No 10 says it expects UK to be hit by new Trump tariffs as trade deal talks drag on

Downing Street says it expects the UK to be hit by more tariffs when Donald Trump announces his latest round of trade barriers on Wednesday and said it “reserves the right” to respond to protect the national interest.Ministers are now expecting the UK to be hit by a tariff that will apply to all countries as part of the US president’s “liberation day”, despite hoping to have secured a carve-out.With hopes of a deal before 2 April fading, the former top UK trade negotiator Crawford Falconer warned Keir Starmer’s plan for an “economic prosperity deal” with Washington could take as long as a year to come to fruition.Falconer, who was the government’s most senior trade official until the end of last year, told the Guardian: “You’ve got a year at the most. Trump and the government will say no we can do this quicker, but good luck

‘Ridiculous’ cuts to AI cancer tech funding in England could cost lives, experts warn

Ministers have cut millions of pounds of funding for potentially life saving AI cancer technology in England, which cancer experts warn will increase waiting times and could cause more patients to die.Contouring is used in radiotherapy to ensure treatment is as effective and safe as possible. The tumour and normal tissue is “mapped” or contoured on to medical scans, to ensure the radiation targets the cancer while minimising damage to healthy tissues and organs.Normally, this is a slow, manual process that can take doctors between 20 and 150 minutes to complete. AI auto-contouring takes less than five minutes and costs around £10-£15 per patient

Vulnerable patients will lose vital support with Pip cuts | Letters

I used to work as an assessor for personal independence payments (Pip). One day, I visited a gentleman who was terrified of losing his Pip. Despite his fear, he offered me tea, but only had a tiny amount of milk in his fridge. He was ashamed and started to cry. I called the local food bank to help him

Minister attacks expenses rules after Labour MP’s claim for ‘pet rent’

Ministers will ask the Commons authorities to consider changing rules that allowed a Labour whip to claim £900 in expenses to rent a pet-friendly flat in London.The government will lobby the independent expenses regulator to look at allowance rules after Taiwo Owatemi claimed for a pet surcharge demanded by her landlord to allow her to keep her dog in the property.The MP for Coventry North West made her claim last summer, and it was accepted by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa). But Dan Jarvis, the security minister, said on Sunday he would not have made such a claim, and criticised the rules that allowed his Labour colleague to do so.Jarvis told LBC: “I wouldn’t do that; [I] haven’t done that

Labour group tells MPs they must be on YouTube and TikTok

Confidence in the government will not improve unless they get their faces and ideas on online media platforms including YouTube, a group of Labour MPs has warned colleagues.The Labour Growth Group of about 110 MPs is working with leading podcasters and popular figures to help Labour backbenchers become influencers in their own right, amid concerns that toxic narratives about the party’s agenda, its politicians and its policies are going unchallenged.The LGG is understood to be seeking to develop the new intake of MPs to ensure the future parliamentary Labour party contains politicians confident enough to express a variety of views to engage an array of audiences, and to prepare them for ministerial roles.Those involved are working with a popular British YouTuber with more than a million followers who has already provided a trial media clinic. The MPs were told they could only challenge internet creators – who are largely rightwing and male – by neglecting the Whitehall obsession with traditional “establishment media”

‘I like Rupert Lowe’s plain speaking’: suspended MP haunts Nigel Farage’s big rally

As Reform UK launched its English local elections campaign in Birmingham there were murmurs among activists about the fate of a ‘popular figure’There was one name on the lips of many Reform supporters before their party’s local election campaign launch in Birmingham on Friday night, but it wasn’t Nigel Farage.Instead, conversation turned to Rupert Lowe, one of five Reform MPs elected last year, who was suspended this month when allegations of bullying emerged, the day after he had described Farage as a “messianic” leader of a protest party.“One of the immediate issues he [Farage] has to deal with is the Rupert Lowe issue,” said Pat Elwick, a retired referee from Lincolnshire. He is campaigning for Andrea Jenkyns, the former Tory MP, to become Reform’s mayor of Greater Lincolnshire in the local elections on 1 May. Lowe comes up a lot when he’s “out footsoldiering” and is a popular figure, Elwick said