Markus Andrews

Plans to require vaccine passports for entry to nightclubs and other venues from September are not a “bluff”, cabinet minister Grant Shapps has insisted.Mr Shapps said that people considering whether to get jabbed should recognise that “there are simply things that you will not be able to do” unless they are vaccinated, including travelling outside the UK.But the nightclub industry said that the government had been “all over the place” on the issue, with businesses still hopeful that the threatened pass system will never materialise.Clubs were allowed to reopen on 19 July without requirements for proof of vaccine status, but Boris Johnson has said that he will make them mandatory by the end of September.The prime minister said that the delay was to give time for all over-18s to be given the opportunity to receive two jabs against Covid-19, meaning that the pass plan would exclude only those who chose to reject protection.But the timing of his plans has sparked widespread speculation that the true purpose of the warning was to encourage younger age-groups to get jabbed. The PM is said to have been “raging” about low take-up rates among the young and also floated proposals – later ditched – for vaccine requirements to attend university lectures or halls of residence.He is facing the threat of a backbench Tory rebellion against legislation to introduce vaccine passes, expected to be tabled in the Commons when MPs return from their summer break in September.Mr Shapps today denied that the nightclub vaccine pass was merely a “bluff” which would never be put into operation.“It’s not a bluff, no,” he told LBC radio.“And it’s important to understand that there are simply going to be things that you will not be able to do unless you’re double vaccinated or have a medical reason not to be, including going abroad.“Actually there are good reasons if you’re perhaps in your 20s and you feel like ‘Oh, this doesn’t really affect me’. Well, it is going to because you won’t be able to leave the country. That’s not something the British government’s doing, that’s something that’s being required by every government around the world.“You know that that, and going to nightclubs, are things that you require your vaccination for. Get your vaccination, it helps everybody, not just yourself from long Covid and the rest of it, but also loved ones and people you don’t even know.”Mr Shapps was unable to say how long a vaccine pass scheme might remain in operation.“I don’t know the answer to how long we’ll need them,” he said. “We’ll have to follow what the scientists and clinicians tell us.”Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, said: “The government has been all over the place when it comes to the issue of Covid passports – at first certification wasn’t mandatory, and this position was completely reversed within a week. Is it any wonder so many believe this is a cheap political ploy?“We have consistently opposed the mandatory implementation of Covid passports. Businesses need to be able to decide for themselves what is best for them and, for many of our members, the passports will wipe out revenues so heavily reliant on spontaneity.“We have already seen the opposition to this ill-thought policy and my hope is that, come September, the government will decide it is far more trouble than its worth.”Mr Johnson has suggested that any vaccine pass requirement would also cover “other venues where large crowds gather”, but the government has yet to make clear whether this will include large pubs, concert venues or conferences. Some Tory MPs have said they will boycott the party’s annual conference in Manchester if they are required to show proof of vaccination.Any scheme will be based on the NHS smartphone app, which includes a QR code confirmation of vaccine status which “you may need to show… at places that have chosen to use this service”.However, alternatives to vaccine passes – such as proof of a recent negative test or immunity through prior infection – will also be accepted, in order to avoid discrimination against people who are unable to receive the jab for medical reasons. More

The risk of a repeat of riots that scarred London and other major towns and cities exactly ten years ago is “higher than ever”, Labour has said.Sir Keir Starmer’s party accused Boris Johnson’s government of failing to tackle the conditions which led to the eruption of violence across Britain in 2011 – warning that the country remained a “tinderbox”.A report released by Labour to coincide with the tenth anniversary found that the number of “forgotten families” where many of the young people involved came from was likely to have doubled in the past decade.The unrest which started in the capital on 6 August 2011 before spreading to 66 other areas followed the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan by police in Tottenham two days previously.But Labour said the government had implemented only 11 of the 63 recommendations made by an independent panel in 2012. In its own report released on Thursday, the party said “the psychological damage to the