Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson has said Britons should not travel to ‘amber’ list destinations just hours after one of his own cabinet ministers caused confusion by claiming it was acceptable to visit countries like France and Spain to see friends. The Prime Minister said it was “very important” people understood the government’s new traffic light system. ‘Amber’ list countries should not be considered holiday destinations, he said. “It is not somewhere you should be going on holiday, let me be very clear about that,” he said. “If people do go to an amber list country – if they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason – … please bear in mind that you will have to self isolate, you will have to take tests and do a passenger locator form and all the rest of it.”The required 10 day self isolation period would be enforced by fines of up to £10,000, he added. No 10 also slapped down George Eustice’s suggestion that people can travel to amber list countries to visit friends. The prime minister’s spokesman said: “The position remains that people should not travel to amber list countries and that’s to protect public health.”The small number of limited reasons where it might be acceptable to travel included for work purposes, protecting essential services or compassionate reasons such as a funeral or care of a family member, he added. Mr Eustice’s comments had stoked further confusion about the travel rules, which have replaced an outright ban with instructions not to go to all but a handful of popular destinations.At the weekend, the health secretary Matt Hancock said: “The red and amber list countries are places that you shouldn’t go to unless you have an absolutely compelling reason.”But, on Monday, thousands of people flew out of Britain on up to 150 flights to amber list sunspots such as Greece, France, Spain and Italy.Asked about the apparent muddle, Mr Eustice, the environment secretary, said the amber list was for people who “feel they need to travel either to visit family or friends”.“They can travel to those countries but they then have to observe quarantine when they return and have two tests after returning,” he told BBC Radio Four’s Today programme.“People can travel to those areas but they then have to subject themselves to the quarantine requirements.”The first air passengers enjoying the lifting of the travel ban also faced border queues of up to three hours at Heathrow passport control, some said.Some travellers told of being forced to stand side by side with arrivals from India – one of the UK’s red list destinations and the source of the variant behind a surge in infections.The overcrowding was partly blamed on a shortage of Border Force officials, despite repeated pleas from airlines and airports for more staff to prevent long queues.Only 12 countries or territories – including Australia and New Zealand, which have barred travel anyway – are on the green list for quarantine-free visits.All of Europe except Portugal and Gibraltar, and North America, has been designated amber, requiring up to ten days’ isolation at home upon return to the UK.Forty-three countries are on the red list, which requires those arriving in Britain to quarantine in a hotel.Mr Hancock has come under fire over his weekend instruction to UK holidaymakers not to travel to amber list’ – as well as red list – countries.The advice had previously been stated on a government website, but the health secretary’s warning still came as a shock to many would-be tourists.Huw Merriman, the Conservative chairman of the Commons transport committee, accused Mr Hancock of “effectively turning the amber list into the red list”, asking: “What is the point in me having my passport anymore?”But the health secretary underlined the stance, saying: “If it isn’t on a green list, then unless you have an exceptional reason you should not be travelling there.” More

The cabinet row about the putative UK-Australia free trade deal goes far behind its relatively modest macro-economic impact and right to the heart of the whole notion of what “Global Britain” is supposed to be about. On the one hand, representing the hard-pressed British consumer, we find Liz Truss, Secretary of State for international trade, who negotiated the draft deal. She wants tariff-free access to the UK for Australian goods, notably wheat, lamb and other foodstuffs, just as the EU enjoys, but cabinet colleagues are concerned about what such a deal would mean for British farmers – a double whammy, given some are already losing ground in EU markets.For Ms Truss, it is more than matter of pride and the cost of groceries. It is the first post-Brexit deal that is much more than a roll-over of a pre-existent EU deal, and with a historic partner with close ties to Britain. As Daniel, now Lord, Hannan, a prominent Eurosceptic commented,“if we can’t do a proper trade deal even with our kinsmen Down Under, we might as well throw in the towel”. He accuses “National Farmers’ Union officials, the Defra blob and a handful of Tory backwoodsmen” of trying to preserve the current subsidised regime of protection, inherited from the EU, with taxes on commodities from Australia and other revived trading partners. In his words: “If these deals with Australia and New Zealand don’t get done because of domestic opposition, that pretty much says the UK is not doing anything with global Britain. Because if we can’t do these, well, in truth, everything gets more difficult from here.” More

