Markus Andrews

Health leaders have warned of patient care coming under threat after Boris Johnson insisted that England can “ride out” the Omicron wave of Covid-19 without new restrictions, despite admitting that NHS hospitals will feel overwhelmed as infections surge in the coming days and weeks.As daily confirmed infections topped 200,000 for first time, the prime minister said the health service was being put on “war footing” ahead of what he acknowledged will be a very difficult period.But he refused to tighten plan B curbs, insisting that high vaccination rates and public compliance with existing restrictions gave England a chance to “find a way to live with this virus” without shutting down social and economic life.The Royal College of Nursing’s general secretary Pat Cullen said that nurses watched his statement at a Downing Street press conference “in disbelief”.“One described to me today that the NHS feels more broken than she’s ever known it,” said Ms Cullen. “This is not hysteria, this is blowing the whistle on falling standards as patient care comes under real threat.“We have called for an honest conversation with the public about how overstretched health and care services are and, tonight, the PM did not start one.”And the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, said: “The prime minister’s attempts to reassure the public that the NHS is not being overwhelmed does not chime with the experience of staff up and down the country who are facing fast-rising hospital admissions, intense pressures on all parts of the health and care system and widespread staff absence.”Some 12 hospitals in England have already declared “critical incidents” – a status that enables health leaders to request assistance from nearby NHS trusts to ensure they can continue to provide essential services.The latest NHS data show that there are 15,044 people with the disease in English hospitals – a figure that has doubled over the past two weeks. Roughly two-thirds of these patients are receiving care primarily for Covid, officials have said.Current hospitalisation rates in England are some way off the levels reached during the 34,000 peak of the second wave.But chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty said the numbers were nonetheless “significant”, saying: “If we went back to mid-December when we were still with the Delta wave the numbers were between 6,000 and 6,500. A very substantial increase.”Pressures have been exacerbated by mounting staff absences due to the spread of Omicron in hospitals and the continuing high demand for urgent care services.As staff shortages disrupted not only healthcare but also schools and transport, Mr Johnson announced plans for daily lateral flow tests for 100,000 critical workers from 10 January to keep key services up and running.He revealed that troops could soon be sent into hospitals, with officials tasked with identifying the trusts most likely to need military assistance.Mr Johnson has previously said that plan B restrictions imposed on 8 December – involving mandatory face coverings in public places, Covid passes for mass-audience events and work from home guidance – would be tightened if the NHS was at risk of being overwhelmed.He today refused to define the term “overwhelmed”, but conceded: “I think that different trusts in different places at different moments will feel at least temporarily overwhelmed, and hospitals at the moment are sending out signals that they are feeling the pressure hugely.”Plymouth’s Derriford Hospital became the latest to adopt the emergency stance on Tuesday, with just under 500 of its staff off sick or isolating due to Covid.“Attendances in our emergency department are high; there are ongoing challenges in discharging patients who are well enough to leave hospital, and we are seeing an increase in staff sickness, all of which leads to longer waits than we would like for patients to be seen and admitted,” said Jo Beer, chief operating officer of the University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust.Latest figures showed a daily total of 218,724 positive coronavirus tests recorded across the UK on Tuesday – well above the highest tallies reached during earlier waves of Covid-19.But deaths remained low compared to previous peaks, with 48 reported on Tuesday and 909 over the past week, against a daily record of more than 1,200 in January 2021.The PM has come under pressure to step up restrictions in line with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to rein in soaring numbers of infections.And he acknowledged: “Anyone who thinks our battle with Covid is over is profoundly wrong. This is a moment for the utmost caution.”But he said that he will on Wednesday recommend to cabinet no tightening of plan B restrictions to match Scotland, where nightclubs have been closed and hospitality venues limited to table service, or Wales, where strict limits have been imposed on public gatherings and two-metre social distancing reintroduced in offices and public premises.Mr Johnson said it was important to recognise that curbs on normal life were not “cost-free” in terms of livelihoods and disruption to the education of young people.He accepted that the NHS was under “a lot of pressure”, but said he was “confident that we can get through it”.“We now have a substantial level of protection,” said the prime minister. “So, together with the plan B measures we introduced before Christmas, we have a chance to ride out this Omicron wave without shutting down our country once again.