Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson will on Tuesday declare that Britain can “live with the virus”, as he sets out plans for a winter without lockdowns despite concerns over mounting pressure on the NHS and schools, saying that such measures will only be used “as a last resort”.The prime minister’s claim comes just a day after chief medical officer Chris Whitty warned of a difficult winter for the health service along with disruption to education, and said that “anybody who believes that the big risk of Covid is now all in the past … has not understood where we’re going”.Public health experts responded with horror to the message that is to be sent out by the PM in his winter plan for coronavirus. The plan will include the rollout of single-dose vaccinations for 12- to 15-year-olds, alongside booster jabs for older people – probably from 50 years of age – but will also state that mitigation measures, such as mandatory masks, Covid passes and new lockdowns, are being kept “in reserve” for use only in the event of a sharp new spike in cases.Speaking ahead of the formal announcement of the plan, which will be made in a statement by health secretary Sajid Javid to the House of Commons, Mr Johnson said that the UK’s successful vaccination programme was the key to the UK being able to return to a more normal life.“The pandemic is far from over, but thanks to our phenomenal vaccine programme, new treatments and testing, we are able to live with the virus without significant restrictions on our freedoms,” said the prime minister.The plan will set out “a clear plan for the autumn and winter, when the virus has a natural advantage, to protect the gains we have made”, he said.Epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University London, told The Independent the PM’s comments “betray a complete lack of understanding of public health”, asking: “How are we going to live with a surge which is already producing 1,000 deaths a week and 1,000 admissions a day, and when the A&E departments are already full even before the winter has begun?“Yes, we are in a much better position because of the vaccines, but right across Europe there are countries with similar vaccination rates – or lower vaccination rates – that have far fewer cases and lower hospitalisation rates because they are willing to accept the simple mitigation measures, on things like ventilation and mask-wearing, that we are doing nothing on.“There are going to be people dying this winter and there are going to be health staff being burnt out by the pressure, and the ones who suffer most will be the vulnerable and elderly and ethnic minorities. That is what living with the virus means.”Public health professor Gabriel Scally, of the University of Bristol, told The Independent he was “deeply worried by a government that seems to think there is an acceptable level of deaths”.“Everything seems to have moved to being optional, rather than part of an organised plan to get the virus under control and potentially eliminated, as we do with all other dangerous and infectious diseases,” said Prof Scally. “If a new disease came along that was causing 1,000 deaths a week, we would be doing absolutely everything to stop it, but it seems that because we have already lost 160,000 people, we have been lulled into thinking that this is acceptable.”The announcement of the winter plan comes a day after the chief medical officers (CMOs) of the four nations of the UK – including Prof Whitty – cleared the way for all teenagers to receive one dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will consider emerging international data before deciding whether this age group should also receive second doses, but this will not be before the spring term.Around 3 million children aged 12-15 are now expected to receive the jab in school assembly halls and gyms or at GP surgeries, starting as early as next week.Although the move overturns a decision by the JCVI not to approve universal jabs, the committee’s chief Wei Shen Lim insisted there was “no conflict”, as his independent panel was looking at health issues only, while the CMOs took into account the wider harm done to children by disruption to their education.Prof Whitty said it had been a “difficult decision” to make, after the JCVI said that the balance between the benefit from vaccines and the risk of side effects was “marginal”. But he said the CMOs would not be recommending the jabs “unless we felt that benefit exceeded risk”.“What we’re not trying to do is say to children, ‘you must, must, must, must, must’,” he said. “What we’re saying is that we think, on balance, the benefits, both at an individual level and in terms of wider indirect benefits to education – and through that to public health – are in favour, otherwise we would not be making this recommendation.”Parental consent will not be required if the child is considered competent to make a decision by themselves, but Prof Whitty said that in the “great majority” of cases, children and their parents come to the same decision.However, he warned that extending the vaccination programme did not mean that the threat from Covid-19 was over.