Ministers have been involved in a “ferocious” row over the possible terms of a new UK-Australia deal, amid warnings British farming could suffer “irreversible damage” as a result of the eventual agreement.According to reports, the division in government centres on whether to grant tariff-free access to Australian farmers — something favoured by both the international trade secretary Liz Truss and Brexit minister Lord David Frost.However, the environment secretary George Eustice and the Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove are said to have warned against the domestic political fallout of agreeing to such terms and a backlash from the farming industry.“There is an absolutely ferocious row going on in Whitehall over the Australia deal with real pressure to get it resolved by the end of this week. Gove and Eustice are on one side, Truss and Frost on the other,” a source told the Financial Times.Earlier this year, the government announced the UK and Australia had reached a “consensus on the vast majority of elements” of a free trade agreement, with both countries entering a “sprint” to agree outstanding issues by June.Minette Batters, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) present, said, however, that British farming will struggle to compete if zero-tariff trade on lamb and beef goes ahead, warning: “This trade-off needs to be balanced, and we need to make sure concessions to our hugely valuable home market are not given away lightly.“There is a very real risk that, if we get it wrong, UK farming will suffer irreversible damage rather than flourish in the way we all desire, to the detriment of our environment, our food security and our rural communities”.Labour’s shadow international trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, also said that the “fault lies squarely” with Ms Truss if she fails to negotiate a trade deal with Australia “on the terms she herself proposed last year”.“So instead of blaming her cabinet colleagues or the National Farmers’ Union for these difficulties, she should get on with her job, and deliver the deal that she promised,” the frontbencher added.“It’s perfectly normal that the Australian government should try to get the best possible deal for its agricultural mega-corporations. But British family farmers have a right to expect that Liz Truss will do the same for them, not sell out their livelihoods for the price of a quick trade deal, and a cheap headline at the G7 summit.”The Department for International Trade did not deny the internal row had taken place, but a spokesperson said they would “not comment on speculation” when approached by The Independent.Quizzed on the report during a broadcast round for the government, cabinet minister Mr Eustice said there was always a “balance to be struck between your commercial interests and your desire to open up free markets” in any trade agreement.He said: “There are huge amounts of things that a country like Australia produces that are currently subject to tariffs because that’s what we had in the European Union, but where actually we’re not even a producer, and we can offer them tariff free access in those areas — everything from nectarines to almond nuts where they are a big producer and also of course wine.”However, the cabinet minister declined to elaborate on “discussions that are going on in government about individual trade agreements”.“In any discussion on any part of government policy — a trade agreement is no exception — there’s a discussion and then there’s a consensus. At the moment there is a clear consensus in government we want to do a trade deal with countries like Australia, but obviously on the right terms”.Pressed on whether he had had any “robust” discussions, Mr Eustice replied: “I have very good discussions with all of my cabinet colleagues on all issues that we’ve got a shared agenda”.A spokesperson for the Department for International Trade told The Independent: “We do not comment on speculation. Any deal we sign with Australia will include protections for the agriculture industry and will not undercut UK farmers or compromise our high standards.“A deal with Australia is an important stepping stone to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and membership to this free trade area will allow UK farmers even greater access to growing consumer markets in Asia. We will continue to work with the industry, keeping them involved throughout the process and helping it capture the full benefits of trade”. More

Boris Johnson is coming under increasing pressure to be ready to slow or reverse England’s emergence from lockdown, amid scientific concern over the exponential growth in cases of the “Indian” variant of the coronavirus.Days before the biggest relaxation of restrictions yet, questions were raised over whether the prime minister’s tests for easing lockdown were being met.Epidemiologist Deepti Gurdasani, of Queen Mary University of London, told The Independent that it was “baffling” that Monday’s reopening of indoor restaurants and pubs was going ahead despite cases of the Indian variant B1.617.2 more than doubling each week in England.Meanwhile, polling for The Independent showed that large segments of the public remain cautious about the route out of lockdown.Almost one in five (19 per cent) of those questioned by Savanta ComRes – including almost a quarter (23 per cent) of women – said the final removal of