“We can keep our schools and our businesses open and we can find a way to live with this virus.”Mr Johnson said the weeks ahead will be “challenging” but added: “If we all play our part in containing the spread of this virus, the disruptions we face can be far less severe than a national lockdown, with all the devastation that would bring for livelihoods and the life chances of our children.”Mr Johnson said: “There will be a difficult period for our wonderful NHS for the next few weeks because of Omicron. I just think that we have to get through it as best we possibly can.”Infectious disease specialist Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia said that recent modelling had suggested that tougher control measures could actually extend the Omicron wave without having much impact on its severity.“The balance of evidence is supportive of not increasing restrictions at the moment,” said Prof Hunter.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said Mr Johnson’s lateral flow test scheme was “hopelessly inadequate”, reaching only one in 100 of the UK’s 10.6 million key workers:“Key workers do their vital work in teams,” said Ms O’Grady. “Surgeons and nurses need cleaners and porters. Food supply needs producers, warehouse staff, drivers, and retailers.“Ministers must explain who is left out, and what they should do if they can’t get tested. The prime minister has known about the shortage of tests for weeks. It beggars belief that he is doing so little, so late.” More

Voters are overwhelmingly opposed to the decision to grant Tony Blair a knighthood, a poll has found.Just 14 per cent of the public agreed with the decision announced in the New Year honours – only three per cent strongly.By contrast 63 per cent were against the move to turn Mr Blair into Sir Tony, 41 per cent of whom said they were strongly against the move.The poll, by YouGov, comes after a petition to block the gong for the ex-Labour prime minister topped 600,000 signatures.The petition argues that Sir Tony’s role in the Iraq war makes him “personally responsible” for many deaths and accuses him of “war crimes”.He has never faced any charges in court over the allegations. On 1 January, Sir Tony was made a member of the Order of the Garter, England’s oldest and most senior chivalric order. In contrast to the wider public, the move was widely welcomed by establishment figures and in Westminster.Keir Starmer, who now leads Labour, on Tuesday morning rejected suggestions that the issue was divisive or “thorny”. “I don’t think it’s thorny at all – I think he deserves the honour,” the opposition told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. He added: “Obviously I respect the fact that people have different views.”Sir Keir, himself made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2014 New Year Honours, added: “He won three elections, he was a very successful prime minister.” YouGov poll a representative sample of 2441 GB adults on 4 January 2022. The pollster found opposition to the move across the political spectrum, with Labour voters against by 21 to 56 per cent, and Tory voters against by 10 per cent to 79 per cent.Liberal Democrat voters were the most positive over the decision, opposing it by 44 per cent to 31 per cent.Leave voters were especially hostile, with 59 per cent strongly disapproving, with a total of 77 per cent against to eight in favour. Remainers were 55 per cent against to 25 per cent against. More

Boris Johnson has said it is “absolutely crazy” that people are being put into intensive care because they are refusing the Covid vaccine.The prime minister told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that there were ample slots for people to get vaccinated but some people were still not being jabbed.His chief medical officer Chris Whitty added that he was “saddened” by the numbers of unvaccinated people in intensive care, adding that “the great majority of them are not anti-vaxxers”.It comes after the prime minister said he was minded to stick to the government’s so-called Plan B approach and not bring in further restrictions to fight the Omicron wave.Mr Johnson told reporters: “How absolutely crazy it is, absolutely crazy, that there are two million slots this week for people to get vaccinated and yet the majority of people in ICU for Covid are not vaccinated – 61 per cent.”It is sad but it is also a huge opportunity for us to correct it.”Unvaccinated people are disproportionately likely to become severely ill from Covid and require hospital treatment or even die.Professor Sir Chris Whitty has said there is “misinformation” on the internet “a lot of it deliberately placed” about the potential side effects of the jabs.”In so far as I am frustrated it is simply people deliberately trying to scare away fellow citizens from something that is potentially going to be life-saving for them,” he added.Meanwhile Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific officer, said it would be “untenable” for everyone to be given booster shots “every three or six months”.He added: “That is not the long-term view of where this goes to. There may be some people who will require an additional dose, but longer term I would think that as this becomes a disease which is endemic… it will be something like an annual vaccine like flu or of that order.”Sir Patrick also said: “The good news is that as you get vaccinated more the immune system broadens its response so that it covers more variants.”Over 90 per cent of people over 12 years old in the UK have had their first Covid vaccine dose as of the New Year, with more than 51.7 million Covid vaccines delivered up and down the country.The government says there has been an almost 50 per cent surge in people coming forward for their first Covid vaccine as the booster programme continues. More

