The prime minister has said that the world has “fundamentally changed”, which poses the question of whether he and his government are willing to fundamentally change their outlook and policies.
Firstly, that promise not to put up income tax, VAT or National Insurance.
National Insurance paid by employers has gone up but, responding to a question from GB News, Sir Keir Starmer repeated his promise not to put it up for employees or raise income tax or VAT between now and the next general election.
And what, asked Sky News, about his self-imposed restrictions on government borrowing, known as his fiscal rules?
My eyebrows weren’t the only ones that were raised a little when, while addressing reporters’ questions at the Jaguar Land Rover factory in Solihull in the West Midlands on Monday, he swerved a direct answer on whether he might loosen those rules.
But moments after the event finished, his team insisted they were “iron clad”, as one senior figure put it.
This would mean, if the economy does take a hit from the tariffs, that everything else being equal, budgets for government departments will be tighter than currently anticipated.
