First Minister John Swinney says market upheaval requires 'truly bold action' from Prime Minister

As global markets continued to plunge into turmoil on Monday after US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements, First Minister John Swinney said the situation requires “truly bold action” from the UK Prime Minister.

Last Wednesday, Trump announced a sweeping set of tariffs on US imports from countries around the globe. The UK was not exempt and was slapped with a minimum 10% tariff on exports to the US.

Other countries, including those in the EU and China, were hit with 20% and 34% tariffs respectively.

And following a retaliatory 34% rate from Beijing, Trump threatened to deepen the trade war between the world’s biggest economies by imposing “additional tariffs on China of 50%”.

Stock markets around the world have been in turmoil since Trump’s announcements last week. The value of US stocks dropped sharply as markets opened on Monday afternoon, following falls in London and across Europe and Asia earlier.

In the UK, the FTSE 100 hit a new one-year low after the index saw its worst single-day of trading since March 2020 on Friday.

The First Minister has previously condemned these tariffs as “damaging” for Scotland and the UK. On Monday, he called on the UK Government to “meet the moment” with “clear, determined and decisive” action.

Specifically, he wants Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves to “abandon the national insurance hike immediately”.

“It is now obvious that the era in which the UK Government’s fiscal rules were set is over,” Swinney said on Monday.

The First Minister said the “tax on jobs” was “always the wrong move”, but said the government “should not risk further economic damage by making it more difficult for business to take on or keep staff”.

“The events of the last few days require truly bold action from the Prime Minister. He cannot simply respond to an unprecedented situation by continuing with a plan set in completely different circumstances and which already looks doomed to failure,” Swinney said.

“The old economic orthodoxies of Westminster will not be enough to meet a moment of real global challenge.”

The First Minister also called on Starmer and Reeves to change their fiscal rules and commit to a package of investment to support business, workers and consumers.

“The Prime Minister and the chancellor must accept the new reality, end their outdated commitment to the fiscal rules and deliver serious investment to support industry,” he said.

Speaking from a Jaguar Land Rover plant in the West Midlands on Monday, the Prime Minister once again called for “cool heads” as global markets continued to plunge in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs.

Starmer said the UK had to “rise together as a nation” in the face of a new era of global instability. He also promised to “back industries to the hilt”.

“This is a moment for cool heads, nobody wins from a trade war, you know that,” Starmer said.

“But it’s also a moment for urgency, because we’ve got to rise together as a nation to the great challenge of our age – and it is the great challenge – which is to renew Britain so we’re secure in this era of global instability.”

He added: “Let me be really clear, at a moment like this, our future is in our hands, and so of course, we will keep calm and fight for the best deal with the US, and we’ve been discussing that intensely over the last few days.”

Starmer said the UK is also going to work with key partners to reduce barriers to trade across the globe, accelerate trade deals with the rest of the world, and champion the cause of free and open trade.