Should Starmer impose retaliatory tariffs? Plus local elections lookahead

Coffee House Shots

The Spectator

News, Politics, Government, Daily News

4.4 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2025

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s World Tariff Day – or Liberation Day, depending on what you prefer to call it – but we won’t know for certain what levies Donald Trump will impose on the world until around 9 p.m. this evening. Sources are speculating that Trump still isn’t 100 per cent sure himself. But as the UK awaits its fate, what is the polling saying: should Starmer stand up to Trump?

Also on the podcast, it’s just under a month until the local elections, and we have seen big launch events from Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats. These are the parties expecting to do well – potentially winning upwards of 400 council seats each. Labour and the Tories, meanwhile, are managing expectations. After some internal turbulence over the last month or so, could the local elections put Reform back on track? Who will be the biggest loser?

Katy Balls speaks to James Heale and Luke Tryl, executive director of the polling company More in Common.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Coffee House Shots is sponsored by Alliance Witten Investment Trust. From the OPEC
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0:22.8	we've paid out an increased dividend to our shareholders. In fact, Alliance Witten's history
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0:35.5	If you're looking for a less stressful way to invest in stocks and shares,
0:39.2	learn more about Alliance Witten and find your comfort zone.
0:46.3	Hello and welcome to Coffee House Shots, Expectator's Daily Politics Podcast. I'm Katie
0:50.8	Balls and I'm joined by James Hill and Luke Trill, Director of More in Common.
0:55.1	Now, it is Liberation Day, World Tariff Day, Day of Horror, depending how you look at it.
1:00.7	But we won't be having the news of what Donald Trump plans to do.
1:03.7	And many in the White House still seem rather unsure about what he might do until 9pm, UK time.
1:10.3	So we're going to be talking about the local election campaigns.
1:12.5	But just before we do, we'll get a little bit of Donald Trump into the podcast.
1:16.3	Luke, you've got some interesting polling out today.
1:18.7	Yeah, so we ask the public ahead of Liberation Day as Donald Trump is billing it,
1:24.3	whether the UK should impose retaliatory tariffs, if the US imposes tariffs,
1:30.3	even if it worsens inflation. And interestingly, the public leaned towards wanting the UK
1:34.7	to impose retaliatory tariffs. Fifty-five percent say that we should. Forty-five percent say
1:40.3	we shouldn't. But interestingly, there's a real age split there. So younger voters, so 18 to 34,
1:48.2	much more likely to say that the UK shouldn't retaliate if there's a risk that that makes
	...

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