Markus Andrews

MPs from across the political divide are urging the government to immediately publish an internal review into the Covid crisis, insisting that refusing to do so “makes a mockery” of Matt Hancock’s claim of being transparent with the British public.It comes as Boris Johnson faces intense pressure to accelerate the official public inquiry into the handling of the pandemic after the extraordinary seven-hour testimony from former No 10 chief aide Dominic Cummings last week.During the evidence session, Mr Cummings claimed that government fell “disastrously short” of the standards expected and suggested tens of thousands of people died during the crisis “who didn’t need to die” as a result of mistakes.Writing for The Independent, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the country “cannot wait” until spring 2022 – the earliest date set by the prime minister for the statutory inquiry to begin – for questions to be answered.She stressed the refusal to bring forward the date “makes it all the more baffling that his department [health and social care] is refusing to publish the internal ‘lessons learned’ review it has carried out”.“The [prime minister’s] spokesperson admitted the Department of Health carried out an internal review into how it handled the Covid pandemic,” Ms Rayner added.“The review is said to have looked at operational, ‘nuts and bolts’ issues – exactly the sort of issues we can learn lessons from right away.“If the government truly wants to show they are serious about learning lessons from their mistakes during the pandemic they can do so with one simple step: publish the review immediately.”Conservative MP Dan Poulter – a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Covid – told The Independent it was “essential” the government commissioned document looking at “what could be done better in future is published”.Mr Poulter, who has worked on the NHS frontline during the pandemic, added: “The leading government department is the Department of Health and Social Care and it’s good they carried out a review of their own practices – that’s very welcome. But there’s no reason whatsoever not to share that and to make that public.“That’s part of the process of helping to put things in a better place should we be facing a similar situation with another pandemic which we may well be in the future.”According to the HuffPost, the review did not look at all aspects of the pandemic and was not undertaken across Whitehall. Instead it focused on the inner workings and practices at the Department of Health and Social Care during the crisis.The Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who chairs the APPG on Covid, said that the failure to publish the document “makes a mockery” of the health secretary’s claim to MPs this week that the government “is open and transparent”.“It beggars belief that ministers are still refusing to publish their own review of the lessons learned during the pandemic,” she said. “The public must not be kept in the dark any longer.”The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, an organisation that has been campaigning for an immediate public inquiry, echoed her comments, saying: “In parliament, Matt Hancock claimed that he and the government has a track record of openness, transparency and explanation and that they ‘will keep on with the spirit of openness and transparency’.”The group’s co-founder, Matt Fowler, asked: “How can they say this with a straight face when they refuse to release the government’s internal lessons learnt review? It makes clear that their refusal to bring the inquiry forward is because they’re scared of scrutiny, not because of impact of resources, as they claim”.Pressed on the review in the Commons last week as he faced questions over Mr Cummings’ allegations, Mr Hancock told the Green MP Caroline Lucas: “Of course we learn lessons all the way through and we follow the scientific developments that teach us more about this virus all the way through.“And then we’ll have a full inquiry afterwards to make sure we can learn further lessons for the future,” he added.A government spokesperson said: “Our focus from the outset of this pandemic has been on saving lives and internal discussions have been held throughout on how we best respond to Covid-19, keep people safe and protect the NHS.“As is standard practice across departments, an informal lessons learned review was carried out by officials at DHSC to help inform future working practices which assisted during the pandemic so we could continually learn and improve our approach.“A formal independent inquiry will take place, as announced by the prime minister.” More

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has warned Prince William and other members of the royal family to keep out the debate on Scottish independence.The Alba party leader spoke out after the former prime minister, Gordon Brown – who recently launched a campaign to save the union – held a meeting with the Duke of Cambridge last week.Mr Salmond questioned “what on earth Prince William thought he was doing” by meeting Mr Brown, arguing that it would be “foolish” for him to get dragged into the debate over a second referendum.The Alba leader claimed the get-together in Edinburgh showed “poor judgement” on both sides, suggesting “desperate unionists” like Mr Brown were trying to influence the future king on politics.“We should have no hesitation in seeing from that meeting, unionist preparation for attempting to persuade a constitutional monarchy to intervene in a constitutional debate,” the nationalist politician told supporters in a video message.Mr Salmond added: “It would be very wise for the royal family to follow what has been the Queen’s example over her long reign, to keep the monarchy over and above politics, and it would be foolish to have a situation in which it can be said that the monarchy is involved in the Scottish constitutional debate.“The Brown meeting shows poor judgement on both sides but the same degree of unscrupulous unionist desperation. The independence team should take note.”The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s private meeting with Mr Brown and his wife Sarah at the Palace of Holyroodhouse on Thursday was mentioned in the court circular – but there were no details on the topics discussed.The former Labour prime minister recently launched a campaign to maintain the union, as the SNP prepares to push for a “legal” referendum vote on independence.Mr Brown has urged Boris Johnson to set up a constitutional inquiry, create a new forum for leaders of the four devolved nations, and consider greater powers for the Scottish government.Prince William held a meeting with Nicola Sturgeon last Saturday during his week-long tour of Scotland, and also met Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmichael when opening a new hospital in Orkney. More