communities the riots affected is untold”.Launching Labour’s report on progress since the riots on Thursday, shadow communities secretary Steve Reed said: “The deep social inequalities have grown wider after a decade of cuts to vital services that support struggling families and a rise in poverty.”The Labour frontbencher said the UK was currently in a “tinderbox” situation. “You can’t say – and shouldn’t say – there will be more riots. You can say the risk [of riots] we’re carrying today is higher than it was ten years ago,” Mr Reed told Sky News on Thursday.The MP added: “There were half a million families who needed support to bring up their children safely but weren’t get in it. But the government’s own figures there are now 1.6 million children in those circumstances.”The report recognised that there had been improvements in bringing down the number of young people not in education, employment or training, and that ministers had made progress in bringing services to work more closely together.But it said there had been a 70 per cent cut in funding to youth services, in-work poverty and inability to access early years services had not been improved, and there had been no change to the youth re-offending rate between 2011 and 2021.Calling Labour’s report “an alarm bell we cannot afford to ignore”, Mr Reed said: “The government chose to ignore the lessons of the riots, so the risks we face today seem higher than ever.”What began as a protest against the Duggan killing turned into a full-scale riot that spread across the country over five days, involved around 15,000 people, and included looting, and businesses and vehicles set ablaze.The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, which reported on the causes of the riots in 2012, found at the time that there were 500,000 so-called “forgotten families” in need of support but who did not reach the threshold for help due to funding cuts to local authority budgets.By 2019, the latest data available, the Children’s Commissioner for England said in a similar measure that there were 829,000 young people considered “invisible” to children’s services, with a further 761,000 known to authorities but receiving an unclear level of support.A government spokesperson said: “The events of August 2011 shocked the country, and the police and courts took commendably swift action to bring perpetrators to justice.“We’re strengthening communities by levelling up opportunities and ensuring local people are at the heart of decision making – identifying what matters to them and the best ways to achieve this.“We’ve allocated £12bn to councils since the start of the pandemic, with over £6bn not ring-fenced in recognition that councils are best placed to decide on local needs.” More

Conservatives MPs have urged Boris Johnson’s government to ditch advice recommending British travellers take the most expensive type of Covid tests, claiming passengers are being “ripped off”.Airline bosses have also lamented the decision not to ease requirements for PCR tests – which have been condemned as a “£100-a-head tax on flights” by the industry.Despite relief at the government’s decision to keep Spain on the amber list, there was anger over new advice urging holidaymakers to take the costly PCR tests before coming home from Spain – though it will not be a legal requirement.Henry Smith, the Tory chair of the Future of Aviation all-party parliamentary group, urged the government to drop its insistence on PCR tests and encourage use of the cheaper lateral flow tests instead.Fellow Tory MP Huw Merriman, chairman of the transport select committee, tweeted: “Passengers are being ripped off with expensive PCR tests … This barrier to affordable travel needs to stop now.”The government has urged travellers arriving in the UK from Spain to take a PCR test for the mandatory pre-departure test “as a precaution against the increased prevalence of the virus and variants in the country”.Transport secretary Grant Shapps defended the move on Thursday morning – arguing that the PCR tests were “particularly useful when you’re trying to track the variant”.He told Sky News: “PCR tests are helpful because they will help out clinicians and scientists work together to keep a very close eye on variants … We’re just reminding people that it helps our scientists sequence the [Covid-19] genome.”Tourism chiefs are disappointed that travellers coming to the UK are still required to take PCR tests when in the UK. Those coming from an amber list country who are not fully vaccinated must self-isolate for 10 days and take a PCR test on day two and day eight.Aviation bosses condemned the “sky-high” cost of the PCR tests – which can typically cost anywhere from £60 to £150 – claiming that they were dampening bookings. Lateral flow tests can cost between £5 and £30.Meanwhile, quarantine hotel costs are rising to “better reflect the increased costs involved”, according to the government. The rate for solo travellers will rise from £1,750 to £2,285 from next week.Mr Shapps defended the decision to raise the price of using a quarantine hotel, claiming that it