LONDON (Reuters) -British finance minister Rachel Reeves said on Wednesday she still intended to stick to her self-imposed fiscal rules until the end of the government’s term of office in 2029, despite global economic turmoil.
Asked by a reporter if the government’s fiscal rules would remain unchanged for the whole parliament, Reeves replied: “Yes. Those fiscal rules … are non-negotiable because they are the bedrock of the stability and security that families and businesses need.”
Under the rules she set out in October – which aim to balance day-to-day spending with tax revenue by 2029 – Reeves has the option to suspend them temporarily “in the event of an emergency or a significant economic shock to the UK”.
U.S. customs agents began collecting President Donald Trump’s unilateral 10% tariffs on imports from many countries on Saturday, including Britain. Higher levies on goods from larger trading partners took effect earlier on Wednesday, including tariffs of more than 100% on U.S. imports from China.
Reeves reiterated that Britain would continue to act in the national interest while pressing on with discussions with the U.S. to strike an economic deal to ease the burden.
“We don’t want to see an escalation of tariffs,” Reeves said. “We want to do a deal that supports the UK economy.”
Speaking separately to ITV, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.S. tariffs were not a “passing phase”.
“Simply thinking that any change in the rates, or any deals is going to be enough, to my mind is wrong, because just as we’ve done with defence and security, where we’ve recognised it’s a changing world, we’ve got to step up and act differently,” he said.
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Writing by Catarina Demony; editing by David Milliken)