Plans for the use of Covid-19 passports as a legal requirement for entry to large events this summer are set to be dropped, according to a report.The Telegraph has reported that officials working on the ongoing Covid-19 status certification review do not believe that the law will be changed to mandate their use in the UK, with one government source claiming that the plans were “dead”.“It’s not a case of ‘it’s finely balanced’. It’s not going to happen,” the source told the newspaper.Ministers are reviewing data to decide whether to go ahead with the final stage of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown on 21 June, which would allow people to return to events such as football matches and music concerts in large numbers.It has previously been suggested that entry to large events could be granted by presenting proof of a Covid vaccination, a recent negative test or a positive antibody test for the virus.Although proof of vaccination has been accepted as a possible requirement for international travel, the use of Covid-19 passports domestically is a highly controversial issue that poses significant legal and ethical questions.In April, the Equality and Human Rights Commission reportedly told the Cabinet Office that Covid status certificates or vaccines passports could be discriminatory as they risked creating a “two-tier society” in the UK.A cross-party group of more than 70 MPs, including Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, also launched a campaign last month against domestic vaccine passports.The MPs warned that certificates should not be used to “deny individuals access to general services, businesses or jobs”.“International travel is a luxury but participating in your own community is a fundamental right,” Baroness Chakrabarti, a Labour peer, said.“So internal Covid passports are an authoritarian step too far. We don’t defeat the virus with discrimination and oppression but with education, vaccination and mutual support.”Advocates for the idea have argued that Covid status certificates could be used to open up the economy while preventing coronavirus outbreaks.In response to the Telegraph’s report, a government spokesperson said: “The Covid status certification review is ongoing and no final decisions have been taken yet.“The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster will update parliament after recess.”The newspaper reported that one reason for diminishing interest in the plans was the issue of how to fairly treat people who have medical exemptions from getting a Covid jab, such as those with allergic reactions.It also noted that a final decision had not yet been made and that Michael Gove, who is overseeing the review, had not yet submitted his recommendations to Boris Johnson.Mr Gove recently visited Israel as part of the review into Covid status certification to assess the effectiveness of the country’s “green pass” scheme which has been deployed following its rapid vaccination campaign.Speaking to MPs on the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the Cabinet Office minister said that a vaccine passports scheme could help large events, such as football matches, to resume at full capacity in the coming months.“Certification may play a role in that if the alternative were to, for example, to continue with social distancing and other forms of restrictions such as crowd capacity limits,” Mr Gove said.“So, in that sense, and that is just one example, the deployment of certification and the investment in that infrastructure would enable the economic and social life of the country to return more quickly and safely.”However, he added that the costs and benefits of such a scheme were “finely balanced”.Additional reporting by PA More

The European Commission’s vice-president has rejected claims that the EU is using Northern Ireland to punish the UK for Brexit after a senior politician accused the bloc’s actions of having a “devastating impact” on the region.DUP leader Edwin Poots told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the region was being used as a “plaything” by Europe in a political battle between the EU and the UK.Mr Poots said the UK government had grounds to trigger Article 16 of the protocol, which would allow either side to suspend parts of the agreement, due to “economic and societal damage”. “We have violence on our streets in Northern Ireland, which hasn’t been the case for years, and that’s on the back of this Protocol,” he said.However, Maros Sefcovic firmly rejected Mr Poots’ claims, arguing that the bloc searched for four years for the “best solution to the very sensitive situation in Northern Ireland”. Mr Sefcovic told the Andrew Marr Show that it was “very clear” for both the EU and the UK that the Northern Ireland Protocol represented the best option.He added that a Switzerland-style veterinary agreement on a temporary basis, where the UK follows EU agrifood rules, could be used to “get rid of 80 per cent of checks”.“I think it would be the right thing to do, it would calm down the situation,” Mr Sefcovic said.The European Commission vice-president also reiterated his opposition to a hard border on the island of Ireland and said he wanted to meet the Northern Ireland Executive parties before the next Joint Committee meeting, which is expected to take place in mid-June.“I would like to hear from Mr Poots himself but also from other leaders of the political parties who form the Northern Ireland Executive and discuss with them what we can do better,” Mr Sefcovic told the BBC.The recently-elected DUP leader said on Sunday that he wanted to see a “permanent solution” for Northern Ireland, with barriers removed between the region and the rest of the UK.Additional reporting by PA More

