Politics
UK borrowing rises unexpectedly as Rachel Reeves claims ‘country’s finances are in order’ following Budget
UK borrowing costs rose unexpectedly to £17.8billion in December, but Chancellor Rachel Reeves remains confident in the country’s financial health following the October budget.
This figure was around 25 per cent higher than what economists had predicted and was £10.1billion more than the same time last year, making it the highest borrowing in December for four years.
The unexpected rise puts pressure on Reeves to make tough decisions on budget cuts before the upcoming spending review in the summer.
The UK’s budget deficit was larger than expected in December, largely due to high debt interest costs and a one-off military housing purchase, according to new data released on Wednesday.
Public sector net borrowing reached £17.8billion ($21.93billion) in December, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported. Economists had predicted borrowing would be around £14.1billion.
The UK’s budget deficit was larger than expected in December
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The ONS said that a significant part of the borrowing came from an £8.3billion debt interest bill, which was the third-highest December total ever. Additionally, a £1.7billion payment for repurchasing military homes added to the overall borrowing.
Reeves acknowledged the headroom to meet those targets in the final year of the economic forecast is “tight” but added “those fiscal rules are important to us because they are the bedrock, the foundation of that stability that I’ve spoken about”.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, she insisted the country’s finances “were now in order” following her October budget.
She said: “Now we have wiped the slate clean, my instinct is to have lower taxes, less regulation, make it easier for businesses to do business.”
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She defended her approach to the public finances with her two fiscal rules of paying for day-to-day spending through tax receipts and bringing debt down as a share of gross domestic product.
“We will continue to make decisions to ensure that we meet those fiscal rules,” she said.
UK government borrowing in the current financial year has reached £129.9bn, £8.9 billion higher than the same period last year and a record outside the pandemic’s peak.
This borrowing is also £4bn above the £125.9 in forecast by the OBR. The increase follows volatility in the UK bond market, driving up borrowing costs and raising concerns about the Government’s ability to meet fiscal rules.
Higher bond yields, weaker growth, and rising inflation are expected to reduce the financial headroom, threatening fiscal stability.
The yield on UK 30-year bonds reached its highest level since 1998 before dropping back down when inflation data showed it had fallen to 2.5 per cent in December. The pound also dropped to a 14-month low of $1.22 in early January but has since risen slightly. This drop marked a sharp fall from the $1.34 level in September.
In response to the borrowing rise, Darren Jones, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “Economic stability is vital for our number one mission of delivering growth.
“That’s why our fiscal rules are non-negotiable and why we will have an iron grip on public finances. Through our Spending Review, we will examine every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years, rooting out waste to ensure taxpayers’ money is spent wisely.”
The next financial statement will be on March 26 and a budget in the autumn.
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The OBR will conclude whether the Government is set to miss its fiscal rules when it publishes its updated forecasts at the spring statement on March 26.
Jones said the Government will “interrogate every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years” to “root out waste to ensure every penny of taxpayers’ money is spent productively and helps deliver our plan for change”.
Elliott Jordan-Doak, a senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the Government will have to take action to ensure it meets its fiscal rules.
He said: “We expect the Government to outline spending reductions – backloaded towards the end of the forecast year – at the next fiscal event in March. Further tax increases at the next Budget in October is also a good bet.”
Politics
Sir David Amess’s daughter lets rip at REPEATED Prevent failures and shares her own devastating story
The daughter of late MP Sir David Amess has revealed that she “begged and pleaded” for an inquiry into her father’s murder, as she highlighted the “failures” of the Home Office and the Prevent programme.
The Labour Government has announced an inquiry into the Southport attack of July 2024, after it was revealed that killer Axel Rudakubana, 18, was referred to the Government’s anti-extremism scheme Prevent three times, but no intervention was made.
Reflecting on her father’s murder in 2021 by Ali Harbi Ali, Amess told GB News that after he was also referred to the Prevent scheme, he was “let go” after being “taken for a coffee” by those running the programme.
