Markus Andrews

A Cabinet minister has been ridiculed for boasting about a deal to rescue visa-free music tours to tiny Liechtenstein – an agreement the UK rejected for the 27-nation EU.Oliver Dowden came under fire after revealing a trade deal with three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) states included a chapter to remove barriers for performing artists and their crews.“Delighted that our new trade deal with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein will allow musicians, performers and support crews to tour easily there,” the culture secretary tweeted.In fact, the small print of the text revealed that no final agreement has been reached with Iceland – and the deal with Norway may not kick in for another year.Furthermore, the aim of the agreement is identical to that offered by the EU in the Brexit trade talks which, as The Independent revealed in January, the UK rejected.One roadie tweeted Mr Dowden to say: “In 22 years of touring I have worked 5 gigs in Norway, 2 gigs in Iceland and *checks notes* 0 gigs in Liechtenstein.”And Owen Roberts, a Welsh guitarist and songwriter, said: “I look forward to the forthcoming tsunami of work in Liechtenstein.“From 20 years of experience though, it might be nicer to be able to tour easily in France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain (and the Balearics), Sweden, Portugal, Belgium, Finland….”The Alpine microstate of Liechtenstein is just 160 square kilometres in size and has a population of just under 39,000 – about the same as Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk.The capital Vaduz boasts 5,696 residents. The strength of its music and theatre scene is unknown.The EFTA deal comes amid growing criticism of the government for refusing to reopen talks with the EU to ease the mountain of red tape facing UK touring artists, when pandemic restrictions ease.Despite Boris Johnson’s high-profile promise to “fix” the crisis, few if any talks have taken place and artists have merely been promised advice on the barriers they face.Mr Dowden angered organisations representing creative artists when he said it was up to them to use their lobbying power to solve the crisis, rather than the government’s responsibility.The Musicians’ Union, One Dance UK, Equity, BECTU, Fashion Roundtable, Society of London Theatre, the Association of British Orchestras are among bodies calling for a visa-waiver scheme.It would allow short-term visits on a reciprocal basis, generally meaning 90 out of any 180 days. The deal with the EFTA states allows its performers to visit for any 90 days within a six-month period.When the EU’s similar proposal was thrown out, ministers claimed it would undermine the policy of ending free movement of citizens after Brexit. More

Once, I was fortunate enough to be invited aboard the Leopard, the spectacular racing yacht then sponsored by the City firm ICAP.As we cruised in the Solent, I marvelled at the vessel. Below deck it had powerful computers that would tilt the keel at the optimum angle for speed. It was applying the very latest technology.I asked the firm’s founder, Michael Spencer, why he did it. Without hesitation, he pointed to the giant sail, bearing the name “ICAP”. That, he said, “is one huge advertising hoarding. We can take it anywhere and anchor it any harbour. No one can miss it.” He added that when its picture appeared in the press – as it often did because Leopard was winning races and breaking records – that was also more brand promotion. More

Marina Wheeler, the ex-wife of Boris Johnson, has reportedly said she was the one who ended the couple’s 25-year marriage because life with the would-be prime minister had become “impossible”.Ms Wheeler, a 56-year-old QC and author, married Mr Johnson in 1993 and the pair have four children together. They separated in 2018 and in February last year reached a financial settlement on their divorce.Speaking less than a week after Mr Johnson, 56, celebrated his third nuptials with wife Carrie, 33, Ms Wheeler reflected on the end of her marriage and her struggle with cervical cancer, which she was diagnosed with in early 2019.”The divine plan, it seemed, had gone awry,” Ms Wheeler told the Daily Mail’s Sebastian Shakespeare. “My four children and I already had tough stuff to handle. My 25-year marriage had become impossible, so I ended it, but the whole business was grinding, so why was I being doled out more?”Ms Wheeler, who is now cancer-free and last year published her new book, The Lost Homestead, said two years on from her diagnosis she could see she “was lucky”.She and the prime minister met while attending the European School in Brussels as children, and married after the annulment of Mr Johnson’s marriage to his first wife, Allegra Mostyn-Owen. More