The controversial Nationality and Borders Bill will make Black and Asian Britons second-class citizens as they face the possibility of having their UK citizenship revoked without notice, a peer has warned.Lord Woolley, an equalities activist, said he would also face being stripped of citizenship under Clause 9 of the bill in this way as his mother was born in the Caribbean.Under the proposed legislation, which is being debated in the House of Lords on Wednesday, those who are eligible for citizenship of another country could be quietly stripped of UK status if it were deemed to be in the “national interest”.“This will further exacerbate the reality that millions of British people, many of African, Caribbean and Asian descent, are second class citizens,” Lord Woolley told The Independent.“I’m a lord of this realm and yet I’d be rendered as such because my mother was born in Barbados.“For those of us born here to foreign parents, our citizenship is precarious; the government has called it a ‘privilege and not a right’ that can be stripped away and in some cases without appeal.”The amendments to the bill that the House of Lords will vote on are yet to be decided, but The Independent understands Labour peers would be minded to back a move to remove the controversial clause.Lord Woolley, who set up the Operation Black Vote organisation, also pointed to similarities with the Windrush scandal. The Home Office has recently come under fire for human rights breaches by numerous Black claimants.“Surely the Windrush scandal has taught us that when you have a tiered citizenship system, you’re not only viewed as less than, but at times of political stress, you can shockingly be treated as such,” he said.“The Lords must show leadership in its response to this bill.” More

Boris Johnson has pledged to “fortify” critical services against Covid with a ramped-up testing plan.The prime minister announced on Tuesday afternoon that 100,000 critical workers would be given rapid tests for the virus every day.He said organisations covered would include food processing, transport and border security workers.It comes after the UK recorded a further 218,724 cases of Covid-19 in the previous 24 hours.”We’ve identified 100,000 critical workers in areas from food processing to transport to our border force and from 10 January we’ll be rolling out lateral flow testing available on every working day,” the prime minister said in virtual a press conference. “We’ll be sending testing kits directly to these organisations and liaising with them on logistics.”Mr Johnson said he believed the UK could get through the wave of the omicron variant of Covid without a lockdown or closing businesses.”As the NHS moves to a war footing I will be recommending to Cabinet tomorrow we continue with Plan B because the public have responded and changed their behaviour buying valuable time to get boosters in arms,” he said.But he warned that the latest record Covid case figures showed that those who believed the pandemic to be over were “profoundly wrong”.”Previous waves of the pandemic didn’t have a single day with more than 100,000 new cases reported, one day last week we had 200,000 people test positive,” he added.”And the latest figure today is another 218,000, though that includes some delayed reports.”So anyone who thinks our battle with Covid is over, I’m afraid is profoundly wrong. This is a moment for the utmost caution.” More

Government departments in Whitehall are considering whether emergency help from the military might be needed if staff absences soar due to Covid.Downing Street said all departments has been asked to look at plans to cope with huge workforce shortages – and would whether military aid to the civil authorities (Maca) requests would be useful.Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “All departments have been asked to look at how they would mitigate against large-scale absences across their relevant workforces, up to 25%.”He added: “In some circumstances that might require making a Maca request, a military aid request, in other circumstances it might not. There is no blanket requirement for military aid.”Government officials have said any applications for military help were still at the planning stage, but soldiers could be asked to drive ambulances and assist Border Force according to The Times.It comes as business leaders warn that staff absences could soon wreak havoc for the economy, as the latest figures show more than one million people in the UK have tested for the virus over the past week.Iceland has been hit by staff absence rates of about 11 per cent, around 3,300 workers, according to the BBC.Richard Walker, managing director of the supermarket, is among the business leaders calling on the government to cut the Covid isolation period from seven to five days. “The government needs to amend the isolation policy.”Rail passengers have faced cancellations and reduced services to Covid absences. Almost one in 10 rail workers are currently off work, the Rail Delivery Group said.