The candidate of a leftist-green coalition easily won election Sunday as mayor of Croatia’s capital, Zagreb preliminary results showed, marking a major blow to the ruling conservatives in the European Union nation. Tomislav Tomasevic got around 65% of the ballots, while right-wing candidate Miroslav Skoro won around 34%, the state Croatian television reported after all ballots were counted following Sunday’s runoff election.“Thank you for your trust, hope, belief that real change is possible,” Tomasevic said after results came in. “That you for a clear mandate for a real change!”Analysts have said the leftist-green coalition’s success in Zagreb showed people are fed up with traditional parties that have long dominated the political scene. Zagreb for two decades was governed by Milan Bandic, the late mayor who was investigated in several corruption scandals.Runoff votes also were held in several other cities and towns where there were no clear winners after the first round of voting two weeks ago. Croatia’s 3.6 million voters also chose hundreds of municipal and city councils as well as district authorities throughout the European Union nation. Leaders of the governing conservative Croatian Democratic Union said they were happy with the overall result despite failing to win Zagreb.Croatia is best known for its stunning Adriatic Sea coast and islands that have become a major summer tourism destination in Europe. More

Downing Street has finally confirmed that Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds married on Saturday.“The prime minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral,” a No 10 spokesperson said.“The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”Initially, Downing Street refused to comment on reports of the wedding. No 10 has since confirmed the couple will not go on their honeymoon straight away and will instead go in summer 2022.Mr Johnson, 56, and 33-year-old Ms Symonds – who intends to take her husband’s surname – are said to have sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for the celebration on 30 July 2022.The couple were engaged in late 2019. Their son Wilfred was born in April 2020 during the first coronavirus lockdown.It is the prime minister’s third marriage after he finalised his divorce from his second wife, Marina Wheeler, in 2020.It comes as the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, offered his congratulations to the couple, but said its timing should not send a signal that the further easing of lockdown measures earmarked for 21 June will not happen.Put to him that the timing suggested that a larger wedding after 21 June was not on the cards, Mr Zahawi told Sky News: “I wouldn’t extrapolate anything from that.”He added: “On 14 June, we will set out very clearly the data that we are continuing to gather from Step 3, which was on 17 May, and then we’ll share that with the nation, as the prime minister has done in each and every step from Step 1, 2 and 3, and then of course, Step 4.”The wedding ceremony at the Catholic cathedral was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys, who had given the couple pre-marriage instructions, and baptised Wilfred last year, The Sun on Sunday reported.Shortly after 1.30pm, the cathedral was suddenly cleared of visitors, with staff saying it was going into lockdown, the newspaper said.Half an hour later, a limousine carrying the bride swept into the piazza outside the main west door.Ms Symonds wore a long white dress but no veil, while Mr Johnson was described as wearing a “very dapper” suit.Mr Johnson’s father Stanley was spotted in Downing Street after the ceremony, while guests and musicians were seen leaving No 10 on Saturday night.The ceremony meant Mr Johnson became the first prime minister to marry in office since Lord Liverpool married Mary Chester in 1822.Cabinet minister Therese Coffey sent her congratulations to the couple “on your marriage”.Minister for children and families Vicky Ford sent her congratulations and “big love to Wilf”, adding: “So many weddings have been delayed and disrupted by covid. Life is always better with love.”Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, tweeted: “Huge congratulations to Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds on your wedding.”But Labour former frontbencher Jon Trickett said the wedding was “a good way to bury this week’s bad news” on Dominic Cummings’s damning testimony on the prime minister’s actions in the lead-up to the first coronavirus lockdown, the spread of the Indian variant and the row about funding of the Downing Street flat.Fellow Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi suggested the “emergency marriage plan” was an attempt to “deflect from negative press” over Mr Cummings.She added: “They know he won’t be able to plan one in Chequers cos he won’t be PM next year…” More

