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Boris Johnson says stop and search policy is ‘kind and loving’Boris Johnson has defended plans to expand stop and search powers for police forces as he claims the policy is a “kind and loving” way to deal with the issue of knife crime.The human rights organisation Liberty has warned that new proposals to clamp down on crime, which include the removal of limits on stop and search, will “compound discrimination in Britain and divide communities”.Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised the prime minister’s pledge to give crime victims a named officer to contact about their case as a “ridiculous gimmick”.Another idea being considered is for some prison leavers to wear “alcohol tags”, which detect alcohol in a person’s sweat, in a bid to drive down alcohol-related crime.Meanwhile, the EU has released proposals to simplify the Northern Ireland Protocol, amid a dispute between the bloc and the UK on post-Brexit trade arrangements.Show latest update

1627396602Vaccination centres should be set up on university campuses, Labour saysMinisters should set up vaccination centres in university campuses to ensure students are fully-jabbed before the winter, Labour has suggested.Shadow education secretary Kate Green told the Conservatives to “get a grip” following reports that students could be required to be double-vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to attend university lectures.It comes amid a row in the Conservative Party over whether “passport vaccines” should be used checked to make sure students have had their jabs.On Monday, education minister Vicky Ford repeatedly refused to rule out that students could be required to be fully vaccinated in order to attend lectures in person and live in halls of residence.Prime Minister Boris Johnson had suggested the move in order to help drive up the rates of young people taking up the vaccination, The Times reported.Last week, the University and College Union (UCU) called on the government to work with education providers and local and regional health service providers to offer full vaccinations to students before September.UCU general secretary Jo Grady has welcomed Labour joining in the calls for “all eligible students to be vaccinated”.Lamiat Sabin27 July 2021 15:361627396235UK warned to cool links with China over ‘new Cold War’ fearsThe UK needs to be wary about its relations with China as Beijing embarks on a new cold war, a former Australian prime minister and government trade adviser has warned.Tony Abbott, a member of the Board of Trade, said the Asian economic powerhouse was weaponising trade and urged Britain to guard against selling key businesses to the Chinese or even collaborating at higher education level.In a speech delivered at an event hosted by think tank Policy Exchange, Mr Abbott said: “After 40 years of bide and hide, China is asserting itself aggressively in what is at best a cold peace and more likely a new cold war, only against a strategic competitor that is far more formidable than the old Soviet Union because it is being increasing embedded inside the global economy and can bring economic as well as military pressure to bear against its targets.“Barring a change of dynasty in Beijing, China is likely to be the challenge of the century with big implications for economics as well as security.”Mr Abbott said the UK should not stop trading but should instead be “much more careful” about becoming economically dependent on China and assess where projects have “far more long-term value for them than us”.Chiara Giordano27 July 2021 15:301627395035‘Selfish’ vaccine refusers will be barred from some events, says Michael GoveCabinet Office minister Michael Gove has branded those who refuse a vaccine “selfish” and warned they will be barred from some events.The UK government is mulling the use of vaccine passports for some large scale events such as football matches, having already announced they will be required for nightclub entry in England from the end of September.But Mr Gove warned those who refused to be jabbed may not be able to access such events.Speaking to the PA news agency during a visit to the Lighthouse Lab in Glasgow, he said: “Ultimately, if you can be vaccinated and you refuse to, that is a selfish act.“You’re putting other people’s health and lives at risk, you should get vaccinated.”When asked if refusal to be jabbed should prevent attendance at some mass events, the minister said: “It depends on which part of the United Kingdom you’re in and what the nature of the event is.“But if you deliberately refuse to get vaccinated and there are certain venues and certain events that require a certain level of safety, then, you know, the terms in which you will be able to get into those venues and those events will be barred to you.”Chiara Giordano27 July 2021 15:101627393803Government’s plan for hi-vis chain gangs may not have most impact on reducing reoffending, says expertAn expert in criminal rehabilitation has said the government’s plans for hi-vis chain gangs may not reduce reoffending as much as other methods.Tom Gash, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government, said “much more impact” could be had with skills training and drug treatment than with the proposals launched by the PM today.Mr Gash told the BBC’s World at One programme: “The problem is in terms of reducing reoffending rates it probably doesn’t do much good and it’s certainly a sense that when you speak to people and do qualitative research with people who have committed offences and done high-visibility community service they tend to say they feel feelings of shame, which aren’t necessarily positive.