Brexit news – live: ‘Unbelievable mayhem’ coming to Dublin port as lorries already turned away at UK border

We all have to improvise in these unusual times. That applies to the Peter Mandelson Memorial Dim Sum Supper just as much as to any other venerable institution of the unwritten British constitution, writes John Rentoul. 

One of the great strengths of the constitution is that it can adapt in a crisis, so the participants in the supper were undaunted by the closure of restaurants.

The dim sum deliberations proceeded without the dim sum. As with most politics, this year’s proceedings took place over Zoom. Just to preserve the spirit of the occasion, I cooked some duck gyoza from Itsu afterwards (recommended).  

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The Government is facing increasing pressure from teaching unions to delay the reopening of all schools in England amid fears over the spread of the new strain of Covid-19.

The National Education Union (NEU) said all primary and secondary schools should remain closed for two weeks following the Christmas break, while the NASUWT has written to the Education Secretary calling for an “immediate nationwide move to remote education” for all pupils.

On Friday, Gavin Williamson confirmed that all London primary schools will remain shut next week – rather than just those in certain boroughs as set out earlier in the week.

But unions say extending that to all schools in England is “the only sensible and credible option”.

General secretary of the NEU, Dr Mary Bousted, told BBC Breakfast: “The danger is that by opening schools as levels of infection are rising so high and are already so high amongst pupils, then we’re not going to break that chain and our NHS will become overwhelmed so we said all schools should be closed for the first two weeks.

“We regret to have to say that, we don’t want to have to say the schools will close but our fear is if we don’t do something now, they’re going to have to be closed for a much longer period later on this month.”

UK companies exporting into the EU will not have to complete paperwork certifying that their goods are locally made until 2022, reducing the burden of red tape facing many industries.

The UK and EU have agreed the 12-month grace period on so-called rules of origin paperwork to give firms time to adapt to the new regime.  

While companies will not have to fill in a mountain of extra forms, they must still abide by rules of origin during the grace period. That means goods must be locally sourced, or for have had sufficient work carried out on them in the UK.

The Independent’s business correspondent, Ben Chapman, has more:

Neil O’Brien, Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, has published a Twitter thread criticising a host of Telegraph articles which attempted to play down the coronavirus pandemic or called for easing of restrictions. 

Responding to an opinion piece in the newspaper titled, “Let’s admit what we got wrong in 2020, and shake things up in 2021”, Mr O’Brien said: “Great idea.  I have some suggestions.”

He proceeded to link to a series of articles which, shall we say, have not aged well now the UK is suffering from records numbers of cases and hospitalisations. 

David Gauke, a former Conservative minister, later tweeted: “It is brave of a serving Conservative MP to make these points about the Telegraph’s COVID coverage. But he’s spot on.”

Boris Johnson has said he wants to see a public sector recruitment bonanza in 2021 as the UK battles to see off the coronavirus pandemic.

Government figures suggest the number of doctors and nurses rose last year but the Prime Minister said he wanted to go further in the coming 12 months.

A Downing Street spokesman said that Mr Johnson is set to call on those looking for a job or a career change to consider frontline public sector roles in 2021.

More than one million jobs are thought to have been lost as a result of restrictions brought in to control the spread of coronavirus.

As part of efforts to reach those affected by the jobs downturn, there is set to be a recruitment blitz in the coming months to encourage people to consider taking up frontline posts across the NHS, teaching and prisons.

There will also be a specific television advertising drive for police officers, due to start on Tuesday January 5, across England and Wales.

The Independent’s travel correspondent, Simon Calder, answers readers’ questions about the new rules and regulations facing travellers keen on exploring Europe after Brexit. 

Head teachers have criticised the Government’s “utterly chaotic” handling of school reopenings after a decision to close some primary schools was announced at short notice.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on Friday confirmed that all London primary schools will remain shut next week as the capital battles with high levels of coronavirus infections.

Most other primary schools are expected to still open on Monday while secondary schools will reopen on a staggered basis, with exam year pupils returning on January 11 and others returning a week later.

While the London move has been welcomed as the “right decision”, the Government was also accused of making another U-turn just days after it told some schools to reopen for the new term.

Unions have also called for all schools in England to remain closed amid the spread of the new Covid-19 variant.

Tom Prestwich, a head teacher of a primary school in south London, said he learned about the change in policy on Twitter on Friday afternoon.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We’d actually just sent a letter out to parents saying that we were still opening next week, and then after that the story broke pretty much straight away.”

Mr Prestwich added: “I was half expecting some kind of change of policy but by the time it gets to 5pm on a Bank Holiday Friday, you kind of think they might have stuck with a decision, although I am glad that they’ve changed this one.”

Struggling families are set to face a series of hits to their finances in the coming weeks and months thanks to the expiry of government coronavirus support, Labour has warned.

The government’s eviction ban will come to an end on 11 January, with 29 January also the deadline for self-employed people to access grants. This will be followed by the deadline for mortgage holiday applications on 31 January.

Meanwhile universal credit claimants will lose the temporary boost to their social security payments on 6 April. The government’s furlough scheme is scheduled to come to an end on 30 April.

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AFP news agency have shared a clip in which Londoners give their thoughts on Britain’s exit from the European Union, which was completed on New Year’s Eve after the UK agreed a last-minute trade deal with the trading bloc.

The first ferries arrived in Dover and Holyhead after Britain’s exit from the single market and customs union on Friday, with severe border chaos yet to materialise.

Freight and transit companies attributed the relative calm at entry ports to the reduced service on New Year’s Day and warned there could yet be disruption of the kind seen last week during border closures.

Yet despite the lack of tailbacks the new rules still caused problems, with half a dozen lorries turned away from one port for not having the correct paperwork to export to the EU.

The Independent’s policy correspondent Jon Stone has more: