Markus Andrews

The UK’s Covid booster rollout will prevent “significant economic restrictions” being reinstated in the UK, Rishi Sunak has insisted, despite growing concern about rising infection rates as winter approaches.The chancellor said the country was “in a very different place to where we were a year ago” and would not need another lockdown even though he admitted the coming months would be “challenging”.His comments came as Downing Street drafted back in the former head of England’s coronavirus vaccine delivery drive in a bid to speed up the booster jab rollout.Dr Emily Lawson was seconded to No 10’s delivery unit – a team in charge of ensuring the government delivers on policies – in April. On Friday it emerged she had returned to the health service at a time when scientific advisers have told the government that plan B measures must be “rapidly” deployed to tackle rising numbers of Covid cases.For the past week, the number of new Covid cases per day has been between 40,000 and 50,000.Scientists on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) said in minutes of a meeting held earlier this month that was published on Friday that a further huge spike in infections as seen in January – which saw a peak of 67,775 cases a day – was “increasingly unlikely”.And they warned that measures from the government’s back-up plan would have greatest effect if brought in all at once at an early, rather than later, stage.Measures that scientists said would have a large impact include a return to compulsory face masks and working from home. The group has also advised that “policy work on the potential reintroduction of measures should be undertaken now so that it can be ready for rapid deployment”.But Mr Sunak told The Times that the UK could not return to “significant economic restrictions” and the vaccine rollout meant that such measure would not be necessary.“There’s a range of options that are available, and those are not options that involve lockdowns or very significant economic restrictions,” Mr Sunak added.On Saturday, a government adviser has said it was “quite questionable” for Mr Sunak to suggest that vaccine boosters will be enough to prevent future lockdowns.Professor Adam Finn, member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told Times Radio: “I think we do, probably need to do more than that now.”Boris Johnson, the prime minister, said on Friday that he does not have plans for another lockdown.On a visit to a vaccination centre in west London, he was asked whether a full lockdown with “stay at home” advice and shops closing was out of the question this winter, and he replied: “I’ve got to tell you at the moment that we see absolutely nothing to indicate that that’s on the cards at all.”However, he has urged people eligible for a booster jab before the winter months to get one as take-up for third doses has been slower than for the first two jabs.In a video posted on Twitter, Mr Johnson said: “This pandemic isn’t over and the danger hasn’t gone away.“It’s just as vital to get your booster if you are called as it was to get your first and second jabs.”The slower progress of uptake for the third jabs as the temperatures drop could be one of the reasons for Dr Lawson is being moved back to the NHS from No 10.An estimated 5.3 million booster doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been delivered in the UK.It means around one in nine people in the UK who have received a first and second dose of vaccine are likely to have also received a booster.Fewer than half of residents in care homes for elderly people in England have received a coronavirus booster jab, according to the latest available NHS data.This is while the average daily hospital admissions in England of people with Covid-19 have climbed to their highest level for nearly eight months.Dame Kate Bingham, ex-chairwoman of the vaccine taskforce, said she feared the “great British success story” of its vaccination scheme is “at risk of stalling”.Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: “I am genuinely worried that the great gains we have made in the last ten months risk being eroded with potentially serious consequences.Meanwhile, a statement from unions representing three workers in the UK criticised the government’s “laissez-faire approach to managing the pandemic”.TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady told the paper: “We all want to beat Covid once and for all and to avoid further lockdowns. But without decisive action now we risk sleepwalking into another winter of chaos.”Additional reporting by PA More

The BBC should hire a political editor who is “pro-Brexit” to replace Laura Kuenssberg if she leaves her role, a senior Conservative MP has said.The high-profile BBC figure is in talks to step down as political editor after six years and switch to presenting the Today programme, it has been reported.Jon Sopel, currently the corporation’s North America editor, is said to be leading the field of internal candidates to replace Ms Kuenssberg at Westminster.But MP Julian Knight, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the corporation should “throw the net wider” and find a Brexiteer to find a replacement if there is a vacancy in the key position.