Amess explained: “They took him out for a cup of coffee, he said he wasn’t a terrorist, and then they let him go back into the system. They were meant to have a subsequent meeting with him, and due to an admin error, it was never followed up on.
Katie Amess has revealed that she ‘begged’ the Home Office for an inquiry into her father’s murder, following the revelations about Southport killer Axel Rudakubana
Getty / CPS / GB News
“And then obviously, he went on to kill my father. And I’ve been calling for the resumption of the inquest, and I’ve not been allowed that. I was denied that.”
Stressing how she “begged and pleaded” for an inquiry, Amess stated that the previous Government “shut her down”.
Amess added: “The Conservative Government totally shut me down. They wouldn’t let me do any kind of inquiry, wouldn’t take meetings with me, would ignore my letters. I begged, I pleaded. So then I tried the Labour Government.
“I haven’t heard from Yvette Cooper since they’ve announced that there will be a full inquiry into the Southport killings, but I was told absolutely no inquiry would be allowed because it would give away secret information that would be in the report.
Sir David Amess was among two MPs killed in recent yearsGETTY
“So I don’t understand what could be in my report that is not top secret, that would be in the Southport report.”
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Highlighting that the failings of Prevent are “not isolated incidents”, Amess expressed her concerns for other individuals being let back into society without intervention.
Amess stated: “This is not an isolated incident of Prevent failing, we have numerous cases of them letting the people back into the community and then go on to commit those atrocities.
“The answer can’t just be it was an admin error, that’s not acceptable.”
Calling for changes to the Prevent scheme, Amess admitted that while she is glad the families of the Southport victims are being given an inquiry, there is still something “hugely wrong” with the system and how the scheme is run.
Amess told GB News that she ‘expects to hear from Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper’ regarding an inquest into her how Prevent ‘failed her’
GB News
Calling for communication from the Labour Government, Amess concluded: “There’s got to be some more deeply involved, rigorous way of understanding or trying to understand what the person is thinking so that we can monitor them better, and then not just have an admin error and let them go back into the community.
“Something is hugely, hugely wrong with the system, and I’m so glad that the Southport victims’ families are going to be able to have an inquest.
“Keir Starmer said no stone will be unturned, it will be robust, we will get to the bottom of this – that is wonderful and that is the way that it should be for absolutely everybody that Prevent has failed.”
She added: “They can’t pick and choose and nitpick who they’re going to help and who they’re not going to help, so I fully expect to hear from Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper to confirm that I will also be getting an inquiry into how Prevent failed me.”
Politics
Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal threatening UK-US ‘special relationship’ as Donald Trump to give verdict in days
A key aide for Donald Trump has warned the surrender of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will jeopardise the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
The decision to cede the islands has been described as “haphazard” by former Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie.
It comes as Downing Street is hoping for a friendly start to the relationship between the new Trump regime and Sir Keir Starmer.
Wilkie, who is leading the current transition team within the Pentagon, told the BBC: “I think it was a calamitous decision, I don’t think there was much thought put into it.”
Starmer has been warned by President Trump about the islands
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Wilkie added that President Trump considered the move to be “something that could impinge on that special relationship” between the two nations, and that the Diego Garcia military base, on the largest of the Islands, provides “leverage to project power”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “Given Diego Garcia’s status as a key strategic asset, it is right to discuss the agreement with the new US administration.”
Meanwhile, Conservative former minister Sir Oliver Dowden asked Chancellor Rachel Reeves about how the Government would fund the proposed deal to give up control of the Chagos.
He said: “Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer propose to fund the reported £9 billion bill for the continued use of Diego Garcia to the Mauritians through higher taxes, through more borrowing or through spending cuts?”
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Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States
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Reeves replied: “We’re in discussions with the new administration in the United States around the future of Diego Garcia and will set out details in the spending review, as you’d expect.”
