Related video: Boris Johnson announces he is self-isolating
Sir Keir Starmer has said Priti Patel’s position is now “untenable” and accused the Tories of having “let down the police” over the last 10 years amid a row over pay and policing numbers.
The Labour leader said the government had cut thousands of police jobs and officers had not been offered a pay rise. His comments came after the Police Federation of England and Wales said it no longer had confidence in the home secretary.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak’s 10-day quarantine is expected to finish at the end of Monday, after the pair initially opted to take part in a pilot testing scheme that would have allowed them to skip isolation.
Public anger at the proposal forced the prime minister and chancellor into another embarassing U-turn last week but the quarantine period is now due to end.
Mandatory vaccines for students to attend lectures ‘hugely discriminatory’, universities union says
Only allowing students who are fully vaccinated against Covid to attend lectures, would be “hugely discriminatory”, a university union has said.
It comes amid reports the government is considering introducing such rules for students, as well as only letting those who have received two doses return to university halls.
Education minister Vicky Ford refused to rule the measures out on Monday, saying the government had to “consider everything”.
Zoe Tidman reports.
Children don’t need to wear masks when schools returns, minister says
Labour make moderate gains to close gap on Tories, new poll reveals
Labour have gained two points and slightly closed the gap on the Tories to five points, new polling from Britain Elects shows.
Keir Starmer’s party is on 37% and the Conservatives, who gained one point, are on 42%.
However amid talk of a resurgence for the Liberal Democrats, they have dropped four points and are down at 6%.
The poll was conducted between 23 – 26 July.
Ending free movement wasn’t meant to boost wages – are we now being proved wrong about Brexit?
Economist Jonathan Portes writes in The Independent about recent headlines suggesting that average salaries in hospitality and retail have recently risen.
He writes: “On Twitter I was asked: “How do economists reconcile with the idea EU immigration was not impacting wages? Timing? Sector? Nothing to do with Brexit? Or were the models wrong?”
“These are fair questions, in light of widespread reports of labour shortages resulting from the exodus of EU-origin workers during the pandemic. For the last 15 years – at least since the accession of central and Eastern European countries to the EU in 2004 – economic research has consistently shown that migration had no significant impacts on the employment prospects of UK-born workers; and that wage impacts, while observable, are relatively small.
“The most well-publicised estimate suggests that migration might have depressed wages for lower-skilled service sector workers by perhaps 1 per cent over a period of almost a decade.”
Get the full piece below:
PM tweets thanks to emergency services after flooding
Boris Johnson tweeted his thanks to the emergency services and volunteers after England’s south was battered by thunderstorms.
“My thoughts are with everyone affected by the flooding in London and the South East,” the Prime Minister tweeted.
“A huge thank you to the emergency services and volunteers helping families and businesses through this difficult time.”
Rayner defends voluntary redundancy plans as Labour launches workers rights charter
Labour has defended asking its own staff to apply for voluntary redundancy as Angela Rayner launched an employment rights charter described as a “fork in the road”.
The party’s deputy leader visited the Impact Hub co-working space in central London on Monday to unveil a “new deal for working people” which promises to “fundamentally change” the economy as the party seeks to win back traditional voters who have switched to the Conservatives.
But she was forced to admit that the party is asking its own staff to consider taking voluntary redundancy due to a lack of funds.
The Labour List website reported last week that party reserves are down to one month’s worth of payroll, and said general secretary David Evans had told the National Executive Committee: “We don’t have any money.”
Asked about the situation, Ms Rayner said: “We are in the devastating circumstances where we have lost general elections and we have lost resources as a result of that, and our organisation has to change.
“At the moment we are asking people to take voluntary redundancy and change the way we do our work like any organisation that goes through those times.”
She said Labour will “never support or endorse or take fire and rehire as an acceptable process” and added: “It is very worrying for our staff who are going through that process. But we want to make sure that the Labour Party is in a very lean, fit position to go forward to win the next general election.”
Keir Starmer says No 10 plan to give every victim named police officer is ‘ridiculous gimmick’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has dismissed a Boris Johnson pledge to provide victims of crime with a named officer to call about their case as a “ridiculous gimmick”.
The prime minister is expected to unveil his new plan for “beating crime” on Tuesday, after leaving self-isolation at his Chequers country retreat.
Mr Johnson vowed on Sunday to make sure that every victim of crime has “a named officer to call, someone who is immediately on your side”, writes The Independent’s Adam Forrest.
No10 refuses to deny reports students would need two jabs to attend university lectures
Downing Street did not deny reports that students would need to be fully vaccinated to attend university lectures.
The Times reported today that the prime minister was “raging” about the lower vaccine uptake among young people. He suggested in video meetings with colleagues that students could face compulsory vaccination.
“You have heard what the PM has said before, specifically that the pandemic is not over,” a No 10 spokesman said.
“We are still looking at the scope for vaccination certifications.”
Asked if there was concern about take-up of the vaccines in younger age groups, the spokesman said: “I think you continue to see more and more young people coming forward to receive the vaccine, both in terms of first doses and now second doses.
“Of course, we want to see more people come forward to receive it.
“We would like to see everybody who is invited to come forward and receive the vaccination to do so. That’s the message we continue to try and give to young people.”
UK ‘not out of woods’ on Covid despite encouraging fall in cases, says Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has cautioned against claims that the UK may have passed the peak of its third wave of Covid-19, warning that “we’re not out of the woods yet”.
While the drop in daily cases from almost 55,000 on 17 July to fewer than 30,000 on Sunday was “encouraging”, Downing Street said the prime minister believes that the impact of relaxations introduced a week ago could soon start driving numbers back up again.
Step 4 of Mr Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown – which saw an end to mandatory face-coverings and work-from-home guidance as well as the reopening of nightclubs – had always been expected to result in an increase in cases, said a No 10 spokesperson.
Five hundred sites set up for double-jabbed to skip isolation
Downing Street has said around 500 sites would be set up this week where double-jabbed workers would be exempt from self-isolation if they are coronavirus contacts.
The government has promised up to 500 sites critical to food supplies and 200 covering emergency and transport workers will take part in the programme, with tests replacing quarantine.
A No 10 spokesman was unable to say how many sites were currently operating the scheme.
But he added: “We expect 500 sites to be able to test within this week and we said at the end of last week we have rolled out the workplace daily testing following the Government’s close engagement with industries that have been affected by self-isolation.
“It’s obviously the case that we want to avoid any disruption in critical services.”