most restrictions should be delayed beyond Mr Johnson’s target date of 21 June.And, in a survey taken on 7-9 May before the surge in the Indian variant shot into the headlines, about half of voters said they did not believe it was safe to open the borders for holidays this summer.Some 47 per cent said they thought it would be unsafe for their family to holiday in Europe, against just 26 per cent who said it was safe, with greater concern for trips to the US (54 per cent against 24 per cent) and other long-haul destinations (52-25). Some 52 per cent said it was unsafe for Europeans to enter the UK, while 54 per cent said the same for visitors from the US, and 56 per cent from other long-haul destinations.Data released by Public Health England showed an additional 793 cases of the B1.617.2 variant over the previous week, bringing the total detected to 1,313. The chief medical officer for England, Chris Whitty, said it was clear that the strain was more transmissible even than the Kent variant, which fuelled the UK’s second wave.Dr Gurdasani said: “What we are seeing right now is a new variant that we barely understand. We don’t know how much more transmissible it is, we don’t know its impact in terms of escaping vaccines, its impact on severe disease, or the susceptibility of young people to it. “We certainly shouldn’t be opening up on Monday or ending lockdown on 21 June. The fact that we have exponential growth means that current restrictions aren’t working on this variant. Rather than relaxing on Monday, we should be talking about what more we should do to contain this.”Dr Gurdasani said the UK had a “short window” to rein in spread by stepping up mask-wearing and ventilation in schools, improving test and trace programmes and imposing mandatory 14-day quarantine on all arrivals from overseas.While there is no data yet to show greater vaccine resistance or increased threat of serious illness or death, the concern is that if the B1.617.2 variant becomes endemic in the UK, it could mutate again and develop the ability to escape the effect of jabs.Dr Kit Yates, of the University of Bath, said it was “debatable” whether Mr Johnson had met his roadmap’s requirement that easing of restrictions should go ahead only if “our assessment of the risks is not fundamentally changed by new variants of concern”.He warned: “If there were to be immune escape, then the modelling that feeds into Sage suggests that we could see numbers of cases which outstrip the cases we saw in the second wave. In my opinion this is something we should be concerned about.”The shadow health secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, told The Independent that the government must be ready to respond promptly to the developing science.“We have always said we have to be driven by the data,” said Mr Ashworth. “The lesson throughout this crisis has always been, ‘Act quickly.’“That’s why in the Commons, two or three weeks ago, we said: ‘Designate this variant a variant of concern now, so we can get on top of it.’ Ministers refused to do it at that stage. We warned them it would get out of control. And the last thing you want is a variant out of control. It is now urgent that Boris Johnson stamps down on this variant as quickly as possible.”The chair of Westminster’s all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus, Layla Moran, said that Mr Johnson must “absolutely” be ready to roll back relaxations of lockdown restrictions if his scientific advisers recommend it, even if it meant calling off Monday’s easement at the last minute or reversing the steps towards normality that are planned for the coming week.“Variants of concern are the last hurdle in the race that could undermine everything – including the vaccination programme,” said the Liberal Democrat MP.“The onus really needs to be on the government to give confidence that the current rate of opening up is the right thing to do. We need to know that they’re listening to Sage.”The government’s decision to ignore Sage advice for a two-week circuit-breaker lockdown last September was “a big mistake”, said Ms Moran.“If Sage are saying slow down, then I would back Sage in that, and if the prime minister finds himself wondering if he’s going to have support for following the science, he should know he will find no resistance from the all-party group,” she said. “All we want is for him to be following the best advice.”Labour MP Rosie Cooper, a member of the House of Commons Health Committee whose West Lancashire constituency lies between Bolton and Formby – two hotspots of the B1.617.2 variant – said: “Nobody wants lockdown, be it national or local, to continue for a day longer than it has to.“But our primary concern has to be the lives of our citizens.  They don’t have to race ahead with easing restrictions, they need to be proportionate. If [the reproduction rate] R gets above one, the prime minister has to consider slowing things down.”Mark Logan, the Conservative MP for Bolton North East, said that, despite Monday’s relaxations, he would be urging constituents “to try as much as they can not to mix, to maintain social distancing and wearing of face masks over the days and weeks ahead”.More regional lockdowns were the last thing needed in a town that has suffered more than most areas of England from local restrictions over the past year, he said. He said that decisions must be driven by the data obtained by close monitoring of the variant.But Bolton West MP Chris Green told The Independent: “People in Bolton are far more worried about lockdown than about Covid.“There is health to consider, but there is also business and education and civil liberties, and there is the health time-bomb we know is there in terms of non-Covid conditions. Unless there is compelling evidence that this variant is wildly different from the others, Bolton should return to normal with the rest of the country and we should have relaxation of all restrictions on 21 June.”• Savanta ComRes questioned 2,152 British adults on 7-9 May. More