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he was confident that the intelligence and military agencies in the US would persuade the new President it was a good agreement.
The UK plans to cede sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius, leasing back the strategically important Diego Garcia base used by the US for 99 years at a reported annual cost of around £90million.
It comes as possible challenges for the UK could be exacerbated if President Trump hikes tariffs to protect American businesses.
The islands in the Indian OceanGB News/GoogleBusiness and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We understand there is a genuine analysis in the US that feels that the very big trade deficit in goods that the US has both with the EU and with China, the sense of unfairness that is the root point of – we understand that, we might disagree, but we’ll engage with that.”
He said the US did not have the same trade deficit on manufactured goods with the UK that it does with the EU bloc and China, “so there’s the basis for a conversation” with Washington.
“But it will be a choppy time to be a trade minister, there’s no doubt about that, but our job is to navigate through that…You don’t get to pick the world as you want it to be. You get the world as it is.”
Downing Street has declined to comment on the President’s controversial first acts in office.
Politics
The 10 countries that will be worst hit by Trump’s tariffs as shock graph shows surprising twist for Britain
Donald Trump announced a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office, but for now, at least, he has held off slapping universal tariffs on all imports.
Financial markets breathed a sigh of relief, but he did tell reporters in the White House Oval Office that he’s considering introducing a 25 per cent tariff on all products imported into the US from Mexico and Canada as soon as February 1.
Make no mistake: economic pain is coming down the pike as Trump threatens a trade war with countries that run large deficits with Uncle Sam.
The deficit-to-surplus ratio is not the only determining factor – geopolitics will play a role in who will be hit hardest too – but generally, Trump subscribes to the mercantilist mindset of might is right when it comes to international trade, so he will look to maximise exports and minimise imports to shrink America’s trade deficit.
GB News has ranked from highest to lowest in the countries that run the largest trade deficits with America and will therefore be slapped with the most punitive tariffs.
Who will be hit the hardest?
China, Mexico and Vietnam top the list, running trade deficits of around $300billion, $156billion and $109billion respectively.
Trump has pledged to impose an additional 10 per cent tariff on all imports from China, adding to the already existing tariffs.
This makes the total tariff on Chinese goods potentially as high as 60 per cent if all proposed tariffs are implemented.
The economic impact could be substantial, with previous studies indicating significant job losses and GDP reduction in China in response to similar tariff impositions.
The Chinese government has responded by asserting that no one wins in a trade war, hinting at potential retaliatory measures.
Donald Trump is expected to slap tariffs on its trading partners, with China, Mexico and Vietnam worst hit
Getty Images/ChatGPT
As Mexico’s economy is heavily integrated with that of the US, with approximately 83 per cent of its exports going across the border, the proposed 25 per cent tariff on all Mexican goods will significantly impact this trade relationship.
Analysts predict tariffs could plunge Mexico into a recession, depreciate its currency and drive up inflation.
Vietnam, which has one of the largest (and rising) trade surpluses with the US, is also exposed.
The US trade deficit with Vietnam reached $102billion in the first ten months of 2024 alone, an almost a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.
Vietnam has capitalised on spiralling US-China trade tensions by becoming a manufacturing hub for companies leaving China. However, this could backfire if Trump imposes tariffs.
Canada also makes the top ten, with Trump signalling plans to impose a 25 per cent tariff on its neighbour as soon as February 1.
Outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has emphasised Canada’s readiness to support American economic prosperity but cautioned against the imposition of tariffs, asserting Ottawa’s intent to retaliate if necessary.
Trudeau has alluded to the possible implementation of dollar-for-dollar matching tariffs in response to new US duties.
In order of highest to lowest, other countries running the largest trade deficits with America include:
- Germany
- Japan
- Ireland
- South Korea
- Taiwan
- India
Trudeau has alluded to the possible implementation of dollar-for-dollar matching tariffs in response to new US duties
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Which countries will be shielded from the worst impact?
Netherlands, Hong Kong, and UAE run the largest trade surpluses with Uncle Sam, with surpluses of around $42billion, 23billion and 18billion respectively.
Trump will be less inclined to slap punitive tariffs on these countries as it could hurt American industries that benefit from these surpluses, such as aerospace, agriculture, and technology.
The UK will also be shielded from the worst as runs relatively large surplus with America.
In 2023, the UK had a trade surplus of £71.4billion with the US in goods and services, which increased to £72.1billion in the 12 months ending June 2024.
However, with trade worth over £300billion flowing across the Atlantic every year, Trump’s mooted plan to slap universal tariffs of 10-20 per cent on all US imports would still have a seismic impact on the UK.
Everything from Scotch whisky, automotive products, and pharmaceuticals would face higher costs.
Analysts from various think tanks, like the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), have estimated that Trump’s tariffs could halve UK economic growth, reducing it from an already low projected 1.2 per cent to about 0.4 per cent in the year following implementation.
This is due to both increased costs for UK exporters and potential retaliatory measures from other countries.
The imposition of tariffs would likely increase inflation by pushing up the cost of imports, impacting consumer prices across various sectors. The Bank of England might then consider raising interest rates, which could further slow economic activity
This would put further pressure on Rachel Reeves, who is already struggling to tame rising borrowing costs and reverse sluggish growth.
Labour ministers have ousted the chairman of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) after Rachel Reeves demanded that regulators “tear down” red tape.
Marcus Bokkerink’s departure from the watchdog was announced by the Department for Business & Trade last night after it deemed that the organisation was not sufficiently focused on growth.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds thanked Bokkerink for his time at the watchdog, saying: “We want to see regulators including the CMA supercharging the economy with pro-business decisions.”
Doug Gurr – who used to work for Amazon UK and is a director of the Natural History Museum – has taken on the role in the interim.
Rachel Reeves instructed top bosses of railways, water, energy and aviation firms to “tear down regulatory barriers that hold back economic growth”
PA
Labour is currently pushing authorities to support its economic agenda on growth, sparking concerns surrounding the consequential effect on industry standards and consumers.
Reeves instructed top bosses of railways, water, energy and aviation firms to “tear down regulatory barriers that hold back economic growth” at a joint meeting hosted by the Labour Chancellor and Business Secretary last week.
It followed previous instructions from the pair that the regulators must bring forward a list of reforms to support growth and the Government – 17 of which would be subsequently scrutinised by ministers.
Labour has said that regulators must work towards developing environments that “unlock innovation and investment”.
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Bokkerink – who used to work for Boston Consulting Group – wrote to the Government last week to inform them that the CMA was “fully supportive of the government’s focus on driving economic growth and stands with you in this critical shared endeavour”, setting out five proposals.
Nevertheless, business leaders have complained that the body has been too interventionist, as it previously came under fire for its handling of Microfsoft’s $69billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The deal was later approved after the CMA blocked it at first, leading to a 21-month-long process.
More recently, the CMA started an investigation into the search and search advertising markets last week, producing a report that quoted a Government official saying that the body’s “performance has not been good enough”.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds thanked Bokkerink for his time at the watchdog
PA
There was also some “frustration about this across the board from business”, according to the same source.
Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA, said: “I would like to thank Marcus for his leadership and support over the last two years.
“The CMA has a critical role to play supporting the government’s growth mission.
“I welcome the appointment of Doug Gurr as the CMA’s new interim chair and look forward to working closely with him as we drive growth, opportunity and prosperity for the UK.”
Just hours into his second presidency, Donald Trump was already bulldozing congressional Republicans.
He granted clemency to some 1,500 Jan. 6 offenders, some of them convicted of violent assaults. He flouted a bipartisan TikTok ban, ordering it to remain unenforced. And he moved to cancel some of his predecessor’s energy programs over the pleadings of some in the GOP who wanted him to wait — to name just a few of the ways he undercut members of his own party.
A day later, it was as if a switch had been flipped.
In a meeting Tuesday with top GOP leaders, he didn’t move to settle key strategic disputes over raising the debt limit and passing the party’s big domestic policy package. Top leaders from the House and Senate left the White House and gave reporters completely contradictory accounts of how his agenda would be passed.
In other words, Trump is already showing his split-screen approach to congressional relations — one that, so far, is more concerned with using his political muscle to perform acts of dominance than to settle the intramural disputes that are holding up his agenda.
The past two days underscore how Trump and his team view Capitol Hill, informed by his previous four years in office, and the four subsequent years he spent climbing back: Republicans will eventually fall in line with whatever he wants, they believe, so why hold back?
“The sooner these guys recognize that it’s the president that kept their House majority and their Senate majority, and the sooner they realize it’s the president that has the will of the people — not them — the sooner they will be able to live a productive life,” one Trump insider granted anonymity to discuss relations with Congress told me recently.
“At the end of the day, he’s the one with the mandate, and they know it,” said another.
There was immediate evidence that such a read is absolutely correct.
Faced with questions about Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, most GOP lawmakers opted for a delicate tap dance. Many deflected attention to predecessor Joe Biden’s pardons of family members. Others quickly dusted off the old first-term playbook: I didn’t see the tweet/comment/executive order.
“I haven’t seen the list,“ Speaker Mike Johnson told my colleague Meredith Lee Hill. “I haven’t had a chance to evaluate it.”
And when Trump essentially flipped them the bird on TikTok — putting off dealing with something they’ve described for years as a major national security issue — nary a squawk was heard. Johnson and Senate Intelligence Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) spoke out Sunday to reiterate their support for the nine-month-old ban, only to be neutered a day later.
Same goes for Trump’s first-day decision to gut Biden’s electric vehicle mandates. Hill leaders wanted to repeal it themselves so they could book the savings and use them to offset the cost of tax cuts. Trump bullied forward anyway.
He even burned political capital on a molehill of a mountain: re-renaming Denali to Mount McKinley over the objections of Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan.
A more traditional politician might consider it risky to wildly alienate members of your own party (especially a known swing vote like Murkowski) when much of your agenda requires congressional approval — doubly so when you have a House majority even narrower than in the Senate.
Not so for Trump, obviously. Yet the alpha-male power plays suddenly evaporate when it comes to settling disputes among Republicans about his own agenda.
The chambers remain on diverging paths when it comes to passing border, energy and tax measures, with the House pushing one vote on one massive bill while the Senate wants to split it in two. Same for the debt limit: Include it in a party-line budget reconciliation bill? Or cut a deal with Democrats?
Some Republicans were hoping Trump would use his audience with Hill leaders at the White House on Tuesday to crack the whip on those questions and others. That doesn’t seem to have happened: One senior Republican aide we spoke to afterward couldn’t hide his disappointment; Trump continued to waffle rather than provide clarity.
That’s despite complaining in the meeting, as he often does, about how Democrats always stick together and Republicans instead bicker and fracture. He insisted on unity but didn’t do much to facilitate it.
Which is partly why Trump’s whatever-I-want posture early on is raising so many eyebrows among some Republicans. The president, they believe, will have to spend some of the political capital he seems intent on burning now to get his agenda passed later.
A key test is at hand, with some of Trump’s most controversial nominees headed toward confirmation votes that will force some Senate Republicans to eat a “shit sandwich,” as one Republican aide told me on Inauguration Day.
Pete Hegseth, his pick for Pentagon chief, is teed up for a vote within days despite a late-breaking report that he’d made an ex-wife “fear for her safety.” (The woman denied she’d been physically abused.) And many senators remain uncomfortable with his choice of Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, with her isolationist views and policy flipflops.