“Anybody who believes that the big risk of Covid is now all in the past, and [that] actually it’s too late to be making a difference, has not understood where we’re going to head as we go into winter, when there will continue to be challenges, and there will continue to be pressure on the NHS, and there will … continue to be disruption to education from Covid,” he said.As Mr Johnson prepared to unveil his winter plan, latest official figures showed 61 deaths and 1,076 hospitalisations reported on 13 September. The total of 987 deaths in the UK over the past seven days was 25 per cent up on the previous week, while weekly hospital admissions with Covid rose by 5 per cent to 6,917 over the same period.However, positive tests for the virus over the seven-day period fell by 8.4 per cent to 241,644, at a time when schools in England were returning and many workers were returning to the office.Downing Street sources said that the number of deaths and hospitalisations had remained “relatively stable” over the past month.And Public Health England analysis suggested that two doses of vaccine had led to the prevention of 24,702,000 infections and 112,300 deaths over the eight months to 27 August.The decision to vaccinate teenagers was broadly welcomed.Aris Katzourakis, a professor of evolution and genomics at Oxford University, said he was “glad the decision to go ahead with one dose has been agreed”, but added: “I will never understand why it took so long to get there, and I hope this signals a change in direction, to take adolescent vaccination a lot more seriously and to quickly move to full coverage like other countries have done quite some time ago.”Teaching unions warned that turning school halls into vaccination centres could disrupt learning.“Schools are not medical centres, and while it might be convenient to administer the rollout of vaccinations for 12- to 15-year-olds on school sites, teachers and headteachers already have an important and demanding job to do, from which they should not be distracted,” said the general secretary of teachers’ union NASUWT, Patrick Roach. 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Boris Johnson will face more rumblings of discontent from Tory MPs as he looks to force his plans for a £12bn tax hike to pay for the NHS and social care through the House of Commons in a single day on Tuesday.The prime minister’s plan has been blamed for a slump in the polls which saw Conservatives overhauled by Labour last week, and one backbench critic told The Independent that rebel numbers will be bolstered by the hostile reception to the proposed 1.25 per cent hike in national insurance contributions (NICs) for employers and employees.But with just five Tory MPs opposing against the plan last Wednesday, Mr Johnson’s working majority of 83 is under little threat even if the rebels are joined by some of the 37 Conservatives who did not vote in last week’s division.After securing cabinet approval for the new health and social care levy, Mr Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak denied opponents the time to foment a successful revolt against the plans by frogmarching MPs into a procedural vote the following day to approve the raising and spending of the money to fund the plan. His decision to complete the approval of the new levy – which breaks a Tory manifesto commitment from the 2019 election – risks further stoking anger among backbenchers who fear voter anger over the tax rise could cost them their seats.One Tory backbencher said: “There are many who voted with the government grudgingly last week who are now more unhappy about it because they have seen the overwhelmingly negative reaction from business and individuals who understand the risk of putting a tax on jobs at a time when we need to get the economy firing on all cylinders again.“There are lots of people speaking to the chancellor behind the scenes about the need to get our low-tax reputation back, and I’d anticipate there will be more willing to vote against the plans now than there were last week.”Last week’s vote means that the Commons is unable to amend the Health and Social Care Levy Bill to change the way the money is raised or spent, and despite Labour and Liberal Democrat opposition, Tory rebels are highly unlikely to muster the numbers needed to block the legislation on Tuesday.Critics of the NICs hike were seeking to gather support around an amendment from Tory backbencher Marcus Fysh, which would allow cash raised by the levy to be spent on health and social care “in current or future years”.The Yeovil MP told The Independent that this would give ministers the option of using some or all of the money raised from the new levy to encourage individuals to invest in insurance against future care needs, rather than being forced to spend it on the immediate requirements of the health and care system.“The amendment would allow us to start having the conversation about what the best system is for the future,” said Mr Fysh. “It would mean that if future ministers want to create incentives for investment into some kind of modern insurance scheme, officials wouldn’t be able to tell them that the law bars them from doing that.”Veteran Conservative MP Sir Peter Bottomley said there were flaws in Mr Johnson’s scheme, but that MPs were nonetheless likely to allow it to pass on Tuesday.“What’s being proposed is not perfect, but doing nothing isn’t perfect either,” he said. “I would like to see a savings market for care needs develop, but that may have to wait for adaptations to the current scheme to be brought forward by this government or its successor.” More

