Starmer defends 'tiny tariff' deal and tells Badenoch: 'Get on the train to Solihull'

Sir Keir Starmer has told Kemi Badenoch to "get on the train to Solihull" and talk to workers at Jaguar Land Rover after she mocked his "tiny" US trade deal.  The Conservative leader said that the prime minister should "not over-egg the pudding" after Donald Trump agreed to bring down car tariffs from 27.5% to 10%, and scrap 10% tariffs on steel.

'I very much enjoyed your speech,' Farage tells PM Ms Badenoch said the UK is still in a "worse position" than before the levies were announced, telling PMQS: "I'm very happy to welcome these tiny tariffs. "But the fact is, it has put us in a worse position than we were in March.

He should not over-egg the pudding." She said that things are "getting worse" for businesses, with the ONS estimating there are 100,000 fewer jobs now than a year ago, even before the employer national insurance rise has kicked in. Sir Keir hit back that she should "get the train to Solihull" and speak to workers at the JLR factory there and "tell them she would rip up the deal that protects their jobs".

"When she's done that, she might travel across to Scunthorpe and tell the steelworkers there that she's going to rip up the deal that saves their jobs. "And if she's got time, go up to Scotland and talk to the whisky distilleries, tell them I should rip up the deal that's creating 1200 jobs for them, boosting their exports, and then come back here next week and tell us what reaction she got." Sir Keir is the first world leader to have secured a trade deal with Mr Trump since he announced the tariffs as part of a package of global measures.

For the UK, that included a baseline 10% levy on all goods going into the US, which remains in place. Ministers have indicated that work is ongoing to remove remaining levies, but say what was secured is significant, as it saved thousands of jobs that were imminently at risk.

The deal came days after the UK and India struck an "ambitious" trade agreement that will slash tariffs on products such as whisky and gin. And as Mr Trump said himself, the Tories spent years trying to strike a deal with Washington but it was only achieved "under this prime minister".

But while the agreement has given Sir Keir a boost, it comes against a difficult economic backdrop at home. Unemployment row Official figures on Tuesday showed wage rises are slowing and there are fewer jobs on offer as employers grapple with higher costs.

The Tories have blamed the government's rise in employer national insurance, which they call a "jobs tax.