They haven’t even gotten yet to his plans for tariffs — not only on China but allies like Mexico and Canada — potential levies that have given traditional pro-business Republicans heartburn for months.
If Republicans fall in line behind Hegseth, Gabbard and tariffs — as most now expect — it will be proof positive that Trump’s steamroller approach is working.
“From his end, he’s doing what he said he would do, so this notion that we’re going to have any ability to stop him from doing what he feels is right is laughable,” said one senior GOP aide. “It’s just not happening.”
So who cares if he isn’t sweating the small stuff?
Royal journalist Sarah Louise Robertson has warned that US President Donald Trump would “have no qualms” about taking action against Prince Harry and Meghan Markle if they upset him during his presidency.
She noted that whilst the Sussexes may not be an immediate concern, Trump’s character could lead to future confrontation.
The warning comes after Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.
Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president on Monday following a tense election victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle live in the US
PA
The new president has previously made his position on the Duke of Sussex clear, stating that Harry would be “on his own” if Trump returned to office.
Trump has accused Harry of having “betrayed the Queen”, which he condemned as “unforgivable” and “very disrespectful”.
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Royal Journalist Sarah Louise Robertson told GB News: “Trump can do anything at the moment, Harry and Meghan are so low down on his list of priorities.
“At the moment, he won’t have given them a thought. But later down the line, if they say something else to upset him, I don’t think he would have any qualms.
“The sticking point would be that he seems to really adore Prince William. He adores King Charles and he loves our Royal Family, so he probably wouldn’t want to do anything that would cause upset to them.
“However, Trump has a long memory and he doesn’t like people who are disloyal. He didn’t like the way they conducted themselves.
Royal Journalist Sarah Louise said that Trump would have “no qualms” booting the pair out
GB News
“He didn’t like the way they acted towards the Queen and the documentary that they made.
“Also, he didn’t like the way that they snubbed him when he came across from his royal visit, and Meghan called him misogynistic in an interview.
“He doesn’t forget things like this, and he may very well do what Biden didn’t and actually make public Harry’s visa application, which will show if Harry’s lied or not about taking drugs.”
Speaking to Nigel Farage last year, Trump suggested that if Harry had lied on his American visa application about taking drugs, he could face deportation.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have resided in California since relocating to the US in 2020.
Donald Trump ‘ might do what Biden didn’t’
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The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank, has been pushing for Prince Harry’s visa documents to be made public to verify whether he made truthful declarations about his past drug use.
Harry admitted to using cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir Spare.
US judge Carl Nichols ruled in September 2024 that the duke’s visa application should remain private, stating “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure”.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Beast he will “personally urge Donald Trump to deport Prince Harry” if evidence emerges of visa application dishonesty.
Politics
Keir Starmer’s Chagos deal threatening UK-US ‘special relationship’ as Trump to make verdict in DAYS
A key aide for Donald Trump has warned the surrender of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will jeopardise the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
The decision to cede the islands has been described as “haphazard” by former Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie.
It comes as Downing Street is hoping for a friendly start to the relationship between the new Trump regime and Sir Keir Starmer.
Wilkie, who is leading the current transition team within the Pentagon, told the BBC: “I think it was a calamitous decision, I don’t think there was much thought put into it. “
He added that President Trump considered the move to be “something that could impinge on that special relationship” between the two nations, and that the Diego Garcia military base, on the largest of the Islands, provides “leverage to project power”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: ‘”Given Diego Garcia’s status as a key strategic asset, it is right to discuss the agreement with the new US administration.”
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Cooper and Starmer pledge tougher checks to stop youngsters buying knives online
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a statement at 10 Downing Street in London,
PA
Online retailers will be forced to put in place tougher checks to stop youngsters buying knives after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it is “shockingly easy” for children to buy blades.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs it is a “a total disgrace” that Rudakubana, then 17, and with a history of violence, was able to buy a weapon online and promised new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill this spring.