“On the flipside, we don’t really know whether the public feel more confident when they see this stuff. So, we could benefit from this new initiative in terms of learning about whether this has benefits for public confidence.”He added: “My concern would simply be that we do know how to reduce reoffending in other ways. If we had a focus on drug treatment, cognitive behavioural therapy, building social skills, the usual education, employment, housing sort of issues that underpin a portion of offending then we could have much more impact with the same money.”Chiara Giordano27 July 2021 14:501627392335Boris Johnson trade adviser expects Chinese bid for UK semiconductor firm will be blockedA senior trade adviser to Boris Johnson has said that he expects the sale of a Welsh semiconductor firm to a Chinese-owned company to be blocked, after the prime minister asked his national security adviser to review it.Former Australian PM Tony Abbott said that his country would not allow a deal like Nexperia’s £63m takeover of Newport Wafer Fab, and believed that the UK was now “obviously… moving in a comparable direction”.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details:Chiara Giordano27 July 2021 14:251627391414Hi-vis ‘chain gangs’ punishment ‘perfectly reasonable’, says policing ministerA Government minister has said it is “perfectly reasonable” for people to work in hi-vis “chain gangs” as punishment for low-level crime.Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the plans for teams of unpaid workers, in what the prime minister had earlier called chain gangs, were a means of “restorative justice”.He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “Unpaid work and community service has been part of the criminal justice system for some time, but I think it is also about illustrating to offenders that we all play a role in the collective health of our society.”He added: “First of all it may be the individual doesn’t want to repeat that experience but, secondly, it may show to them that in a way it is restorative justice. You will know that restorative justice is where the perpetrator effectively had to make some kind of recompense to the victim.”Mr Malthouse later said: “People who are paying their debts to society are doing this work to improve the environment in which they and the rest of us live, and that seems to be a perfectly reasonable thing to ask them to do.”Chiara Giordano27 July 2021 14:101627390339Boris Johnson discusses dog’s ‘romantic urges’Boris Johnson has expressed concern about the amorous activities of his rescue dog Dilyn.The prime minister complained about his pet exercising his romantic urges “on people’s legs” in Downing Street.Mr Johnson was speaking to police dog handlers after witnessing a display by the Surrey Police’s canine officers.At the force’s headquarters in Guildford, he was chatting to one officer about the behaviour of German shepherd Zorro.”Do you have to worry about his romantic urges,” the prime minister asked.After being told there were no such concerns with Zorro, Mr Johnson shook his head and said “my dog is endless…. on people’s legs”. 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People suffering from long Covid and forced off work for lengthy periods have urged Boris Johnson’s government to do more to protect their jobs.Some who have struggled to return full-time after contracting Covid-19 while working on the frontline during the pandemic said they were worried they could lose their jobs.Heather Jones, a teacher who has struggled with long Covid symptoms since getting the virus at school in November 2020, said has been warned she would be sacked if she did not return to work when asked.“We threw ourselves into the line of fire and trusted that people would do right by us – but that wasn’t the case,” said Ms Jones.She added: “So I’m calling on the government to help protect our jobs. We are valuable. Please help us now – do not throw us away. We are not worthless. We are not useless.”Ms Jones and several other frontline workers appeared before MPs on the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Coronavirus on Tuesday to share their experiences of long Covid.Dr Eleanor Mountstephens said she had already lost her job as a GP after long Covid forced her off work for more than six months.“Our partnership agreement says that when you’re been unable to work for 26 weeks, the other partners can you remove you from the partnership – and that’s what happened to me,” she told MPs.She added: “The reason they gave was that they didn’t really understand what was going on with me, and they didn’t know what my long-term prospects were. I felt like I’d lost family, a home, my place – with 11 days notice.”Long Covid symptoms – including fatigue, muscle aches and ongoing respiratory and heart problems – can continue for months beyond initial illness from the virus.A recent Imperial College London study indicated that more than two million people in England may have experienced long Covid.The TUC has called on the government to change the Equality Act 2010 so long Covid is recognised as a disability, and workers have more legal protections at work.Kathryn Harries, a pharmacist struggling with “flare ups” of serious illness with long Covid since contracting the virus last year, said her employer had been supportive of her need to take time off work.But Ms Harries said others had not been so “fortunate”, and called on the government to a consider compensation scheme for key workers living with the effects.“The government do not need to look at financial support [for people with Long Covid] and compensation for frontline staff, because we have done our part and been injured,” she told MPs on the APPG. “Something needs to be done.”Quinn Roache, policy officer at the TUC, urged ministers to make sure long Covid was recognised in law. “The government can define any condition as a disability and that would give anyone who has long Covid the protections of the Equality Act immediately.”Mr Roache also said a right to flexible working and increasing statutory sick pay to the living wage would help many of those forced off work long-term since the Covid crisis began.Carol Vorderman opens up about long Covid strugglePaula Cole, employment lawyer at TLT Solicitors, said there was an urgent need for “clearer guidance” from the government on how employers should treat staff with long Covid. “There’s much more that can be done to give clarity.”Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, which acts on behalf of NHS trusts, also said he would welcome more guidance from government on how to treat staff with long Covid.He said the temporary allowances allowing staff with Long Covid to phase their return to work had been extended.“We are absolutely looking at how we can redeploy [staff] and protect people’s earning over periods of time,” Mr Mortimer told MPs. “But at the moment there isn’t the certainty, in terms of both Covid and Long Covid, in terms of their impact.”The APPG has previously called on the government to launch a compensation scheme for frontline workers suffering from long Covid. More

A rising star in Keir Starmer’s shadow cabinet today announced he is back at work after successful treatment for kidney cancer.Wes Streeting announced in May that he was taking time off from politics to undergo an operation for a lump on his kidney which was spotted in March and diagnosed as cancerous shortly afterwards.In a video message, the 38-year-old MP for Ilford North declared that he is now “cancer-free” after treatment at north London’s Royal Free Hospital and can return to duties.The shadow secretary of state for child poverty said that his cancer was discovered came when he had a scan in hospital for a suspected kidney stone, and came as “an enormous shock”.In his video message, Mr Streeting said: “The sun is shining, it’s a beautiful day and I’m really pleased to let you know that I’m back at work, fighting fit and cancer-free.”He said he “can’t wait to get cracking” and resuming his work as an MP, adding: “I just count my lucky stars really. I’ve lost a kidney but I’ve also got rid of the cancer.“No chemotherapy, no radiotherapy. I’m just really lucky.“So, I’m back, back in action here in Ilford North working for my constituents and back in action in Labour’s shadow cabinet too.”Mr Streeting said he and his family received an “overwhelming” response from well-wishers after his diagnosis went public.“The first thing I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, is a massive thankyou to everyone who got in touch – friends, family, colleagues but also loads of people I’ve never even met who were generous enough to share their stories about battling cancer generally and kidney cancer specifically, and gave me all sorts of words of encouragement at a time when they really mattered most,” he said.“Of course, I also want to say, probably the biggest thanks of all to Ravi Barod, David Cullen and all of the NHS staff at the Royal Free Hospital, who supported me throughout my treatment. And also closer to home the NHS staff at King George and Queens Hospitals because they caught the cancer really early and without that early action the conversation would be having might be a very different one.”Mr Streeting, a former president of the National Union of Students, is regarded as a staunch ally of Sir Keir.He was an outspoken critic of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn over his failure to tackle antisemitism in the party. More

Boris Johnson has defended his plan to expand stop and search powers for police forces – insisting it was a “kind and loving” way to get dangerous weapons off the streets.The prime minister also said he wanted to see more “chain gangs” of people found guilty of anti-social behaviour out cleaning the streets in high-vis jackets.Campaigners have condemned the plan to widen blanket search and search powers, deemed by many experts to be both “ineffective” and racially disproportionate.But the prime minister insisted that stop and search remained “an important part in fighting crime” – and claimed parents of knife crime victims were among the most supportive of the policy.Mr Johnson said: “I think that giving the police the backing that they need in law to stop someone, to search them, to relieve them of a dangerous weapon – I don’t think that’s strong-arm tactics, I think that’s a kind and a loving thing to do.”Speaking to reporters at Surrey Police HQ, the prime minister added: “The people who often support stop and search most passionately are the parents of the kids who are likely themselves to be the victims of knife crime.