Markus Andrews

British sovereignty “must not be for sale,” MPs have warned as the UK’s largest electronic chip plant is bought by a Chinese company with links to the Beijing government.The government must do much more to protect Britain’s strategic industrial assets, according to the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.It highlighted the takeover of Newport Wafer Fab (NWF) by Nexperia during a global chip shortage, a sale which means that the asset has passed into the hands of a company heavily backed by the Chinese Communist Party.The Prime Minister has asked the National Security Advisor, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, to examine the buyout.The Committee said in a report that “UK sovereignty must not be for sale.” It added that the “failure to conduct a detailed assessment of this transaction under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act would indicate that the government continues to hold an unrealistically optimistic understanding of the Chinese government’s intentions and is prioritising short-term commercial interests over the long-term security of our country.“The case of NWF may yet serve to demonstrate that, despite the stated intentions of the NSI Bill, the government has not yet learned the lessons of previous years.”Chair of the Committee, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat MP, said: “Our fiercest competitors, notably China, have a track record of using foreign investments to gain access to important technologies and information.“We’ve witnessed too many of our country’s brilliant tech firms disappear abroad with potentially significant economic and foreign policy implications.“Why wasn’t the National Security Advisor involved in the first place? What new information prompted the Prime Minister to refer it to him….?” More

The government is in breach of a UN treaty designed to eradicate racial discrimination, a new report has warned.Research by the Runnymede Trust said that minority ethnic groups face sustained disparities across health, the criminal justice system, education, employment and immigration in England.The authors write that they believe the government’s new approach to equalities will fail to improve these outcomes “and may in fact worsen them”.The report from the race equality think-tank added that the government is in breach of numerous articles of the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).The government is required to submit regular reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which monitors adherence to the treaty, but did not submit one in April 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.The latest report, produced by the Runnymede Trust following an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) tender, was drafted with evidence from more than 100 civil society groups.Its publication comes amid condemnation from the Prime Minister, Duke of Cambridge and others over the tide of racist abuse directed at black football players following England’s defeat in the Euro 2020 final against Italy on Sunday.The report from the Runnymede Trust also questions findings from the UK’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Cred) earlier this year, which concluded that the system is no longer “deliberately rigged” against ethnic minorities in Britain.They argue that Cred’s conclusion “misrepresents the scale and complexity of the issues” and starkly contrasts with the evidence received for the current report.This evidence suggests racial inequality has worsened in some areas since the last shadow report was published in 2016, the report finds.It says it is “particularly alarmed” over the Government’s Electoral Integrity Bill, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and the new plan for immigration.It believes the Government’s immigration measures “stand in clear breach of ICERD” and the new Immigration Bill could pose a “significant threat” to ethnic minorities’ rights.Senior policy officer Alba Kapoor said areas of concern include disproportionality in the criminal justice system, health inequalities, and a rise in hate crime.She said: “There are very clear signs that things are much worse in certain areas than they were before, and also upcoming legislative choices that are being put forward… have real implications in each of these areas in terms of the rights of black and minority ethnic groups.”Dr Halima Begum, Runnymede Trust chief executive, said progress has been made, citing the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to ethnic minority groups and efforts to address the Windrush scandal.She added: “But race has become a needlessly fractious issue in the national discourse, and many members of our black and minority ethnic communities continue to experience stark disproportionate outcomes in their life chances.“From stop and search to inequalities in maternal health, lower levels of home ownership to constraints on pay and professional opportunities, this report provides further evidence that taking a colourblind approach to equality will not be the most effective way to achieve social mobility.”The report is calling for the government to ensure its laws and policies fully comply with the ICERD’s definition of discrimination, and urgently implement a strategy to advance race equality.Other recommendations include engaging with social media platforms to tackle the incitement of racial hatred online, and ensuring effective systems for reporting hate crime and recording data.A Cred spokesman said it is reaffirming its call for the Government to deliver its recommendations following the “tragic events” of the last week.He said: “We stand in solidarity with those black English footballers who received vile racist abuse after doing us all proud.“We know from our own experiences as commissioners both before and after our report was published what it is like to be singled out and abused online because of your race. There must be no safe space for racists.”A government spokesperson said: “We have made significant progress and in fact have gone far beyond our commitments to the ICERD since our last report in 2015 and will provide an update in due course.“The Runnymede Trust’s shadow report contains many errors and is too simplistic in saying that structural or systemic racism is driving all the disparities outlined in their report.“We would urge them to work with the government and carefully consider the recommendations in the report from the Commission on Race and Ethic Disparities. The government will be providing a response to these recommendations which will act as our action plan for tackling inequality.”Additional reporting by PA More

