Markus Andrews

Ministers will “very soon” make a decision on extending vaccinations to teenagers aged under 18, housing secretary Robert Jenrick has said.Mr Jenrick said it seemed “sensible” to extend jabs initially to children just short of their 18th birthday and those with particular health vulnerabilities.His comments came amid reports that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will on Monday advise against offering the jab to all over-12s until more evidence is available on the risks.According to the Sunday Telegraph, the expert panel will instead call for vaccination to be offered to children aged between 12 and 15 who are deemed vulnerable to Covid-19, or who live with adults who are immuno-suppressed or otherwise at severe risk from the disease, as well as to 17 year-olds who are within three months of their 18th birthday.Eminent virologists today told The Independent that there was no compelling safety or ethical reason to withhold jabs from over-12s and called on Boris Johnson to move swiftly to vaccinating all teenagers.And epidemiologist Neil Ferguson told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “In the absence of vaccinating teenagers, it’s inevitable that we are going to have – and we are already seeing – very high numbers of cases in teenagers.“We won’t be able to reach herd immunity without significant immunity among people under 18.”Millions of over-12s have been inoculated in countries including the US without significant ill-effects, though the US Centre for Disease Control has identified around 300 cases of heart inflammation in teens after the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.Mr Jenrick told Sky News’ Sunday with Trevor Phillips: “We will be taking advice in the coming days from the JCVI – we haven’t yet received their final advice – on whether to extend the vaccine rollout to children. “That seems like a sensible thing to do. “And so we will be looking carefully at their advice … on whether or not we should open up the vaccine programme in the first instance to most children who are just short of their 18th birthday, to those children who have particular vulnerabilities and those children who are in households where there are people who are particularly vulnerable. “That seems like a sensible way for us to proceed. But ministers will need to make that decision when they’re armed with the final advice from the JCVI, our expert advisors, and I expect that we will be receiving that advice very soon.”Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth urged the JCVI and ministers to “carefully consider” whether it was really necessary to hold back from vaccinating teenage children.“I’m not against making children,” he told Phillips. “I think it needs to be looked at by the JCVI. Other countries are doing it. I don’t understand why we’re not proposing it.“In the end, these are always clinical decisions, but if the JCVI are going to propose tomorrow that we are not going to vaccinate children, I hope they can fully explain their thinking and why they taken a different decision to the United States.” More

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have been accused of undermining the UK’s battle against Covid-19 by trying to dodge the test-and-trace rules which have seen hundreds of thousands of workers, parents and children self-isolate to try to stop the spread of the virus.The prime minister and chancellor were forced into a humiliating U-turn amid waves of fury over their attempt to avoid a 10-day quarantine by joining an experimental daily testing scheme.Johnson and Sunak were “pinged” by NHS Test and Trace as contacts of Covid-positive health secretary Sajid Javid, but Downing Street initially declared they would carry on working as normal through the “get out of jail free” scheme previously used by Michael Gove.The decision – denounced as “Barnard Castle on steroids” by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey in reference to Dominic Cummings’ lockdown-busting trip to Durham – was denounced far beyond Westminster, with one business leader accusing the government of treating Britons “like mugs” and another saying it was a case of “do as I say, not as I do”.Following warnings that they risked undermining public willingness to comply with “pingdemic” instructions to isolate, the PM and chancellor caved in to pressure and announced that they would observe quarantine after all – just two hours and 38 minutes after saying they would not.The second statement said that Mr Johnson had been contacted by NHS Test and Trace while at Chequers and would remain at his Buckinghamshire country residence, contradicting the earlier suggestion that he would “continue working at Downing Street” while taking part in the daily testing regime.The U-turn came just minutes after housing secretary Robert Jenrick completed a round of broadcast interviews in which he defended his cabinet colleagues’ use of the pilot scheme, which allows participants to avoid self-isolation by having daily lateral flow tests.Mr Johnson’s retreat over the testing pilot means that he will be forced to conduct the final session of prime minister’s questions before the summer recess, on Wednesday, via video link – just days after telling MPs it was safe to return to Westminster.Labour leader Keir Starmer said the government was “in chaos” over its coronavirus strategy, just a day ahead of the removal of most remaining restrictions in England on Monday.The so-called “Freedom Day” comes with daily infection rates above 50,000, with government scientific adviser Neil Ferguson warning they would “almost inevitably” reach a record 100,000 and could top 200,000.