Markus Andrews

Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is self-isolating after being identified as a close contact of someone who has Covid-19.She said she will be self-isolating pending a PCR test result.Under coronavirus rules, double-vaccinated adults and all children can avoid self-isolation if they are a close contact of someone with coronavirus so long as they are symptomless and provide a negative PCR test.The First Minister had her second dose of a coronavirus vaccine in June.On Sunday evening Ms Sturgeon tweeted: “I’ve had notification tonight that I’ve been identified as a close contact of someone who is positive for Covid.“Accordingly, and in line with the rules, I’ll be self-isolating pending a PCR test result.“My thanks to all the contact tracers working so hard in NHS Test & Protect.”Scotland has recorded another record number of new coronavirus cases, with 7,113 people testing positive for the first time, according to Scottish Government figures published on SundayThe number of patients in hospital with recently confirmed coronavirus infections has also risen for the ninth consecutive day, reaching 507, with 52 in intensive care.Earlier Ms Sturgeon urged people to follow health advice and take sensible precautions to keep themselves and others safe.She tweeted: “We are seeing a rising curve of cases in Scotland.“It’s reassuring that vaccines are preventing the levels of serious health harms that case numbers like this would once have caused.“However, we can’t be complacent and are monitoring carefully.“In meantime, please take care.” More

Michael Gove stunned partygoers this weekend after he was spotted raving in an Aberdeen nightclub until the small hours of the morning.The Tory Cabinet minister was pictured in a suit dancing wildly at Bohemia, a techno club in the northeastern Scottish city.According to accounts the 54-year-old, who recently separated from his wife, was drinking in a local pub until last orders – and was urged to move onto the club by fellow drinkers.The Conservative MP found himself at the club night “Pipe”, which dubs itself “an unpredictable mix of the most high energy UK and global club music scenes”.Mr Gove, an Aberdonian himself, was supposedly bought drinks by fellow clubbers all night.Singer Emma Lament, 30, told the Daily Record newspaper she “couldn’t believe what she was seeing” when the “merry” MP “rocked up”.”I heard people saying, ‘he’s a Tory MP’ others asked ‘who’s Michael Gove?’ and were Googling him.”Soon people went up for photos. The Tories aren’t too popular in Scotland but people were generally quite nice to him.”She added that it appeared he had had “a good few shandies” by the time he arrived at the pub.Ms Lament said the MP appeared to enjoy a Jungle set by DJ Nina Stanger, leading him to “stay all night”.A claim that Mr Gove tried to avoid paying the £5 entry charge by repeatedly stating that he was the Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster was rejected by friends of the minister.”He loves Aberdeen and its nightlife,” the friend told the Daily Mirror. More

Boris Johnson has spoken of his regret at the manner of withdrawal from Afghanistan, telling the public: “We would not have wished to leave in this way”.In a statement released after the evacuation of the last UK personnel, the prime minister suggested his hand had been forced by the US – as he promised to “engage with the Taliban” on the basis of their actions.Mr Johnson dangled the possibility of diplomatic recognition and unfrozen bank accounts for Afghanistan’s new de facto rulers – if they respected the rights of women and girls, swore off harbouring international terror groups, and gave safe passage to refugees fleeing the country.And the prime minister spoke of his respect for those who had carried out the operation and said the airlift had been “the culmination of a mission unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetimes”.Explaining who had been evacuated, Mr Johnson said the thousands of Afghans who had been given safe passage had “proved their loyalty to this country beyond doubt”.”UK troops and officials have worked around the clock to a remorseless deadline in harrowing conditions,” he said.”They have expended all the patience and care and thought they possess to help people in fear for their lives.”They’ve seen at first-hand barbaric terrorist attacks on the queues of people they were trying to comfort, as well as on our American friends.”They didn’t flinch. They kept calm. They got on with the job.”It’s thanks to their colossal exertions that this country has now processed, checked, vetted and airlifted more than 15,000 people to safety in less than two weeks.”The prime minister’s statement came after the Observer newspaper reported that thousands of emails to the Foreign Office from MPs and charities raising urgent cases of Afghans trying to escape the country have not been read.And The Independent has revealed that dozens of Afghan interpreters who worked for the British Army have been told they will not be allowed into the UK because they are a “danger to [national] security”.On Sunday following the PM’s statement, the former head of the British Army accused the government of being “asleep on watch” in relation to the protection of Afghans.General Lord Richard Dannatt said the government’s approach was “unfathomable” and that the issue of Afghanistan had been put “on the back burner”.”On the particular issue of those who we knew were in danger, people who had worked for us, interpreters, former locally-engaged civilians, this issue has been in the media,” Lord Dannatt told Times Radio.”This issue has been on politicians’ desks for two to three years and, certainly, it’s been there during the course of this year.”He added: “I mean, you might remember, back in July, 45 senior officers wrote to the Government, an open letter to the Government, saying there are people we are concerned about and if we don’t do the right thing, their blood will be on our hands.”It is unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch. “I think the issue of Afghanistan sat on the backburner. Maybe it started to come forward. But then, suddenly, when the Taliban took over the country in the precipitate fashion in which they did, it fell off the cooker straight onto the kitchen floor and we’ve … had this chaotic extraction.”Labour leader Keir Starmer said the government must not abandon those who had been left behind.“I pay tribute to the brave men and women of our armed forces who have done so much to provide the opportunity of a new life to so many as part of Operation Pitting,” he said. “We have seen the best of British from those on the ground in Afghanistan. Our diplomatic staff and military personnel should be proud of the heroic work they have done and we owe them a great debt of gratitude. “It is now for the government to urgently set out a plan for those tragically left behind who face a fearful future. MPs of all parties are dealing with hundreds of cases of those we have a duty to help. The end of military operations does not end our responsibilities to those in Afghanistan.” More