was time for travellers to “cover the cost”.The transport secretary said: “It is necessary to cover the costs of the quarantine hotels and at the moment the system hasn’t been doing that and it has cost about £75m, so we are keen to ensure people using them are covering the full cost of this service.”Mr Shapps also said recent reports of sexual harassment and rats in some quarantine hotels are “certainly unacceptable”.He told Times Radio: “In terms of the quality of accommodation, this is not government barracks, these are hotels … any accusations of crimes need to go straight to the police, and I know that they will have done in those cases.”Four countries are being removed from England’s red list as part of the latest update to the international travel system, while seven more are being added to the green list.It has also been confirmed that arrivals from France will no longer need to self-isolate – aligning the country with others on the amber list. More

The government has “named and shamed” nearly 200 companies for breaking minimum wage laws after bosses withheld over £2m.The 191 businesses in the spotlight include football clubs, cleaning contractors and household names such as John Lewis and The Body Shop.HMRC investigations detected a total of £2.1m was owed to more than 34,000 workers since 2011 – though the figure may well be higher when those not caught are included.The named employers have been made to pay back what they owed and were fined an additional £3.2m for their offences.John Lewis said it was “surprised and disappointed” to be on the list released by the Business Department on Thursday.“This was a technical breach that happened four years ago, has been fixed and which we ourselves made public at the time,” said a John Lewis Partnership spokesperson.“The issue arose because the Partnership smooths pay so that partners with variable pay get the same amount each month, helping them to budget.“Our average minimum hourly pay has never been below the national minimum wage and is currently 15 per cent above it.”Other organisations named by the government department included Enterprise Rent A Car, The Body Shop International, Sheffield United, Oldham Athletic, Crewe, Charlton Athletic and Portsmouth football clubs and Worcestershire Cricket Club.The most common violation, committed by half of the employers named, is wrongly deducting pay from workers’ wages, including for uniforms and expenses.A further 30 of the companies failed to pay workers for all the time they had worked, such as when they worked overtime, while 19 per cent of the firms paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate.Paul Scully, the business minister, said: “Our minimum wage laws are there to ensure a fair day’s work gets a fair day’s pay. It is unacceptable for any company to come up short.“All employers, including those on this list, need to pay workers properly.“This government will continue to protect workers’ rights vigilantly, and employers that short-change workers won’t get off lightly.”Bryan Sanderson, the chair of the Low Pay Commission, said: “These are very difficult times for all workers, particularly those on low pay who are often undertaking critical tasks in a variety of key sectors, including care.“The minimum wage provides a crucial level of support and compliance is essential for the benefit of both the recipients and our society as a whole.”But Andy McDonald, Labour’s shadow secretary for employment rights, highlighted the low number of prosecutions.“The government isn’t doing nearly enough to crack down on companies who pay under the national minimum wage,” he said.“Just six employers have been prosecuted for paying employees less than the minimum wage in the last six years despite more than 6,500 breaches having been found.“Laws protecting workers aren’t worth the paper they are written on if they are not enforced, but weak employment rights and a lack of enforcement action leaves too many working people vulnerable to this exploitation.”The government regularly names companies under rules brought in under the coalition government. A total of 2,300 employers have been named since the current scheme was introduced in 2014. More

Boris Johnson offered Dominic Cummings a seat in the House of Lords, the former No 10 chief of staff has claimed.Mr Cummings also said the prime minister wanted to give his wife Carrie on a government job with “lots of foreign travel”, according to an interview in The Spectator. If Mr Cummings had taken a peerage he would have been able to vote on laws and could even have been appointed as a minister.Mr Johnson came to a similar arrangement with another of his advisers, alleged Mr Cummings. Lord Frost was an unelected special adviser and Brexit negotiator but has been given a peerage and the powers of a minister.A No 10 source denied the claims, describing them as, “risible, like much of Dom’s recent output”. According to the ex-aide, who has waged a media war against Mr Johnson’s administration in recent months, the prime minister also suggested Carrie Johnson should tour the world with the Duchess of Cambridge. He reported the prime minister as having said: “We’ve got to find her a job with lots of foreign travel. Could we get the cabinet secretary to give her a job on Cop26, travelling round with Kate Middleton?Last month, Mr Cummings released apparently genuine WhatsApp messages suggesting that last year the prime minister did not believe the NHS could be overwhelmed by Covid-19.He also tried to convince his aides of discredited and garbled statistics on life expectancy, claiming only old people were dying and that it was a case of “get Covid and live longer”. More