Writing in The Sun, Starmer said: “It remains shockingly easy for our children to get their hands on deadly knives. The lessons of this case could not be clearer. Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them.
“And yet, tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off of the internet without any checks or barriers. A two-click killer. This cannot continue. The technology is there to set up age verification checks, even for kitchen knives ordered online.
“We must now use it to protect our children from future attack and I will ensure that this happens.”
Politics
Donald Trump suffers ‘curse of the autocue’ at inauguration speech as expert blasts ‘outdated’ technology: ‘Stifled his character!’
Political presentation expert Graham Davies has criticised Donald Trump’s “old-fashioned” autocue technology at his inaugural address, claiming he “lacked energy” after reading his speech from the teleprompter.
Speaking to GB News, Davies described the tone as “frankly, a little bit strange” for a newly inaugurated president, suggesting that Trump would benefit from “big plasma screens” rather than a “1980s autocue” method.
“This didn’t seem to be the speech of a newly powerful president, but that of somebody who was, frankly, presiding like a priest over a funeral,” Davies said.
On Monday, the 47th President made several bold declarations about America’s future in his wide-ranging speech at the Capitol.
Donald Trump has been criticised for his ‘subdued’ speech at his inauguration ceremony
Reuters
Despite Trump telling those gathered that “the future is ours” and promising widespread changes, Davies found the delivery notably lacking in vigour compared to his 2017 address.
In his inaugural address, Trump declared he would implement a “national energy emergency” to resume oil and gas drilling.
Highlighting the stark contrast to Trump’s first inauguration, which Davies described as “a festival of fist pumps”, he told GB News that the address “frankly lacked energy”.
Davies also pointed to the outdated technology used during the speech as a key factor in Trump’s muted delivery.
Donald Trump has pledged that he will address issues of border security, energy and the cost of living for families as top priorities during his first day in the Oval OfficeREUTERS
“It wasn’t a modern, transparent autocue he was using, but it was an old-fashioned 1980s autocue,” the presentation expert explained.
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He noted that the antiquated system forced Trump to alternate between screens, hampering his natural speaking style.
“He essentially reads for five minutes off one, then he’ll read for five minutes off the other, and it stifles his character,” Davies told GB News.
The expert suggested that Trump might perform better with contemporary equipment, stating: “He might well thrive with those big plasma screen autocues at the back of a room.”
Davies concluded that Trump’s presentation style needed significant improvement.
Davies told GB News that the new US President could use some ‘presentation coaching’
GB News
“He doesn’t rehearse, he doesn’t practice, and he really does need some presentation coaching,” Davies said.
The expert emphasised that Trump’s natural personality was being suppressed by his reliance on the teleprompter.
His assessment highlighted the need for Trump to develop skills that would allow his personality to shine through whilst using autocue technology.
“His personality comes out on autocue and isn’t squashed by it,” Davies noted, adding it would be crucial for future presidential addresses.
Politics
Axel Rudakubana: Eamonn Holmes blasts Starmer after he defends ‘suppressed information’ on Southport murderer
GB News presenter Eamonn Holmes has criticised Sir Keir Starmer’s handling of information about the Southport attack, claiming the Prime Minister’s legal background influenced his approach.
“He’s a lawyer, that’s what he is and that’s what he puts first,” Eamonn said of Starmer’s decision to withhold details about the case.
The criticism comes after 18-year-old Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty yesterday to murdering three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
Starmer has defended his decision to withhold information about the case, stating he had to “observe the law of the land”.
Eamonn Holmes blasted Starmer stating that “he is a lawyer”
GB News
GB News host Eamonn Holmes said: “He’s a lawyer, that’s what he is. And that’s what he puts first.
“I mean, I regard my job as a journalist to be to challenge legal advice. Lawyers dictate and tell you that you can’t say this, you can’t say that. I always say, why not? How come?
