Going beyond the ordinary news headlines
Good morning! ☕ Let’s grab a coffee and dive into the headlines for Wednesday, 4th June 2025. After weeks of glorious sunshine, the grey skies have returned. A touch of morning rain is on the way – so don’t forget your brolly if you’re heading out.
Oh no!! Tariffs are back in the headlines, as Donald Trump’s hike on metals comes into effect. The UK has been temporarily spared the hike with the rate for the UK still at 25%.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce a £15 billion investment package for transport aimed at boosting infrastructure across the North, Midlands and West Country.
British pop star Jessie J has announced she has been diagnosed with early breast cancer. She is set to have surgery after a gig at Wembley later this month.
Today marks the beginning of new searches for the missing Madeleine McCann – led by the Portuguese and German authorities. McCann went missing 18 years ago on a family holiday in the Algarve.
The rise in small boat crossings this year might be due to the good weather, according to the Labour Party. It comes after a day of record crossings for the year so far.
In international news, Elon Musk has dramatically split from the Trump administration as he slammed Trump’s ‘big beautiful’ tax and spending bill. The American billionaire said the bill was a ‘disgusting abomination.’
The Dutch government has shockingly collapsed after far-right Geert Wilders withdrew his party from the governing coalition following a row over migration.
More terror is facing the people of Gaza as aid distribution centres have been closed amid Israeli warnings that roads leading to the sites will be considered “combat zones.”
The UK has been temporarily spared from a steep hike in US steel and aluminium tariffs, following a new executive order signed by former President Donald Trump. While tariffs on other countries doubled from 25% to 50% starting Wednesday, the UK will remain at 25%—for now.
The exemption stems from the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD), agreed in May but not yet implemented. Until that pact is formalised, UK steel exporters still face tariffs, and there’s a risk the UK could also face the 50% hike if the agreement collapses.
President Trump said the UK required “different treatment” due to the deal signed on 8 May 2025, but warned that tariffs could still rise after 9 July 2025 if the UK fails to uphold its end of the agreement.
The UK government said it is “committed to protecting British business and jobs”, while Conservatives branded the announcement a “fresh tariff blow”. The Business Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, had met with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Paris just before the order was signed.
For now, the UK is spared—but the clock is ticking. The government must pass legislation to implement the EPD and finalise the agreement to fully remove the tariffs.
UK Steel’s Director General, Gareth Stace, welcomed the temporary relief but warned of “uncertainty over timings and final tariff rates”. He said US buyers may now hesitate to order from the UK until there’s more clarity.
With the US making up 7% of UK steel exports, the stakes are high. Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith criticised Labour’s handling of the situation, calling it “botched negotiations” that leave businesses “in limbo”.
If the deal isn’t enacted by July, the UK could still see its tariffs double, putting added pressure on British exporters and manufacturing jobs.
Elon Musk has broken publicly with Donald Trump, slamming the president’s flagship tax and spending bill as a “disgusting abomination.” The legislation—dubbed the “big beautiful bill” by Trump—includes massive tax breaks, soaring defence spending, and a controversial hike in the debt ceiling. It passed the House last month and is now being debated in the Senate.
Musk, who only recently left a high-profile cost-cutting role in Trump’s administration, accused Republicans of betraying voters with a “pork-filled” budget that could balloon the deficit to $2.5 trillion. His social media posts marked a stark shift from previous support for Trump’s economic agenda.
Despite a phone call with House Speaker Mike Johnson earlier in the week, Musk went on the offensive, even calling for voters to sack politicians backing the bill. The spat comes amid growing internal Republican divisions, with fiscal hawks like Senator Rand Paul threatening to block the bill in the Senate.
The bill faces a tight deadline—Trump wants it signed into law by 4 July—but the road ahead is rocky. While party leaders insist it’s a cornerstone of the GOP platform, critics on both sides of the aisle are pushing back. Musk’s opposition, though rooted partly in personal grievances—such as the FAA rejecting his Starlink proposal—has given new ammunition to sceptics.
Democrats, meanwhile, are seizing the moment, pointing to Musk’s insider status as further proof the bill is flawed. Chuck Schumer noted “Even Elon Musk, who’s been part of the whole process, and is one of Trump’s buddies, said the bill is bad.”
Behind the scenes, Trump is trying to placate spending hawks with a $9.4bn package of proposed cuts targeting foreign aid and public broadcasters. But with Senate Republicans already split and Democrats preparing their own counter-narratives, this once-flagship policy may face a bumpy ride to the finish line.
As for Musk, despite donating over $250m to Trump’s campaign last year, his warning shots suggest that the billionaire may not fall in line with the administration going forward. The bill’s phase-out of electric vehicle tax credits could also hit Tesla, adding more personal stakes to a very public policy feud.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to unveil a £15.6bn transport investment package aimed at boosting infrastructure across the North, Midlands and West Country. The cash will fund tram, train and bus improvements, including major projects in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and the West Midlands.
Greater Manchester will get £2.5bn to extend tram services to Stockport and expand stops in Bury and Oldham. West Yorkshire will receive £2.1bn to kick off its long-awaited mass transit network by 2028, and the West Midlands will get £2.4bn for tram expansion from Birmingham city centre. Other regions, including South Yorkshire, the North East and the East Midlands, will also see sizeable allocations.
The announcement comes just ahead of the Treasury’s spending review and marks a deliberate shift away from London-centric spending patterns, long criticised for leaving other parts of England behind.
This transport boost forms part of a five-year plan running from 2027 to 2032 and will double current regional transport spending. But it’s not just about the cash—Reeves is also rewriting the Treasury’s “Green Book”, a set of rules used to assess whether big infrastructure projects are worth funding. For years, critics have argued it has favoured London and the South East, leaving the North and Midlands at a disadvantage.
Labour’s changes could rebalance the map—but they’re not without controversy. Some of the projects announced today were previously flagged by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government under the “Network North” plan. Labour says it reviewed and re-costed those schemes to make them viable, but opposition parties are already calling for more clarity—and action.
Treasury officials say annual spending on regional transport will grow from £1.14bn in 2024 to nearly £3bn by 2029. But questions remain about timelines, delivery, and how much of this will reach the areas that need it most. The Liberal Democrats warned that voters in the North have heard these kinds of promises before—and won’t be easily convinced without real change on the ground.
Reeves is expected to frame the announcement in a Manchester speech today as the start of a new chapter in regional growth: one where transport investment goes hand-in-hand with jobs, opportunity, and long-overdue levelling up.
The UK front pages react to a new Home Office report that has linked the UK’s hot weather this year to a dramatic rise in the number of small boat crossings when compared to the same period last year. A record 11,074 people arrived in small boats before May this year, a rise of almost 50% compared with the same period last year.
The story leads two tabloid front pages this morning – both conservative-leaning.
The left-leaning press takes a more neutral tone compared to the sensationalist approach from the right.
German and Portuguese police are to begin a new search for the missing Madeleine McCann – who disappeared on holiday in Portugal when she was three years old in 2007. The search will cover the municipality of Lagos, which sits next to Praia da Luz, the town in the Algarve where she went missing nearly two decades ago. Portuguese police confirmed on Monday that they were carrying out the search between 2-6 June on warrants issued by German prosecutors.
Wednesday’s UK newspaper front pages offer a variety of headlines with no one story dominating the papers. A handful touch on the migrant channel crossings, in particular Labour’s theory that crossings have risen due to the good weather. But there is little unity across the papers and instead standalone reports ranging from war and conflict to the latest showbiz news.
Copyright WTX News 2025
