Markus Andrews

The new Taliban rulers of Afghanistan are suffering from their own “catastrophic success” and are struggling to work out how to govern the country they conquered so quickly, the head of the UK’s armed forces has said.Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Nick Carter warned that the ability of the Taliban to form an effective government could be the key to ensuring Afghanistan does not again become a safe haven for terrorist groups to launch attacks on the west.And he said the international community must be ready to offer “help” to the group on the condition that they govern less repressively and respect human rights.Gen Carter faced criticism following the fall of Kabul last month for suggesting that the new Taliban regime may be “more reasonable” than that of the brutal fundamentalists who imposed a reign of terror and permitted the establishment of terror training camps in the country prior to their ousting in 2001.But today he insisted it was too early to pass judgement on how the Taliban will govern Afghanistan – or their ability to do so.He said deep rifts were already becoming apparent between the Political Commission, who have provided the Taliban’s nominal leadership from a base in Qatari capital Doha, the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, which has had close links with al-Qaeda, and other factions within Afghanistan.“The Taliban are going to struggle with governing the country,” Gen Carter told BBC1’s TheAndrew Marr Show. “It’s one thing achieving the unity of purpose to knock a government over; it’s quite another trying to govern a country.“And what we have seen is that it is factionalising and you’ve got a real rift between the Haqqanis, the southerners from Kandahar, and the Political Commission, who’ve been resident in Doha for so many years. Whether they can pull that together or not is the really interesting question at the moment.”Gen Carter said that if the Taliban fails to form an effective government then “all bets are off”, with terror groups potentially able once more to thrive within a failed state.But he suggested that the Taliban may seek to compromise with more moderate forces within Afghan society, which has changed radically during their 20 years out of power, with more than half the population too young to remember the previous fundamentalist regime.“If the Political Commission is able to form an inclusive government, it is possible that they may govern less repressively – we have to wait and see,” he said. “At the moment they suffer from what we military call ‘catastrophic success’. They were not expecting to be in government as quickly as they have appeared, and the reality is they are trying to find their feet. “We need to wait and see how this happens and recognise that they’re probably going to need a bit of help in order to run a modern state effectively. And if they behave, perhaps they will get some help.”Gen Carter said that he and others had “got it wrong” in thinking the most likely scenario as US troops withdrew from Afghanistan was that the national government would hold on to control of the country for a few months at least.“It was the pace of it that surprised us and I don’t think we realised quite what the Taliban were up to,” he admitted. “They weren’t really fighting for the cities they eventually captured, they were negotiating for them, and I think you’ll find a lot of money changed hands as they managed to buy off those who might have fought them.”He rejected suggestions from foreign secretary Dominic Raab that military intelligence was to blame for missing the signs of imminent collapse.“The fact of the matter is that it’s not purely about military intelligence,” said Gen Carter. “It’s really a much broader thing than just strictly military intelligence.” The chair of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat, agreed that there were signs of the Taliban “fighting within itself” and being unable to form a government. But he poured cold water on hopes of a more benign rule, insisting the group was “still as brutal and vicious as they were” during their first period in power from 1996-2001.The former soldier, who served in Helmand province, said that the UK would have to engage with the new regime, but said the idea of formal talks was “bizarre”.“The UK has always had a policy of reaching out in different ways to different groups,” Mr Tugendhat told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday. “I have to say I think formal talks with the Taliban are a somewhat bizarre idea given that it doesn’t have a formal structure. “The fact that it still hasn’t formed a government two or three weeks after it took Kabul is partly an indicator of the divisions within the organisation: it is fighting within itself as to what it does. So, the idea that these talks are meaningful in a traditional sense, I’m afraid they’re not. “The idea that the Taliban is changed – it’s got a much slicker PR outfit; I don’t know who it’s hired but it’s got a similar group to the people who are doing Isis PR in northern Syria – but the [idea] that it’s changed the way it treats women, or [that it no longer] murders minorities, is complete rubbish: they’re still as brutal and vicious as they were.” Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said the UK would have to talk to the Taliban in the hope of securing safe passage out of the country for UK nationals who were unable to reach the borders unaided for health reasons, or because they are unaccompanied children. “We have thousands of people still in Afghanistan, the Afghans who assisted us but British nationals as well,” Ms Nandy told Sky News. “The defence secretary has been suggesting … that, if they can, they should just try to get to the border and see if they can get across.“But without safe passage, many of those people will simply not reach safety. We have got British nationals in wheelchairs, we’ve got children who have been separated from their parents, we’ve got somebody who is on dialysis.“The truth is, if we want to uphold the promise and commitment that we made to our own citizens and to the many Afghans who assisted us over recent decades, we have got to have a dialogue with the Taliban, we’ve got to ensure as a priority that safe passage across the country. We’ve got to be talking to the Taliban as well about the functioning airport, and whether a country like Turkey or Qatar could somehow guarantee the safe passage of our citizens out of that airport.”Ms Nandy said it was “really pressing and urgent” to have a dialogue with the Taliban.But she added: “That’s different from diplomatic recognition, which would be far too premature.” More

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has called on Boris Johnson to convene an urgent summit of the G7 to agree the supply of millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccine to the developing world.Mr Brown said that the gap between vaccine availability in rich and poor countries was “a moral failure on the part of the whole of the world”.And he said that Europe was “raiding Africa for vaccines” by taking supplies from a production facility in South Africa at a time when hundreds of millions of doses are sitting unused in Western stockpiles or due for delivery over the coming months.The former Labour PM said that leaders of the G7 group of rich industrialised states – chaired this year by Mr Johnson – had failed at their Cornwall summit in June to deliver on the prime minister’s pledge to vaccinate the whole world by the middle of 2022.He said they should now meet within the next two weeks to thrash out a plan to get jabs into arms throughout the developing world.“Seventy per cent of the West has been vaccinated, only 2 per cent in Africa and in all the other low-income countries of the world – so 98 per cent are unprotected,” Mr Brown told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday.“It’s bad for us, because the disease will come back to haunt us from Africa and hurt even the fully-vaccinated here with new variants.“There are hundreds of millions of unused vaccines that are either stored or are on order for delivery to Europe and America, including the United Kingdom – 300 million by the end of this month, 500 million by the end of October, a billion by the end of December.“These vaccines could save thousands of lives in Africa. No issue could save more lives than a policy decision by the richest countries that these surplus unused stockpiled stocks would actually go to the poorest of countries who desperately need them to protect even their nurses and their health workers, who remain unvaccinated against this disease.”Mr Brown said the onus was on leaders including Mr Johnson to take urgent action.“They’ve got to call a summit, an emergency summit in the next two weeks,” he said. “They’ve got to deal with this urgent problem that, if left unaddressed, thousands of people are at risk of dying.“You can’t rely on the IMF and the World Bank and the UN, good as they are. You cannot rely on them. Only the leaders can make these decisions.“Only the leaders who control the allocation of vaccines in their own countries can decide to transfer them to other countries, or to transfer the options for them.“So it’s really up to Joe Biden, Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Mr Macron in France. These are the leaders that can, by getting together, make a decision. Everybody can contribute, the money can be made available.“It’s a question of getting the vaccines into the right arms in the right places as quickly as possible. And we are talking about tens of thousands of lives that are at risk now if we do nothing about this.” More

Vaccine passports will be introduced for nightclubs and other crowded indoor venues by the end of this month, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed.Mr Zahawi said the government will press ahead with the “no jab no entry” policy announced by Boris Johnson in July, despite stiff opposition from the nightlife industry, which fears it may make businesses financially unviable.No details have yet emerged of what other venues may fall under the passport requirement, with sports matches, music concerts and conferences also thought to be under consideration.It follows speculation that the plans might have been dropped after a backlash from Conservative backbench MPs and industry leaders.Mr Johnson announced in July that full two-dose vaccination against Covid-19 would be made a condition of entry for “nightclubs and other venues where large crowds gather” from the end of September with proof of a negative test not sufficient.Ministers initially refused to rule out the imposition of passports even for pubs, sparking speculation that the announcement was designed to motivate younger Britons to get the jab which might never actually be put into action.But Mr Zahawi today told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday that it remains the intention to go ahead with the passes, with clubbers able to prove their vaccine status by showing their jab records on the NHS smartphone app.He said that passports will come into effect “by the end of September, when everyone has had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, for the large venues that could end up causing a real spike in infections”.Mr Zahawi hailed the use of vaccine checks at football grounds: “If you look at what the FA has done – and done so brilliantly – in terms of checking vaccine status to reopen football, that is the right thing to do.“We are absolutely on track to continue to make sure that happens. The reason being that I, as does the Prime Minister, want to make sure the whole economy remains open.