Boris Johnson’s former senior adviser Dominic Cummings has threatened to reveal a “crucial” Covid document ahead of an appearance next week at a Commons committee investigating the government’s handling of the pandemic.And he also took another public swipe at the government, accusing ministers of pursuing a “joke” borders policy as questions mount over the action taken to prevent the spread of a new strain first identified in India.Posting on his social media account, Mr Cummings, who left No 10 at the end of last year, said he was in possession of the “only copy of a crucial historical document from Covid decision-making” and asked followers how he should release it.Providing several options, the former No 10 aide suggested giving it to the joint health and science committee, which is holding an inquiry into the response to the crisis, or posting a blog on his personal website, which he last month used to claim the prime minister lacked “competence and integrity”.Mr Cummings also suggested he could sell the document as a “non-fungible token”, or NFT – a unique saleable asset – through an online auction. He could give the cryptocurrency proceeds to a “Covid families charity”, he said. More

Nigel Farage has lashed out at the “hoaxers” attempting to derail his speaking tour of the United States. The former Ukip leader tweeted that it’s “no surprise” that the “cancel culture mob” are trying to damage his six week ‘America’s Comeback’ tour which he says “calls for free speech”. “The hoaxers who have booked fake tickets to my events in America have overplayed their hand,” he wrote. “Thanks for the publicity, free speech will win.” Social media users began booking up the free tickets to Mr Farage’s tour with no intention of attending after the link was shared widely online. Some likened the prank to the disruption of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2020. K-pop fans claimed responsibility for the rally’s poor turnout, saying that they signed up for hundreds of thousands of tickets with no intention of attending after the booking link was shared across TikTok. Sharing the link to sign up for Mr Farage’s tour, one Twitter user wrote: “Remember that time K-pop fans ruined Trump’s big election rally by booking free tickets they had no intention of ever using? On a completely unrelated topic, Nigel Farage is offering free tickets to his latest tour…”. Others, including the musician Tim Burgess, also shared the link with a plea to sign up – but not show up. Mr Farage wrote on Twitter: “It is no surprise that the cancel culture mob are trying to damage my USA Tour that calls for free speech.” He has previously said that the purpose of his tour is to “inspire thousands of activists” in the wake of Joe Biden’s election victory. “Don’t get down, don’t get depressed, don’t get disillusioned, however bad Biden and the Democrats are,” he said in a promotional video. “In some ways, this is your opportunity. We proved it in Britain. Brexit looked lost, but we the grassroots seized it back and got it over the line.” The tour launched today at the Pittsburgh Airport Marriott. Tickets for future events now cost $20 (£14). More

Ed Miliband has claimed ministers are “off track” to meet critical targets in achieving net zero, as he hit out at a government record failing “to measure up the scale of the challenge” faced by the climate crisis.Responding to an update on the proposed green industrial revolution — six months after Boris Johnson unveiled a 10-point plan — the Labour frontbencher said insisted the government is “good at self-congratulation but perhaps less good at self-awareness”.“There is wide gap between rhetoric and realty — key crucial areas not dealt with, the scale of finance not being delivered leading us to be off track on our targets,” he told MPs.Instead of the government’s “piecemeal” 10-point plan, the shadow business secretary said the country needed a “comprehensive green new deal with the scale of investment and commitment which meets the moment and the emergency”.Unveiling the proposals at the end of 2020, the prime minister announced a ban on new petrol and diesel car sales by 2030, a pledge to quadruple offshore winds, a £1 billion green homes grant to insulate homes, and the UK’s first hydrogen-powered town.Mr Miliband said the overall £12 billion in public funding promised under the 10-point plan was “still way short of the the of billions of public and private investment not over a decade but each and every year”.The business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, however, insisted the government’s plan was “radical and ambitious”, telling MPs: “We are already seeing this ambition being delivered on”.“The 10-point plan is projected to create and support up to 250,000 jobs to mobilise £12 billion of government investment and up three times as much from the private sector by 2030,” he insisted.Mr Kwarteng also said the UK broke a new wind power record two weeks’ ago with almost half of the country’s electricity being generated by wind power.