Michael Gove made crude sexual comments, joked about paedophilia within top levels of government, and used a racist slur in a series of remarks in his twenties, The Independent can reveal.The Cabinet Office minister also described Prince Charles as a “dull, wet, drippy adulterer” in speeches at the Cambridge Union while he was a student at Oxford, and after his graduation while working as a journalist.In apparent attempts at humour, Mr Gove referred to people living in countries colonised by the British as “fuzzy-wuzzies”, accused the late former Tory minister Sir Leon Brittan of being a paedophile, and made a string of sexual jokes at the expense of Conservative minister Lucy Frazer.The chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, who has been tipped for the position of either foreign secretary or home secretary in a potential reshuffle, also described Margaret Thatcher’s policies as a “new empire” where “the happy south stamps over the cruel, dirty, toothless face of the northerner”, and said that gay people “thrive primarily upon short-term relations”.Mr Gove made the comments – which were met at the time by cheers, stunned laughter, and shouts of “shame” – at three evening debates at the Cambridge Union in February 1993, December 1993 and during the winter of 1987, recordings of which came to light this week.By 1993 Mr Gove had forged a career in television at the BBC, working on the politics programme On the Record, and had performed on Channel 4’s short-lived comedy programme A Stab in the Dark.In February of that year, Mr Gove made a number of comments about the then European commissioner Sir Leon Brittan, speaking in favour of the motion “This house would rather have a degree from the university of life”.Imagining an exchange between the two men, Mr Gove said: “[Leon] said: ‘Cambridge taught me an appreciation of music. And in particular an appreciation of the mature male soprano voice.’”Mr Gove further imagined Sir Leon telling him that there was “no sound sweeter” than a young boy’s voice breaking, apart from the sound of the same boy involved in a sex act.Sir Leon was a key cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government and, before his death in 2015, was targeted by Scotland Yard in a VIP sexual abuse investigation triggered by the testimony of fantasist Carl Beech. The allegations against Sir Leon were found to be false, and Beech was sentenced to 18 years for perverting the course of justice and for fraud.Mr Gove went on to joke about reporting Sir Leon to “special branch”, saying that he “now satisfies his desires in the Bois de Boulogne and various other Brussels hangouts.”In December of 1993 he made a speech in support of the motion “This house prefers a woman on top”.Mr Gove boasted that current justice minister Lucy Frazer, who had invited him to speak at the time, was “actually capable of tempting me into bed with her”, and implied that one college’s entire rugby club had had group sex with her.He then referred to her “preference for peach-flavoured condoms” and said she had done “remarkably well” to come from “the back streets of the slums of Leeds”.The Independent understands that Michael Gove and Lucy Frazer were not romantically involved, and that his descriptions were purely fictitious.In 1987, when Mr Gove was in his final year at Oxford University and serving as president-elect of its debating society, he spoke in favour of the motion “This house believes that the British empire was lost on the playing fields of Eton” as part of an intervarsity debating competition at the Cambridge Union.In making his case, he used a racial slur, saying: “It may be moral to keep an empire because the fuzzy-wuzzies can’t look after themselves.“It may be immoral to keep an empire because the people of the third world have an inalienable right to self-determination, but that doesn’t matter whether it’s moral or immoral.”Referring to the practice of British rule, Gove said that “Eton took the cream of the colonial system, it took fettered foreigners and it turned them into gentlemen.”“Fettered” is a term that is used to describe people, often slaves, who have been restrained with chains or manacles, typically around the ankles.He later went on to describe the economist John Maynard Keynes as a “homosexualist”, adding: “Many of us are familiar with the fact that homosexuals thrive primarily on short-term relations.”The speech also included Mr Gove’s opinions of Margaret Thatcher’s policies, which he described as “rigorously, vigorously, virulently, virilely, heterosexual”.He continued: “We are at last experiencing a new empire: an empire where the happy south stamps over the cruel, dirty, toothless face of the northerner.