“The worst thing we can do for those venues is to have a sort of open/shut, open/shut strategy because we see infection rates rise because of the close interaction of people.“That is how the virus spreads – if people are in enclosed spaces in large numbers, we see spikes occurring. “The best thing to do is to work with the industry to make sure they can open safely and sustainably in the long term and the best way to do that is to check the vaccine status.”The Night Time Industries Association has warned that nightlife businesses will lose more than one-third of their trade overnight if Covid passes are made mandatory, while staff shortages will intensify as many employees have indicated they will quit the sector rather than accept compulsory vaccination.In a message to Boris Johnson, the NTIA’s CEO Michael Kill said: “Our industry has been exceptional at managing businesses and public health within these settings during this pandemic. “We cannot be subject to mitigations which are ill thought-out and are clearly not supported both publicly, politically and industry-wide.“Contrary to popular belief, much of our core market and workforce will not accept being coerced into taking the vaccine. The workforce is shrinking and  illegal events are being organized today in light of the impending restrictions. How can this be anything but counterproductive?” More

MPs returning to the House of Commons this week following the summer recess have been instructed to smarten up their appearance, in a reminder that the days of Zooming in to parliament are over.Speaker of the house Sir Lindsay Hoyle has updated the guidance, Rules of behaviour and courtesies in the House of Commons, informing MPs that items such as jeans and chinos will no longer be allowed.The advice represents a toughening up of the rules compared to the approach of the previous speaker, John Bercow, under whose guidance there was “no exact dress code” and typical business attire was considered merely a suggestion.Sir Lindsay’s new rules, which could perhaps be a bid to nip in the bud any slackening of standards following a prolonged period of working from home, states that MPs’ appearance “should demonstrate respect for your constituents, for the house, and for the institution of parliament in the life of the nation”.“Members are expected to wear business attire in and around the chamber,” it says. “Jeans, chinos, sportswear or any other casual trousers are not appropriate. T-shirts and sleeveless tops are not business attire.“Smart/business shoes are expected to be worn. Casual shoes and trainers are not appropriate. Men are encouraged to wear a tie, and jackets must be worn.“It is a privilege to serve as a member of parliament and your dress, language and conduct should reflect this.”The crackdown comes after a number of incidents in which parliamentary fashion made headlines, both during and prior to the pandemic.In December, Sir Lindsay told former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt that he was not dressed smartly enough during a debate in the Commons on Covid-19. And MP Tracy Brabin found herself at the centre of a storm for wearing an off-the-shoulder black dress in the chamber in February 2020 – a garment she later auctioned off for charity, raising £20,000 in the process. More

Boris Johnson is facing increasingly open warfare with large swathes of his own party over plans to hike the National Insurance contributions (NICs) of 25 million of workers to raise £10bn for social care for the elderly.Former chancellor Philip Hammond today became the latest senior Tory to denounce the plan, warning it will provoke “a very significant backlash” causing serious damage to the Conservative Party.Ex-prime minister Sir John Major has blasted the use of NICs to pay for care as “regressive”, while former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned Mr Johnson’s plans could turn the Tories into a “high-tax, high-spend party” without resolving the long-standing shortage of funds for care.And cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg sent a barely-veiled warning to the PM about the danger of breaching his 2019 manifesto promise not to raise NICs, income tax or VAT during this parliament.Writing in the Sunday Express, the Leader of the Commons recalled George Bush Sr’s broken “read my lips” promise not to raise taxes, adding: “Voters remembered these words after President Bush had forgotten them.”Mr Rees-Mogg and trade secretary Liz Truss are believed to be among a number of cabinet ministers hostile to NICs rises of 1 per cent or more expected to be announced this week alongside a new funding settlement to help the NHS with the estimated £10bn-a-year bill for dealing with the aftermath of the Covid crisis.Mr Johnson, Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid were finalising details of the plan ahead of its expected launch in the coming week, and the chancellor will face the wrath of Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee on Monday evening.“Many dozens” of Conservative MPs have voiced concern in WhatsApp groups about the prospect of asking low-paid workers – many of whom cannot afford to buy their own homes – to pay more tax in order to ensure that elderly home-owners are able to pass on their property to their children when they die.One anonymous cabinet minister told the Sunday Telegraph: “Putting up National Insurance would be morally, economically and politically wrong. After all that’s happened in the last 18 months they can’t seriously be thinking about a tax raid on supermarket workers and nurses so the children of Surrey homeowners can receive bigger inheritances.”And influential backbencher Steve Baker said: “Of all the ways to break manifesto tax pledges to fund the NHS and social care, raising NIC must be the worst. In this time of crisis, we need a zero-based review of what the state does and how it is funded.”Lord Hammond said that he would not vote for the NIC rise if the proposal came to the House of Lords.