Time for the Government to step up and support our beleaguered manufacturers

That just about sums up President Trump's announcement on the tariffs he will be imposing on British exports to the UK.

Twenty-five per cent on car exports, and 10 per cent on everything else. The only crumb of comfort is that all the countries in the world are in this together, and the UK has fared slightly better than our EU neighbours.

Nevertheless, for a country that exported £60 billion worth of goods and services to the US last year, the impact is set to be great.

The tariffs on the car industry will be felt particularly keenly in the West Midlands, with its strong presence in the sector including the Jaguar Land Rover plants in Wolverhampton and Solihull, Aston Martin in Warwickshire, Morgan in Worcestershire and the BMW works at Hams Hall in Birmingham. 

Last year Britain exported more than 100,000 cars to the US, bringing in £7.6 billion, and it is hard to overstate the impact of a 25 per cent tariff on that. For a company such as Aston Martin, which depends on the US market for a third of its revenue, the effect could be devastating, while JLR supports tens of thousands of jobs across the West Midlands.

The industry is putting on a brave face, and the one silver lining is that high-end manufacturers such as JLR and Aston Martin will probably be less sensitive to price rises than the mass-market manufacturers of Japan, France and Germany. 

Nevertheless, analysts forecast that up to 25,000 jobs could go in the UK automotive industry as a result of the tariffs, and given the already-gloomy forecast for economic growth, it really is the last thing this region needs.

Last year's General Election rewarded the Prime Minister with a landslide majority, not least because the previously Conservative-held seats in the manufacturing heartlands of the West Midlands decided it was time to give his party a chance.

Now is the time for Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party to repay that trust, by coming up with a package of support for the region's manufacturers in their hour of need.

The alternative does not bear thinking about.