“This would be an opportunity for the BBC, maybe, to look at journalists who had a much more pro-Brexit [approach],” the influential Tory told The Telegraph.Mr Knight added: “In front of our committee [BBC director general] Tim Davie could not name any senior person he had employed during his watch who supported Brexit. Maybe this is a chance to correct that.”The senior MP recently attacked the BBC for not “getting on with it” after the Brexit referendum, saying: “It was not in touch at all over Brexit – it had a collective nervous breakdown in my view.”The media select committee chair did offer praise for Ms Kuenssberg’s work, however, saying that she “will be a really sad loss to the role, she brings real insight”.His call for a pro-Brexit political editor follows Tory concern about the appointment of Jess Brammar to a senior role in BBC News, despite an impartiality row over her old tweets.Some right-wing media outlets drew attention to Ms Brammar’s now-deleted tweets, which were critical of Brexit. BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb – former communications director to Theresa May – reportedly objected to her appointment.After weeks of sniping from Conservative MPs, the former editor of HuffPost UK was given the job of overseeing the BBC’s domestic and international news channels in September.The BBC has not been drawn on reports about Ms Kuenssberg was switching roles, but has confirmed that Mr Sopel would be leaving his current job and returning to the UK.A note seen by The Independent, from head of news Jonathan Munro to staff earlier this week, read: “He will wrap up in Washington at the end of November, then take a career break to catch up with family now dotted around the globe, before returning to a role in the BBC next year.” More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has pledged a £500m package to support parents with young children – but he has been warned it is not enough to make up for cuts and closures.Mr Sunak will announce a range of early years investments that will give children the “best possible start in life” at his Budget on Wednesday.But Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said the government knows the “existing structure is crumbling” and much more was needed to help nurseries, pre-schools and childminders.Labour called the package a “sticking plaster” for the lack of support families with young children have received over the past decade.Kate Green, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said: “This supposed commitment rings hollow after 11 years of Conservative cuts have forced the closure of over 1,000 children’s centres – cutting off the early learning that sets children up for life.She added: “This has come alongside the government stripping away early intervention children’s services, allowing problems to escalate into crises. This is a smokescreen for the Conservatives’ failure to deliver for families.”The funding package announced by Mr Sunak includes around £80m to create another 75 family hubs in local authorities across England. They are support centres for families to access services in one place.A further £100m will go towards supporting the mental health of expectant parents, and around 300,000 of the most vulnerable in society will be supported with an extra £200m to help them through complex issues.The chancellor said: “I passionately believe that we have a duty to give young families and their children the best possible start in life … I’m thrilled that this investment will guarantee that thousands of families across England are given support to lead healthy and happy lives.”But Mr Leitch said nearly 3,000 providers in the early years care sector have closed since the start of 2021 – and 16,000 had shut in the last six years.He told BBC Breakfast: “That tells you we have a crumbling infrastructure, so I come back to this point: it’s no good just having a bit-piece approach to this, it needs a revamp. We need an independent review to look at our early years and education system in the UK.”The sector chief added: “I hope there’s more coming in the spending review, but I do question why would you create another infrastructure of early years support when the existing structure is crumbling around you. “And government knows this is the case. So it’s a bitter pill to swallow, to see all of this and yet the existing system is ignored.”Imran Hussain of the Action for Children charity welcomed “vital” support for family hubs but said he hoped more investment from the chancellor would follow.“After years of cuts to these services, we hope this will mark the start of a programme of investment to ensure all children can access high-quality early years services,” he said.Vicky Nevin of the NSPCC said she was worried that support for health visiting was “missing” from the funding package. “Health visitors are in a prime position to spot when parents are struggling … But the workforce has been drastically cut by around a third since 2015.”The NSPCC is calling on Mr Sunak to provide additional funding for 3,000 health visitors so that new parents can access mental health support after a new poll revealed that more than half of parents with young children felt isolated or overwhelmed during the past 18 months. More