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson’s government refused to rule out the rationing of Covid tests, as No 10 conceded there were periods during recent days when tests had become unavailable online.The PM’s spokesman, asked whether ministers was preparing to “ration” tests in the days ahead, said: “We would obviously need to keep under review, as prevalence is incredibly high, what the right approach might be and we continue to take advice on whether that is necessary.”Pressed on whether government could ruling out the rationing of tests, the spokesman replied: “Without seeking to predict the course of the epidemic and this current wave that we’re in, at the moment those who need tests can get them and there may be times during the day when tests are unavailable.”No 10 said it was “massively increasing capacity” for both PCR and lateral flow tests. “That’s doubled to 900,000 tests available per day and we want to go further and increase that,” said the PM’s spokesman.He added: “We’re doing, I think, roughly around 1.5 million tests across the system each day, which, as I say, is the largest in the world, so there is testing capacity available for those who need it. But we will keep that under review, depending on how prevalence tracks over the coming weeks.”Earlier on Tuesday Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a lack of “sufficient” Covid tests almost two years on from the start of the pandemic was “simply unacceptable”.Sir Keir said the government is “right to say we need tests twice a week for those in secondary school” but insisted “they’re nowhere near achieving that”.Calling for a huge expansion of testing in schools, he explained: “If there’s a number of outbreaks in a school or there is an individual case, we can’t go back to the bubbles or classes all going home. Children spent far too much time out of school for that.”Mr Johnson will hold a virtual press conference at around 5pm Tuesday to answer questions on his government’s approach to tackling the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. More

Keir Starmer today said he would be happy to follow in the footsteps of Tony Blair as he set out his plans for Labour to offer voters a “contract with the British people” at the next general election.The Labour leader said the party will offer a platform based on the principles of security, prosperity and respect at the election which he expects in May 2023.In a speech in Birmingham designed to kickstart his bid to position Labour as the government-in-waiting, he said that he wanted to deliver an administration worthy of the British people, rather than treating politics as a “branch of the entertainment industry”, as he accused Boris Johnson of doing.Starmer said he wanted to follow the examples of former Labour prime ministers Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson and Tony Blair as he attempts – in an echo of Blair’s “new Labour, new Britain” slogan -to “create a new Britain in the 21st century”.But he notably made no mention of predecessor Jeremy Corbyn, saying he had name-checked the trio from Labour’s past because they were proven election-winners.Asked by The Independent whether he was seeking a clash with Corbyn followers, he replied: “I don’t apologise for mentioning Attlee, Wilson and Blair.“The thing that unites those three very different prime ministers is that they all won, they introduced Labour governments that changed Britain for the better.“And I want to be the fourth on that list, writing the next chapter of our history.”Sir Keir rejected accusations that he has yet to spell out a clear picture of what Labour stands for under his leadership.But he set out no new policies in today’s speech, with aides saying that they would be launched over the months leading up to Labour’s annual conference in September.Instead, he said that Labour’s “contract” with voters would include:• A “solemn agreement” to uphold standards of selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.• A “basic right” for individuals to feel safe in their community, to know that the NHS is there for them when they need it and to have job security if they work hard.• The opportunity to thrive, realise ambitions, gain skills and make a good life.• The right to “live in places we care for and to have our lives and ambitions taken seriously”.But he added: “Any successful contract is a two-way deal.“You can expect access to high quality healthcare, but there will be zero tolerance for abuse towards NHS staff.“You can expect the opportunity to acquire new skills but you will be expected to work hard and do your bit.“You can expect better neighbourhood policing but you will be expected to behave like good neighbours in your own community too.”Starmer said that Johnson’s Tory government had shown itself to be “incompetent” just as the UK plunges into a cost of living crisis. And he said ministers had behaved as if the Covid restrictions did not apply to them.Promising to offer “straight leadership”, he added: “I am well aware that just because the Tories lose the public’s trust it doesn’t mean Labour simply inherits it.“Trust has to be earned.”Standing in front of a Union flag, Sir Keir said that Labour had always been a “deeply patriotic” party which had established Nato and given the UK an independent nuclear deterrent.“I don’t think you cease to be a patriot because you notice your country has flaws,” he said. “On the contrary, the reason we in this party want to correct those flaws is precisely because we are patriotic.”He cited previous pledges to provide neighbourhood crime prevention teams, enhance workplace protections, create 100,000 new start-up businesses and invest £28bn in green jobs as examples of Labour’s direction under his leadership.And he promised a long-term plan for the NHS to show how a Labour government would shift its emphasis from emergency care to prevention.Taking aim at Johnson, Sir Keir said: “I don’t think politics is a branch of the entertainment industry. I think it’s the serious business of getting things done.