“I disagree with the opponents of stop and search … They are not the only tool that we have got to use. They are part of a range of things we have got to do to fight street crime.”The government’s new crime plan, launched on Tuesday, will ease restrictions on stop and search powers for police with the aim of tackling a rise in knife crime.The plan includes a permanent relaxing of conditions on the use of section 60 stop and search powers, under which officers can search someone anyone – without reasonable grounds – in an area where serious violence is expected.The Criminal Justice Alliance (CJA), a network of 160 organisations, claimed section 60 searches had led to “thousands of innocent people being unnecessarily stopped and searched every year”.The CJA also said it was an ineffective power – pointing to statistics showing 99 per cent of section 60 searches do not not find any weapons.Mr Johnson also said he wanted to see more hi-vis “chain gangs” doing unpaid work on the streets to act as a deterrent to people getting involved in anti-social behaviour.“I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be out there in one of those fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs visibly paying your debt to society. So you are going to be seeing more of that as well.”Mr Johnson also defended his proposal to make sure all victims of crime have a named police officer – saying his government “plans to back the police but also to back the public”.The prime minister said: “What you need is somebody who understands what’s going on in your neighbourhood, who understands who the likely miscreants are, who understands whether the thing you are reporting – the crime that you are experiencing – is a one-off or part of a trend.”Labour has dismissed the pledge as a “gimmick”. The opposition claimed there was nothing significantly new in the idea, or the wider plan – accusing the government of being “soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime”.The Police Federation, the body representing rank and file officers, has also attacked the government over the recent pay freeze, passing a motion of no confidence in home secretary Priti Patel last week.But Mr Johnson defended the resources being put into the police. “What we are doing is investing massively in the police,” he said on Tuesday.“When I stood on the steps of Downing Street two years ago I said I wanted another 20,000 officers on the streets of our country. We are now almost half the way there.” More

The former health minister Ken Clarke has said he was “not responsible” for blood products in the early days of the infected blood scandal, an inquiry heard.Appearing before the Infected Blood Inquiry on Tuesday to give evidence over three days, Lord Clarke said the controversy surrounding the blood products was something that “hardly ever came across my desk”.He said at the time he was distracted with policies such as closing “old Victorian asylums” and removing “old geriatric hospitals”.The infected blood scandal, which emerged in the 1980s, saw thousands diagnosed with HIV/Aids or hepatitis after receiving blood product treatments for haemophilia.An inquiry seeking answers for those who were affected by the transfusions started hearing evidence in April 2019.Lord Clarke, who held the position of health minister from 1982 to 1985 and was health secretary from 1988 to 1990, told lead counsel Jenni Richards QC: “As the tragedy with the haemophiliacs developed, I was aware it was there. From time to time, usually on my own instigation, I got on the edge of it.“I didn’t call meetings on it. I was never the minister directly responsible for blood products. I was never asked to take a decision on blood products. “I never intervened to take a decision on blood products. I did intervene or get involved in discussions a bit when I wanted to be reassured.”“When I arrived (as health minister), the idea that blood products was a very big part of the department’s activity is simply not true.“It was a very specialist, usually quiet, harmless, subject and was one of the few areas where we didn’t have controversy and there wasn’t very much for the department to do because the blood transfusion service ran itself.”Ms Richards asked: “Do you accept that the (health) department and ministers within the department had a responsibility to ensure the treatment being provided through the National Health Service was safe?”Lord Clarke responded: “Yes, that’s why we have this network of safety of medicines committees, licensing authorities. They have legal power… to make sure you don’t have some eccentric doctor who is prescribing things which are not actually clinically proven or recommended.“Never does the minister personally start intervening and imposing a personal decision on what treatment the patients (get).”In 1972, the UK approved a new version of Factor VIII, a blood clotting protein which helps prevent bleeds from happening, to be used to treat haemophilia patients in Britain.Blood products later began being imported from overseas after the production of Factor VIII in the UK was considered to be insufficient to meet demand.By 1983, fears had been raised that the blood products contained hepatitis and HIV/Aids.It was later found that many people with the condition had been given blood products, such as plasma, which were infected with hepatitis and HIV.The inquiry continues.Additional reporting by PA More

