Theresa May “too weak” to stand up to Trump, says Corbyn

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Today Jeremy Corbyn is at the GMB conference in Brighton, where he will declare Theresa May “too weak” to stand up to Donald Trump on steel tariffs. Slamming the Prime Minister’s “timid” response, he says the US President’s protectionist measures against European steel and aluminium are “wrong” and likely to hurt workers both in the US and abroad by sparking a trade war. The Labour leader concludes that the hope of a post-Brexit “race-to-the-bottom trade deal with the US” is merely a “Tory pipe-dream”.

You might think the left-wing Labour leader likes a bit of protectionism. But his firm opposition to Trump’s brand of populism is made clear. In the speech, Corbyn is careful to convey that while he understands why some US workers would welcome news of the tariffs, government intervention in those industries is a better course of action. He talks about how, in the UK, Labour intends to nurture trade unions and communities rather than go on the attack, and ties that approach to defying the elite.

Addressing the trade union conference, Corbyn is expected to say: “Donald Trump’s government doesn’t support workers. Trying to hold back the tide with one hand and giving eye-watering handouts to the super rich with the other is no substitute for a government taking a proactive role in modernising and upgrading industry so that it’s cleaner, more efficient and works for the many not the few.”

Corbyn will also announce that after Labour’s manifesto promises to ban zero-hours contracts and introduce a real living wage by 2020, the party is set to commit to paying all its staff – “at any level of our organisation” – at least £10 an hour. “We need bold action to quickly get more money in people’s pockets at the end of the month,” the Labour leader will say.

Labour is also keeping up the pressure on May over the NHS. As Katy Balls notes in The Guardian, Jeremy Hunt yesterday became the longest serving Health Secretary in British history – despite presiding over (in his own words) “probably the worst ever” NHS winter crisis. As we’re all aware, being utterly incompetent gets you… actually quite far in the Tory party. Failing Grayling, as the Transport Secretary has become known, is a particularly stunning example.

Hunt’s counterpart, Jon Ashworth, was last night joined by Gordon Brown at an NHS rally in Birmingham. Having visited Bristol, Oxford and the Isle of Wight so far, Labour’s health spokesman is currently travelling around the country to address public meetings in the run-up to the NHS’s 70th anniversary and will be joined by various speakers along the way. Brown has used an op-ed in The Mirror to suggest we repeat the 1p rise in national insurance that was announced in 2002, which would raise £11bn next year. Keep an eye on this – how we opt to boost NHS funding is an increasingly urgent question that demands an answer, fast.

Sienna @siennamarla

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