“Success” under the government’s no-restrictions regime would see the current Delta variant wave peak at little over 1,000 hospitalisations and 100,000 positive tests a day and then slowly decline, said Prof Ferguson, as Mr Jenrick warned the wave could stretch into September.Sir Keir said Johnson and Sunak had been “busted” in an attempt to dodge the rules, adding: “At a time when we need to maintain confidence in self isolation, parents, workers and businesses will be wondering what on earth is going on in Downing Street.“Yet again the Conservatives fixed the rules to benefit themselves, and only backtracked when they were found out. They robbed the bank, got caught and have now offered to give the money back.”Official guidance for the daily testing scheme states that participants are chosen at random as part of a trial of new ways of dealing with contact-tracing, but Mr Jenrick said that around 20 public bodies – including the Cabinet Office and 10 Downing Street – had been signed up to take part.Ms Rayner said that the decision to withdraw made clear that ministers and officials were participating for their own convenience and not as part of a scientific exercise as claimed.“So it isn’t a pilot scheme?” asked the Labour deputy leader. “It’s just something they made up because they didn’t want to isolate like the plebs?“If people now delete the app and don’t self-isolate when pinged then every additional Covid case will be the direct responsibility of the PM and chancellor.”Sir Ed Davey said: “I’m glad Johnson U-turned, right decision.“But the fact he thought he could get away with it in the first place shows the utter contempt he has for the British people.”And Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said: “The damage is already done. This government has no principles and no judgement. And every mistake it makes destroys even more lives.”Fury at the PM’s initial attempt to get round the rules extended far beyond Westminster, with businesses complaining that politicians were trying to dodge the consequences of the “pingdemic” they have unleashed on workers.Richard Walker, managing director of Iceland supermarkets, tweeted: “Shame the hundreds of Iceland staff who’ve been pinged can’t avoid self-isolation. “The managing director of CKB Recruitment, Kieran Boyle, said: “Yet again the ruling class are treating us all like mugs. They have decimated so many small businesses already, and stuck two fingers up at limited company directors, and this just adds even more fuel to the fire. “The founder of Derby-based Loates HR Consultancy, Sarah Loates, said: “The sheer chutzpah of this government is breathtaking.“As businesses, parents and others struggle on with their self-isolation sacrifice, once again it’s a case of do as I say, not as I do.”And Helen Williams, owner of Middlewich-based Willow Bridal Boutique, said: “If we have to self-isolate, then so should those who apparently represent us.“As a small, independent close-contact business, I’m paranoid about getting pinged. Having just one of my customers test positive will close my entire business for two weeks with no financial support.”An initial statement released by Downing Street at 8am confirmed that Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak had been contacted by NHS Test and Trace overnight. The contact came after a PCR test confirmed a positive Covid diagnosis for Mr Javid, who became “groggy” on Friday evening shortly after a meeting with the PM.Under the pilot scheme, the pair were able to continue working so long as they recorded negative results on daily tests conducted at an asymptomatic testing site in Downing Street, but would have to self-isolate outside work.“They will be participating in the daily contact testing pilot to allow them to continue to work from Downing Street,” said the statement. “They will be conducting only essential government business during this period.”At 10.38am, this was followed by a hastily-revised statement from a Downing Street spokesperson: “The prime minister has been contacted by NHS Test and Trace to say he is a contact of someone with Covid.“He was at Chequers when contacted by Test and Trace and will remain there to isolate. He will not be taking part in the testing pilot.“He will continue to conduct meetings with ministers remotely. The chancellor has also been contacted and will also isolate as required and will not be taking part in the pilot.”The public learnt of Mr Sunak’s backtrack slightly ahead of the PM’s, as the chancellor tweeted his decision while Downing Street briefed media behind the scenes.“Whilst the test and trace pilot is fairly restrictive, allowing only essential government business, I recognise that even the sense that the rules aren’t the same for everyone is wrong,” said the chancellor.“To that end I’ll be self isolating as normal and not taking part in the pilot.” More

