Starmer refuses to rule out further benefit cuts after Trump's tariffsSource: PA
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00:00I've got Archie from The Independent.
00:02Economists have warned that Trump's tariffs are going to
00:04wipe out economic growth and wipe out the fiscal headroom
00:07that the chancellor built up in the spring statement.
00:10Can you guarantee now that in the autumn budget,
00:12you're not going to have to come back to benefit claimants
00:14to balance the books?
00:15Well, the autumn budget is a long way off,
00:19and there's a lot of water under that
00:21that'll have to go under the bridge before then.
00:23Obviously, my job, our job, the government's job,
00:27is to take the steps necessary in our national interest,
00:30which is why we're focusing on progressing the deal
00:33that we've been discussing with the US,
00:35making sure that we are in a position to take other measures
00:38should they be necessary, but at the same time,
00:42continuing and turbocharging the work we're doing
00:46on growth and reform and changing our economy.
00:50And an example of that is what we've been doing on planning
00:52led by the deputy prime minister,
00:54which was scored by the OBR as the single biggest scored factor
01:01when we had the spring statement last week.
01:03So I'm not going to get into what may or may not happen
01:05in six months' time.
01:07My job is to make sure that we're in the best possible position
01:09as we go through the challenge,
01:11and it's undoubtedly a challenge,
01:12of tariffs that were imposed by the United States.