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Boris Johnson’s government has pledged to further enlarge the prison estate in England and Wales – despite campaigners’ concerns it will do nothing to tackle the causes of crime.Justice secretary Robert Buckland promised the government would set out proposals to “go further” than current expansion plans for prisons later this year and create “the next generation of prison places”.While there are existing plans to spend £4bn on creating 18,000 prison places over the next six years, Mr Buckland said on Tuesday: “We must go further – and we hope that any forthcoming white paper will include a 10-year plan to create the next generation of prison places.”In a speech to the Centre for Social Justice, Mr Buckland also claimed that Ministry of Justice (MoJ) plans will mean that “many prisoners will spend more time in custody”.Prison reform groups fear ministers are simply “repeating past mistakes” – warning that building more prison places and increasing the length of time criminals spend in jail will do nothing to address the underlying causes of crime.Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “On a day when Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons has pointed to the deep-rooted failings of a system that is holding the country back, the government has announced plans to make that system even bigger.”She added: “Any serious plan to reduce crime and make communities safer would start with investment in housing, employment and health services. Expanding the failing prison system, on the other hand, will simply repeat the mistakes of previous governments.”The UK as a whole has the largest prison population in western Europe, according to a recent report by the Council of Europe.The same report revealed that the amount spent on locking people up in England and Wales is higher than in any other European country except for Russia.The government announced plans to build a brand new category C prison in Buckinghamshire – as well as expanding capacity at four existing jails in Dorset, Warwickshire, Rutland and Surrey – at the end of last year.Meanwhile, Mr Buckland pledged that the government’s proposals will “look again” at improving security to tackle drugs behind bars, suggesting there should be better use of technology overall in jails.The justice secretary also said the government wanted to see a bigger focus on making the unpaid work criminals have to carry out as part of a sentence more visible so justice is “seen to be done” and to use it to “act as a deterrent”.Mr Buckland said criminals should be “fully aware that punishments will be served in the full gaze of their local communities”.It comes as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons laid the latest annual report before parliament. It called for an end to special Covid restrictions inside prisons – which has seen greater use of solitary confinement – as soon as is safe to do so.Chief Inspector Charlie Taylor said: “Violence, for instance, may have been suppressed by locking people up for almost all of the day, but its underlying causes have not gone away, and continuing severe lock-up cannot be the answer in a post-Covid world.”Peter Dawson, director of the Prison Reform Trust said: “The Chief Inspector could not put it any plainer – locking prisoners in their cells all day solves nothing.”Mr Dawson added: “The future in our prisons must be built on a foundation of good staff building good relationships with the people in their care. That can’t be delivered in an overcrowded, under-resourced system.“The government’s approach to sentencing, driven by politics not evidence, makes that fundamental problem worse, not better.” More

Nadhim Zahawi struggles to defend Boris Johnson over isolation decisionDowning Street has failed to deny reports that National Insurance contributions could be increased to fund a new social care plan, in a move that would break a Conservative manifesto pledge.Boris Johnson is said to be considering plans to raise National Insurance payments by one percentage point for employers and employees to raise £10 billion a year to help support the ageing population.The prime minister is yet to get a deal over the line but is understood to be close, and has declined to rule out tax rises to pay for his long-awaited social care reforms.Speaking to reporters during the first in-person Westminster briefing since the coronavirus pandemic began, his official spokesman said: “There’s continued speculation but I’m simply not going to be engaged with that speculation. The process for agreeing our proposals is still ongoing.”The unveiling the long-awaited plans to overhaul the social care service has been delayed until the autumn, it emerged on Tuesday, after Mr Johnson failed to reach agreement with key ministers ahead of parliament’s summer recess.The plan was due to be announced this week, to spare the prime minister the embarrassment of the two-year anniversary since he arrived in No 10 claiming to have a worked-up solution to the care crisis.Show latest update