Around half a million people can be expected to develop long Covid during the current wave of coronavirus, epidemiologist Neil Ferguson has warned.The Imperial College London scientist said it was “almost inevitable” that daily infection rates will hit a record 100,000 within weeks, and said the pandemic could spike at more than 200,000 positive cases a day.Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick agreed that the wave driven by the Delta variant of Covid-19 will be “challenging” and could last into September, but said the government would do “everything we can” to avoid further lockdown restrictions.Prof Ferguson told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show that “success” in the current wave would be “keeping hospitalisations at around 1,000 a day and then declining, case numbers maybe peaking a little over 100,000 a day and then slowly declining.”And he said that there was likely to be a large increase in numbers suffering the symptoms of long Covid, such as extreme fatigue, weakness, headaches and “brain fog” for three months or more.“We’re seeing very high infection rates now,” said Prof Ferguson. “We’ve seen the impact on schooling. We’ll have probably  an impact too on long Covid rates.“We know now that probably around a quarter of people who get symptomatic Covid have those symptoms for a long period of time.“We are at about a million people with long Covid, on Office for National Statistics numbers, we could go up another half a million on top of that.”Prof Ferguson said there was considerable uncertainty about precisely how many people will be caught by the Delta variant over the coming weeks, but made clear there was little doubt that the number of daily cases would far surpass the 60,000-plus peak experienced in January.“I think it’s almost certain we’ll get to 1,000 hospitalisations per day,” he told Marr. “It’ll almost certainly get to 100,000 cases a day. “The real question is, do we get to double that or even higher? And that’s where the crystal ball starts to fail. We could get to 2,000 hospitalisations a day, 200,000 cases a day, but it’s much less certain.”Infections at this level would place a “significant burden” on the health system, even though vaccination has reduced the link with serious illness and death, he said.A level of 2,000 hospital admissions a day would be “roughly half what we got to before Christmas with the second wave”, said Prof Ferguson.“There you are talking about major disruption of services and cancellation of elective surgery and the backlog in the NHS getting longer and longer.”Prof Ferguson said it looked like people currently being admitted to hospital were not as severely ill as those in December and January, with the mortality rate “much, much lower”.“Still, if you have enough cases you can still have quite significant burden on the healthcare system,” he said.He added: “Fundamentally, this will be a different wave from the previous two.“The previous two peaked because we introduced lockdown measures, and that’s the only reason.“This time, if we don’t have to change course, then it will peak because herd immunity is being reached, and then it overshoots and you still get infections beyond that point, but the epidemic will be in decline.”Responding to Prof Ferguson’s warnings, housing secretary Robert Jenrick told Marr: “I think we have to be honest with ourselves that we’re going to see a significant rise in the number of cases, and the number of people going into hospital.“As Professor Ferguson said, it’s likely that this wave – that we’ve known about since at least the beginning of the year – isn’t going to peak until late August, possibly even into September.“So there’s going to be some challenging days ahead.“It is true, however, that we’ve significantly weakened the link between cases and serious illness. The last time we had cases at the level we do today, the number of people dying from the virus was 30 times the number it is today.”The housing secretary added: “Of course, we will do everything we can to avoid having to impose further restrictions and that’s why we’re urging the public to exercise caution to exercise good judgement and common sense, and to go about daily life in a sensible careful way, and to do things gradually, rather than rushing back to normality on Monday.”Mr Jenrick said the government was “very worried” about long Covid and was today allocating a further £20m for research into the “cruel and debilitating” condition. More