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries has threatened Twitter, Facebook and other social media firms with a “financial hammer blow” if they fail to act on online abuse.The cabinet minister said online hate has “poisoned public life” as she pledged to bring in sweeping reforms in memory of Conservative colleague Sir David Amess.Ms Dorries said the government had decided to re-examine its upcoming Online Safety Bill in the light of Sir David’s death.Writing in the Daily Mail, the culture secretary said social media giants “need to hand over the data more quickly and rapidly remove the content themselves … this bill will force platforms to stop amplifying hateful content via their algorithms.”She added: “And here’s the bottom line. If social media companies fail in any of those duties, they’ll face a financial hammer blow. Ofcom will be able to fine them up to 10% of their annual global turnover.”The government has stopped short of committing to criminal sanctions for social media bosses with its bill – although a criminal offence has been included as a “deferred power” if tech firms fail to live up to their new responsibilities.Recently-appointed to lead the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), Ms Dorries is thought to be keen on pushing further than her predecessor Oliver Dowden with changes to the bill.In a signal she intends to take a tougher stance, she wrote: “But big tech can – and must – do more right now. These are some of the most technologically sophisticated, wealthiest companies in the world.”Ms Dorries added: “They have the tools to tackle hatred. Too many times, they’ve jeopardised people for profit. Enough is enough. Social media companies have no excuses. And once this bill passes through parliament, they will have no choice.”The promise to bring in big fines for failures to act comes as Twitter’s UK boss said the Online Safety Bill needs more clarity.Katy Minshall, head of UK public policy for the social media network, said fines would create an “almost existential” threat to social media platforms.She told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme the Bill would hand Ms Dorries “unusual powers” to change regulator Ofcom’s code of practice that would be used to regulate the likes of Facebook and Twitter.She said the Bill had posed important questions such as “how do we define legal but harmful content” and “what sorts of exemptions should we make for journalistic content or content of democratic importance”.Ms Minshall said: “These are questions that parliament needs to answer,” adding that banning anonymity online would “fail to deal with the problems of online abuse”.Earlier this week, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer challenged Boris Johnson over sanctions for tech bosses, claiming the bill in its current form would not mean criminal penalties.Mr Johnson insisted that new internet safety laws would impose “criminal sanctions with tough sentences” on firms allowing “foul content” on their platforms.Speaking at PMQs on Wednesday, the prime minister vowed to “bring [the bill] forward before Christmas”. But Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs the draft scrutiny committee would have to report back in December before the legislation could be brought forward.Meanwhile, Ms Dorries said the killing of Sir David last week may not have been stopped by a crackdown on online abuse, but it had highlighted the threats faced by people in the public eye.The cabinet minister revealed she had faced horrific abuse, including one person “saying they wanted to see me trapped in a burning car, and watch ‘the flames melt the flesh on my face’”.She added: “If you’re in the public eye, and particularly if you’re a woman, death threats and online abuse are the backdrop to your daily life. It’s a dark, foreboding cloud that follows you everywhere you go.” More

The UK must stump up £1.9bn a year more to pay its “fair share” in helping poor countries meet the climate emergency and lags behind 6 other leading nations, a new analysis says.Boris Johnson has made “climate finance” – to ensure “guilty” industrialised nations aid developing ones in adapting to the devastating effects of historic carbon emissions – a key issue for the Cop26 summit.But the study, by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), finds the UK – far from being a world leader – is falling far short of the contribution it should make to a $100bn (£72.5bn) global fund.Based on national income, population and historic emissions, the UK “owed” £4.2bn in 2017-18, but handed over just £2bn, only 48 per cent.The prime minister’s recent promise of around £2.3bn each year until 2025 – to “build our credibility” with poor countries, he said – takes the UK to only 55 per cent of that “fair share” of £4.2bn in 2021-22, the ODI has concluded.In contrast, France, Germany, Denmark, Japan and Luxembourg are on course to pay their dues over the same time period, while the Netherlands (78 per cent) is also doing better than the UK.The UK’s shortfall comes after The Independent revealed that future climate finance payments will be swiped from the shrunken foreign aid budget – despite a requirement that they are “additional”.Dr Laetitia Pettinotti, a senior research officer at the ODI, told The Independent: “Given its historic responsibility in climate change, given its population and its economy – and even with the commitment of £11.6bn to 2025 – we calculated that the UK is falling short by £1.9bn per year.“The UK is lagging behind six other developed countries, in terms of a fair contribution, and the money will be taken from the aid budget, which is against the principle that any climate finance should be additional.”The ODI describes its calculations as a “first attempt” to apportion responsibility for meeting the $100bn goal – as the rich world remains $20bn short.It is also seeking to correct the major weakness of having no rules for agreeing how much each country should pay, warning that “disputes risk poisoning other parts of the climate negotiations”.“The target is collective with no rule apportioning contribution from each country,” Dr Pettinotti added.