Andrew Sparrow

6 days ago | theguardian.com | Andrew Sparrow |Martin Belam |Helena Horton |Severin Carrell

Starmer says tariffs will be cut from 27.5% to 10% on 100,000 car exports to US every yearKeir Starmer is at a Jaguar Land Rover factory. Summing up the deal, he says: This is a deal that will protect British businesses and save thousands of jobs In Britain, really important, skilled, well paid jobs. It will remove tariffs on British steel and aluminium, reducing them to zero.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Andrew Sparrow

Good morning. Yesterday the government was able to announce some good news – a major trade deal with India. There is cross-party consensus that trade deals are a good thing, the last Conservative government was working on a trade deal with India too, and at least some Tories were happy to welcome the deal. Oliver Dowden, the former deputy PM, posted this on social media. Welcome progress with conclusion of UK-India FTA.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Andrew Sparrow

Good morning. Parliament is back after the bank holiday weekend, and in the Commons the main items on the agenda is a general debate on the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ day. But of course MPs will be preoccupied with the repercussions of the local elections in England, which were won by Reform UK in a victory so overwhelming it could reshape UK politics.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Amy Sedghi |Andrew Sparrow |Kate Lamb |Severin Carrell |Josh Halliday |Robyn Vinter | +1 more

Key eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureStarmer is still talking about defence, and Ukraine. Still no mention of Runcorn …Keir Starmer speaking at a defence firm in Bedfordshire this morning. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty ImagesKeir Starmer is in Luton this morning, where he is now speaking to a group of apprentices. His comments are being broadcast live, but so far he has not said anything about the Runcorn defeat, or any of the other results.

1 week ago | theguardian.com | Andrew Sparrow

Good morning. It’s started. People are already voting in the 2025 local elections. They are England-only, and there are only around 1,600 council seats up for grabs (in some other years, there are more than 8,000 seats up for election in England alone), and so in some respects it’s a minor set of local elections. But you will never find an election commentator say that any polling day does not matter, and this year there is plenty to get excited about.