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WATCH: Mel Stride issues stern warning over 'worrying time' as global markets 'lost trillions'
Apr 4, 2025
Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mel Stride, has warned that "trillions of dollars" have been wiped off global markets following Donald Trump's sweeping tariff announcement.The stark warning comes as financial markets continue to reel from the US President's "liberation day" declaration on Wednesday.Stride emphasised the urgent need for a UK-US trade deal as markets tumble.READ THE FULL STORY HERE
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0:00
The FTSE 100 has just opened, continuing to react to President Trump's tariffs. It's down 0.6%
0:06
That follows $2 trillion worth of global stock markets yesterday. You must be worried about what this is doing to the markets
0:16
Oh, absolutely. I mean, you're seeing trillions of dollars now wiped off markets worldwide
0:22
It's been a little bit less severe, actually, in the UK than it has in the United States and other
0:27
European countries, particularly Germany. And this is what happens, Ellie, when you come forward and
0:34
you slap on huge tariffs on trade. And of course, a lot of uncertainty now about how other parts of
0:42
the world are going to react to that in terms of retaliatory tariffs as well. So yes, a very
0:48
worrying time. It's a worrying time for jobs. It's a worrying time for consumers and prices
0:52
going up and increasing pressures on employment and an upward pressure on unemployment for us which is why we really got to get this deal done now with the United States And is Nigel Farage right when he says we basically had a deal three quarters of the way done
1:08
back in 2016 and for whatever reason the Tories in their last term didn't get this all properly
1:15
sorted out. But is that deal there, as far as you know
1:21
Well, he's absolutely right in saying that in the first Trump presidency
1:26
We had made very substantial progress towards a free trade deal. Of course, we then ran into the Biden presidency and Covid impacts and so on
1:37
And the Biden administration were just not interested in doing a free trade deal
1:42
That was the big change. So this government has had that progress to build upon
1:47
And I think it is regrettable, though, that it took over four months for our business secretary to get in the same room as his American counterpart
1:56
in order to try and close that deal and do the extra hard yards to get it over the line And we really need to see the government moving at pace now and gripping this to make sure that we can get in a position where we not facing those additional tariffs on the UK economy
2:12
Can I ask you about the comments of your predecessor, the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, who says that Britain should be the Singapore on Thames
2:19
so lower taxation, less regulation, pulling business in at a time of global uncertainty
2:25
Are those comments that you agree with? Well, this is in the DNA of the Conservative Party
2:33
We need to move to a situation where we have lower tax
2:37
Well, if I can explain that. So we had Covid, which obviously shrank the UK economy overnight by over 10%
2:45
You'll recall many were forecasting then the highest level of unemployment in many generations
2:50
We managed to avoid that, but it came at a huge cost in terms of spending to support jobs through furlough and so on
2:57
We had a similar external shock to the economy with the UK war which jacked up inflation to over 10 We had a lot of cost of living payments to support many vulnerable families up and down the country then billion in total And that came with
3:12
a price. But going forward, what we have got to do, and this is where opposition is important
3:17
because we have months and years to work out these issues, is to answer that question as to how we
3:23
get a strong, growing, highly productive economy with lower taxes, lower regulation, a smaller
3:29
a more efficient state so that we can move to the kind of robust economy that, for example
3:35
is better placed to face into those headwinds that come our way periodically, including
3:41
things like tariffs. And it all sounds great. A much flatter tax system, a huge influx of international business
3:52
that that would bring in, and all the books say that would increase revenue for the Exchequer
4:00
and yet it never seems that anybody in office of any party
4:05
frankly, has the nerve to do it
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