“At last Mrs Thatcher is saying I don’t give a fig for what half of the population say because the richer half will keep me in power. This may be amoral, this may be immoral, but it’s politics and it’s pragmatism.”Mr Gove, who became an MP in 2005, also said that the Prince of Wales was an example of how university education makes people boring. He referred to him as “a dull, wet, drippy adulterer whose romantic conversation is dominated by lavatorial detail”.Another jibe was made at the expense of the then president of the union, with Mr Gove saying: “Putting you in charge of the Cambridge Union was rather like putting Slobodan Milosevic in Serbian high command in charge of a rape crisis centre.”More recently, in 2017, when appearing on the BBC’s Today programme, Mr Gove joked that being interviewed by the presenter John Humphrys was like going into Harvey Weinstein’s bedroom – “You just pray that you emerge with your dignity intact.” Mr Gove later apologised, saying it had been a “clumsy attempt at humour”.The Liberal Democrats have called for Boris Johnson to consider whether Mr Gove should remain in the cabinet in light of the comments.Wendy Chamberlain MP, Liberal Democrat chief whip, said: “Michael Gove should be ashamed that he ever thought these things, let alone said them. These inappropriate and racist remarks are not befitting of a government minister, not befitting of a journalist, in fact not befitting of anyone.“The prime minister should consider whether this is the type of person that deserves to be sat around the cabinet table. However, given Boris Johnson’s own history of disgraceful remarks, I expect this will be another shameful issue he lets go unchallenged.”Mr Gove and Ms Frazer declined to comment. More

A cabinet minister is under fire after wrongly claiming that universal credit claimants could recoup their £20-a-week benefit cut by working just 2 extra hours, when the reality is up to 9 hours, experts say.Therese Coffey got her sums badly wrong as she ruled out a rethink on next month’s harsh reduction, which is predicted to plunge half a million more people into poverty, including 200,000 children.Pointing to “record numbers of vacancies” as the UK emerges from Covid, the work and pensions secretary said: “I’m conscious that £20 a week is about two hours’ extra work every week.“We will be seeing what we can do to help people perhaps secure those extra hours, but ideally to make sure they’re also in a place to get better-paid jobs as well.”But the claim was quickly rubbished when it was pointed out that universal credit is deliberately “tapered”, so a huge chunk of the payment is taken back as earnings rise.The respected think tank Resolution Foundation, experts in work incentives, said claimants take home as little as £2.24 for every hour worked on the national minimum wage of £8.91, after travel and childcare costs.They would need to work an extra six hours a week to make up the £20 cut in support, rising to nine hours if they pay tax and national insurance.The think tank said it was also unrealistic to expect people to be able to increase their hours overnight, and that to assume so ignores the reality that many claimants cannot work at all, for health or childcare reasons.“Even for those in a position to work, a claimant on the national living wage will take home as little as £2.24 from an extra hour’s work,” said Adam Corlett, Resolution Foundation’s principal economist.“A small increase in working hours will be nowhere near enough to cover the £20-a-week cut coming their way in just one month’s time.”Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, was more blunt, saying: “This is a lie, and the work and pensions secretary either knows she’s lying or shouldn’t be in the job.”But in the Commons, Ms Coffey refused to acknowledge her mistake, or apologise – while admitting that “every single UC payment depends on the individual”.During questions, MPs were told it was not possible to provide a “robust estimate” of the effects on poverty, although several independent studies have warned it will soar.Ms Coffey said: “As we always knew the uplift was going to be temporary, an impact assessment was not undertaken.”Poverty campaigners have warned that the cut – worth £1,040 a year to millions of people – will be the biggest overnight reduction in social security for many decades.Most families affected have somebody in work, they point out, despite Boris Johnson’s claim that the move is intended to encourage people into jobs. More

