair/Brown (maybe even Thatcher – no lame ducks?) sold the family silver ie our manufacturing industries decades ago.Can anyone tell me exactly how we can have growth from service “industries” alone?
Trump recognises he has the same problem with America and that is precisely why he wants manufacturing to return to the USA. hence the tariffs. The US has a good chance to recover. We have net zero chance
Add woke bollocks to the mix – even better.
Interesting times methinks.
She is the most childish and infantile personality I have ever come across in politics. I would rather have Imelda Marcos and her five hundred pairs of shoes. One hesitates to say of a woman that they are as thick as pig faeces but she really is. I have never seen anything like it. If I met a slag like that down the chip shop I would probably tell them to call The Samaritans. This is the wretch that controls your purse strings.
Grotesque I remember having freaky school teachers and taking the piss out of them. She is next level. Give me two minutes with her and she would feel like she is on acid. If she is putting herself forward as an emblem of the liberated woman then she has just sabotaged everything to do with women’s rights for the next five years. Essentially she has reinforced the archetype of the wicked witch or stepmother.
Why the nasal voices? it Is like something out of a bloody horror film. Not just the message but the delivery. The words themselves will be adenoidal and nasty. Even in blighted Blighty there should be questioning. This cannot be allowed to pass. These monstrosities need to be consigned to a bin called bad memories.
Even the kids are feeling the effects of the economy. They’re out on the streets and they’re not happy bunnies, as this girl expresses very clearly
;
https://x.com/dii_imma/status/1900505247497294019
Hahahaha! brilliant, and brilliantly observed.
“And he only does bloody card…stood there with ma cash!”
Her accent, bless her. And so articulate at expressing herself.
She probably left Mr Whippy with a right flea in his ear.
The economy has contracted as a result of Labour’s Stagflation Budget.
Trump didn’t become President until the end of January so it’s blindingly obvious that he is not responsible.
The next quarter will be worse, since the Tax Hammer they have suspended over all our heads falls in April, along with inflationary Council Tax increases.
If reeves is blaming President Trump on anything to do with the UK’s incompetent management of its economy. You know you are in trouble. She should step down now, before any more damage is done to the country.
People thought Thatcher was intransigent but I have never seen a more anti human robotic ideologue than this poker faced parasite Reeves.
No it wasn’t Trump, it was the irregular bowel movement index which took a downturn in January as a result of the post Chrstmas reduction in the consumption of carb and nut heavy foods, which meant the UK population visited the lav less frequently and thus used less toilet roll, which in turn had a major effect on the markets of paper, cleaning materials.
Or something similar I am sure, what it is absolutely not is the increase in taxes on the private sector, and the increase in people lazing at home whilst the private sector gets increasingly sick of funding it Rache.
She is a senior economist you know? worked for the Bank of England, whilst at the same time being a world class chess player.