“But I’m afraid at the moment we are going backwards. We have a prime minister who thinks the rules apply to anyone but him. Just when trust in government has become a matter of life and death, for the prime minister it has become a matter of what he can get away with.”He insisted that the shortcomings of the Conservative administration could not be resolved by a change of leader, arguing that they stem not from the PM’s personal flaws but “the flaws of a whole style of government, the flaws of an ideology, of a political party that has been in power too long”.And he concluded: “I believe that the best still lies ahead for this country. But only if we have the courage to create a new Britain. A country in which you and your family get the security, prosperity and respect you deserve.“My contract with the British people will set out how we can create that new Britain.” More

Boris Johnson will hold a virtual press conference later on Tuesday to answer questions on his government’s approach to tackling the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.The prime minister is expected update the country around 5pm after reviewing the latest data on Covid case numbers and hospitalisations from Christmas and New Year.Professor Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and the government’s chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance will join Mr Johnson to set out the latest picture. It comes as the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) called for a more “cautious” approach to curbs in England to bring the country in line with the rest of the UK, as at least six NHS trusts declared critical incidents.Mr Johnson is also under pressure to cut the Covid self-isolation period for people in England from seven to five days, as business chiefs and hospitality leader warn of mass labour shortages.However, No 10 has strongly suggested that Mr Johnson will stick with current plan B measures rather than bring in any major changes for England this week.“At the moment, we don’t see any data that suggests further restrictions would be the right approach – given we know it’s important to strike the right balance between lives and livelihoods,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said on Tuesday.Asked if the government thought plan B is working, the No 10 spokesman said: “We believe this is the right course – asking people to work from home, use the Covid pass and of course the booster programme.”Mr Johnson will hold a cabinet meeting on Wednesday morning, and ministers will update parliament on the government’s review of plan B measures later on Wednesday.Vaccines minister Maggie Throup earlier insisted that “plan B is working” and indicated the government would not heed calls for further curbs. “I don’t see any reason why we need to change,” she told Sky News on Tuesday.At least six NHS trusts are believed to have declared critical incidents, where chiefs are concerned they may not be able to provide priority services. University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay confirmed on Monday evening an “internal critical incident” and some non-urgent operations and procedures would be suspended.Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, warned against any “politicised attempt” to suggest that things are not difficult. The leader of the body representing trusts said decisions on any further restrictions in January should be driven by data rather than “a kind of political virility symbolism”.The vaccines minister also said the government would reject calls to reduce the isolation time from seven to five days. “At the moment, actually, we don’t feel it’s appropriate to reduce it any further because we will be very concerned that people will still be infectious and be able to pass on the disease,” Ms Throup told LBC.But business leaders have warned that staff absences could soon wreak havoc for the economy, as the latest figures show more than one million people in the UK have tested for the virus over the past week.Meanwhile, headteachers have warned that children returning to school in England on Tuesday face disruption to their learning as the Omicron variant of Covid threatens widespread absences of staff and pupils.Prof Neil Ferguson, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said a rise in Omicron cases in schools can now be expected. “We expect to now see quite high infection levels – of mild infection I should emphasise – in school-aged children,” he told the Today programme.But Prof Ferguson also suggested Covid cases should start to drop across the UK in the next one to three weeks. “I think I’m cautiously optimistic that infection rates in London in that key 18 to 50 age group, which has been driving the Omicron epidemic, may possibly have plateaued.”Asked after a speech in Birmingham whether England’s plan B rules should be tightened, Sir Keir Starmer said: “We hope that we don’t need further restrictions. Obviously, there’s cause for concern because of the numbers.”The Labour leader added: “We need better leadership from the government because if we’re to keep our schools open – and we must – what we need is many more of our school children vaccinated. We need much better ventilation – and we’ve been saying this for about a year.” More