British travellers given an Indian-made dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid vaccine are reportedly being barred from entering Malta.So-called Covishield batches of the AZ jab, made by the Serum Institute of India, have yet to be approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) — despite being chemically identical to UK-made matches — and are therefore not required to be recognised by the EU.Fifteen countries, including Spain and Germany, have said they will accept the India-made doses, up to five million of which have been administered in the UK.But Malta is refusing entry, as reported by The Daily Telegraph, despite being on the green list of UK-approved destinations. Malta Tourism Authority guidance states that anyone with an India-made dose — identified by batch numbers 4120Z001, 4120Z002 and 4120Z003 — will not be allowed entry.Batch numbers are visible on the NHS Covid app, which is used as a ‘certificate’ or ‘vaccine passport’.Steve and Glenda Hardy, 64 and 63, were preparing to head to the island to see their son for the first time in over a year when they were turned back at Manchester Airport at 3.30am on Friday.The couple had received the vaccine in March and were stopped by staff on behalf of airline Tui.Mr Hardy told the newspaper: “When we took our vaccine – we had a vaccine – we were asked to take them. We took both doses. We didn’t know what we were getting. “We trusted the Government on that. Boris Johnson said that there were no Indian vaccines issued in this country. That’s obviously a lie because it’s on our page.“The problem is the fact that we can’t see our son. We jumped through the hoops… and then we were hit with this. It was just devastating… what the hell are we supposed to do?”When asked earlier this month about the potential issue with acceptance of India-made doses of the AZ vaccine, Boris Johnson waved away concerns.He told reporters: “I’m very confident that that will not prove to be a problem.” More

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has asked Transport for London (TfL) to enforce the use of mask wearing on public transport even after Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted on July 19.Mr Khan said he was “not prepared” to put tube, tram and other transport users in the capital “at risk” by removing the rules on face coverings after so-called Freedom Day.It comes after Boris Johnson announced on Monday that the vast majority of Covid lockdown restrictions would be scrapped next week, including compulsory mask wearing in indoor public settings.The prime minister did urge people to take “personal responsibility” in continuing to wear masks in “crowded and enclosed spaces”.But his City Hall successor has called for TfL to go further by continuing to mandate their use for passengers who use the tube, bus, tram, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Overground and TfL Rail.It means passengers on these services would need to continue to wear a face covering in stations and for the duration of their journey unless they are exempt.Mr Khan has also asked TfL to put measures in place to help ensure the continued use of masks in taxis and private hire vehicles by both drivers and passengers unless they are exempt.“I’ve repeatedly made clear that the simplest and safest option would have been for the Government to retain the national requirement for face coverings on public transport,” Mr Khan said.“I’m not prepared to stand by and put Londoners, and our city’s recovery, at risk.“This is why, after careful consideration, I have decided to ask TfL to retain the requirement for passengers to wear a face covering on all TfL services when the national regulations change.“By keeping face masks mandatory we will give Londoners and visitors the reassurance and confidence to make the most of what our city has to offer, while also protecting our heroic transport workers and those who may be vulnerable and rely on the network to get around our city.“It’s an extra layer of protection on top of TfL’s world-leading enhanced cleaning regime – and I’m sure Londoners will continue to do the right thing as they have done throughout the pandemic, and continue to wear a face covering on TfL services.”Officials said TfL enforcement officers patrolling London’s transport network, under the conditions of carriage requirement, will be able to refuse entry to people not wearing masks and who are not exempt, and would also be able to ask people to leave services for failure to comply with the requirement.Conditions of carriage are contractual conditions between passengers and TfL, with existing conditions including not consuming alcohol, which is also enforced by a byelaw.TfL said that over the past year almost 212,000 people have been stopped by enforcement officers from getting on the network until they put on a face covering.Almost 14,000 people have been prevented from boarding and around 3,200 were ejected from services.In total, 4,300 fixed penalty notices have been issued since the mask wearing rules came in last year, it said.A Government spokesperson said: “As we’ve set out, we’re moving from a universal Government diktat to relying on people’s personal responsibility.“The guidance is clear that people are expected and recommended to wear a mask when they come into contact with people they don’t normally meet in enclosed and crowded spaces.“It is open to transport operators to decide if they want to take further measures.”Additional reporting by PA More

