Politics latest: Nerves over Trump's tariffs in Downing Street after 'biggest bet of Starmer's premiership' (2025)

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It has not exactly been a calm day, with politicians in the UK and around the world awaiting Donald Trump's decision on global tariffs.

Join us again from 6am for full reaction from Westminster to Donald Trump's announcement, which is expected imminently.

We will have live coverage of that announcement across Sky News - watch and follow live in our dedicated live blog below.

As the world awaits Donald Trump's announcement on global tariffs, officials across Whitehall are huddled around televisions waiting to learn the details of the decision.

Government figures who have spoken to our political editor Beth Rigbysay they have no idea what the US president has decided - the final decisions were made today in the White House.

If the tariffs are in different bands by country and industry, that will make it "ferociously complicated" to understand the full implications for the UK, and it could take days.

None of the potential options are good for the UK, but the silver lining could be that if Britain is in a lower band of tariffs, exporters could choose to come to the UK to then ship to the US.

Insiders also tell Beth that they are comfortable they have landed the argument as to why the UK is not the problem.

They say the White House has accepted the UK's case - but that does not mean there will be any kind of exemption for the UK.

"Stop watching Netflix."

That's Kemi Badenoch's advice for Sir Keir Starmer, after the prime minister backed hit drama Adolescence being shown in schools.

The series has caused a stir in recent weeks about its depiction of life in a British school, and the challenges posed by social media and the rise of incel culture among young boys.

The prime minister met the writers in Number 10 this week.

'Actually take action'

But Badenoch's suggested the series isn't particularly realistic (though she's not watched it), and her spokesperson said today the PM "should stop watching Netflix and actually take action".

The Conservatives are calling on the government to ban smartphones from schools - something Labour has said is unnecessary as most headteachers try to do it anyway.

Shadow education secretary Laura Trott told Sophy Ridge why the Tories are campaigning on the issue:

Ex-minister Tulip Siddiq has told Sky News her "lawyers are ready" to handle any formal questions about allegations she is involved in corruption in Bangladesh.

Asked whether she regrets apparent links with the Bangladeshi Awami League political party, Siddiq said "why don't you look at my legal letter and see if I have any questions to answer".

"[The Bangladeshi authorities] have not once contacted me, and I'm waiting to hear from them," she added.

The London MP resigned as a Treasury minister in January after being named in several corruption inquiries in Bangladesh.

In her first public comments since leaving government, she said "there's been allegations for months on end and no one has contacted me".

Last month, the interim leader of Bangladesh told Sky News the MP had "wealth left behind" in the country "and should be made responsible".

Lawyers acting for Siddiq wrote to the Bangladeshi Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) several weeks ago saying the allegations were "false and vexatious".

The letter said the ACC must put questions to Siddiq "by no later than 25 March 2025" or "we shall presume that there are no legitimate questions to answer".

In a post online today, the former minister said the deadline had expired, and the authorities had not replied.

Sky News has approached the Bangladeshi government for comment.

The allegations against Siddiq are focused on links to her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who served as the prime minister of Bangladesh for 20 years.

Why did Siddiq resign?

Hasina wasforced to flee the countryin August following weeks of deadly protests.

She has since been accused of crime and corruption while in office by the new administration.

Siddiq was found to have lived in several London properties that had links back to the Awami League political party that her aunt still leads.

She referred herself to the prime minister's standards adviser Sir Laurie Magnus, who said he had "not identified evidence of improprieties" but added it was "regrettable" Siddiq had not been more alert to the "potential reputational risks" of the ties to her aunt.

Siddiq said continuing in her role would be "a distraction" for the government but insisted she had done nothing wrong.

Sophy Ridge puts to Robin Simcox, the government's commissioner for countering extremism, that Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was obsessed with violent material.

Simcox says while some of that material included al-Qaeda and IRA content, there was no "ideological framework" attached to what he was researching before carrying out his attack last summer.

He says: "People fixated with violence have long existed, but now, of course, they have access to nihilistic chat forums that have access to terrorist manuals online."

Islamist terrorism 'the driving force'

For the government's counter-terror programme Prevent, which has placed more focus on ideology when identifying and dealing with potentially dangerous individuals, this presents serious challenges.

Simcox says it is still an "important programme", but its remit needs "refining" for the times we now live in.

Islamist terrorism, he says, "remains the driving force" when it comes to the threats facing Britain "day in, day out".

And the situation in Gaza is having a "potentially seismic" impact.

"There was a pre-existing, well-entrenched Islamist terror threat facing this country, but what happened in Gaza has amplified that," he says.

"I think the consequences of it are going to be played out for years to come, similarly to the way in which other major terrorist attacks, like 9/11 and the 7/7 bombings, had a major impact on security for years."

Watch: Why are Israeli forces still in Gaza?

Joining Sophy Ridge tonight is Robin Simcox, the government's commissioner for countering extremism.