“Not only the target has not been met, but some large economies and historic emitters, like the UK or the US, are not paying enough climate finance relative to other smaller economies and lesser emitters, such as Norway or Denmark.”Using past carbon emissions “captures the ‘polluter pays’ principle”, the think tank says. They conclude that the UK has the fifth greatest historic debt, behind the US, Japan, Germany and Canada.Only emissions since 1990 – when a “clear scientific consensus” about global heating was formed – are included, although the starting point could have been the Industrial Revolution, which began in Britain.The ODI compared the efforts by the 23 countries required, since the $100bn goal was first set by the United Nations at Copenhagen in 2009, to provide money.Its research says France has committed $7.1bn of annual climate finance in the years to come and “so the country will be meeting its fair share”.Germany also plans to hike its contribution to $7.1bn (£5bn), which – with additional loans from the KfW development bank – means it is “likely” to meet its target of $7.9-8.8bn.The worst-performing countries are Australia (7 per cent), Canada (20 per cent) and the US (26 per cent), while Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece are among countries that fail to even provide sufficient data.However, despite its large shortfall, the UK is praised for giving grants, rather than loans, as many other countries do, and for better reporting methods.Downing Street has been asked to respond to the criticism that the UK’s contribution to the $100bn fund fails to meet its “fair share”.The US’s lowly position comes despite Joe Biden pledging to double its contribution to $11.4bn (£8bn) per year and urging other wealthy countries to follow suit.In response, Mr Johnson released £550m of climate funds, but did not increase the UK’s annual contribution – and confirmed it would come from aid spending. More

The UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with New Zealand is a “disgrace” that will undercut farmers by shipping in meat produced to lower welfare and environmental standards, a senior government climate adviser has said.Boris Johnson’s government claimed the agreement-in-principle struck earlier this week would boost trade by ending tariffs and cut red tape for British businesses.But Lord Deben – chair of the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) which advises the government – said the deal put both British farmers and consumers at risk.“The New Zealand trade deal is a disgrace,” the former Tory agriculture minister told a farming conference event.Lord Debden added: “It is not acceptable and it is completely at odds with everything the government has promised to do to safeguard our farmers and protect UK consumers. We are looking for sustainability – not unsustainable trade deals.”International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told British farmers they should not worry about the deal, saying it was a “possibility” they could start sending more lamb to New Zealand rather than suffer from cheap imports.But both opposition parties and agricultural groups have condemned the new trade deal, saying it would damage British farmers by shipping in cheaper meat produced to lower standards.Speaking at the Soil Association’s conference, Lord Debden called for clarity from ministers on the Environmental Land Management Scheme – the standards designed to replace schemes currently available under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.The top climate adviser claimed the government’s claims on both the environment and farming were “too vague, lacked substance and was ducking the chance to achieve clarity”.The government’s food strategy adviser Henry Dimbleby also attacked the government for “ignoring his advice” – saying the deal could jeopardise Britain’s environmental standards.“There is no point in creating a food and farming system here that looks after animals, sequesters carbon, and supports biodiversity, if overseas products on our shelves don’t do the same,” he said.National Farmers’ Union (NFU) president Minette Batters said the new deal – coupled with the earlier agreement signed with Australia – will open the UK to “significant extra volumes of imported food” while “securing almost nothing in return for UK farmers”.Ms Batters said: “This could damage the viability of many British farms in the years ahead, to the detriment of the public, who want more British food on their shelves, and to the detriment of our rural communities and cherished farmed landscapes.”The Department for International Trade said the deal would “remove barriers to trade and deepen access for our advanced tech and services companies”, and it would also make it easier for small businesses to take advantage of the New Zealand market.Tariffs as high as 10 per cent will be removed on a huge range of UK goods – from clothing and footwear to buses, ships, bulldozers and excavators.However, the government’s own forecasts predict a trade deal with New Zealand could overall slightly reduce the size of the UK economy, with gains from cheaper imports being offset by damage to domestic farming communities. More