1626792333Exclusive: Boris Johnson’s lockdown-sceptic WhatsApps echo widely-discredited articleBoris Johnson’s lockdown-sceptic messages to Dominic Cummings last autumn closely resemble ideas in a fringe anti-lockdown opinion piece published in the Telegraph newspaper a few days earlier, writes our policy correspondent Jon Stone.All the claims revealed in leaked WhatsApps were made virtually word-for-word in a comment piece published just a few days before in the 11 October edition of the newspaper – which until recently paid Mr Johnson £275,000 a year.Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 15:451626791733China hits out at UK’s ‘groundless and irresponsible’ cyber attack accusationsChina has hit out at the UK and other western nations for “groundless and irresponsible” accusations that it was behind major “systematic cyber sabotage”.Foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Monday said Chinese state-backed groups were responsible for a “reckless” attack on Microsoft Exchange servers earlier this year.But the Chinese embassy in the UK today said the claims were a “sheer fabrication and slander”.”The Chinese side is gravely concerned and strongly opposed to this,” a spokesperson said.”We call on the UK side to immediately stop echoing the groundless and irresponsible accusation against China.”China is a staunch defender of cyber security and a main victim of cyber thefts and attacks.”China also pointed the finger at the US for being involved in cyber theft and surveillance, while accusing the UK of “double standards”.Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 15:351626790833Lockdown-sceptic Tory MP says he will vote against proposals for Covid passports in nightclubsThe vice chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, Sir Charles Walker (Broxbourne), said he would vote against Government proposals for the use of Covid passports in nightclubs.Asked on BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme if he would back the plans in a vote, he said: “It will be a vote that I will vote against the government, I’ve voted against the government on most things to do with Covid.”The lockdown-sceptic added: “The government said that it wasn’t going to introduce vaccines passports, and is.”I think it will start with nightclubs then quickly move on to other venues and parts of the hospitality sector.”I’m afraid this is just part of the pattern, things are ruled out then a volte-face is done.”Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 15:201626789961No 10 fails to confirm when critical workers will be exempt from self-isolation – and who is eligibleDowning Street fails to confirm when fully-vaccinated critical workers will begin being granted exemptions from isolation rules after Covid-19 contacts under Boris Johnson’s new plan to ease the “pingdemic”.No 10 also could not set out on Tuesday how many people the Government will approve for the loosened rules ahead of the full relaxation for everyone who is double-jabbed on 16 August.Boris Johnson announced plans for a “small number” of critical workers to be able to continue their functions – but has so far failed to clarify who would be eligible.The PM’s official spokesman said: “It’s not a blanket exemption and my understanding is we’re not going to be producing a list covering individual sectors, these business-critical areas will be able to apply for exemptions to their host departments.”Asked specifically about supermarket workers, he said: “We’re not seeking to draw lines specifically around who or who is not exempt. What’s important is to make sure critical services are able to function and get that balance right between requiring people to isolate… but also making sure critical services can function.”Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 15:061626788595No 10 denies Cummings’ claim PM wanted to see Queen early in pandemicDowning Street has flatly denied Dominic Cummings’ allegation Boris Johnson wanted to visit the Queen early in the pandemic despite coronavirus having hit No 10.The former chief aide in No 10 alleged that he had to convince the prime minister out of visiting her by warning of the potentially grave consequences.But the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This didn’t happen and we’ve been clear about that.”Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 14:431626788591No 10 denies Cummings’ claim PM wanted to see Queen early in pandemicDowning Street has flatly denied Dominic Cummings’ allegation Boris Johnson wanted to visit the Queen early in the pandemic despite coronavirus having hit No 10.The former chief aide in No 10 alleged that he had to convince the prime minister out of visiting her by warning of the potentially grave consequences.But the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This didn’t happen and we’ve been clear about that.”Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 14:431626787342Care plan postponed to autumnThe unveiling of long-awaited government plans to overhaul the social care service has been delayed until the autumn, after Boris Johnson failed to reach agreement with key ministers ahead of parliament’s summer recess, writes political editor Andrew Woodcock.The prime minister, chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid are known to be close to agreement on a scheme for funding care for elderly people, thought to involve a controversial hike in National Insurance payments by working-age people which was branded “inequitable” by experts.Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 14:221626786333Ex-Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson takes seat in House of LordsFormer Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has taken her seat on the red benches in the House of Lords.Baroness Davidson of Lundin Links wore the traditional scarlet robes for the short introduction ceremony in which she swore the oath of allegiance to the Queen.She was flanked by supporters Lord Keen of Elie, the former Advocate General for Scotland, and Lord McInnes of Kilwinning, who recently announced he was stepping down as director of the Scottish Conservatives to advise the Prime Minister on the Union.Her title comes from the village in Fife where she grew up and her parents still live, according to the party.The 42-year-old, who served as an MSP from 2011 to 2021 and stood down as leader in August 2019, is the fifth former Scottish leader to be appointed to the Lords.She has said her role will involve “making sure all UK-wide laws are fit for purpose” and that her areas of particular interest include gambling reform, end-of-life choices, and “reforming the House of Lords into a democratic chamber”.Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 14:051626786272Word ‘beauty’ to be specifically included in planning rules for first time, says Robert JenrickThe coronavirus pandemic has pushed the government to deliver “more and better homes” in a way that is “more urgent and important than ever before”, the housing secretary has said.Launching a push to replace “ugly, unsustainable and poor quality” buildings with a preference for the “beautiful”, Robert Jenrick said the word “beauty” will be specifically included in planning rules for the first time since the system was created in 1947.And he said the aim was to echo an era when a greater emphasis was placed on delivering attractive buildings for people that installed a sense of local pride, with the belief that better homes would stop opposition to new developments.Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 14:041626785455Downing Street fails to deny reports of National Insurance hike to pay for social care reformsDowning Street has not denied National Insurance contributions could be increased to fund a new social care plan, in a move that would break a Conservative manifesto pledge.Boris Johnson is reportedly considering plans to raise National Insurance payments by one percentage point for employers and employees to raise £10 billion a year to help support the ageing population.The prime minister is yet to get a deal over the line but is understood to be close, and has declined to rule out tax rises to pay for his long-awaited social care reforms.His official spokesman told reporters this afternoon: “There’s continued speculation but I’m simply not going to be engaged with that speculation.”The process for agreeing our proposals is still ongoing.”We will set that out before the end of the year.”Chiara Giordano20 July 2021 13:50 More

Boris Johnson’s lockdown-sceptic messages to Dominic Cummings last autumn closely resemble ideas in a fringe anti-lockdown opinion piece published in the Telegraph newspaper a few days earlier.Leaked WhatsApp messages from 15 October 2020 show the prime minister told his aides that Covid was not shortening the lives of its victims, that few under-60s were being hospitalised, and that he no longer believed “this NHS overwhelmed stuff”.All the claims were made virtually word-for-word in a comment piece published just a few days before in the 11 October edition of the newspaper – which until recently paid Mr Johnson £275,000 a year.Critics accused the prime minister of “believing everything he reads in the paper” and said it was “downright dangerous” for him to listen to “fringe voices and unsubstantiated views” at the expense of official advice.The article was written by a signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, a fringe anti-lockdown statement sponsored by US right-wing think-tank the American Institute for Economic Research.Both Mr Johnson and the article’s author make the same error regarding life expectancy, and the claims made by the writer are similar to those repeated by the prime minister in private as the basis for policy.In the leaked messages, the prime minister said: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82-81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get COVID and live longer.”Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive.”And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.”The article published only days before, which was written by microbiologist Professor David Livermore, said: “The median age of those who have succumbed is 82 years, while life expectancy is 81 years.”Fewer than 400 UK residents under 60 without comorbidities have died. For this, we have restricted human interactions and stifled the economy.”Referring to Sweden’s approach to the pandemic, he added: “Hospitals were not overwhelmed and hopefully ours won’t be either; if things get tight, the Nightingale sites can be used.”The Great Barrington Declaration signed by the author of the article was said by Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK’s chief scientific advisor, to include “fatal flaws”, while chief medical officer Chris Whitty told the Science and Technology Select Committee in early November that the declaration was “dangerously flawed”, “scientifically weak”, and “ethically really difficult”.Both the article and Mr Johnson’s comments appear to make the same mistakes of comparing two incompatible life expectancy figures.Kevin McConway, Emeritus Professor of Applied Statistics at The Open University, said: “Making the comparison between life expectancy at birth and the average age at death of people who died of Covid is comparing apples and pears. It’s just the wrong comparison.” He noted that researchers from the Health Foundation had calculated that the average person who had died of Covid in the UK had lost around 10 years of life.Michel Coleman, Professor of epidemiology and vital statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told The Independent: “Apart from being jaw-droppingly amoral in the middle of a pandemic, the prime minister’s reported remark last October was just stupid.