Work and Pensions Secretary suggests Universal Credit claimants work more hours to cover cutsTherese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, has been accused of lying or incompetency after she suggested people set to lose £20 a week from their Universal Credit (UC) payments could work extra hours to make up for the cut.The Cabinet minister defended the government’s plan to end the increase introduced during the pandemic by saying it had always been “temporary”.“I’m conscious that £20 a week is about two hours’ extra work every week – we will be seeing what we can do to help people perhaps secure those extra hours, but ideally also to make sure they’re also in a place to get better paid jobs as well,” she told BBC Breakfast.Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner later tweeted that this was “a lie” and said Ms Coffey “either knows she’s lying or shouldn’t be in the job”. It comes as the Labour Party warned Boris Johnson that his plans to increase National Insurance (NI) payments by 1.25 per cent will disproportionately effect hospitality and retail workers – leaving them as much as £1,000 worse off a year.Meanwhile, the operators of major ports have told The Independent they are highly likely to miss key Brexit deadlines to build new border checks infrastructure, amid a global supply chain crunch and following confusing guidance from the government. Show latest update

1631544125Scottish government to fund pre-Cop26 youth conferenceThe Scottish government will fund a special conference for children and young people linked to Cop26, Nicola Sturgeon has announced.The FM said her administration would pay for the staging of the Conference of Youth event at the end of October – adding that she could not allow youngsters to be “silenced” on the key issue of climate change.Prior to this she said the event had “always been funded by the government of the UN member state hosting Cop”.And while the UK is the host nation for this year’s delayed summit, Ms Sturgeon said: “I don’t know why the UK government has decided not to fund it – and it doesn’t actually really matter. But I do know that we cannot allow the world’s children and young people to be silenced in Glasgow on an issue so vital to their future.”Speaking at the SNP national conference, Ms Sturgeon said the Conference of Youth would bring together young people from 140 countries around the world “specifically mandated by the UN to set out their asks of world leaders”.Five young people from Scotland will be selected to represent the country as delegates and contribute to a statement to be produced at the end of the four day event, setting out what they want to see come from the negotiations.The event will take place from 28-31 October and will be organised by YOUNGO, the youth wing of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).Sam Hancock13 September 2021 15:421631542835Inside Politics: PM ‘dead set’ against new lockdowns as winter plan finalisedIn our daily politics briefing, Matt Mathers writes about the latest Westminster goings-on. “Another week, another U-turn. No 10 is scrapping vaccine passports amid reports of a backlash among the Tory grassroots – and days after the party fell behind Labour in a new poll. Elsewhere, experts are calling for “oppressive” elements of the policing bill to be removed and Labour leader Keir Starmer sets out his vision for the party.”You can read today’s newsletter in full below, and sign up to receive it every morning by clicking here.Sam Hancock13 September 2021 15:201631541930Sturgeon brandishes Brexit ‘unnecessary and unforgivable’More from Nicola Sturgeon now. Scotland’s first minister today described Brexit as an “unnecessary and unforgivable act” – one that is damaging Scottish businesses and causing food shortages.The FM said: “That is what this Tory government has done – and there may yet be worse to come. The combination of the pandemic and a deeply hostile immigration policy is also causing labour shortages across many sectors.“So the short-term costs are very clear – and very bad – but even greater damage will be felt in the long-term.”She continued: “Westminster will use all that damage that they have inflicted as an argument for yet more Westminster control. “They want us to believe we are powerless in the face of the disastrous decisions they have taken for us and the damage those decisions is doing.”Sam Hancock13 September 2021 15:051631540888Starmer meets key workers who oppose NI hikeFollowing my post from this morning, Sir Keir Starmer has released some images of his meeting with three shop workers this morning in Bermondsey, London.Sam Hancock13 September 2021 14:481631539235‘Democracy must prevail,’ Sturgeon says about indyref2Over in Scotland, arguing her case for another Scottish independence referendum, Nicola Sturgeon said her approach to government and to politics “will be, as far as possible, co-operation not confrontation”.She said” “The experience of the pandemic and the challenges we face as a result reinforces my view that this is the right approach.“So it is in that spirit of co-operation that I hope the Scottish and UK governments can reach agreement – as we did in 2014 – to allow the democratic wishes of the people of Scotland to be heard and respected.”