A former head of the British Army has accused the government of being “asleep on watch” in relation to the protection of Afghans who helped UK soldiers and officials.General Lord Richard Dannatt said the government’s approach was “unfathomable”, after Boris Johnson expressed regret that some people eligible to be evacuated could be left behind in the hurried evacuation.British forces completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan this weekend, with the last civilian flight leaving on Saturday and the remaining diplomats and military personnel departing by Sunday. The UK evacuated approximated 15,000 people from Afghanistan from Kabul airport starting on Friday 13 August – including those eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy programme.But at least 1,000 Afghans eligible for the scheme are thought to have bene left behind as the Taliban consolidated control over the capital and the 31 August deadline for all foreign forces to leave neared. There has been criticism over the rushed nature of the evacuation, prompted by the Taliban’s rapid and unexpected advance across the country as the US-backed government melted away.”On the particular issue of those who we knew were in danger, people who had worked for us, interpreters, former locally-engaged civilians, this issue has been in the media,” Lord Dannatt told Times Radio.”This issue has been on politicians’ desks for two to three years and, certainly, it’s been there during the course of this year.”He added: “I mean, you might remember, back in July, 45 senior officers wrote to the Government, an open letter to the Government, saying there are people we are concerned about and if we don’t do the right thing, their blood will be on our hands. “It is unfathomable why it would appear that the Government was asleep on watch.”I think the issue of Afghanistan sat on the backburner. Maybe it started to come forward. But then, suddenly, when the Taliban took over the country in the precipitate fashion in which they did, it fell off the cooker straight onto the kitchen floor and we’ve … had this chaotic extraction.”We should have done better, we could have done better. It absolutely behoves us to find out why the Government didn’t spark up faster.”Lord Dannatt was Chief of the General Staff, the head of the army, from 2006 to 2009.His comment came after the Observer newspaper reported that thousands of emails to the Foreign Office from MPs and charities raising urgent cases of Afghans trying to escape the country have not been read.And The Independent has revealed that dozens of Afghan interpreters who worked for the British Army have been told they will not be allowed into the UK because they are a “danger to [national] security”. More