“For the thousands of people who have died from Covid under the age of 80, getting Covid can hardly be described as a passport to longer life.”The prime minister’s messages were sent at a time when he was rejecting the advice of his scientific advisors on Sage, who had said the UK faced a “very large epidemic with catastrophic consequences” if a lockdown was not quickly imposed.Mr Johnson was eventually forced to U-turn and impose a lockdown as cases surged, with more than 1,000 people a day dying in a protracted winter second wave that ultimately dwarfed the first.The prime minister’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings this week told the BBC that the prime minister had changed his views about lockdown “very quickly, as the Telegraph and various parts of the media” had “started screaming” about the policy.Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, told The Independent Boris Johnson’s “reckless and callous indifference” had cause “tens of thousands of avoidable deaths”.”We already know that Conservative MPs have endorsed and legitimised deadly conspiracy theories and anti-vaxxers,” she said.”We need the public inquiry to begin immediately so we can get to the truth about Boris Johnson’s deadly failures to lockdown to save lives and whether he was being influenced by danger conspiracy theorists rather than the need to protect the British people.”Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Munira Wilson added: “We’ve long suspected that the prime minister is fond of believing everything he reads in the paper, but this habit is downright dangerous if all he reads are fringe voices with unsubstantiated views.”If Boris Johnson instead listened to sound scientific advice, rather than making policy up by casting his eyes over his favourite opinion sections, then we’d have better decisions and the clearer guidance that the public have needed throughout this pandemic.”Layla Moran, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group of coronavirus told The Independent: “Time and again during this pandemic, it appears the prime minister has been influenced by political pressure rather than listening to expert scientific advice.”It makes a mockery of the government’s promise to be led by the data not dates. These latest revelations show yet again why we need a Covid public inquiry now, to ensure mistakes are not repeated and key decision makers are held accountable.”In an interview with the BBC, Mr Cummings, who leaked the messages, said that by mid-September “the data was clear about what was happening and Patrick Vallance and Chris Whitty came to Downing Street and said ‘it’s clear where this is going, we think that you should consider hitting it hard and early’ – the Prime Minister said no, no, no, no, no, I’m not doing it.”Downing Street has not responded to a request for comment on this story at the time of publication. As news of the leaked messages broke on Monday evening, a Number 10 spokesperson said: “Since the start of the pandemic, the Prime Minister has taken the necessary action to protect lives and livelihoods, guided by the best scientific advice.”The government he leads has delivered the fastest vaccination rollout in Europe, saved millions of jobs through the furlough scheme and prevented the NHS from being overwhelmed through three national lockdowns. The government is entirely focused on emerging cautiously from the pandemic and building back better.” More

The government’s own social mobility advisers are urging Boris Johnson to scrap the two-child benefit limit that has “penalised” large households and to increase universal credit payments by at least £10 a week per child.In a major report, the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) demands that disadvantaged children are put “at centre stage” of the government’s Covid-19 recovery programme, with the £14bn package used to shake up welfare benefits.It comes amid growing controversy over the government’s decision to scrap the £20-per-week uplift in universal credit payments – an emergency measure introduced at the onset of the pandemic – in the autumn.Instead, the commissioners say that ministers must “act now to rescue the next generation from decades of hardship”, arguing in the report: “Now is not the time to cut public spending.”Warning that one in three children (4.3 million) now live in poverty – an increase of 700,000 since March 2012 – the report says that the two-child benefit limit, which was announced as part of the coalition government’s austerity drive in 2015, had “penalised” children for being born into large families.Last week, figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showed that more than 1.1 million children are in families affected by the policy that has been condemned by anti-poverty campaigners and opposition MPs.They also urge the government to make welfare more “generous” by raising each child payment covered by universal credit and child benefits by at least £10 per week.The SMC, an independent statutory body that was recently moved into the Cabinet Office, estimates that the £14bn package will lift 1.5 million children out of poverty and help to alleviate extreme poverty for millions more.Among other recommendations, the commissioners called for three million social homes to be built over the next 20 years and the expansion of the eligibility entitlement for 30 hours free childcare to all families.

