Trade talks about ‘hard yards’ rather than photo opportunities, says Starmer

Whisky negotiations with the US are about “the hard yards” rather than “one-off photo opportunities”, the Prime Minister has said in a rebuke to First Minister John Swinney.

Mr Swinney has made securing a deal to cut whisky tariffs with the US a key part of his premiership in recent months, meeting President Donald Trump on a number of occasions this year in the hopes of reducing the levies.

The First Minister’s involvement in the talks comes despite international trade being a reserved issue, with the UK Government in the lead.

Speaking to a group of Scottish journalists in Downing Street on Monday, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Negotiations and getting the trade deals you want… is about the hard yards of negotiation and that’s what we’ve been up to.

“That’s what we’ve delivered in relation to the India deal and, as you can imagine, we’re continuing those negotiations and hard yards with the US, in particular in relation to whisky.”

He added: “The hard yards is what matters, creating relationships, having the conversations, and these things take time.

“They’re not a one-off photo opportunity.”

Both the Scottish and UK governments are “trying to achieve the same thing” on whisky, the Prime Minister said.

“In the end, I went to Scotland two or three days after the election to say I want to deliver for Scotland above all else and therefore, that’s why we continue these negotiations and discussions with the US and we will continue to do so.”

The First Minister has met with President Trump twice during a visit to his golf courses in the summer, at the State Visit in September and in a private audience at the White House in Washington DC, each time raising the plight of the industry, which claims to be losing £4 million per week due to the US-imposed tariffs.

Speaking to the PA news agency earlier this month, the First Minister said he would like to be involved in the trade talks between the two sides.

“I’ve not been privy to the trade talks,” he said ahead of the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen.

“I would like to be, because I think I’ve actually been quite helpful in all of this.

“It’s clear to me earlier on this year that whisky was not really featuring in the trade talks at all, it was not there as a principal negotiating priority for the UK Government.

“Well, I had to make sure it was, because it really matters to Scotland.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The First Minister is focussed on securing a zero tariff deal for Scotch whisky, and has raised this matter on a number of occasions with key decision makers, including the President of the United States.

“Further trade negotiations are for the UK Government to take forward.”