“But, this much is clear. Democracy must – and will – prevail,” she said, suggesting Scotland will only accept one outcome. Sam Hancock13 September 2021 14:201631538635No exact plans for what triggers idyref2, Downing Street saysThe prime minister has not set a benchmark for when polling support for independence should trigger a second border poll in Scotland, No 10 said.It comes after Cabinet minister Michael Gove and Scotland secretary Alister Jack signalled that 60 per cent support for an independent Scotland could warrant a new vote.However, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “No, we’ve never set a position on that. Our view is, as set out, that now would simply not be the time to be dealing with this.“The public are looking to governments and leaders across the UK to lead us on dealing with this ongoing pandemic and recovering the economy.”Pressed on the matter, the spokesman added: “We haven’t set any target or number.”Sam Hancock13 September 2021 14:101631537946Anyone losing £20 a week in UC ‘could switch jobs’ – No 10Downing Street has suggested people who face losing £20 a week in Universal Credit could “progress” in their careers – or find a new one. Asked about the move by reporters, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “We know people have to adjust to a change in their payment and we are supporting people to increase their incomes in a number of ways.“We are helping people learn new skills so they can progress to better jobs, indeed our Plan for Jobs provides a number of schemes which will help people learn these new skills and progress in their careers, and we are hiring 13,500 new work coaches to that end.”He continued: “It is true we want to provide people with more skills and more training so that they can progress either in their chosen career or find another one.”It comes hours after Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, suggested people needed to work extra hours to cover the cuts. Sam Hancock13 September 2021 13:591631536996Sturgeon pleads PM to ditch ‘shameless’ UC cutsOver to Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the UK government’s “utterly devastating” plan to cut £20 a week from Universal Credit payments.The SNP leader said the move would “expose an absence of basic humanity and moral compass”.“This will be the biggest overnight reduction to a basic rate of social security since the 1930s. It will affect millions across the UK, and hundreds of thousands here in Scotland,” she said. “In Scotland alone it risks pushing 60,000 people – including 20,000 children – into the formal definition of poverty. Most of those affected are either in work or not able to work due to health or caring responsibilities. It will quite literally take food out of children’s mouths – it will drive people into debt and, in some cases, to destitution and despair.”Acknowledging her less than close relationship with the PM, Ms Sturgeon said: “Now, it’s no secret that I’m not Boris Johnson’s biggest fan – and no doubt the feeling is mutual – but I really struggle to believe that anyone’s conscience would allow them to proceed with this.”“So if this deeply cruel cut does happen, the only conclusion it will be possible to reach is that Boris Johnson simply has no shame,” she said, adding: “Please, prime minister, for the sake of millions of desperate people across the country, do not let that be history’s verdict upon you.”Sam Hancock13 September 2021 13:431631536163Johnson refuses to confirm ‘imminent’ Cabinet reshuffleFollowing my last post, Boris Johnson has refused to give reporters in Leicester a yes or no answer over rumours of an imminent Cabinet reshuffle. Asked by reporters if No 10 was planning on ringing the changes, Mr Johnson replied: “I think people in this country are focused on bouncing through from Covid and the plan for jobs.“What I am here to talk about is our plan for jobs, which is working – I think nobody expected the economic rebound to be as strong as it is.“You’ve now got unemployment two million lower than forecast.“What’s so exciting – and it’s encouraging – is that wages are now 4 per cent higher than they were before the pandemic.”Sam Hancock13 September 2021 13:291631535787PM backs Patel again as minister comes under fire for meetingWe’ve been here before. Boris Johnson has given his backing to home secretary Priti Patel, who is facing allegations she may have breached the ministerial code regarding a meeting with a billionaire Tory donor.While visiting a British Gas training academy in Leicester on Monday, the PM was asked by reporters if Ms Patel had done anything wrong.He said: “No – she’s doing an excellent job as home secretary and will continue to do so.” More