His three-year term is coming to an end, with a passing warning modern terrorists are "immersing themselves" in their ideologies.

"They take it seriously, they try to understand it," he says.

Citing a study that examined some 100 convicted terrorists, and thousands of pieces of electronic evidence, Simcox says ideology is "absolutely central to explaining why terrorists do the things they do".

He doesn't dispute Sophy's suggestion that it goes against recent assessments from the prime minister himself, who's said the threat now comes from lone wolves without a clear ideology, instead being radicalised online by extreme material.

'Overwhelm the system'

That included the Southport attacker, Axel Rudakubana - and Simcox doesn't believe he fits the criteria of a terrorist.

"If you consider Rudakubana a terrorist, there's a counter-terrorism apparatus which comes into play," he says.

"My suggestion on that would be that you would potentially overwhelm the system and the authorities wouldn't have the capacity to be able to deal with the risk of all individuals out there who are fixated on violence but have mental health issues.

"My concern would be you would create so many haystacks that you wouldn't be able to find the needle any more."

Asked directly if he thinks Rudakubana shouldn't be classified as a terrorist, he says: "I don't think he meets any definition of terrorism that I have seen."

We are now hearing from our deputy political editor Sam Coatesahead of Donald Trump announcing tariffs at 9pm UK time.

He says there are "a lot of nerves" in Downing Street right now.

"A week ago, they thought that by last Thursday, they might have some kind of deal that would avert, in part or in total, what's about to happen," Sam explains.

Our US team has been rather cynical about that idea for weeks, while Downing Street was optimistic, and Sam describes it as a "game of brinkmanship", that we don't actually know what is happening in No 10.

That leaves Downing Street telling the world "it's a time for cool heads, and a calm approach, and to act in the national interest", because "they've been caught a bit on the hop".

"Keir Starmer has made a big, big bet - you could argue the biggest bet of his premiership - which is the pose he adopts towards Trump, which is to be as close as it's possible to be on many, many issues," Sam explains.

Tariffs on UK 'could be quite high'

He notes that the US president is wildly unpopular in the UK, making the PM's approach a "risk", but in the end, "the question for voters will be whether that approach delivers".

There are questions both about how badly hit the UK is on tariffs, and what happens with the Ukraine conflict.

"We are going to be subject to tariffs. They could be quite high. The question now becomes how quickly can we mitigate them."

The chancellor made clear today that negotiations with the US on a trade deal will continue, but if and when any exemptions are given will be watched closely.

But Sam also notes Starmer has already played a lot of his cards, such as the state visit for Trump, so what other cards does he have left?

Our economics and data editor Ed Conway looks at the impact Trump's tariffs could have:

Liberation Day - the day America liberates itself, according to Donald Trump, by imposing sweeping tariffs on just about everyone.

We don't know the details of the tariffs yet, but we know the impact.

Tariffs make trade more expensive - more expensive for businesses, which affects growth and jobs, and more expensive for consumers too, who end up paying more for what they buy.

We're seeing the impact already - the market a sea of red on Wall Street.

And you and I know tariffs will be bad for British business.

The Treasury secretary, James Murray, absolutely most certainly does know that too. But speaking to me last night, he wouldn't say it.

Deal or no deal?

And that is perhaps the clearest example of just how frightened the British government is of antagonising Donald Trump.

They do not want to do anything to put the fragile trade deal at risk.

And the more nervous they are, the more I think maybe some kind of trade deal is actually going to happen.

Our flagship weeknight politics programme is under way.

Joining us is the UK's counter-extremism commissioner Robin Simcox.

Our panellists are former Tory defence secretary Sir Liam Fox and Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy.

Watch live in the stream below or at the top of this page.

The UK hopes an economic deal with the US will spare the country from some of the tariffs.

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have had "productive negotiations" towards a UK-US "economic prosperity deal", Downing Street has said.

The two leaders discussed a possible deal in a phone call on Sunday and agreed negotiations will "continue at pace", according to a statement released last Sunday.

The day before the so-called "Liberation Day", Sir Keir told ourpolitical editor Beth Rigbythe UK was "working hard on an economic deal" with the US and said "rapid progress" has been made.

But, he admitted: "Look, the likelihood is there will be tariffs. Nobody welcomes that, nobody wants a trade war.

"But I have to act in the national interest and that means all options have to remain on the table."

Watch: No 'knee-jerk' reaction to Trump's tariffs,Starmer says

Trump has not explicitly said the UK is in his sights for further tariffs, though he has described VAT - a tax added on all goods and services in the UK - as unfair.

In deciding what is a reciprocal tariff for the UK, it's possible Trump could use the tax, typically 20%, to decide.

Data shows no great trade imbalances - the gap between what you import and export from a certain country - and UK figures show no trade deficit with the United States.

Ministers have previously suggested this could be good news for avoiding new levies.

But the tariffs Trump has already announced would have a big impact on the UK - particularly the car tariff.