Across the UK there are already signs that attainment gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children are getting widerState of the Nation report, the Social Mobility CommissionThe State of the Nation report warns that the Covid-19 pandemic has held back social mobility prospects for millions. It argues that the poorest families, hit hardest during the past 18 months, “should be helped first”.“Our report reveals that each of the nations has struggled with the damaging impact of the pandemic from early years to training and employment, and that social mobility, already stagnant, could move backwards,” it states.“Across the UK there are already signs that attainment gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged children are getting wider.“Every critical measure of low social mobility – child poverty, income inequality, access to stable housing, unemployment for young people and gaps in school attainment – was poor in 2019. The impact of Covid-19 is threatening to make each of these factors worse.”Interim co-chair of the commission, Sandra Wallace, said: “Now is the time to take action and we must not shy away from difficult decisions.“Now is the moment to level up opportunities for children across the country. Ending child poverty and investing significantly in education are two of the most impactful and influential things the UK government can do to improve social mobility.”A government spokesperson said, “We know that children in households where every adult is working are much less likely to be in poverty. “That’s why our multibillion-pound plan for jobs is helping people across the country improve their skills and move forward in their working lives. We also have a comprehensive childcare offer for working parents, while universal credit has supported millions throughout the pandemic.“This government is focused on levelling up opportunity so that no young person is left behind. That’s why we are providing the biggest uplift to school funding in a decade, investing in early years education and targeting our ambitious recovery funding to support disadvantaged pupils with their attainment.” More

Supermarket workers could be given an exemption from self-isolating after being notified by the Covid app, Downing Street has said. Essential retail staff are among a list of fully-vaccinated key workers who could be told they can ignore the smartphone “ping” telling them to stay home, alongside healthcare staff, utility workers, border officials, transport workers and nuclear power plant employees.Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said the government is not expecting to produce a list detailing precisely which categories of worker will benefit from the exemption – designed to prevent vital parts of the economy grinding to a halt as coronvirus infections soar.Instead, employees will be expected to contact government departments to seek exemptions for certain types of staff.Increasing numbers of businesses are struggling with absences as over a million Britons are currently self-isolating due to suspected contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. Frontline NHS staff are already in line to be given a special exemption should they be “pinged” by the app.The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s not a blanket exemption and my understanding is we’re not going to be producing a list covering individual sectors, these business-critical areas will be able to apply for exemptions to their host departments.“There won’t be a list covering individual sectors… it’s important that anyone who feels they’re in a critical industry or wants to raise potential issues because of isolation are able to contact departments and get advice and where necessary get exemptions.”Asked specifically about supermarket workers, he said: “We’re not seeking to draw lines specifically around who or who is not exempt. What’s important is to make sure critical services are able to function and get that balance right between requiring people to isolate… but also making sure critical services can function.”The assistant general secretary of the Unite union, Steve Turner, said “mixed messages” from the government suggested ministers were “flying by the seat of their pants” on keeping the economy open amid the “pingdemic”. He warned that clear guidance and assistance was needed urgently to keep manufacturing plants open.“For plants to remain open now and in the months ahead, there needs to be faster testing, the continuation of free lateral flow tests for employers, a statutory sick pay rate that means people will actually stay off if ill and the extension of the furlough scheme,” said Mr Turner.“All these things are needed to get the country, which is now leading the world for infection rates, through the next wave of the virus.“Unfortunately, the mixed messages emanating from government gives a strong impression that ministers are flying by the seat of their pants. We need strong thoughtful leadership to prevent public health being put at risk while keeping UK PLC open, because we will all suffer if the government continues to make things up as it goes along.”Layla Moran , chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Coronavirus, said: “The government has dismantled our defences against the virus and is now busy undermining one of the final tools left in our armoury to fight it.“We need urgent clarity from the government to repair the damage being done to public trust and compliance with self-isolation rules.“It’s clear that lessons are still not being learned about the importance of clear, consistent messaging during a pandemic.” More