Booster Covid jabs for adults are “going ahead’, Boris Johnson has said, despite government advisers having yet to publish recommendations.Some members of the Joint Committee for Vaccinations and Immunisations (JCVI) have criticised extending third jabs beyond the most elderly and vulnerable as unnecessary.But, quizzed on a visit to the East Midlands, the prime minister said: “That’s going ahead – that’s already been approved.”Mr Johnson had been expected to unveil some sort of booster programme as the central part of a “toolbox” of Covid-fighting measures to be outlined in a document on Tuesday.He will tell Britons in a press conference at Downing Street that mandatory facemasks could be reintroduced, and work from home guidance reinstated, if a third wave of coronavirus infections surges this winter.The prime minister will also make clear that compulsory vaccination for large events has not been ruled out forever, despite fierce opposition from Tory backbenchers.His official spokesperson today told reporters that Covid passports were being kept “in reserve as an option” and that future lockdowns would be introduced “only as a last resort”.However, the key strategy will be to implement a vaccine booster campaign – and extend first jabs to 12 to 15-year-olds, to curb infections in schools, if medical officers approve it.The JCVI reached agreement on boosters at a meeting last Thursday and their advice has been passed to ministers, but not yet published.Last week, Professor Andrew Pollard, the JCVI chair, came out against third vaccines for most adults in the UK, arguing there is a moral duty to share jabs with the developing world and save lives.He echoed the criticism of Sarah Gilbert, the professor who developed the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, who said only the elderly and most vulnerable needed a third dose.Of the 100 million vaccines the UK has pledged to send overseas by the middle of 2022, only 9 million have been delivered so far.But Mr Johnson said he had no doubt that booster jabs would be “a good thing” – also urging the “10 per cent or so” who still have not had a single jab to “please go and get one”.On vaccine passports to enter night clubs and other crowded venues – a plan dumped by the government on Sunday – he confirmed they would be kept in reserve.“What we want to do is avoid vaccine passports, if we possibly can. That’s the course we’re on but I think you’ve got to be prudent and you’ve got to keep things in reserve in case things change,” Mr Johnson said. “They are both right” the prime minister said, of health secretary Sajid Javid – who announced the axeing of the plan – and Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, who insisted last week that it must go ahead.He also backed Priti Patel, the home secretary who appeard to have broken the ministerial code again, this time by arranging a business meeting for a billionaire Tory donor.Asked, in Leicester, if she had done anything wrong, the prime minister replied: “No, she’s doing an excellent job as home secretary and will continue to do so.”And he again failed to quell speculation about a looming Cabinet reshuffle, saying only: “I think people in this country are focused on bouncing through from Covid and the plan for jobs.” More

Boris Johnson is due to hold a press conference this week on his plans for tackling Covid-19 this winter, the first time he has given an update on the pandemic since relinquishing the last social restrictions imposed on the public on 19 July.The prime minister is expected to take to the podium on Tuesday to lay out his plans for managing the likely surge in coronavirus cases this autumn and winter and to say he is “dead set” against implementing further lockdowns now that a majority of the British public have been vaccinated against the disease.His stance was trailed by a senior government source, who told The Daily Telegraph: “This is the new normal. We need to learn to live with Covid. The vaccines are a wall of defence. The autumn and the winter do offer some uncertainty, but the prime minister is dead set against another lockdown.”The i newspaper reported last week that the government had drawn up plans for a “firebreak” lockdown in October but a Downing Street spokesperson insisted that the measure was simply “a last resort”.Mr Johnson is expected to repeat that message and may also commit to repealing some of the powers handed to him by MPs in the Coronavirus Act (2020), approved on 25 March 2020 at the outset of the global pandemic, including those allowing him to shutter the economy and impose restrictions on gatherings.Reports indicate that the traffic light system regulating international travel could also be scrapped, in addition to requirements for fully-vaccinated British arrivals to pay for PCR tests.But it is thought the government could reintroduce restrictions regarding face masks and reissue work-from-home advice in the event that infections surge with the arrival of winter flu season.Some decisions still need to be made relating to vaccines, with a final verdict on booster jabs due from the Joint Committee on Immunisation and Vaccination (JCVI) after interim advice from that body proposed planning for the most vulnerable to be offered further shots from late September.The government could also unveil plans to begin vaccinating 12-15 year-olds, with The Observer reporting on Sunday that schools have been warned to begin implementing a programme within weeks and perhaps as soon as 22 September.The latest official data on Covid added a further 29,713 cases and 56 deaths from the virus on Sunday, part of a steady and ongoing rise since the summer lull seen in late June.Since the pandemic began, 134,200 British people have died within 28 days of testing positive while the number with coronavirus mentioned on their death certificate is even higher, at 158,000, according to the Office of National Statistics.Experts have warned that the current pace of admissions to hospital with Covid is increasing at an “alarming rate” – putting additional pressure on the NHS as it struggles to cope with demand for emergency care and millions waiting for treatment.