England star Marcus Rashford has called on health professionals to urge families in need to sign up a to a food voucher scheme.The food poverty campaigner has raised concerns that 40 per cent of those eligible for the Healthy Start scheme – in which vouchers can be exchanged for things such as milk, infant formula or fruit and vegetables – are still not registered.Rashford said that, while thousands more have been benefiting from the government-backed scheme after concerted efforts last year, it is possible numbers are now “plateauing”.In an open letter to health professionals, published in The BMJ, he said: “Since November 2020, members of the Child Food Poverty Taskforce have used their channels and platforms to communicate about the Healthy Start scheme and to tell people how to access it, with the hope that we will be able to reach the majority of those most in need.“While we have seen 57,000 more parents benefit from the scheme as a result, I’m concerned we are plateauing.“More than 40 per cent of those eligible for the vouchers are still not registered for the scheme, and I’m confident that the majority of these parents can be found in communities just like mine, where I grew up – no internet, no high street, no word of mouth.”The Manchester United striker has been a consistent thorn in the side of government ministers and managed to force a series of U-turns over free school meals at the height of the pandemic.Earlier this year, Rashford launched an initiative with Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge, which the footballer said he hoped could help remove the kind of “embarrassment” his mother had felt when using food banks.In his letter to The BMJ, he said “healthcare professionals are in a position to highlight the Healthy Start scheme to eligible parents” and urged them to “consider collaborating with us on communicating and educating people about the scheme”.He also drew attention to an online eligibility calculator that can determine who is entitled to the Healthy Start.He added: “We need you every single one of you to help us reach those most in need in our communities, especially given the planned digitisation of the scheme this autumn, which will disproportionately disadvantage those without easy access to the internet.”Labour’s Wes Streeting, the shadow child poverty secretary, said: “More and more children are living in poverty under the Tories. With no government strategy for lifting children out of poverty, once again we see Marcus Rashford having to do the government’s work for them.“If Boris Johnson is out of ideas for what to do, he should implement Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan to provide immediate support for all children to catch up on lost learning following the pandemic.”Additional reporting by PA More

Keir Starmer has branded Boris Johnson and his government “climate delayers”, as he warned that the biggest threat to international efforts to stem global warming is no longer outright denial but failure to act with the necessary urgency.Speaking to The Independent, the Labour leader said the prime minister was “letting the country down” with his inaction on climate change, less than 100 days before he is due to host the United Nations Cop26 global warming summit in Glasgow.Warning that “the sense of urgency just isn’t there with this government”, Starmer pointed to internal cabinet rows over the replacement of gas boilers, as well as the sell-off of the Green Investment Bank and the scrapping of green homes grants as markers that Conservative rhetoric on sustainability was not matched by action.And he revealed new figures suggesting that some 75,000 green jobs have been lost over five years at a time when Tory prime ministers were publicly committed to action against climate change.Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed an overall loss of 33,800 direct jobs in the low carbon and renewable sectors between 2014 and 2019, along with a further 41,400 jobs in the supply chain, said Labour. These included falls in jobs in onshore wind, solar panels and energy efficient equipment.