The unveiling of long-awaited government plans to overhaul the social care service has been delayed until the autumn, after Boris Johnson failed to reach agreement with key ministers ahead of parliament’s summer recess.The prime minister, chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid are known to be close to agreement on a scheme for funding care for elderly people, thought to involve a controversial hike in National Insurance payments by working-age people which was branded “inequitable” by experts.The plan was due to be announced this week, to spare Mr Johnson the embarrassment the two-year anniversary since he arrived in No 10 claiming to have a worked-up solution to the care crisis.But the requirement for all three to go into self-isolation after Javid tested positive for coronavirus has prevented them getting a decision “over the line”.Downing Street today refused to comment on speculation that the ministers are on the verge of agreeing a hike of one percentage point in National Insurance contributions, which was widely attacked as unfair on younger workers.Ministers appear to be backing away from a new tax on all over-40s, including pensioners, in favour of increasing NI in breach of a Conservative manifesto pledge not to hike rates of the three main taxes paid by individuals.Following an intense battle between Mr Johnson and the chancellor, the pair are now understood to be close to agreement, but insiders said further face-to-face meetings would have helped seal it.Low-income thinktank the Resolution Foundation condemned NICs as “a terrible way to raise the funds required” – a criticism echoed by both senior Tory and Labour politicians.“Whilst I welcome the government’s focus on fixing social care, this is an unfair way of doing it,” tweeted Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor and a former Labour health secretary.“NI is a regressive tax paid by working-age adults. How can it be right to ask a generation already saddled with university fees and high housing costs to pick up the whole tab?”Gavin Barwell, Theresa May’s former chief of staff, said the government was right to push up taxes to fix social care but “wrong to pick national insurance”.The tax, which is not paid by anyone receiving the state pension is “regressive”, he said, adding: “Why should older people with good incomes not contribute?”And Torsten Bell, the Resolution Foundation’s chief executive, said: “It’s a tax disproportionately loaded on to younger and lower-paid workers, compared to a fairer rise in income tax.“Why we would target a tax rise on the groups who have been hardest hit by the economic impact of this pandemic, while exempting older and wealthy individuals, is completely beyond me.”Increasing NI by 1 percentage point – for both employers and employees – would raise £10bn a year and would probably be dubbed a new “health and social care levy”.Initially, it would be used to cut alarming NHS waiting lists for treatment, which are feared could rise from 5.3 million to 13 million patients.It would then be spent to cap care costs, along the lines of a decade-old proposal to limit costs to £50,000 so families do not end up selling their homes, and plug growing gaps in care treatment.Paul Johnson, head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said: “Funding social care just from national insurance would be very inequitable.“It would be a continuation of a long-term policy of hitting those of working age while protecting pensioners even for something designed to benefit people well over pension age. It’s a question of fairness.”A 20-year-old starting work on £20,000 a year could expect to pay a total of £16,500 over the course of their careers as a result of a one percentage-point rise in NICs, said tax advisers Blick Rothenberg. Robert Pullen, a partner at the firm, said: “ Increasing NIC rates by 1 per cent will cost £2 per week for someone earning £20,000 per year, or £17 per week for someone earning £100,000 per year. This is not insignificant and will make a real dent in average family incomes. “The change would add an effective 0.52 per cent tax to someone earning £20,000 per year, and 0.9 per cent to someone earning £100,000 per year, due to the way the allowances work.” Mr Pullen added: “ No doubt the government will try to ‘sell’ the idea of what could be seen as an age war by arguing that the additional NIC cost, for someone working from age 20 to 67 and earning £20,000 per year increasing by 3 per cent annually, is £16,500 as a result of the increase, but this will save them thousands of pounds in care costs later in life.”Robert said: “ Increasing NIC in this way will add around £6bn to tax receipts per year from employees and self-employed individuals, which broadly doubles to £12.5bn if employers are also asked to pay an additional 1 per cent NIC, as seems likely.”The prime minister’s spokesperson declined to put a date on the publication of the government proposals, saying only that it would come before the end of 2021. More