Boris Johnson casts his vote alongside fiancee Carrie SymondsBoris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have married in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral, Downing street has confirmed.The wedding between the prime minister and his 33-year-old partner had been planned six months prior and preparations for Saturday’s ceremony – attended by around 30 close friends and family members – were known only to a handful of church officials, according to The Sun. It came as an Opinium survey suggested that, in the wake of former aide Dominic Cummings’ testimony this week, which included allegations that he is “unfit” to be prime minister, Mr Johnson no longer enjoys the approval of the public – with his personal ratings falling 12 points to sit at -6, and the Tories lead over Labour slashed from 13 points to six.Meanwhile, the European Commission’s vice-president Maros Sefcovic has firmly rejected an accusation by the new DUP leader Edwin Poots that the EU is using Northern Ireland as a “plaything” with which to “punish” the UK over Brexit.Mr Poots is urging the prime minister to consider the “nuclear” option of triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol – which allows either side to suspend aspects of the arrangement it deems to be causing “economic, societal or environmental difficulties” – amid anger over checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea, as were agreed as part of Mr Johnson’s trade deal with the bloc.Read more: Show latest update

1622384517That’s it from us today. Thanks for following the day’s political events with us. For more live coverage from The Independent, my colleague Joanna Taylor is currently giving live updates on the coronavirus pandemic here. And for more politics stories, you can find our latest output here.Or simply keep scrolling to read Sunday’s political news as it happened.Andy Gregory30 May 2021 15:211622356527Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of UK politics.Andy Gregory30 May 2021 07:351622357132Boris Johnson ‘marries Carrie Symonds in secret wedding ceremony’My colleague Conrad Duncan has the details on our leading story this morning – that of the prime minister’s reported marriage to his fiance Carrie Symonds in a top-secret ceremony on Saturday.It is the prime minister’s third marriage, having finalised his divorce from his second wife Marina Wheeler in 2020.A witness told The Sun that the cathedral was forced to go into lockdown for the wedding service.“It was closed for about half an hour and they all came out after,” they said. “It’s not very often we have weddings here, and when they came out they were all bungled into a car.”Andy Gregory30 May 2021 07:451622357711Boris Johnson falls out of favour with public as Tory poll lead slashed, survey suggestsThe latest polling from Opinium suggests that public approval of Boris Johnson has plunged 12 points to -6, while the Tory party’s lead over Labour has also been cut from 44-31 to 42-36.The survey also found some 58 per cent of respondents said they had little to no trust in Matt Hancock, with 44 per cent saying he should resign as health secretary, compared to 30 per cent who said he should stay.It comes after Mr Johnson’s former chief aide Dominic Cummings gave a seven-hour testimony filled with allegations against his former allies and their joint handling of the Covid pandemic – notably claiming that Mr Johnson is “unfit” to be prime minister and that Mr Hancock should have been sacked on 15 to 20 occasions.Andy Gregory30 May 2021 07:551622358054SNP finances chief quits, citing lack of supportDouglas Chapman, the MP in charge of the SNP’s finances, has quit the role – claiming he was not given enough support or information to do the job.The MP for Dunfermline and West Fife announced he had resigned as national treasurer of the party on Saturday evening, having taken over in the role last year on a mandate to “ introduce more transparency into the party’s finances”.It is not clear what led to Mr Chapman’s decision, but SNP business convener and fellow MP Kirsten Oswald said she “fundamentally disagrees” with Mr Chapman’s assessment.Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:001622358482PM touts new national flagshipA new national flagship and successor to the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was decommissioned in 1997, will promote British trade and industry, Boris Johnson has said.The vessel – expected to be built in the UK at a reported cost of up to £200m – will be used to host trade fairs, ministerial summits and diplomatic talks as the UK seeks to build links and boost exports after Brexit.A name for the vessel has not been announced, but the PM has faced pressure from Tory MPs to name it after the Duke of Edinburgh, who played a role in designing Britannia.But a senior royal source put something of a pin in this proposal, telling The Sunday Times that it was considered “too grand” a symbol for use by the monarchy in the modern age, adding: “It is not something we have asked for.”Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:081622359105Tory ‘civil war’ putting 21 June unlocking at risk, Keir Starmer saysBoris Johnson and his ministers are too busy “covering their own backs” to properly counter the threat posed by the Indian coronavirus variant, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said.Following Dominic Cummings’ explosive evidence about the prime minister’s handling of the pandemic, Sir Keir said “mistakes are being repeated” as the government considers whether to further ease restrictions.“Weak, slow decisions on border policy let the Indian variant take hold,” he said. “Lack of self-isolation support and confused local guidance failed to contain it. We all want to unlock on 21 June but the single biggest threat to that is the government’s incompetence.”Read more details here:Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:181622360226WHO must be able to conduct probe into pandemic’s origins ‘unencumbered’, minister saysAsked about reports which suggested British intelligence officials now believe it is “feasible” that Covid-19 escaped from a Wuhan laboratory, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “I think it’s really important that the WHO is allowed to conduct its investigation unencumbered into the origins of this pandemic and that we should leave no stone unturned to understand why.“Not only because of the current pandemic that has swept the world but also for future proofing the world’s capability to deal with pandemics.”Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:371622360863‘Wrong and mistaken’ to say government has not been levelling with public, minister insistsVaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has insisted that the government has levelled with the public during the pandemic – despite Dominic Cummings’ claims that Matt Hancock and other ministers’ rhetoric of placing a “shield” around care homes had been false.“I have been working for the past seven months with Matt Hancock and I can tell you that every day he comes into the office and he focuses on using every resource available to us to be able to save lives, not least with this vaccine rollout,” he told Sky News.“I think it’s really important to remember and to put a bit of context around this, that in the eye of the storm, in the pandemic early last year, we only had the capability to conduct around 200 tests a day. Our diagnostics capability was almost non-existent. Today, last week, we conducted over six million tests. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but to say that for some reason, we haven’t been levelling with people, I think is wrong and mistaken. At every stage Matt Hancock used every resource available to him to do the best possible job for the people that he needed to protect.”Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:471622361541Government ‘absolutely thinking about’ compulsory vaccines for NHS staff, minister saysThe government is “absolutely thinking about” making vaccination compulsory for NHS staff, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said.“It would be incumbent on any responsible government to have the debate, to do the thinking as to how we go about protecting the most vulnerable by making sure that those who look after them are vaccinated,” he told Sky News. “There is precedent for this. Obviously surgeons get vaccinated for hepatitis B, so it is something that we are absolutely thinking about.”Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more on this breaking story here:Andy Gregory30 May 2021 08:59 More