“Those 75,000 jobs are an example of this government’s and this prime minister’s trademark rhetoric not matched by reality,” said Starmer.But the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) challenged the claim, insisting that the apparent decline was due to a change in the way the statistics were compiled. The department pointed to an ONS report in March this year which said the sector had seen “no significant change in size” between 2014 and 2019. The ONS said that methodological changes in 2015 made direct comparisons “difficult”.The Labour leader, who on Tuesday told The Independent that he was recommitting Labour to the ambitious target of cutting the “substantial majority” of carbon emissions by 2030, was speaking during a two-day visit to Glasgow to mark 100 days to go until the conclusion of the UN summit, where it is hoped that almost 200 nations will unite behind a plan for action to keep warming to no more than 1.5C.But he warned that, after slashing the UK’s aid budget and embarking on a series of rows with European allies, Mr Johnson’s reputation was “at a low ebb” internationally at the very moment when he has the task of brokering a deal to build on the Paris Agreement of 2015.Cop26 will be “arguably the biggest global event for Britain since the Olympics in 2012, when the eyes of the whole world will be on us”, said Starmer.“Paris told us what we have got to do – the ambition to get to 1.5 degrees. But Glasgow has got to deliver the reality of how we get there.“That means diplomacy, it means building coalitions, it means leading by example. Acting globally on the diplomatic stage is all about reputation and trust and the reputation of this prime minister is at a low ebb.“Just at the point where we need a prime minister that can lead for Britain, we have a prime minister that’s letting Britain down.”Starmer added: “I’m very perturbed about the inaction of the government, because in a sense the biggest challenge here is no longer the climate deniers, it’s the climate delayers. Those that know we’ve got to do something but aren’t acting quickly enough. And the government is in that category.”On a visit to a wind farm in Scotland alongside Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Starmer restated Labour’s call for £30bn in planned investment to be brought forward to support up to 400,000 jobs in manufacturing and low-carbon industries.And he aimed a broadside at the record of the Scottish National Party, after figures showed fewer direct green jobs north of the border than in 2014, despite the party promising to create 130,000 green jobs by 2020.“Tackling the climate crisis must be at the heart of everything we do,” said Starmer. “We are at a critical moment. In less than 100 days, Cop26 will be over and our chance to keep the planet’s warming below 1.5 degrees will have either been grasped or abandoned.“The UK must rise to this moment and lead by example. That means rapid action to create good, green jobs across the country. And it means a proper strategy to buy, make and sell more in Britain, to create good, unionised jobs in clean energy and through supply chains.“We’ve had a decade of broken promises on green jobs and climate action under the Conservatives. And we are going backwards in Scotland, too. For all the rhetoric, both parties have overseen a significant loss of green jobs.“Nobody here in the UK can afford for this issue to be yet another example of Boris Johnson bluster. We need real action, now. It is time for a Green New Deal.”A BEIS spokesperson said: “As we build back better and greener from the pandemic, this government is firmly committed to seizing the economic opportunities presented by the transition to a green economy. “The data from 2019 and 2014 cannot be compared as there was a change in how the survey was conducted. In fact, ONS has concluded that the low carbon and renewable energy economy has remained stable.“We have welcomed the recommendations put forward by the green jobs taskforce, which are a big step forward in delivering the skilled workers and green jobs essential for the UK’s transition to net zero. “This will now be considered by the government, starting with the development of our net zero strategy, due to be published ahead of the UN’s climate summit Cop26 in Glasgow this November.” More

Boris Johnson’s latest review of travel restrictions has been blasted as a “missed opportunity” by the aviation industry, after ministers cleared the way for thousands of British families to visit France quarantine-free this summer but moved only a handful of countries onto the lowest risk category.And airlines lamented the decision not to ease requirements for expensive PCR coronavirus tests for arrivals in the UK, which has been condemned as a “£100-a-head tax on flights” by the industry.Ministers were accused of “flip-flopping” on France after reversing their decision last month – branded “nonsensical” by one Conservative MP – to place the whole country in its own “amber-plus” category of heightened restrictions because of a spike in cases of the Beta variant of Covid-19 in faraway island territories La Reunion and Mayotte.From 4am on Sunday, the whole of mainland France moves onto the amber list, requiring self-isolation at home on return only for unvaccinated adults, while the Indian Ocean islands of La Reunion and Mayotte join the highest-risk red category, with all arrivals going into hotel quarantine.Transport secretary Grant Shapps moved Germany and six other European countries onto