Britain must not become “dependent” on China and should not allow key parts of national infrastructure to be built with Beijing’s involvement, foreign secretary Liz Truss has suggested, days after Boris Johnson kept the door open to investment from Beijing. Ms Truss told the Daily Telegraph that the UK government should treat the involvement of Chinese companies with caution in areas such as cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum technology and 5G technology.Her comments came after Mr Johnson said on Monday that China would continue to play a “gigantic part” in the UK’s economy for years to come, adding that he did not want ministers to “pitchfork away” Chinese investment. Ms Truss indicated that Chinese state-controlled companies should not be involved in contracts to build Sizewell C – a planned nuclear plant in Suffolk.The firm China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) is part of a consortium behind Sizewell C and has an agreement to construct 20 per cent of the plant if the project is approved.When asked about the involvement of Chinese state-owned companies in the construction of the UK’s nuclear power plants, Ms Truss said: “I think it’s very important that we don’t become strategically dependent and I think it’s important that we make sure that we’re working, particularly in areas of critical national infrastructure, with reliable partners.”She later added: “It is very important that we don’t become strategically dependent on high-risk vendors in this space.“There are other areas like quantum, artificial intelligence, cyber security where we need to make sure the partners we’re innovating with are reliable and there is a bond of trust there.”The government has previously pledged to announce funding for a major new nuclear power plant before the next general election, as part of the prime minister’s push to cut carbon emissions and move towards cleaner energy sources.On Monday, Mr Johnson told Bloomberg that ongoing disagreements over human rights in China and the governance of Hong Kong would not lead to Beijing being blocked from working on critical national infrastructure.However, the prime minister added that ministers should be “cautious” about how they handle foreign investment in such projects.“I’m not going to tell you the UK government is going to pitchfork away every overture from China,” he said.“China is a gigantic part of our economic life and will be for a long time – for our lifetime.“But that does not mean that we should be naive in the way we look at our critical natural infrastructure – you mention nuclear power, you mention 5G technology – those are all legitimate concerns for any government.”The comments follow controversy over the rollout of 5G in the UK, which saw Chinese firm Huawei ultimately excluded from the process on security grounds, leaving the country reliant on only two equipment vendors while causing a likely delay to the full installation of 5G networks.Mr Johnson’s decision to U-turn on Huawei’s involvement in the rollout, just six months after approving it, came after senior Conservative backbenchers called for the company to be removed from sensitive infrastructure projects. More

An extra £1.5bn will be spent on train and tram upgrades in England’s cities, as Rishi Sunak seeks to ward off protests that transport pledges to the North and Midlands are being broken.Next week’s Budget will see the extra cash pumped into local funding pots and confirm that a further £1.2bn will be made available to improve much-criticised bus services.But the move is unlikely to dilute criticism that a long-promised “levelling up” plan – to end very slow journey times between big cities outside London – has effectively been scrapped.The Independent revealed that local leaders are set to be offered only a cut-price “bare minimum” of improvements and not the £39bn Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme backed by Boris Johnson.Demands for an ambitious underground through station in Manchester are also believed to have been blocked – forcing trains to reverse, creating a bottleneck and adding to journey times.The Northern Powerhouse Rail blueprint is now believed to have been delayed, after the prime minister demanded more ambition from the Treasury, which is desperate to cut costs.The i newspaper reported that an overall Integrated Rail Plan has been pushed back until November – when it was due before next Wednesday’s three-year spending review – to allow No 10 and No 11 to agree on a rewrite.Mr Johnson backed a new line between Leeds and Manchester in July 2019, but the project is now set to be downgraded and involve mainly upgrades to existing Transpennine lines.Next Wednesday, in his Budget, Mr Sunak will announce that five-year City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements will be boosted from £4.2bn to £5.7bn.It will fund new carriages for Greater Manchester’s Metrolink, an expansion of tram networks in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, and battery packs for Merseyrail trains to extend its network.The £1.2bn to improve bus services is part of a £3bn pot already unveiled by Mr Johnson.The Chancellor said: “Great cities need great transport and that is why we’re investing billions to improve connections in our city regions as we level up opportunities across the country.“There is no reason why somebody working in the North and Midlands should have to wait several times longer for their bus or train to arrive in the morning compared to a commuter in the capital.”The prime minister was widely expected to unveil details of the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme in his speech to Tory conference, but raised eyebrows when he gave it only a passing mention.The project was first announced when George Osborne was chancellor but – nearly half a decade later – no concrete plans have been published, despite better transport being seen as key to “levelling up” hopes. More