“Last year we hit over two months of coal-free electricity generation – the longest streak since the Industrial Revolution – and two weeks ago we broke a new wind power record, with both onshore and offshore wind turbines generating 48.5% of the electricity in Great Britain.”He continued: “We will also publish our Transport Decarbonisation Plan as soon as possible, setting out an ambitious pathway to end the UK transport carbon emissions by 2050 at the latest – and I know that the transport secretary is fully engaged and fully committed to publishing this.“The impact of these commitments can already be seen. As of March 2021, battery electric vehicle sales stand at 7.7 per cent and plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles at 6.1 per cent of the market – that is a huge increase of 88 per cent and 152 per cent respectively from only a year ago.”The comments come ahead of a crucial climate summit — Cop26 — in Glasgow later this year, with a host of world leaders, which Mr Kwarteng suggested would  “a historic event”.He added: “And in this context, our ambition and our leadership is absolutely crucial. The 10-point plan demonstrates not only our commitment to this green recovery, but also to the kind of leadership we want to show in this vitally important year.“All of these actions bring us a step closer to net zero by 2050, meeting this planet’s greatest threat with ambition and innovation that is absolutely necessary if we are to hit our goals. More

Boris Johnson has said he will end speculation about potential changes to England’s roadmap out of Covid-19 lockdown due to fears about the Indian variant “in a few days” time.All restrictions are due to be lifted on 21 June although concerns about the more transmissible B.1.617.2 strain have this week appeared to throw those plans into doubt.The variant is “dominant” in the Lancashire areas of Bolton and Blackburn and spreading to other areas of the UK.But ministers have previously said there is no evidence to suggest that it evades vaccines or causes more serious disease in those it infects.The health secretary, Matt Hancock, earlier this week said that most of those in hospital in Bolton had not taken up the offer of a vaccine as he refused to rule out local lockdowns.Addressing reporters at a vaccination centre in London on Tuesday, the prime minister said he had seen “no conclusive evidence” to signal that the planned easing on 21 June could not go ahead.He warned that “we’ve got to be cautious” but stressed that the “wall of defences” built up by the vaccination programme put England in a much better position than in previous lockdowns.”I don’t see anything conclusive at the moment to say that we need to deviate from the road map”, Mr Johnson said. “We’ll know a lot more in a few days’ time.”Mr Johnson said data from hotspots including Bolton, Blackburn, Bedford and Sefton were being examined to find out more about the impact of the variant.Asked whether local lockdowns could be used, Mr Johnson added: “We’ve just got to be cautious about the way we approach it and we will be letting people know as much as we can, as soon as we can.”Mr Johnson’s comments came as Britons jetted off for holidays in Europe and elsewhere, many of them to “amber list” countries following the relaxation of travel rules.Under the new traffic light system, countries are rated as red, amber or green, depending on the risk they are believed to pose of importing new cases and variants of coronavirus to the UK.Downing Street has faced increasing pressure in recent days over what critics have described as “leaky borders”, after reports that thousands of people flew out of Britain on up to 150 flights to amber list sunspots such as Greece, France, Spain and Italy on Monday.Addressing those concerns on Tuesday, and seeking to clarify confusion after a senior minister said people could visit amber list countries to see friends and family, Mr Johnson said amber list countries are not “somewhere where you should be going on holiday”.He added: “And if people do go to an amber list country – they absolutely have to for some pressing family or urgent business reason – if they have to go to an amber list country, then please bear in mind that you will have to self-isolate, you’ll have to take tests and do your passenger locator form and all the rest of it, but you also have to self-isolate for 10 days when you get back.”He added: “And that period of self-isolation, that period of quarantine, will be enforced with fines of up to £10,000 so I think it’s important for you to understand what an amber list country is.”Environment secretary George Eustice had earlier in the day stoked confusion about travel rules, saying amber list holidays were allowed.His comments contradicted those of Mr Hancock, who on Sunday said: “The red and amber list countries are places that you shouldn’t go to unless you have an absolutely compelling reason.”No 10 spokesman said: “The position remains that people should not travel to amber list countries and that’s to protect public health.”There are some limited reasons why it might be acceptable to travel – for work purposes, protecting essential services or compassionate reasons such as a funeral or care of a family member but otherwise people should not be travelling to these countries.” More