Labour has urged Boris Johnson’s government to ban anyone convicted of racist abuse online from attending football matches.The government is under pressure to do more to tackle racist vitriol on social media after several members of the England team received abuse in the wake of the Euros defeat to Italy.Home secretary Priti Patel – under fire for refusing to back England players’ stance against racism – will be grilled by MPs on Wednesday about what ministers are doing to ensure stronger action is taken.Sir Keir Starmer’s party wants the government to use the upcoming Online Safety Bill to give courts the power to ban anyone convicted of racist abuse online from gaining entry into football grounds.Shadow culture secretary Jo Stevens said changes were needed so online racism is treated in the same way as racism on the terraces, since Football Banning Orders do not currently cover offences taking place online.“The racists who have been abusing England players online should be banned from football grounds,” said Ms Stevens. “They do not deserve to be anywhere near a game of football.”“Labour would ensure that online abuse is treated in the same way as racism directed at players from the terraces is, so that these racists are brought to justice and banned from grounds.”The Online Harms Bill will put a new legal duty of care on online companies to protect their UK users from harm, including people receiving abusive comments, threats and harassment online.Labour said the government’s upcoming bill was “weak” and in its current form “would do nothing to prevent this disgusting abuse from being published on social media”.As well as the extension of Football Banning Orders, Labour called for the bill to introduce criminal sanctions for senior social media executives for repeated failure to enforce the rules.Former FA chairman Lord Triesman backed a ban from football grounds for the “scum” convicted of such crimes. Pressing for a “one strike and they are out” approach, the crossbench peer said there should be “no excuses, no second chances”.On Tuesday Mr Johnson met with representatives from social media firms and urged them to take tougher action over racism after the abuse of England players, which he described as being “from the dark spaces of the internet”.He was expected to tell them to do “everything they can” to identify those responsible for racist abuse of England players.A petition started by Katie Price – which calls for there to be a legal requirement that personal accounts on social media sites are linked to a verified form of ID – has attracted more than 630,000 signatures.Both Mr Johnson and Ms Patel have come in for some heavy criticism for refusing to back England players’ stance against racism.Tory MP Johnny Mercer backed England player Tyrone Mings after he accused Ms Patel of “stoking the fire” of racism – saying the football star is “completely right”.Labour has tabled an urgent question to ask Ms Patel to make a statement about the prevalence of racist abuse on social media after PMQs on Wednesday.It comes as senior Tory MP Steve Baker warned that the party urgently needs to “challenge” its attitude towards people taking the knee, telling his colleagues: “This is a decisive moment for our party”.A letter from anti-racism group Conservatives Against Racism For Equality group (CARFE), which boasts nine MPs on its board, claimed MPs’ actions may have “laid the foundations” for some of the racist abuse levelled at England players. More

Senior Conservatives have warned the party urgently needs to “challenge” its attitude towards people taking the knee, with one former minister telling his colleagues: “This is a decisive moment for our party”.Steve Baker’s remark comes as a letter from a Conservative anti-racism group claimed MPs’ actions may have “laid the foundations” for some of the racist abuse levelled at England players during the Euro tournament.The Conservatives Against Racism For Equality group (CARFE), which boasts nine MPs on its board, including Jeremy Hunt and Robert Halfon, added that too many parliamentarians had “fundamentally misunderstood” the action used to express solidarity against racism.On Monday, the England defender Tyrone Mings claimed Priti Patel, the home secretary, had “stoke[d] the fire” of racism when she described taking the knee earlier in the competition as “gesture politics”.Ms Patel, who condemned the racist abuse suffered by England footballers Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after the Euro 2020 final, previously refused to criticise fans booing players taking the knee, saying it was a “choice for them”.And in a sign of the wider unease in the party over the leadership’s message against racism, former minister Johnny Mercer expressed his support for Mr Mings, saying: “The painful truth is that this guy is completely right”.The damning letter from CARFE’s co-founder Albie Amankova – addressed to Conservative MPs – said: “As a young man who is proud of being a Conservative as he is of his African and English heritage, I have been disappointed at the way our side of the house has engaged with how our national football team decided to stand against racism by taking the knee.