the quarantine-free green list. And he gave a reprieve to popular holiday destinations Spain, Italy and Greece, leaving them on the amber list despite fears they could move onto red, which would have forced a scramble to return home by Brits currently soaking up the Mediterranean sun.However holiday-makers returning from Spain were urged to take a pre-flight PCR test “as a precaution against the increased prevalence of the virus and variants in the country”, and the government stressed it would be keeping a close eye on the development of the pandemic in the country.Following an internal battle in cabinet, a proposed “amber watchlist” of countries which could have been moved onto red status with little or no notice – and which was feared to be likely to include Spain – was ditched.Alongside Germany and Austria, little-visited European nations Slovenia, Slovakia, Latvia, Romania and Norway were moved onto the green list. And a decline in coronavirus cases allowed India, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates – including Dubai and Abu Dhabi – to be switched from red to amber.Mexico and Georgia head in the opposite direction, joining the red list alongside the likes of Brazil, Pakistan and South Africa as areas posing a significant public health threat because of high infection rates and the presence of known high-risk variants.And in a mark of ministers’ determination to deter all but the most essential movement from red areas, the cost of the mandatory 10-day hotel quarantine for arrivals will increase from £1,750 to £2,285 from 12 August.Announcing the changes, Mr Shapps said: “We are committed to opening up international travel safely, taking advantage of the gains we’ve made through our successful vaccination programme, helping connect families, friends and businesses around the world.“While we must continue to be cautious, today’s changes reopen a range of different holiday destinations across the globe, which is good news for both the sector and travelling public.”But the chief executive of industry body Airlines UK, Tim Alderslade, said: “This is another missed opportunity and with the summer season nearing its conclusion means international travel has not had anything like the reopening it was hoping for. This puts us at odds with our European neighbours and clearly does not represent the liberation of aviation that the prime minister has spoken of.“Alongside the continuation of expensive testing and a much smaller than hoped for expansion of the green list – which makes less sense by the day given where we are with the vaccination programme – this is yet another blow to the sector and families desperate to get away, and means the UK continues to open up far slower than the rest of Europe.”Airlines had been lobbying ministers for fully-vaccinated arrivals from green and red list countries to be allowed to take a low-cost lateral flow antigen test on arrival, rather than the pricey PCR tests which can add more than the cost of a flight to the bill for a family holiday.Conservative MP Henry Smith, who chairs parliament’s all-party group on the future of aviation, welcomed the expanded green list and the UAE’s move to amber, though he said he would have liked to see “more ambitious” relaxations.“The fact that France is now a regular amber and we have got rid of this nonsense of Reunion and Mayotte affecting the whole of metropolitan France is a sensible move and very welcome,” said Mr Smith, whose Crawley constituency is home to many Gatwick airport workers.But he added: “I do feel there is a case to be made that those arriving from green list countries should only require a rapid-turnaround antigen test, which could be backed up with PCR in the unlikely event that it is positive. That would reduce cost and make things more simple and pragmatic for people returning.”Karen Dee, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association, said the extension of the green list is “a positive step forward” but warned that the UK remains “a long way off a full and meaningful restart of international travel”.She called on ministers to provide “a much-needed tailored package of financial support to help our aviation industry through the challenging months ahead”.Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said the government had “plunged the summer plans of thousands of families into chaos with their flip-flopping over France”.He demanded the release of clear infection data backing up decisions, after foreign secretary Dominic Raab said that France’s amber-plus designation was driven by cases 6,000 miles away in La Reunion.“While we welcome efforts to safely open international travel, ministers must explain to passengers and the industry how they’ve reached these changes with clear information on the direction of travel of infections in each country,” said Mr McMahon.“Ministers need to get a grip and set out a proper strategy, provide full data and progress work with global partners on international vaccine passports so travellers and the industry can have clarity instead of reckless U-turns and confusion.” More