Cutting the £20-per-week universal credit would be an “unnecessary evil” leading to an increased reliance on foodbanks this winter, Boris Johnson’s former homelessness adviser has warned.Speaking to The Independent, Dame Louise Casey claimed ministers were stuck in an “ideological trench” over the decision to remove the uplift to the benefit payment that was introduced at the onset of the pandemic.The crossbench peer, who has advised five prime ministers, stressed that she was “so disappointed” in both Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and Mr Johnson following the agreement to end the emergency uplift — worth around £1,000 per year.“I really think it’s an unnecessary evil what they’re doing, if they do this,” she said. “It’s unnecessary, really unnecessary.”Dame Louise, who last year appeared at a No 10 Covid briefing, also said the implications of the pandemic on some of Britain’s poorest families was “exponential” and insisted the public were sympathetic to keeping the uplift.The intervention comes amid growing disquiet among Tory backbenchers over the cut and stark warnings from anti-poverty groups that millions of families could be left with less than half of the income required for an acceptable standard of living.Just last week the influential Northern Research Group — representing around 50 Conservative MPs — told The Independent that the universal credit uplift had been a “life-saver” and urged the government to keep it in place.Six former work and pensions secretaries from the party’s ranks, including Iain Duncan Smith, also wrote to the chancellor last month protesting against the cut and calling for the uplift to be put on a “permanent footing”.But speaking at a committee last week, cabinet minister Therese Coffey confirmed the £20-per-week emergency payments would be “phased out”, with claimants told before October they will see an “adjustment” in payments.Dame Louise, whose most recent government job was chairing the Covid-19 rough sleeping taskforce during the initial months of the Covid-19 crisis, stressed the immediate repercussions of removing the extra payments “will be that people who already have barely anything to live on will have even less”.“We’ll have another winter of increased use of foodbanks, increased use of handouts — in the fifth or sixth highly developed country in the world we’re relying on relief for our own citizens,” she said.The former adviser, who was also director-general of the Troubled Families programme under David Cameron between 2011 and 2015, added: “I’m just so disappointed in the government. There are good people in this government, and this is a very disappointing thing for them to be doing.“I’m disappointed in the chancellor and I’m disappointed in the prime minister. They both talk the talk of One Nation Conservatives and if you don’t look after the people who have nothing, you’re not a One Nation Conservative.”Branding the decision as “short-term thinking”, she continued: “We’ve got a massive rebuild to come out of this pandemic and we’re not through the pandemic at all yet. Until we have to rebuild the economy, we’re going to have to look at one of the biggest, biggest issues facing all of us, which is growing old. We’ve got a welfare state based on post-war Britain, not based on the 21st century.”Before the chancellor bowed to pressure — announcing a six-month extension to the uplift at the March Budget — Dame Louise previously outlined her opposition to scrapping the uplift in a BBC interview, suggesting that people would see the Conservatives as the “nasty party” if they did so.

We’ll have another winter of increased use of foodbanks, increased use of handouts — in the fifth or sixth highly developed country in the world we’re relying on relief for our own citizens”Dame Louise CaseyAsked what message the government would be sending to the country if the uplift is removed in the autumn, she reiterated the point, telling The Independent: “I think it’s a message which is they are prepared to be nasty again and that’s terrible really in a country that is trying to pull together because of the pandemic, we’re prepared to go back to being the nasty party. That’s what it says to me.”Pointing to figures from the Department for Work and Pensions showing the number of people claiming universal credit has doubled from pre-pandemic levels, Dame Louise also said the coming winter may be “worse” than the last.“If everybody thinks the last winter was tough on poor people, then think again,” she warned. “Everybody will think we’re back to normal. We’re not back to normal in the world of poverty, we’ve doubled the numbers of people in that group, we’ve got a year of kids sharing one phone to try and do homeschooling.“The implications of the pandemic on people who are disadvantaged and exponential and that isn’t going to change this winter. What will change, I worry, are the hardening of the attitudes within government around these issues.”Dame Louise added. “Everybody has been affected by the pandemic, some are in bloody yachts sailing in the sunset and some are on rafts that have sunk. We all know that the pandemic has disproportionately hit people more than others. It would be a chance for a reset for the government and that’s what they are missing.”Speaking last week, Ms Coffey told MPs that the uplift would be removed in the autumn, saying: “A collective decision was made that as we see the economy open up, we shift the focus strongly on to getting people into work and jobs.”Mr Johnson added that as the UK lifted Covid-19 restrictions, “the emphasis has got to be on getting people into work and getting people into jobs”.“If you’re going to make a choice between more welfare or better, higher-paid jobs, I’m going to go for better, higher-paid jobs.”Quizzed on whether he would review the cut before September, the prime minister replied: “Of course I keep everything under under constant review, but I’ve given you a pretty clear steer about what my instincts are.” More