“Too many of us have fundamentally misunderstood the gesture taking the knee, and we have not listened when those who support the gesture have explained why.”In a stark warning, he told MPs: “I fear that the way some of us have spoken out against taking the knee laid the foundations for the actions of some England fans after the football game both on social media and in real life and I bitterly regret that.” Circulating the letter, former Tory minister Mr Baker, who sits on the group’s advisory board, told MPs: “Colleagues may know we have a UQ [Urgent Question] tomorrow on racist abuse on social media in the context of the Euro final.” “This may be a decisive moment for our party,” he added. “Much as we can’t be associated with calls to defund the police, we urgently need to challenge our own attitude to people taking the knee.”One Tory former minister who sits on CARFE’s advisory board also endorsed the letter’s contents, telling The Independent: “Taking the knee should be up to individuals and many of the people doing it have nothing to do with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, but just deeply care about racism.“The problem for us as a party is that by outright rejection, we show we misunderstand this and we don’t take into account people’s sensitivities and anguish.”In his letter, Mr Amankova also suggested in his correspondence that many in the party had failed to understand the gesture of taking the knee, which he said dated back to the 1960s when Martin Luther King Jr used the action to pray and reflect on the civil rights marches in the United States.“It is not an expression of support for the political left, or of some Black Lives Matter organisations who support positions that we Conservatives rightly reject, like defunding the police, dismantling capitalism, talking Britain down and other Western free and democratic societies,” he added.“In its modern form taking the knee is exactly as I described, a display of solidarity with those who suffer from racism and for non-white people, a personal stand against the racism many of us have suffered ourselves.“Modern, compassionate, patriotic conservatives who believe in fairness, liberty, individual agency and equality of opportunity should stand with, not against those who peacefully protest against injustice and inequality in our society.”Earlier, No 10 said Boris Johnson would meet with social media companies instructing them that the government expects the firms to do “everything they can” to identify those responsible for the racist of abuse of three black England penalty takers on Sunday evening.The prime minister also told a meeting of the cabinet that the abuse was “utterly disgraceful” had emerged “from the dark spaces of the internet”, and there was “no question” that it needed to be “stamped out”.The spokesperson defended Ms Patel after criticism from England star Mr Mings, saying: “The home secretary has been clear there is no place for racism in our country and that’s why she is backing the police to hold those responsible accountable. The home secretary is working every day to clamp down on hate crime, racism and violence.” More

More than 1,200 leading doctors and scientists have signed a letter condemning Boris Johnson’s decision to forge ahead with so-called Freedom Day on 19 July, describing it as “unscientific and unethical”.Last week, a coalition of medical experts published a missive in medical journal The Lancet, branding the government’s plans “dangerous and premature”. It described Mr Johnson’s strategy as “herd immunity by mass infection” and said that opening the country should be delayed until “everyone, including adolescents, have been offered vaccination and uptake is high”.The letter has now been signed by 1,246 doctors and scientists from all over the world.Former chief scientific adviser and chair of Independent Sage, Sir David King, threw his support behind the letter and described the government’s strategy as “completely wrong”.He told the Daily Express: “It is unbelievable that the UK government should embark on a herd immunity strategy that will see thousands of unnecessary deaths and severe long-term illness when so much progress has been made with the vaccination programme. “As we have said for over a year this strategy is completely wrong and does not reflect the best scientific or medical advice.”On Monday, Mr Johnson announced that most Covid lockdown restrictions would be dropped despite coronavirus infections having surged to 35,000 per day. Cases are expected to go higher still in the coming weeks.The group of scientists involved in publishing the letter in The Lancet said in a statement released on Tuesday that the government’s pandemic plan involved “exposing millions of people to acute and long-term impacts of mass infection”.“A strategy that chooses mass infection in children and young people now as a way to protect the vulnerable in winter, instead of taking the time to vaccinate our young is unethical and unscientific,” the letter added.The statement also said the pandemic plan risked “burdening a generation with long Covid, the long-term consequences of which are unknown”.Dr Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, said he was “very shocked” by chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance for not “being more public about their concerns”.He added: “The faux deference that you saw from both of them to the prime minister in trying to shore up his decision making, I thought, was an abdication of their independent role as government advisors.”Dr Horton said that Professor Whitty’s statement that there was “widespread agreement across the scientific community” was categorically untrue.He said: “I’m afraid I have to conclude that the chief medical officer is wilfully misrepresenting scientific opinion across the country, and that is extraordinary to observe.”Dr Helen Salisbury, a GP, lecturer at Oxford University and columnist for the British Medical Journal (BMJ), said: “I cannot understand why the government would opt to do herd immunity viral infection when they could do herd immunity by vaccination. I think it’s criminal.”A Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson said: “Herd immunity has never been part of our pandemic strategy. Our approach has always been to protect the NHS, save lives, and ensure as many people as possible are vaccinated and protected against this virus, as we learn to live with COVID-19.“Thanks to the phenomenal success of the vaccine rollout in weakening the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths we are seeking to move from an approach of rules and regulations to one of guidance and personal responsibility.” More