Sir John Major has urged the Boris Johnson to “let compassion prevail” and abandon a multi-billion cut to Britain’s overseas aid budget, as the prime minister faces the prospect of a humiliating Commons defeat.The former Conservative prime minister’s message comes after a surprise revolt was launched by Tory MPs this week, with 30 backbench MPs publicly backing an amendment that seeks to reinstate the funds.In a statement released from Sir John’s office, the former Tory leader said he recognised the economic difficulties the government faces, but stressed: “I strongly support Britain maintaining her statutory promise to commit 0.7 per cent of our GDP to overseas aid.“I do not believe it is morally defensible to ease our our financial burden at the expense of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, who have nothing — and nowhere else to turn for help”.He added: “I made my own views on this clear to the government, privately, some weeks ago and — even at this late hour — I hope they will honour their better instincts and let compassion prevail to aid those in dire need.“Only then can we re-establish ourselves as a nation that keeps its word, and begin to repair our reputation as a global force for good”.The government has already faced intense criticism for the decision to breach the Tory manifesto pledge of maintaining overseas aid spending at 0.7 per cent of gross national income, with a reduction to 0.5 — amounting to a cut of around £4 billion.Both Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, and the chancellor Rishi Sunak, have argued the cut is a temporary measure while the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, but the government has refused to test support for the reduction in aid spending in the Commons and has failed to specify when the budget will be restored.Led by the former international development secretary and Conservative chief whip, Andrew Mitchell, Conservative rebels will seek to add an amendment to the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria) — a piece of legislation that establishes a new “high-risk, high reward” research agency backed with £800 million to explore new ideas.The explanatory note of the amendment says: “This new clause is intended to reaffirm the duty in the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015 for UK official development assistance (ODA) to amount to 0.7 per cent of gross national income each year. It will require Aria to make up any shortfall in that proportion from January 2022.”It will be up to speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to decide whether the amendment is selected for consideration when the bill returns to the Commons for further consideration on Monday.Conservative rebels suggested on Thursday they were “confident” of having the numbers required to inflict defeat on the government, with 30 MPs, including the former prime minister Theresa May, and several ex-cabinet ministers backing the amendment.Mr Mitchell said: “More and more of my colleagues in the House of Commons are supporting this move to stand by our manifesto promise.“With our economy returning to growth, there is no justification for balancing the books on the backs of the world’s poor. With G7 leaders coming to Britain next week, there is an opportunity for us to reclaim our rightful place on the global stage.“Britain’s national interest is not being served by the devastating impact these cuts are already having on the ground and the unnecessary loss of hundreds of thousands of innocent lives. We urge the government to think again.” More

Dozens of infectious disease experts from around the world are urging Boris Johnson to lead countries to permanently ban fur farming to prevent future pandemic outbreaks.The scientists are calling on the prime minister to press other world leaders at the G7 summit, starting in a week’s time, to halt the trade.The UK government earlier this week put out a call for public views on banning imports and sales of real animal fur, with a view to issuing a ban.The 67 experts from 16 countries who have signed the letter, including a former UK government chief scientific adviser, say fur farms provide ideal conditions for the creation and spread of new, deadly pathogens that can jump to humans.Covid-19 has been found on 427 mink fur farms in 12 countries in Europe and North America, including 290 farms in Denmark, 23 in Greece, 69 in the Netherlands and 16 in the US, according to figures from Humane Society International (HSI).The Danish government last year culled all the country’s 17 million mink to curb a Covid-19 mutation and because the animal was considered likely to host future mutations.Together with China, Canada, the US and Russia, the country is one of the world’s biggest fur producers.

To risk jeopardising our ability to control and end global coronavirus pandemics, for the sake of fur fashion, would seem imprudentLetter from 67 scientistsThe letter was sent as global health ministers meet in Oxford before the main G7 summit, to thrash out a deal on curbing future pandemic risks.The letter to Mr Johnson, environment secretary George Eustice and health secretary Matt Hancock says: “Fur farms have the potential to act as reservoirs of Sars-CoV-2.“The intensive breeding conditions typical on fur farms – animals unnaturally crowded together, poor hygiene, stress, injuries and low genetic diversity – are ideal for the creation and spread of novel pathogens.“The trade creates potential for the many tens of millions of animals on fur farms to act as immediate, intermediate or amplifier hosts for viral pathogens.“To risk jeopardising our ability to control and end this or future global coronavirus pandemics, for the sake of fur fashion production, would seem imprudent.”It was signed by vets, virologists and epidemiologists, including Alastair MacMillan, a former government chief scientific adviser and chief vet, and Alick Simmons, a former government deputy chief vet. Scientists from the US, Italy, Germany, Canada and France also signed.The letter points out that “a significant number” of fur farm workers have caught Covid from mink, citing test data.And infection in mink can lead to mutations of the virus, which potentially risks undermining vaccines, it adds.Each year the trade worldwide kills at least 100 million animals, mostly mink and raccoon dogs, which are susceptible to catching and spreading coronaviruses.Claire Bass, executive director of HSI/UK said: “We can no longer ignore that fur farms make for a perfect petri dish for pandemics.“As the first country in the world to ban fur farming two decades ago, the UK as G7 host is in a unique position to urge world leaders to take decisive action.” More

Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has suggested Portugal should not have been put on the travel green list last month, suggesting the country “only marginally” qualified for the designation.His remarks come as the UK government defended the decision to remove the only mainstream holiday country from the destinations individuals can travel to without the need to quarantine upon return.There is also increasing concern among scientists surrounding the government’s ability to remove all remaining domestic Covid restrictions on 21 June, with cases of infections rising and a higher transmissibility of the new Delta variant first identified in India.Mr Drakeford said it was the “right decision” for the UK government to remove Portugal from the green list, which permits people to travel for leisure, to stop cases of the virus being imported back into the country.But when pressed on whether the decision was taken soon enough, the first minister told Sky News: “We would always take a more precautionary approach here in Wales.“Truthfully, we would not have put Portugal on to the green list three weeks ago and I think it’s always important that the first lens we look at these things through should be keeping people in Wales and the United Kingdom safe,” he added.Mr Drakeford also told the Press Association that while the figures in the middle of May showed that Portugal was in a position to be on the green list for approved travel, “it was only marginally so”.He said: “I would have waited a bit longer to see whether that position was strengthening so that you can be confident that it would be on the green list, or whether because it was so close to the margin things could have moved against it being on the green list.“Now things have deteriorated in Portugal I know that will be a very significant challenge now for people who are already on holiday there to face quarantining when they return”.Amid intense criticism from the overseas travel industry that only restarted legally 18 days ago when the blanket ban on holidays was dropped, cabinet ministers said that while they recognised the decision was “frustrating” the decision to remove Portugal was necessary.Communities secretary Robert Jenrick insisted on Friday that Covid positivity rates in the country had “doubled” in the last three weeks, as he reiterated concerns from the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, of “growing evidence of a further mutation being called the Nepal mutation”.“I completely understand how frustrating this is both for people in Portugal, and for millions of people here who would love to go on holiday abroad this summer,” Mr Jenrick added.“We were also clear that if you choose to go on holiday to countries on the green list, those countries are being reviewed every three weeks, and so there was always a risk with a fast-moving situation with new variants that countries might either go on to that list, or indeed come off.“That’s what’s happened here and I hope that people will understand – hard though this is – that we do need to take a cautious approach because people have made such progress in recent weeks and months.”Meanwhile Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon stressed that none of the decisions on travel were “straight-forward”, and repeated a message she has previously given, saying: “I’ve been very clear whatever the red, amber green list categorisations say, if you don’t have to travel abroad right now don’t do it because it’s safer not to, safer for yourself, safer for the country not too”. More

A group of experts is calling on Boris Johnson to “pause” the last stage of lockdown lifting amid the spread of a new Covid-19 variant.Independent Sage said delaying the end of restrictions on 21 June would help avoid the need for another full lockdown further down the line.In a statement the group of scientists said that there was increasing evidence that the so-called “Delta variant” has “spread widely across the UK and is continuing to spread, that it has higher infectivity than the previous circulating variant, and that it is more likely to cause disease and hospitalisation”.They added: “There is increasing evidence that vaccine efficacy is compromised against this variant, and that individuals remain at particular risk until they receive two doses. “There is some evidence that protection from two doses wanes after a number of months, particularly in the elderly. Meanwhile, cases are surging in school aged children, and spreading into the community, particularly amongst those yet to be fully vaccinated. It is clear that the link between infection and hospitalisation has not yet been fully broken.”It comes as Imperial College expert Professor Neil Ferguson, one of the architects of the first lockdown, warned that overall UK data on the spread of the virus was heading in a “negative direction.”He said the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, could be “between about 30 and maybe even up to 100 per cent more transmissible” than previous iterations of the virus.“We haven’t yet been able to pin down how it translate translates into hospitalisations,” he told the BBC.”We’re seeing an hospitalisations in the north west, and a couple of other areas, but it’s too early to say, and that’s critical because we do expect vaccines to give a high level of protection still, but exactly how high its critical what size third wave we might see.”The government is yet to decide how to react to the spread of the new variant and whether the June 21 lifting of all restrictions should take place, but the Daily Telegraph newspaper report that ministers could continue to recommend home working.Responding to Professor Ferguson’s comments, Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, told the same broadcaster: “It’s certainly true the India variant is more transmissible that it is growing, it is likely to become the dominant variant in the UK and these are all sources of caution. “But we’ll have to review all the data in the round before we make a final decision. There’s nothing today that would lead us to believe that we can’t move forward with the 21 June re-opening, but I think you can hear from the tone and the decisions we’re making in other respects, we’re applying an added degree of caution in the days ahead”. If it goes ahead, step four in the roadmap would see removal of social contact limits and the opening of nightclubs and large events. More

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has said he is “confident” of reaching an international agreement on taxing the tech giants as he welcomes his counterparts to London for the G7 finance meeting.Ministers from the US, Japan, France, Canada, Germany and Italy began the two-day meeting at Lancaster House in London on Friday morning, ahead of next week’s G7 leader’s summit in Cornwall.Mr Sunak has said a US proposal to focus on the world’s 100 most profitable digital firms in a global tax deal could work – but he has insisted that tech firms pay more tax in countries where they operate.“It’s certainly something we can work with as long as it meets our objectives of getting at the right companies, and on the face of it, it can,” the chancellor told Reuters ahead of the meeting. “We just need to work through the details.”Tax campaigners hope the G7 nations can help close loopholes which have allowed companies such as Google and Amazon to avoid high taxes by placing much of their profits offshore.The US government announced tariffs on around £1.4bn-worth of imports from the UK and five other nations earlier this week over their plans to tax US-based tech giants.But president Joe Biden’s administration immediately suspended the tariffs to allow the G7 finance negotiations to play out.Mr Sunak said he is “hugely optimistic” about the G7 delivering “some concrete outcomes” this weekend. But the chancellor is under huge pressure to agree to a new, global minimum corporation tax rate.Last month the US put forward a plan for a “floor” of 15 per cent for the tax, while calling for discussions to continue to “push that rate higher”. All the G7 nations – except for the UK – have issued their support for the 15 per cent proposal. More