Boris Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace as contacts of health secretary Sajid Javid, who has tested positive for Covid-19, but will avoid self-isolation under a “daily contact testing” pilot scheme.The “get out of jail free” pilot scheme has become controversial after being used by Michael Gove and a number of senior Whitehall officials in order to avoid quarantine during the “pingdemic” which has seen hundreds of thousands of workers across the country told to stay at home.Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said Johnson and Sunak were treating the public with “contempt”.“Sorry for the unparliamentary language but this just takes the pi**,” she wrote on Twitter. “Not following the rules that they created and which they expect my constituents to follow. This government treat the public with contempt and think they are above the law and that the rules don’t apply to them.”Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said it was a case of “one rule for them and another rule for everyone else”, while Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said that in voicing his response “anger doesn’t cover it”.Under the scheme, participants are given daily rapid-turnaround lateral flow tests and granted 24-hour release from self-isolation if the test is negative. They also receive two PCR tests.This allows them to avoid the 10-day self-isolation legally required from anyone identified as a contact of a known Covid patient and called by NHS Test and Trace. They are able to continue working but cannot socialise or meet friends and family.Official guidance on the scheme states that those taking part will be selected “at random” from contacts identified by Test and Trace.But government sources have confirmed that staff and ministers at three Whitehall departments, including the Cabinet Office and 10 Downing Street, have signed up to the pilot, allowing several individuals to continue working after being “pinged”.A 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime Minister and chancellor have been contacted by NHS Test and Trace as contacts of someone who has tested positive for Covid.“They will be participating in the daily contact testing pilot to allow them to continue to work from Downing Street.“They will be conducting only essential government business during this period.”Housing secretary Robert Jenrick told Sky News that the Cabinet Office and 10 Downing Street were among around 20 public organisations – also including Border Force and Transport for London – taking part in the pilot, but said he was “not aware” of other government departments being involved.Asked whether it was a case of “one rule for us, one rule for them”, Mr Jenrick told interviewer Trevor Phillips: “I appreciate that this isn’t available yet to wider members of the public, and I appreciate the frustration that they might feel.“They, like me or other members of the public who are pinged, will have to self-isolate in the usual way and that’s a really important part of our plan to keep Covid under control.”Labour shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said that it “beggars belief” that Johnson and Sunak were dodging quarantine which they had forced on thousands of others. Mr Ashworth told Phillips: “There’ll be parents across the country who have struggled this past year when their children have been sent home because they were in a bubble. There’ll be workers across the country who have to isolate when pinged, including in public services like the NHS.“I think, for many of them, waking up this morning to hear that there is a special rule and exclusive rule for Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak, will be saying to themselves that this looks like one rule for them and something else for the rest of us.“Nobody understands how you can get access to this special treatment, this special VIP lane where you don’t have to isolate yourself. “If it is a pilot, why can’t employers apply for their workforce to be members of this pilot, why can’t schools apply to be part of this pilot test?”Mr Ashworth said the PM and chancellor would be able to continue working remotely using services like Zoom while self-isolating in the normal way.He added: “This is at a time when we need to maintain confidence in the isolation policies because isolation – taking yourself away from society – if you’ve been in contact with someone who’s got the virus is one of the key ways in which we break transmission.”Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “It is one rule for them and another rule for everyone else.  “How about the school teachers, transport workers and health workers getting a chance to be part of this test pilot or is it only for the privileged few?  People have stuck to the rules and done the right thing, Boris Johnson is taking them for granted.”Co-leader of the Green Party Jonathan Bartley said: “Hundreds of thousands of young people, including my children, had their education and lives repeatedly turned upside down again and again after dutifully and responsibly isolating. And now this.“Anger doesn’t begin to cover it.”Mr Javid began 10 days of self-isolation with his family after receiving a positive lateral flow test on Saturday morning. This was confirmed by a more reliable PCR test, which triggered the Test and Trace hunt for contacts.He took the test after feeling “groggy” on Friday evening – just hours after a meeting at 10 Downing Street with Mr Johnson. He must now stay home until Monday 26 July.The positive test sparked renewed calls for Boris Johnson to halt his planned relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in England on Monday, when legal requirements to socially distance and wear face-coverings will be lifted.Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: “This shows no one is safe from this deadly virus. The government needs to rethink its reckless plans for Monday.“By easing all restrictions with cases surging, they are experimenting with people’s lives. Right now, they are pursuing a strategy of survival of the fittest, where the young and clinically vulnerable will be left defenceless.”Mr Javid’s infection came in spite of the fact that he has received two coronavirus vaccine jabs.Scientists warn that two doses of vaccine do not provide blanket protection to everyone from infection with Covid-19.Analysis by Public Health England shows that both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines offer better than 90 per cent efficacy against the dominant Delta variant of the virus after two doses, meaning that some of those with double jabs will still suffer “breakthrough” infections – though these are usually mild.BBC presenter Andrew Marr revealed that he was infected at the G7 summit in Cornwall in June, despite having received two vaccine doses. More

New research studies backed by almost £20m of government money are to look into the phenomenon of “long Covid” which has seen thousands of people struck down by extreme fatigue, breathlessness, headaches and brain fog for 12 months or more after a coronavirus infection.Office for National Statistics figures released last month found 995,000 people reporting protracted symptoms, with 192,000 saying their ability to carry out normal day-to-day tasks was reduced “a lot”. Some 887,000 said the problems persisted more than three months and 405,000 more than a year – including 13,000 children under the age of 16 affected for 12 months or more. It is not yet known whether the deterioration in normal functioning could become permanent in some cases.With Covid-19 infections forecast to spike to at least 100,000 a day over the coming weeks following the removal of lockdown restrictions, there are fears that many more people will experience the mysterious illness, which often affects people whose initial coronavirus infection produced only mild symptoms.The 15 new research studies announced by health secretary Sajid Javid will include the largest long Covid trial to date, involving more than 4,500 people.Projects will focus on understanding the condition, identifying new drug treatments and rehabilitation methods, evaluating the effectiveness of care responses, improving integration of support services and improving self-monitoring of symptoms.Announcing the new funding, Mr Javid said: “Long Covid can have serious and debilitating long-term effects for thousands of people across the UK which can make daily life extremely challenging.“This new research is absolutely essential to improve diagnosis and treatments and will be life-changing for those who are battling long-term symptoms of the virus.“It will build on our existing support with over 80 long Covid assessment services open across England as part of a £100 million expansion of care for those suffering from the condition and over £50 million invested in research to better understand the lasting effects of this condition.”The chair of National Institute for Health Research’s long Covid funding committee, Professor Nick Lemoine, added: “This package of research will provide much needed hope to people with long-term health problems after Covid-19, accelerating development of new ways to diagnose and treat long Covid, as well as how to configure healthcare services to provide the absolute best care.“Together with our earlier round of funding, NIHR has invested millions into research covering the full gamut of causes, mechanisms, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of long Covid.”New studies include projects at University College London as well as Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds and Oxford universities. More