“An increase in NICs is asking young working people, some of whom will never inherit the property, to subsidise older people who’ve accumulated wealth during their lifetime and have a property,” the former chancellor told Times Radio. “On any basis, that has got to be wrong.”“I think that would provoke a very significant backlash. I think it would cause the government – the Conservative Party – significant damage. I also think it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s not just about party political advantage. Economically, politically, expanding the state further in order to protect private assets by asking poor people to subsidise rich people has got to be the wrong thing to do.”Lord Hammond also raised concern about plans being discussed in government to break another manifesto promise by ditching the pensions triple lock in order to avoid an 8 per cent increase resulting from unusual pay trends during the Covid prices. Mr Sunak should instead announce a one-off adjustment to the lock – which guarantees a rise in line with the highest of pay, prices or 2.5 per cent – to “smooth” the inflation-busting rise over two years, before restoring the pledge for the future, he said.National Insurance is a particularly regressive tax because it is paid by workers earning as little as £9,500 a year, compared to income tax which does not kick in until £12,570.Lower-income workers pay the 12 per cent rate on all their eligible salary while the better-off pay just 2 per cent on earnings over around £50,000. Pensioners, who would stand to benefit most from the social care plan, do not pay NICs, which are also not levied on unearned income such as rents and dividends.The chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor said that the health service needed additional support as it was already “running on hot” in summer, a time of year when pressures are normally reduced.The Confederation last week joined NHS Providers in calling for a £10bn budget boost to tackle the backlog of more than 5 million patients waiting for treatment which has built up as a result of Covid.“It’s incredibly important to get some clarity from the government about the funding for the rest of this year, that we sustain that funding, and that we have the funding that we need on the assumption that the pressures of Covid are going to continue,” Mr Taylor told Sky. More

Britain’s Brexit minister warned Saturday of a long-term chill in relations between the U.K. and the European Union if agreed-upon trading arrangements governing Northern Ireland are not resolved.David Frost said in a speech at the British-Irish Association in Oxford that the Northern Ireland Protocol needed “substantial and significant change.”The post-Brexit trading arrangement between the British government and the 27-nation EU has seen customs and border checks imposed on some goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. As well as seeking to respect the rules governing the EU’s single market for goods, the regulations seek to keep an open border between Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland, a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process. However, they have angered Northern Ireland’s unionist community, who say the checks amount to a border in the Irish Sea and weaken Northern Ireland’s ties with the rest of the U.K.“The stakes are high, the arguments can be bitter,” Frost said. “And I worry this process is capable of generating a sort of cold mistrust between us and the EU which could spread across the relationship.”Frost has for months sought changes to the protocol, which he helped to craft, but the EU has repeatedly rejected opening up discussions again after years of protracted negotiations. “It’s holding back the potential for a new era of cooperation between like-minded states in a world which needs us to work together effectively,” Frost said. Though Frost stressed the need for changes, he sought to downplay concerns in the EU that Britain would unilaterally seek to sweep away all existing arrangements. “That is not our position,” he said. “It is obvious there will always need to be a dedicated U.K.-EU treaty relationship covering Northern Ireland. It is a question of finding the right balance.”Britain formally left the EU in January 2020, but remained within its economic orbit until the start of this year, when a new much looser free trade agreement took hold. At that time, Northern Ireland was given separate status that effectively keeps it in the EU’s single market for goods, a decision that prevents a hard border with Ireland, which would go counter to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 that ended decades of sectarian violence.Ultimately, Britain’s Conservative government is seeking to remove most checks, replacing them with a “light touch” system in which only goods at risk of entering the EU would be inspected. ___For more of AP’s Brexit coverage, go to https://apnews.com/hub/brexit More

Today’s daily politics briefingFormer chancellor Lord Philip Hammond has warned that Boris Johnson’s alleged plan to hike National Insurance contributions to pay for social care would cause the Conservative Party “significant damage”, as a furious row threatens to emerge over what would be manifesto-breaking proposals.In an indication of the outrage among “many dozens” of Tory MPs ahead of parliament’s return on Monday, an anonymous Cabinet minister was quoted as attacking an increase as “morally, economically and politically wrong”, pointing to the hardships of the Covid crisis when adding: “They can’t seriously be thinking about a tax raid on supermarket workers and nurses so the children of Surrey homeowners can receive bigger inheritances.”Meanwhile, Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that anyone – “me or [the prime minister]” – allowing politics to get in the way of the looming Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow would be “abdicating responsibility”, after The Independent revealed that Downing Street has been strategising to stop Scotland’s first minister using the event as an “advert” for independence.Show latest update