Government policy on “vaccine passports” was plunged deeper into confusion today after a minister said they would not be required for pubs – only for Downing Street to insist this has not been ruled out.Business minister Paul Scully‘s comment came just a day after Boris Johnson stunned Tory MPs by failing to rule out the move for drinkers in crowded bars.Asked if pubs are among the venues where proof of a jab will be required, the small business minister said: “No. We’re not saying crowded pubs at all.“We’re not ruling anything out, but we’re not saying crowded pubs. We’re saying nightclubs and also larger ticketed events as well.”However, just hours later Mr Johnson’s official spokesman told reporters no decision had been made.The spokesman said that nightclubs were “the area where we have the most evidence” on the use of Covid passports, thanks to the mass event pilot trials carried out over the past few months, as well as experience in countries like the Netherlands, Italy and South Korea.But asked whether he could rule out a requirement for proof of double vaccination being needed in settings like crowded pubs or refreshment counters at football grounds, the spokesman said: “I‘m not seeking to draw any specific restrictions around settings we’re considering at the moment.“Nightclubs are simply where we have the most evidence because they are by design settings where individuals who don’t normally mix are in close proximity, it’s late at night there’s alcohol involved. So those are the risk factors. “We will want to consider the evidence. The prime minster has set out that he is not kwwn for that to happen in puba, certainly, but we are looking at the evidence.”Mr Scully was speaking the day after another extraordinary government U-turn – just two weeks after vaccine passports were rejected as proof of entry to any venue.Nightclubs will bar entry from the end of September to unvaccinated customers – in a French-style bid to force the 3 million under-30s who have so far refused to get a jab to do so.The rule will also apply in “other venues where large crowds gather”, Mr Johnson said and – although he did not name them – he did not rule out football matches or even pubs.Piling pressure on young people to get jabbed, he warned them: “Some of life’s most important pleasures and opportunities are likely to be increasingly dependent on vaccination.”On 5 July, a government-ordered review said: “The impacts are judged to be disproportionate to the public health benefit at this stage of the pandemic.”But ministers have been spooked by the scenes of packed nightclubs – after allowing them to reopen on Monday – and fears they will become Covid ‘super-spreader events’.Mr Scully acknowledged that some pubs can be as busy as nightclubs – appearing to meet the government’s new test of “closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings”.He added, on Sky News: “We’ve got to define it really carefully. And we will do that in the coming months until we get there.”Any move to enforce vaccine passports in nightclubs, but not pubs, will enrage the industry – just days after clubbers were finally allowed back through doors.Both the Night Time Industries Association and the music trade body LIVE have insisted they must not be treated any differently to bars and restaurants”. More

Boris Johnson claimed that “hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital” with coronavirus, Whatsapp messages shared by his former adviser Dominic Cummings suggest, despite the prime minister having been admitted to hospital himself last spring after catching the virus at the age of 55. Mr Johnson was moved to intensive care when his condition “worsened” after being admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital with “persistent symptoms” in April 2020. In total, Mr Johnson spent three nights in intensive care during his week-long stay with coronavirus.In a video message following his release from hospital, he said the NHS had “saved my life, no question” and acknowledged that “things could have gone either way”.The Sunday Times reported at the time that aides and senior ministers believed the chances that Mr Johnson would survive were “50-50”.Fast forward to 15 October and Whatsapp messages suggest Mr Johnson was apparently unmoved by his hospital admission.In a leaked exchange between the prime minister and his aides six months after he was left seriously ill by the virus, Mr Johnson reportedly wrote: “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. “The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer. “Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.”His comments triggered an angry response from opposition MPs after they were revealed in Mr Cummings’ first broadcast interview, with the BBC.“Tens of thousands had already died by this point. Boris Johnson is a total disgrace,” wrote Labour’s David Lammy.Richard Burgon tweeted: “Yet more shocking revelations about the prime minister’s appalling attitude to Covid.”Jack Dromey said: “Dominic Cummings’ claims are truly shocking. If true, they show a callous disregard for the British people and their wellbeing.”A Number 10 spokeswoman said: ”Since the start of the pandemic, the prime minister has taken the necessary action to protect lives and livelihoods, guided by the best scientific advice.“The government he leads has delivered the fastest vaccination rollout in Europe, saved millions of jobs through the furlough scheme and prevented the NHS from being overwhelmed through three national lockdowns.”The government is entirely focused on emerging cautiously from the pandemic and building back better.“ More