Boris Johnson married Carrie Symonds in a low-key Catholic ceremony in Westminster Cathedral on Saturday, with the pair exchanging vows in front of a small group of close friends and family.As news of the wedding spread, so did questions about how the prime minister, who is now on his third marriage, managed to wed in a Catholic church.Ms Symonds is Catholic and has previously spoken about her faith on social media.An expert has said Mr Johnson may never have previously married in the eyes of the Catholic church.Neither his six-year first marriage to Allegra Mostyn-Owen, nor his second 27-year marriage to Marina Wheeler were Catholic ceremonies, and in the eyes of the church they may be invalid.Matt Chinery, an ecclesiastical and canon lawyer, told Times Radio on Sunday: “There is a requirement if you are a Roman Catholic that you must have your wedding overseen by a Roman Catholic priest or deacon.”He explained that any other form of marriage “is not valid unless you had previous permission from your bishop to marry outside of the Catholic church”.Boris Johnson was baptised as a Catholic, but was confirmed as an Anglican as a teenager.Mr Chinery explained: “What I think has happened here is that the Catholic church has looked at Boris Johnson’s first two marriages (and) seen that he’s a Roman Catholic by baptism.”They’ve looked at that, said ‘you are a Catholic because you were baptised Catholic, your first two weddings weren’t in a Catholic church overseen by a Catholic minister therefore the Roman Catholic church does not recognise those two marriages as valid’.”He added: “So in the eyes of the Catholic church Boris Johnson woke up last week as somebody who wasn’t married and had never been married and so was free to marry in the cathedral this weekend.”Catholic writer Catherine Pepinster was of the same view.She told the Mail on Sunday that as Mr Johnson’s previous marriages were “in non-Catholic settings”, the church did not recognise them.”As far as the church is concerned, this is his first marriage,” she said, adding: “The others don’t need to be annulled.”Initially, Downing Street would not comment on reports of the wedding but on Sunday morning a spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister and Ms Symonds were married yesterday afternoon in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral.”The couple will celebrate their wedding with family and friends next summer.”They are said to have sent save-the-date cards to family and friends for the celebration on 30 July, 2022.The wedding ceremony at the Catholic cathedral was carried out by Father Daniel Humphreys.The couple announced their engagement – together with the news that they were expecting their first child – in February last year.He and Ms Symonds have a son, Wilfred, who was born in April 2020.Mr Johnson finalised his divorce from his second wife Marina Wheeler in 2020. More