Boris Johnson’s government must set up vaccine centres at university campuses across the country to make sure more students get double jabbed by the autumn, says Labour.The government’s reported plan to enforce mandatory jabs for students before they can return to lectures or halls has triggered a fierce backlash, with student unions branding the idea “hugely discriminatory”.Mr Johnson said to have been “raging” comparatively low levels of take-up of vaccines among younger Britons, and No 10 has not ruled out a requirement for proof of double-jabbed status for students. Labour said banning unvaccinated students would be a “barrier to learning”. Kate Green, shadow education secretary, called on the government to stop the briefings and help more students get their jabs.“It is essential that all eligible adults get their vaccine,” said Ms Green. “Instead of criticising young people, the Conservatives must get a grip and help them to get their jabs, including by setting-up vaccine centres on university campuses.”The shadow education secretary added: “The chaos, delay and incompetence at the heart of Boris Johnson’s government is costing lives and has cost thousands of students their university experiences.“Supporting all students to get double jabbed ahead of winter will help reduce disruption on campus and limit the spread of the virus, helping to protect the NHS as we head towards winter.”Mr Johnson said on Tuesday that young people getting vaccinated would “help us all to move forward” – but claimed they were doing an “incredible job”.Asked whether students would need to be fully vaccinated to attend lectures, the prime minister said: “I think that the young people of this country are doing an incredible job of coming forward to get vaccinations.”He added: “The figures are outstanding. It’s almost 70 per cent now of 18-20 year-olds who have come forward to get jabs, it’s just wonderful.Labour has called for the government to do more to promote the jab to young people – including making sure young workers are able to get time off to get vaccinated.Some experts have warned that that mixed messages from the government have contributed to the reluctance of some younger people to come forward for jabs.“We have seen stigmatising language being used which blames young people for not ‘doing the right thing’,” said medical anthropologist Dr Ben Kasstan of Bristol University.Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said making vaccinations compulsory as a condition to access their education would be “hugely discriminatory against those who are unable to be vaccinated, and international students”.Liberal Democrats and backbench Conservatives have also attacked the idea. Tory MP Steve Baker, deputy chair of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG), said: “It is an outrageous proposal, and one that doesn’t seem likely to do any good.”Mr Baker added: “I believe the government is in terrible danger of splitting the Tory Party irretrievably, after all we have been through with Brexit.” More

The government adviser who warned that daily Covid cases would almost inevitably hit 100,000 has warned of a “resurgence” in the virus in the coming weeks, following six days of falling numbers.Imperial College London professor Neil Ferguson said it would be “several weeks” before the full impact of the removal of lockdown restrictions on 19 July was felt in terms of rising cases, hospitalisations and deaths.But he said that the vaccination campaign had “fundamentally changed” the course of the outbreak, leaving him “positive” that by late September or October, the bulk of the pandemic in the UK will be “behind us”.Prof Ferguson said earlier this month that the current wave of Delta variant cases could top 200,000 before beginning a slow decline into the autumn.But he today said he would be “happy to be proved wrong” after a steady decline in cases from 54,674 on 17 July to 24,950 on Monday.The “unexpected” fall in cases in recent days may be linked to the end of the Euro 2020 football tournament on 11 July and the arrival of heatwave weather, both of which have led to a reduction in people gathering indoors, he said.But he cautioned that this did not mean the latest wave of coronavirus is over.“I think it’s too early to tell,” the epidemiologist told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “The reductions we’re seeing at the moment occurred before the unlocking took place and we won’t see for several more weeks what the effect of the unlocking is.“I’m happy to be proved wrong if it’s wrong in the right direction. If case numbers stay low that will be really good news.“But I think we do have to be slightly cautious. I think probably infections in the community are plateauing, but we’ll see that later this week with the latest Office of National Statistics infection survey.“Positivity – the proportion of cases which test positive – only started going down very, very slightly on 21 July.“We have to monitor quite a lot of different indicators to see what’s going on, but it will probably take several more weeks for us to see the effect of unlocking.”Prof Ferguson said that the crucial rate of transmission – known as R – would be as high as three or four if it were not for the high rate of vaccination in the UK, but is currently probably around one thanks to widespread immunity.“The key issue is what effect will 19 July have had,” he said. “School closure and holidays reduce transmission generally, but the relaxation will increase it.“At the moment, we can’t judge exactly how those things are going to balance out and we haven’t seen the effect of those in any of the data so far.”Prof Ferguson rejected suggestions that the apparent fall in cases was purely down to a reduction in testing following the closure of schools, or to people dodging tests in the hope of being able to go away on holidays in the coming weeks.He said he expects a “clear plateau” in positive cases to emerge this week, following the unexpected fall of the past few days.