People living in deprived areas are finding it far harder to get GP appointments than people in wealthier ones, according to a new analysis that lifts the lid on health inequality after 11 years of austerity. Labour blamed government underinvestment in the NHS after a House of Commons Library study showed that in the five NHS areas with the highest deprivation scores, as many as 1 in 5 patients could not get a suitable appointment. It comes after Boris Johnson this week delivered a speech on “levelling up” deprived parts of the country, but was criticised for not actually including any significant new policies in it.Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said there could be “no levelling up” while the government was “imposing a tight financial straight jacket” across the health service.The five most deprived clinical commissioning group areas in England are Blackpool, Manchester, Knowsley, Liverpool and Hull.In these places, the number of patients who either could not get an appointment or could not take one up at the time they were offered was between 10 per cent and 17 per cent, according to a survey of patients.The least deprived parts of the country fared much better, with Surrey Heartland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) having an equivalent figure of just 8.3 per cent, and leafy Oxfordshire at 8 per cent.Mr Ashworth said: “It’s unacceptable that patients are unable to see their GP particularly in poorer areas thanks to years of Tory underfunding and cuts. “There can be no ‘levelling up’ if people with the greatest health needs struggle to access care or even are forced to go without putting themselves at risk of long term sickness.“Instead of investing sufficiently in general practise, Sajid Javid is embarking on a top down reorganisation of the NHS that imposes a tight financial straight jacket on local areas while sidelining family doctors. Ministers should put patient first, expand access to health care to bring waiting lists down rather than a distracting NHS restructuring.”Mr Javid, the new health secretary who replaced Matt Hancock, faces a decision over whether to press ahead with his predecessor’s Health and Care Bill.The bill would give the health secretary more power over the day to day running of the health service, especially changes to hospital services.The NHS has faced financial austerity in recent years, with its budget rising by just 1.4 per cent each year on average adjusting for inflation in the decade between 2009/10 to 2018/19.This compared to budget rises of 3.7 per cent average rises since the NHS was established in the 1940s, according to the King’s Fund think tank.The Department of Health and Social Care has been contacted for comment on this story. More

A Conservative MP who is co-chairman of parliament’s cross-party group on eating disorders has been accused of fat shaming after he appeared to make fun of a nurse’s weight on Twitter.Scott Benton, who is member for Blackpool South, suggested health worker David Colldash looked like he had eaten more Greggs pasties than was good for him.The extraordinary exchange came after Mr Colldash – a Labour councillor in the seaside town – highlighted how the MP had been lobbying for a so-called super casino in the resort after last month accepting thousands of pounds worth of sports tickets and hospitality from three separate gambling organisations.“Greggs once gave me a free pasty so I’ve sold the town hall to the Great British Bake-off,” joked Mr Colldash.Apparently piqued by the criticism, Mr Benton, replied: “More than one free pasty I suspect by the looks of it,” followed by a head-in-hands emoji. But if the come back was supposed to be “light-hearted” – as the 34-year-old MP later claimed – it was almost immediately slammed by other users on the social media site.“Are you aware of how damaging this tweet is to some struggling with an eating disorder or who is genetically predisposed to having a larger body than the media imposed norm,” asked user Pete Roberts. “Absolutely disgraceful from an MP.”Another kept it simpler: “You’re an MP,” wrote Nick Pettigrew. “Show just a shred of dignity.”Mr Benton had told LancsLive that: “[Mr Colldash is] a Labour Party Councillor who frequently posts unwelcome and unpleasant comments on my social media pages.” “My response to him is light hearted and in the same vein as his original tweet.”Mr Benton, who has previously breached parliamentary rules by not declaring interests, accepted almost £8,000 worth of free hospitality last month for Euro 2020 games, Wimbledon and Royal Ascot.The trough included a ticket to England v Czech Republic from Gamesys, an online casino and bingo company, worth £1,537.60; hospitality to Royal Ascot from the Betting and Gaming Council worth £1,400; a ticket to Wimbledon from Entain worth £1,400; and another ticket from Entain to England v Denmark worth £3,457.He has since defended himself by saying he registered all gifts and his support for a casino in Blackpool predated the freebies.Eating disorder charity, Beat, who help run the parliamentary group has declined to comment on the incident. More