1630852920Holyrood health secretary denies Scotland’s NHS in crisis ahead of winterScotland’s NHS is facing the “most significant” challenge in its history as a result of the pandemic, Holyrood’s health secretary Humza Yousaf has said.But with opposition parties hitting out a lengthening waiting lists after figures this week showed A&E waiting times at record lows, Mr Yousaf denied the health service was already in crisis ahead of winter.Andy Gregory5 September 2021 15:421630852260MPs told to smarten up ahead of return to parliament after summer recessMPs returning to the House of Commons this week following the summer recess have been instructed to smarten up their appearance, in a reminder that the days of Zooming in to parliament are over, reports Sabrina Johnson.The advice represents a toughening up of the rules compared to the approach of the previous speaker, John Bercow, under whose guidance there was “no exact dress code” and typical business attire was considered merely a suggestion.Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s new rules state that MPs’ appearance “should demonstrate respect for your constituents, for the house, and for the institution of parliament in the life of the nation”, adding: “Members are expected to wear business attire in and around the chamber.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 15:311630851399Raab’s popularity plunges among Tory members, poll suggestsDominic Raab has gone from the third-most popular Cabinet member to one of those least approved of by Tory Party members, according to Conservative Home’s monthly poll – his net satisfaction rating dropping from 73 per cent to just 6.The website called it “one of the biggest falls ever in our table – almost on the scale of Theresa May’s dizzying fall from top of the table into negative territory in the wake of the bungled 2017 election”.Boris Johnson has slightly recovered from his dire display last month, rising by 10 points to 13 per cent.Andy Gregory5 September 2021 15:161630849866Here’s more details from The Independent’s report revealing that No 10 has been plotting how to prevent Cop26 becoming an “advert” for Scottish independence.Our economics editor Anna Isaac reports that WhatsApp messages showed it had been suggested that Boris Johnson should avoid sharing a platform with Nicola Sturgeon in the run-up to and during the event, and that he should “neutralise” her by including other devolved leaders where possible.Meeting notes also record efforts to ensure that the union flag is displayed as much as possible.Andy Gregory5 September 2021 14:511630849167In a crowded field, here’s one of the likely more eyebrow-raising quotes from today’s papers, courtesy of The Sunday Times.The paper reports that the PM sees “solving” social care as a key part of his political legacy, alongside delivering Brexit and “levelling up” the economy. The paper quoted someone who knows Mr Johnson well as saying: “Boris sees this as a big problem that he can tick off. He wants it high up on his Wikipedia page when he goes off to earn lots of money.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 14:391630848568Voices: Social care desperately needs more funding – but a sweeping tax increase isn’t the solutionWriting for Independent Voices, journalist Lauren Crosby Medlicott argues:“We don’t need tax raises for everyone, we need new, progressive tax reform to ensure that the poor and vulnerable don’t pay the price of the pandemic.”“Individuals and families are struggling to get food on the table after suffering redundancies and reduced incomes as a result of Covid-induced disruption,” she writes. “These are the people who will be hit most hard from an increase in taxes. Up to an extra £100 each year given to the taxman could dictate whether the heating is turned on when it’s cold outside. “Those with higher salaries will only suffer a tiny dent in their lives – they won’t have to figure out how to eat, pay the rent and get warm.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 14:291630848196Sir Keir Starmer should ‘stop treating trade unions like the drunken uncle at the party’, former party chair saysSir Keir Starmer has been advised to “stop treating the trade unions like the drunken uncle at the party” by the Corbyn-era Labour Party chair, Ian Lavery.Amid a row over layoffs at the party’s headquarters, Mr Lavery told the PoliticsHome website that “trade unions are the keys to Downing Street, and are the way in which you can carry influence in the communities”. A party source was quoted in the report as saying they work closely with their trade union affiliates, while a senior figure within the trade union movement suggested Labour “see unions as part of the solution”, adding: “I don’t detect a drifting to the right.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 14:231630846200Boris Johnson faces open warfare with his own party over National Insurance hikeBoris Johnson is facing increasingly open warfare from his own party over plans to hike National Insurance, our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports, pointing to warnings from Tory grandees such as John Major, Iain Duncan Smith and Philip Hammond.Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg also sent a barely-veiled warning to the PM about the danger of breaching his 2019 manifesto promise not to raise NICs, income tax or VAT during this parliament.Writing in the Sunday Express, the Leader of the Commons recalled George Bush Sr’s broken “read my lips” promise not to raise taxes, adding: “Voters remembered these words after President Bush had forgotten them.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 13:501630845300The idea that an abrupt departure from Afghanistan is the same thing as a clean break seems “at best naive and at worst wildly reckless”, a former MI6 chief has said.“It is difficult to account for some of the decisions that have been taken,” Sir Alex Younger told Times Radio.Andy Gregory5 September 2021 13:351630843800Brexit minister warns of ‘cold mistrust’ era with EUDavid Frost, t Brexit minister, has warned of a long-term chill in relations between the UK and the European Union if agreed-upon trading arrangements governing Northern Ireland are not resolved.David Frost said in a speech at the British-Irish Association in Oxford that the Northern Ireland Protocol needed “substantial and significant change”, adding: “The stakes are high, the arguments can be bitter.“And I worry this process is capable of generating a sort of cold mistrust between us and the EU which could spread across the relationship.”Andy Gregory5 September 2021 13:10 More

Health Secretary Sajid Javid is reportedly making the Covid vaccine a requirement for all NHS staff.The government believes that making the vaccines a condition of employment would help limit the spread of the coronavirus in healthcare settings, as well as the numbers of Covid-related deaths.But the plans are feared to cause a staff retention and recruitment crisis in healthcare, The Sunday Telegraph reported.As many as 190,000 healthcare workers had not received one dose of a Covid vaccine by 11 April, NHS England data shows, and the figure does not include temporary staff.It is feared that the NHS could see a mass exodus of staff as seen in the care sector, partly as a result of mandatory vaccines.All care workers – including agency workers, volunteers, and healthcare visitors – have to be vaccinated by 11 November.Almost 90,000 care home staff in England have still not been fully-vaccinated against Covid-19, and – out of this number – 41,000 have still received no vaccine at all, according to NHS figures published this week.In a blow to the already-struggling sector, care home staff are leaving to better-paid jobs elsewhere – including Amazon’s warehouses and the NHS – where they have not been required to be vaccinated, according to a report by The Guardian this weekend.There were already at least 120,000 social care vacancies before the Covid-19 pandemic and the government last month estimated that as many as 68,000 care workers, in the worst-case scenario, could be lost as a result of the vaccine rule.Public and health sector union Unison called on the government this week to scrap the “no jab, no job” policy – warning ministers that they are “sleepwalking into disaster”.It comes after the government announced in June that it would be launching a consultation on whether to extend this mandatory vaccination policy from care home staff to NHS workers. Today (5 September), Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that the consultation launched in the summer has not yet concluded.He said that the NHS had a “duty of care” to ensure patients did not become infected, but said that an “incredibly high” proportion of frontline healthcare workers – more than 94 per cent – were already vaccinated.The chief executive of the NHS Confederation, Matthew Taylor, said compulsory jabs for health staff are “not necessary”.He told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on Sunday: “The overwhelming majority of NHS staff are choosing to be vaccinated. And the important thing is to support people, to give people the opportunity to be vaccinated.“So I think we would want to say that there is no necessity for compulsion, for surveillance of people, at this stage because the staff themselves are doing the right thing.”Medics have also warned against extending the rule to the NHS, saying that staff should not face losing their jobs for declining a vaccine.Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association council, had said in June that “compulsion is a blunt instrument to tackle a complex matter” and that implementing a blanket rule would “raise new ethical and legal implications”.He added: “Recent research has highlighted that pressurising health and social care workers can have damaging effects, leading to an erosion of trust, worsening concerns about the vaccine, and hardened stances on declining vaccination.”Mr Nagpaul said efforts should be focused on targeted engagement and any policy must avoid discrimination, given that vaccine uptake is lower in some ethnic minority groups. NHS staff are recommended to be inoculated against flu, tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) – among others – but the vaccines are not compulsory.Isra Black, a University of York lecturer specialising in healthcare law, told The British Medical Journal earlier this year that “any public authority, whether the state or individual NHS trusts, that mandates vaccination will need to comply with human rights and equality law.”Mr Black added: “Mandatory vaccination interferes with the right to private life protected by article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, so the relevant authorities will need to show that the interference is justified in its pursuit of a legitimate aim and its proportionality.“Public bodies must also show that they have taken into account the public sector equality duty and that mandatory vaccination policies comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.” More