“The real issue is, will that turn into a long-term decline – which we of course all hope it will – or will we see a resurgence of … hospitalisations and deaths as we go late into the summer and into the autumn,” he said.By the autumn, Prof Ferguson suggested that the pandemic could effectively be over in the UK.“We’ll be able to tell really later this week and then next week whether we see hospitalisations – which are still rising at the moment – start to decline,” he said. “That would give us more confidence that we really have seen a peak – maybe not the peak, but a peak – at the moment.“We need to remain cautious. There is the potential of quite a substantial increase in contact rates again, particularly if the weather remains less fine and schools reopen in September.“We’re not completely out of the woods but the equation has fundamentally changed. The effect of vaccines has been huge in reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death.“I think I’m positive that by late September, October time we will be looking back at most of the pandemic. We’ll still have Covid with us, we’ll still have people dying from Covid, but we will have the bulk of the pandemic behind us.“The higher we can get vaccination coverage the better – that will protect people and reduce transmission. But there is going to be remaining uncertainty until the autumn.” More

The Home Office compensation scheme for victims of the Windrush scandal remains “beset” with problems and continues to fail those waiting for payments, a damning new report from MPs has found.Only one in six victims have received payment in full – more than two years on from the launch of the scheme aimed at compensating Britons misclassified as illegal immigrants and threatened with deportation.The Public Accounts Committee criticised home secretary Priti Patel’s department for taking “far too long” to issue compensation – saying only 412 of the 2,367 victims who submitted claims have received their final payment.The committee said the Home Office was failing the Windrush generation all over again with the lengthy payment delays and “still risks seeming indifferent to the impact it has had on people’s lives”.Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the committee, said: “Far from learning and applying lessons as promised, the Windrush compensation scheme is beset with the very same issues that led to the initial terrible mistakes.”Ms Hillier added: “Let’s not lose sight of the scale of wrongs that the Home Office has promised to right here.“Lifetimes in this country were discounted, people’s homes, families and livelihoods were interrupted and uprooted, some were forced from the country … Some have died without ever seeing justice or receiving the compensation they deserve.”The Windrush Compensation Scheme (WCS) was launched in April 2019 to compensate victims and their families for the trauma suffered as a result of not being able to demonstrate their lawful immigration status.Some from the Windrush generation – named after the HMT Empire Windrush, the ship that brought some of the first Caribbean migrants to the UK – were wrongly detained, denied their legal rights and threatened with deportation.Dozens of Windrush victims are believed to have died before their claims were dealt with by the Home Office. The department has made “little progress” in processing claims where people have died – causing their families further distress, the report found.Only four out of 132 claims made on behalf of the estate of someone who has died had received payment, the Commons’ committee was told.The cross-party group of MPs said “fundamental problems” in the compensation scheme’s design and implementation were currently “coming home to roost”.It accused the Home Office of launching the scheme without the caseworkers required to deliver it and continuing to operate without capacity needed to get payments out.When it launched the scheme in 2019, the Home Office had only had only six caseworkers dealing with claims, compared to the 125 it considered it would need. “It has never caught up and appears to still be significantly understaffed,” the scathing report found.It also said Home Office planning estimates for the scheme have been completely wrong. It thought that each case would take caseworkers about 30 hours to process. In practice it has taken them, on average, five times as long.The committee said the Home Office should speed up the processing of payments as a matter of urgency, and remove logistical barriers from estate claims.It also asked the department to write to the committee within one month setting out its plan to improve the scheme.Last week Ms Patel announced that the April 2023 end date for the Windrush compensation scheme had been removed. The Home Office said the scheme had offered more than £34m, of which almost £27m has been paid.A Home Office spokesman said: “The home secretary has been resolute in determination to put right the wrongs suffered by all those affected by the Windrush scandal. Many of the issues raised in this report are already being addressed.“Last week, we announced further improvements to simplify the application process, new support measures for those claiming on behalf of relatives who have passed away and the removal of the scheme’s end date. All designed to ensure every victim receives the compensation they deserve.” More