Boris Johnson faces the prospect of a Commons vote on a planned cut universal credit immediately after MPs return from the summer recess, The Independent understands.It comes amid growing controversy over the decision to remove the £20-per-week universal credit uplift – introduced at the onset of the Covid pandemic – despite anti-poverty campaigners repeatedly raising the alarm.Just last week it was warned that most constituencies across Britain will see one in three families and their children hit with the “biggest overnight cut in benefits since the Second World War”.According to the provisional business papers for the Commons, the government has earmarked time after prime minister’s questions on 8 September — two days after MPs return — for an Opposition Day Debate.Labour has not officially confirmed they will use the opportunity to push for a division on universal credit, but a source told The Independent the party was “likely” to force a vote on the issue.Another source added: “If the government won’t backtrack, we’ve said we’ll look at any route we can to give Conservative MPs the choice to either stand up for the constituents or help Boris Johnson inflict this devastating cut on millions of families”.The shadow work and pensions secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has previously suggested Labour would use “every parliamentary mechanism available” in order to prevent the uplift being scrapped.While an Opposition Day Debate motion would be non-binding on the government, it will force ministers and Tory MPs to vote on the issue — just weeks before the £20-per-week uplift is set to be scrapped.The scale of any possible rebellion is unclear, but disquiet in the Conservative ranks has been growing over the summer months: in July, the Northern Research Group, representing around 50 Tory MPs, told The Independent they opposed the cut and described the emergency payments as “life-saver” for claimants.In an extraordinary move, six former Conservative work and pensions secretaries, including former leader Iain Duncan Smith, also wrote to the government describing the uplift, which was introduced as a temporary measure, to be put a “permanent footing”.And just last week, two Tory MPs – Peter Aldous and John Stevenson – wrote to the prime minister urging him to cancel plans to cut the universal credit payments, saying they had “very serious concerns”.Instead they argued, in a letter first seen by the BBC, that the uplift was one of the Conservatives’ “best legacies from the pandemic” and should be made permanent by the Treasury.Publishing a report last week, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation claimed 413 parliamentary constituencies across the country will have at least a third of working-age families with children impacted by the cut in the autumn.“MPs from across the political spectrum are already expressing their deep concerns about this planned cut,” said deputy director of policy Katie Schmuecker. “Now is the time for all MPs to step up and oppose this cut to their constituents’ living standards.”However, defending the cuts, Mr Johnson told reporters on Thursday: “They key focus for this government is on making sure that we come out of Covid strongly, with a jobs-led recovery, and I’m very pleased to see the way the unemployment rate has been falling, employment has been rising, but also wages have been rising. That’s a crucial thing.”The prime minister added: “My preference, my strong, strong preference, and I believe this is the instinct of most people in this country, my strong preference is for people to see their wages rise through their efforts, rather than through taxation of other people put into their pay packets, rather than welfare. And that’s the approach we support.” More

Labour has accused government ministers of being “missing in action” over the crisis in Afghanistan following reports that thousands of people who were eligible for evacuation from Kabul were left behind this week.As the UK’s involvement in the 20-year military campaign comes to an end, it has been reported that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is being blamed over a lack of escape routes from the country.The Sunday Times reported claims that up to 9,000 people who may have been eligible to escape – such as women, journalists, and aid workers – were not able to leave Afghanistan.Defence secretary Ben Wallace previously suggested that there were between 800 and 1,100 Afghans eligible under the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme who would be left behind, while around 100 and 150 UK nationals will remain in Afghanistan.However, MPs have questioned that figure, arguing that the true number appears to be far higher judging by their correspondence.Meanwhile, The Observer reported on Sunday that thousands of emails from MPs and charities highlighting potentially eligible cases went unread by the FCDO.A whistleblower with access to Foreign Office email accounts told the newspaper an inbox used to receive potential Afghan evacuation cases from MPs and others regularly had an unread backlog of 5,000 emails, with messages from government ministers going unopened.“The complacency and incompetence of this government has been exposed yet again and with tragic consequences,” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said, in response to the reports.“We’ve known for 18 months that this moment was coming. It is unconscionable that there was no strategy in place to get all the British nationals and Afghans we owed a debt to out.”He added: “I pay tribute to all the FCDO staff and military personnel who have, as ever, stepped up when their leaders have failed them.“The fact that so many emails have simply gone unopened is not the fault of civil servants but of government ministers who have been missing in action during this whole crisis. “MPs and their staff have been hearing harrowing stories from so many people we should have taken care of but who have been abandoned to the Taliban.”In a statement to The Observer, the FCDO said it had been “working tirelessly to evacuate over 15,000 people” from Afghanistan over the past two weeks.“We deployed a 24/7 cross-Whitehall team based in our crisis hub to triage incoming emails and calls from British nationals, Arap applicants, and other vulnerable Afghans,” a FCDO spokesperson said.“We always cautioned that the nature of the security situation in Afghanistan meant that we would not be able to evacuate everyone we wanted to.”The UK government said on Saturday night that the final British troops and diplomatic staff had been airlifted from Kabul, with the last RAF plane taking off from Hamid Karzai International Airport at 9.25pm.More than 1,000 military personnel, diplomats and officials had been dispatched to Afghanistan to rescue UK nationals and Afghan allies following the Taliban’s takeover of the country earlier this month.The evacuation mission, known as Operation Pitting, is understood to be the largest since the Second World War.Additional reporting by PA More

