Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves have underlined how much the world has changed after Donald Trump’s “liberation day”, with the UK prime minister even declaring an end to globalisation.
But as the chancellor prepares to fly to Washington this week to meet her global counterparts at the International Monetary Fund meetings, Labour appears to see the risks purely in terms of the hit to international trade.
While frantically negotiating with Washington over tariffs, the government is pressing ahead with plans to deregulate the City – just as global financial stability appears threatened by the chaos unleashed by the White House.
Labour has taken a muscular approach to saving the steelworks in Scunthorpe, and Reeves has written of the need for a “strong, smart and agile state to support key industries”.
Yet Labour’s ...
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