“The winter months will bring renewed challenges,” the government said in a statement anticipating the prime minister’s address. “Covid will circulate alongside flu and other respiratory viruses and the threat of a new variant remains. It is difficult to predict with certainty how these will interact and what pressure they may place on the NHS.”Mr Johnson’s latest remarks on the virus come as Labour urges his administration “to get a grip before winter”, describing health secretary Sajid Javid’s dramatic announcement on Sunday that the government had dropped its plans for domestic vaccine passports for use in nightclubs and other crowded venues, which the opposition called “the culmination of a summer of chaos from ministers”.Speaking on Sky News on Monday morning, work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey appeared to qualify Mr Javid’s words somewhat when she said: “When we had a variety of regulations we said we’d go back to parliament every six months to see if those regulations were still necessary, but also some of the ideas that we wanted to consider, and are still part of the toolbox, like vaccine passports.“Again we said we were considering bringing these items in but it’s important that we look at exactly what benefits that will bring, and right now the health secretary indicated – although we haven’t made a formal decision – that he does not think it is necessary for the vaccine passports to be introduced by the end of the month.“But the prime minister will be setting out tomorrow a lot more of the detail of the road map ahead, preparing for winter.”Also appearing on BBC Breakfast, Ms Coffey indicated that working from home orders and rules on safeguarding sick pay for those forced to isolate because of the virus could stay.“These are the sensible measures I think that we’re going to keep,” she said, subsequently declining to be drawn on new mask rules. More

Universal Credit claimants should work more hours to make up for the looming £20-a-week cut to their payments, a Cabinet minister says.Rejecting widespread criticism of the move – predicted to plunge half million more people into poverty – Thérèse Coffey pointed to “record numbers of vacancies”, as the UK emerges from the Covid pandemic.“I’m conscious that £20 a week is about two hours’ extra work every week,” the work and pensions secretary said.“We will be seeing what we can do to help people perhaps secure those extra hours, but ideally also to make sure they’re also in a place to get better paid jobs as well.”The comments come despite an internal Whitehall analysis warned of a “catastrophic” impact from removing the support, including rising homelessness, poverty and foodbank use.And the claim that the solution is to work harder was made despite Universal Credit being created in order to adjust automatically to reflect someone’s level of earnings.For that reason, someone earning an extra £20-a-week, would lose a big chunk of their benefit – perhaps £12.50, according to one estimate.Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, pointed out the mistake made by Ms Coffey, despite Universal Credit being perhaps the key part of her brief at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).“I’m quite sure that the DWP civil servants who briefed their Secretary of State for this interview will have explained that extra earnings are ‘tapered’ against your Universal Credit, so you have to do a lot more than two extra hours to get £20 net,” he tweeted.A government website states: “Your Universal Credit payments will adjust automatically if your earnings change. It doesn’t matter how many hours you work, it’s the actual earnings you receive that count.”It was also strongly disputed that someone eligible for the £20-a-week top-up would be in a job earning £10-an-hour – well above the national minimum wage of £8.91.Poverty campaigners have warned the cut – worth £1,040 a year to millions of people – will be the biggest overnight reduction to social security for many decades.Most families affected have somebody in work, they point out – despite Boris Johnson’s claim that the move is intended to encourage people into jobs.But, defending the cut, to kick-in from the start of October, Ms Coffey pointed to Covid and told BBC Breakfast: “It’s a temporary uplift recognising the reason that it was introduced is coming to an end.”Wes Streeting, Labour’s benefits spokesman, hit out at Ms Coffey for saying that she is “entirely happy” that the cut is going ahead next month.“Low paid workers in our country will lose £20 a week. Including the 10% increase in National Insurance they will lose c. £1,300 a year,” he tweeted.“For these working families, this will HURT. More children will end up in poverty. Yet Thérèse Coffey is “entirely happy”.” More