Boris Johnson has told troops and veterans that Britain will be “forever grateful” and that it was not down to “chance or good fortune” that the UK had been safe from attacks launched from Afghanistan for 20 years.In an open letter, the Prime Minister said he had been “lost in admiration for the heroic efforts of everyone” involved in Operation Pitting, the evacuation efforts to remove UK nationals and Afghan allies from Kabul airport.Writing as the operation came to an end, with the last military and diplomatic personnel leaving Kabul on Saturday, Mr Johnson said: “There has been nothing like it in speed and scale, certainly in my lifetime.”And he recognised the downfall of Afghanistan to the Taliban after 20 years would have been difficult to comprehend.“Over the last two decades, many thousands of you dedicated years of your lives to service in Afghanistan, often in the most arduous conditions. In particular, I realise that this will be an especially difficult time for the friends and loved ones of the 457 service personnel who laid down their lives,” Mr Johnson said.But he repeated his message that their sacrifice was not in vain, and said: “Our purpose in Afghanistan was simple – to protect the United Kingdom from harm – and you succeeded in that central mission.“In the last 20 years, not a single terrorist attack has been launched from Afghan soil against the UK or any other Western country. I know this was not down to chance or good fortune.“Our country was protected because you joined with our allies to fight al Qaida, destroy its training camps, disperse or eliminate its leaders, and weaken its very core. I would not wish to contemplate what might have happened if you had not carried out this vital task.“You kept al Qaida from our door for two decades and we are all safer as a result.”And he highlighted the impact on the Afghan people too, whether through girls’ education, the clearing of landmines, or many homes having electricity for the first time.“I do not believe that any of these gains could swiftly be undone,” the PM said.“Education, once imparted, can never be taken away, and this progress would never have happened at all without your effort and sacrifice.“Whether you are still serving or a veteran, a loved-one, a relation or a friend, you all played your part and you should feel immense pride.”He added: “Do not lose sight of the essential fact that you fulfilled the first duty of the British Armed Forces – to protect our country – and we will be forever grateful that you did.” More

The Scottish Greens will join the SNP in the Scottish government after party members voted in favour of the “historic” power-sharing deal.The agreement will see the Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater become government ministers – the first time any Green representative has held political office in a government in the UK.The first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon announced the plans for the parties to work together, having agreed a “transformative” policy programme.The deal was approved by Scottish Green party members at Saturday’s extraordinary general meeting (EGM) following a two-hour debate, and then formally ratified as required by the party’s constitution.With a small number of proxy votes still to be counted, at 2.30pm on Saturday, 1,169 members (83 per cent) had backed the deal, 234 voted against and nine abstained.Negotiated over the summer after the SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority in May’s election, the agreement involves a shared policy platform for the Scottish government.This includes an agreement to pursue another vote on Scottish independence before the end of 2023, if the threat of coronavirus has subsided, as well as a raft of environmental policies and a commitment to implement rent controls.The deal stipulates that public disagreement between the parties would only be allowed on a set of 10 agreed topics, such as aviation policy, green ports, direct financial support to businesses involved in the aerospace, defence and security sectors, field sports and the economic principles related to concepts of sustainable growth and inclusive growth.However, speaking during the EGM, Scottish Green MSP Ross Greer insisted that the list of subjects could be changed if further agreements or disagreements emerge.Following the party’s approval of the deal, Mr Harvie said there “could not be a more important and more urgent moment for Greens to enter government and take green politics to the next level”.Ms Slater said: “This will be the first time that we have Greens in government in the UK and it will allow us to act as never before to tackle the climate crisis, the housing crisis, and the recovery of our economy after the pandemic.”She said the the Scottish Green have “always been a constructive opposition in Holyrood” and added: “This deal will allow more to do than we’ve ever done before, implement rent controls in Scotland, create a new national park and really accelerate the development of our renewable energy industry so we will make a significant change in the next five years.”The draft power-sharing agreement was formally announced by Ms Sturgeon and the two Scottish Green co-leaders at her official residence, Bute House in Edinburgh, on 20 August.Ms Sturgeon said: “I am delighted that members of both the Scottish Green Party and the SNP have agreed that we should work together in the Scottish government to build a greener, fairer, independent Scotland. This historic agreement will provide a strong platform for the transformative programme we want to deliver.”The Scottish Conservatives called the deal a “coalition of chaos” focused on independence, while Scottish Labour said the “coalition of cuts” is a “disaster for Scotland”.Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “This coalition of cuts is formalising a long-standing agreement where Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP hammer our public services and the Greens nod along.” More