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“Surely there is the way around this. They have a blanket ban on everything. His job is now to speak to the general public to accommodate what people think.
“Of course, he has an argument that he can’t ruin the case that’s been built up and all that sort of thing, I just think he’s a lawyer. He speaks as a lawyer, not as a politician.”
Home and Security Editor Mark White explained: “These criminal cases are robust. I’ve covered them for many, many years.
“Judges always tell the jury to disregard everything heard in the media or elsewhere before. Judge it on the facts before you.
Starmer has defended his decision to withhold information about the case
GB News
“There is little to no risk of genuinely prejudicing a trial by putting some of this information out there, but everything to be gained by being frank with the public and helping fill that vacuum.
Eamonn added: “One of those things to be gained was a lack of disruption on the streets.
“Take that terrible disruption that happened, there surely was a responsibility on his behalf towards what ensued.”
The Prime Minister revealed he was “kept up to date with the facts as they were emerging”, including details about the ricin and terrorist document discoveries.
Mark White shared his views on the statement
GB News
He insisted the information was withheld “to protect the integrity of the system to ensure that the victims and their families get the justice they deserve”.
“It was not my personal decision to withhold this information, any more than it was a journalist’s personal decision not to print or write about it,” Starmer explained.
It emerged that Rudakubana had been referred to Prevent, the Government’s anti-terrorism scheme, three times.
One referral was made after concerns about Rudakubana’s potential interest in school massacres.
Political commentator Piers Pottinger has launched a scathing attack on Rachel Reeves’ reported plans to back a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
Speaking to GB News, Pottinger claimed the Chancellor “has run out of ideas” and is “desperately trying to think of something”.
The Chancellor is reportedly set to back a £14billion expansion of Heathrow Airport, which would add a third runway to Britain’s busiest aviation hub.
Pottinger said: “It just shows that she’s run out of ideas. Nothing that she’s done is going to create growth. So she’s desperately trying to think of something.
Piers Pottinger launched a scathing attack on Rachel Reeves
GB News
“So she latches onto the idea of an extra runway at Heathrow, which first of all, will take years before it’ll actually happen.
“The second thing is, of course, Heathrow is actually owned, not, as you would expect by anyone, British.
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“It’s entirely owned by overseas businesses Qatar, Spain, Canada and the USA. And actually, I think that’s another point is that our major ports in my view, should not be owned by foreigners.
“From a point of view of national security our major ports, of which Heathrow is the biggest, should be owned by the British. “
He added: “It’s not going to create growth in this country for the foreseeable future.”
The plans, expected to be announced in a speech later this month, also include bringing a second runway at Gatwick into full-time use and increasing capacity at Luton Airport.
The Chancellor is reportedly set to back a third runway
PA
The Heathrow expansion could increase capacity by 260,000 flights annually.
The announcements are part of a broader package of measures aimed at boosting economic growth, which includes the £9bn Lower Thames Crossing project and a Universal Studios theme park in Bedfordshire.
The expansion plans face significant opposition from within the Labour Party, including Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
Miliband’s concerns stem from his responsibility for keeping the UK within its carbon budget and meeting net zero emissions by 2050.
Pottinger claimed the Chancellor “has run out of ideas”
GB News
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has also voiced his opposition. A spokesperson for Khan told the Guardian: “The mayor has a longstanding opposition to airport expansion around London – linked to the negative impact on air quality, noise and London’s ability to reach net zero by 2030.”
The move is expected to be unpopular with many Labour backbenchers, both those representing constituencies near airports and those campaigning on climate action.
Environmental campaigners have reacted with strong criticism to the reported expansion plans.
Doug Parr, policy director at Greenpeace UK, said: “Resurrecting the idea of a third runway at Heathrow in the hope that a strip of tarmac will nudge up the UK’s GDP smacks of desperation.”
He added that the economic benefits were “dubious at best” while environmental costs were “certain.”
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