Scientists have accused the government of a “criminal” decision to embark on a mass infection strategy to Covid by lifting most remaining restrictions on 19 July.The authors of a letter to The Lancet signed by more than 1,200 scientists and medics described the government’s strategy as “herd immunity by mass infection” and branded it “unscientific and unethical”. Lancet editor-in-chief Richard Horton said that chief medical officer Chris Whitty was “wilfully misrepresenting scientific opinion” with claims that there was widespread support for the prime minister’s approach.The National Voices coalition of almost 60 health and social care charities also wrote to Boris Johnson urging him to reconsider, warning that the recovery of non-Covid healthcare will be undermined if thousands more people are allowed to become ill with coronavirus over the summer.The chair of the British Medical Association, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, has warned that the “irresponsible” decision to press ahead with so-called Freedom Day – including the removal of legal requirements on face coverings and social distancing in England – could have “potentially devastating consequences” at a time when infections are running at over 36,000 a day.The Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced that all of Scotland will move to the lowest level of coronavirus restrictions on 19 July, but said masks will remain for “some time to come”, as lifting all restrictions immediately “would put all of us at greater risk”.Latest official figures recorded 50 deaths across the UK on Tuesday and 213 over the past seven days – 50 per cent up on the previous week.Some 36,660 daily positive cases were reported, with the seven-day total up 27 per cent on the previous week, while hospitalisations in England rose to their highest level for four months at 502 on 11 July.The warnings came as evidence emerged that Britons in their droves are turning off the smartphone app, which is seen by the government as a key tool in the battle to rein in the surging Delta variant.Almost one in five adults (19 per cent) who had downloaded the NHS app – and more than a third (34 per cent) of 18 to 34 year-olds – told pollsters Savanta ComRes that they had deleted it from their phones. And 20 per cent – including 36 per cent of younger adults – said they plan to delete it when final restrictions are lifted on Monday.The mass removal of the contact-tracing device came amid warnings that millions of people may be forced into self-isolation this summer after being identified as potential contacts of Covid-19 patients.With the government admitting that daily infections could soar to 100,000 a day following the removal of lockdown restrictions on 19 July, ministers have not denied forecasts of up to 3.5 million people a week being “pinged” by the app and told to isolate for 10 days.Just 42 per cent of those taking part in the survey said they are still using the app, compared to 32 per cent who never downloaded it and 19 per cent who have deleted it.Savanta ComRes political research director Chris Hopkins said: “Testing, tracing and self-isolating are all major factors in the government’s plans to remove coronavirus restrictions, and therefore this survey showing that many – particularly those who have not been fully vaccinated – plan to delete the app or have already, shows that attempts to contain the virus without restrictions are likely to be very difficult.“Of course, many have reasons for deleting the app, including fearing a lack of income if told to self-isolate. However, on this evidence, the government can continue to blame the public if – as some expect – cases, hospitalisations and deaths from coronavirus rise in the latter half of the summer.”The authors of the Lancet letter said that the lifting of all restrictions amounted to a decision to allow mass infection in order to achieve herd immunity before the winter, when respiratory diseases are at their worst.Dr Deepti Gurdasani of Queen Mary University London said: “I think people are nervous about using the term ‘herd immunity through infection’ because they feel unsure about the intentionality of the government, but if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it is a duck, and that they are going for herd immunity strategy is very clear from their modeling.“I think we will look back and see this as perhaps the darkest day for UK science.”Prof Christina Pagel of University College London and Independent Sage, said: “The government says it isn’t [following a herd immunity strategy], but at the same time they’ve said they’re willing to live with potentially a few more million infections just before autumn. I don’t know why people aren’t talking about it more but it’s pretty clear that’s what the decision is.”And GP Helen Salisbury, a lecturer at Oxford University, said: “I cannot understand why the government would opt to do herd immunity viral infection when they could do herd immunity by vaccination. I think it’s criminal.”The National Voices letter to Mr Johnson – signed by groups including Kidney Care UK, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK and Blood Cancer UK – warned that the continued prevalence of Covid is “holding back the recovery”.“We can only crack on with the crucial recovery of non-Covid healthcare if we keep Covid infections and the ongoing need for Covid care low,” it warned.“If we have thousands of people falling very ill again with Covid, it will damage the economy and the health system both in the short and long term more than the continued use of moderate Covid control measures.” More