Essay by Eric Worrall
Nothing to do with Mad Miliband’s green energy policies.
UK growth forecast to slow sharply as Trump tariffs push confidence to record low
EY Item Club predicts GDP of only 0.8% this year as Ipsos poll shows three-quarters of Britons expect economy to get worse
Mark Sweney Mon 28 Apr 2025 09.01 AEST
The UK economy is set to slow sharply for the next two years as Donald Trump’s global tariff war weighs on consumer spending and business investment, a study by a leading forecaster has predicted.
The findings by EY Item Club, which is sponsored by the big four accountancy firm EY, come as a separate survey reported that confidence in Britain’s economy has fallen to the lowest level on record.
The latest poll by Ipsos, which has been tracking net economic optimism in Britain since 1978, found that three-quarters of Britons expect the economy to get worse over the next year. Just 7% of Britons think the economy will improve, while 13% thought it would stay the same, equating to a net score of -68.
EY’s forecast said it now expects UK gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 0.8% this year, down from a projection of 1% in February, and has cut its 2026 forecast from 1.6% to 0.9% as longer-term effects hit the UK.
…
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/28/uk-growth-forecast-to-slow-sharply-as-trump-tariffs-push-confidence-to-record-low
Back in the real world, Britain’s extreme green energy policies were doing harm well before President Trump won the election and threatened Britain with reciprocal tariffs.
At the end of 2024, before President Trump took office, the situation got so desperate the British PM started begging regulators to brainstorm new ideas to stimulate the British economy.
Starmer asks UK regulators for ideas to boost growth
29 December 2024ShareSave
Joe Pike
Politics investigations correspondent, BBC NewsPrime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, the chancellor and business secretary have written to the UK’s main regulators asking them to come up with ideas for reform that could boost economic growth.
They contacted watchdogs, including energy regulator Ofgem and water regulator Ofwat, before Christmas asking them to submit proposals by mid-January.
This comes after figures published earlier this week indicated the UK economy had flatlined between July and September.
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said the letter “says all you need to know” about Sir Keir’s government, claiming he has to “beg his own government to create growth after Labour’s damaging Budget”.
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Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0n14ywzqpo
Obviously new tariffs on British exports to the USA are adding to pressure on the British economy. But trying to suggest President Trump is the main reason for the slump in the British economy in my opinion is an absurd fiction.
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The UK’s economy is in trouble after only 100 days?!
I think a look further back at policies is in order.
And Trump put a halt to most tariffs for 90 days, so they haven’t kicked in yet for most people, although the markets are reacting to a certain extent.
But then again, most of the tariffs may be a thing of the past in a couple of months as new trade agreements are signed, so all these forecasts will have to be revised.
How a government with a 20% sales tax on pretty much everything can criticise tariffs is beyond me
20%… my goodness…that would pretty much put an end to any shopping I would do beyond necessities…and they have VAT too ?
The government is NOT your friend when it comes to taxation.
VAT is at 20% it’s charged on most goods & services, we don’t have a sales tax.
VAT is 0 rated for basic foods
& 5% for fuel
VAT is a sales tax, by any other name.
Wow. So DJT has a time machine, went back 3 years and crashed England’s energy production, agriculture and manufacturing. Did he stick his pinky to corner of his mouth while doing it?
Hardly anyone believes NetZero will succeed.
https://order-order.com/2025/04/30/just-1-of-britons-think-uk-will-definitely-achieve-net-zero-by-2050/
That “1” must be Ed Miliband.
The guy with two kitchens.
How many people have two kitchens?
I guess you would need to have servants if you have two kitchens, as the wife might not appreciate having to clean two kitchens all by herself. Maybe Ed does the cleaning.
It must suck to be Britain. Always remember be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.
I don’t believe that the “Stoke On Trent” is stoking as much as it did anymore. A shame as who really wants to drink tea from a paper cup?
While ever you have a loony Net Zero agenda, the UK economy will continue to collapse.
What does the UK export to the US? It used to be the Irish- but what about now?
Lots of financial and legal services, because we no longer manufacture anything. But like any other western nation, if we were to compete with Chinese manufacturing, we would be paying workers in bowls of rice a day.
According to the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) the UK exported £137bn of services to the US in 2024 whilst importing £61.2bn of services from the US.
The US was the UK’s largest export market for cars (£9bn). Machinery and transport equipment were the main commodities traded with the US accounting for £20.1bn of imports and £29.1bn of exports.
In total the US was the UK’s largest imports and exports partner for services and the UK’s largest export partner and 3rd largest import partner for goods (ONS 25th April 2025.)
Tariffs apply to goods. Do they also apply to services?
HS talking tosh.
The UK makes lots of things inc computers, more computer chips licensed than any other country in the world.
(ARM chips are everywhere),
while the UK has long exported loads of music and things as diverse as motor sport and whisky.
I previously saw comments about the exodus of high earners from the UK that preceded tariffs. I guess blaming it on climate change is not working anymore.
When does the BBC blame program come out.
So, has Labour hired the Biden spin consultants now?
So, the no-growth Germans were just ahead of the game anticipating US elections?
Yes, the Net Zero Chickens are coming home to roost for both the UK and Germany.
The politicians of both the UK and Germany should look at what just happened to Spain and Portugal.
The UK and Germany are next if they don’t change course.
Net Zero is a pipe dream. It won’t be accomplished. Not by the UK or Germany, and certainly not by the whole world. It’s just not going to happen. The politicians in the UK and Germany need to go to Plan B, because Plan A is leading to their destruction.
It has nothing to do with Trump. It has everything to do with Delusion.
But Trump is an easy target. Just ask any Democrat.
IMO Most of the products the US imports from Europe are merely luxuries, not necessities.
The US has been sudsidizing Europe’s socialist governments since WWII and they arrogantly scorn us.We are $36T in immediate debt. It is long overdue for Europeans and other nations to fend for themselves
As people say about the weather here, if you don’t like the tariffs, wait five minutes. It’s all in flux. There are new deals struck every day. Expert socialist economist Snoot Snooter and his magic poll got blindsided again. And again. And again.
If the Brits weren’t suicidal and attempting to destroy their own country, they could lower their tariffs on us. It’s all reciprocal. You play fair, we play fair. But nooo! The limeys have gone Canadian and want to nuke the USA. How dare we charge what they charge? So let’s do it. Bring it on. Declare war on us. In one week (or less) the British people will shitcan their government. As Dirty Harry said, “Make my day.”
Trump said from the beginning that the United States and the UK are not far apart on trade, and he thought the U.S. and UK could make a very good deal that would satisfy both parties.
As Rocky Balboa said, “Go for it.”
A blow to business and growth is simply the increased taxes imposed by government when Labour got into power, and add more restrictive and costly regulation.
How they can ask for suggestions to increase growth when it is being sqeezed in so many ways is something you couldn’t make up.
We have, unfortunately, a few years at best with this disfunctional government.
Once again, the goal is to produce a single, simple solutions for the consumption by the masses to a complex, muti-factored problem and in doing so, swings and misses.
After all, 97% consensus is that CO2 is the “control knob” regardless of whether the sun is shining or not.