Markus Andrews

The UK’s massive financial services sector risks becoming a victim of post-Brexit wrangling over fish, Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator has been warned.In a letter to David Frost, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Christine Jardine warned that thousands of jobs are at risk if an agreement on “equivalence” is held up by the row over access to fishing waters around Jersey.A French government source was last week quoted as saying that Paris will delay a financial services deal with Britain until Mr Johnson grants fair access to UK waters for European fishermen. The comment came after the UK sent Royal Navy gunboats to see off an attempted blockade of Jersey by angry French trawlermen.An equivalence deal would allow firms in the City of London and other UK finance centres access to EU markets on the ground that both sides recognise one another’s regulatory frameworks as mutually acceptable.But Ms Jardine said that a memorandum of understanding on the issue was yet to be ratified by EU member states and the sector risked becoming “the latest victim of Boris Johnson’s botched EU deal”.Writing to Lord Frost she demanded urgent clarity on progress in the talks.“The lack of financial services deal in the original agreement between the UK and EU is a source of great disappointment,” she said. “Now, with the sector being treated as a political football among the row over fishing rights, that disappointment has turned into a genuine threat to our recovery.“The financial services sector is a critical part of our economy, accounting for more than a million well-paid jobs and over 7 per cent of our country’s GDP. Now, from Edinburgh to London, thousands of jobs are under threat as uncertainty about the sector’s future continues to undermine confidence.”A UK government source responded:  “We’re taking a consistent, evidence-based approach to licensing EU vessels, using information supplied by the European Commission.“This is another example of the EU issuing threats at any sign of difficulties, instead of using the mechanisms of our new treaty to solve problems.“We’ve always been clear that an agreement on financial services is in the best interest of both sides.” More

The shadow of the highly infectious Indian variant of Covid-19 hung over Britain’s biggest step yet out of lockdown on Monday, as ministers warned they could not rule out regionalised restrictions or the reversal of moves towards normal life.With pubs and restaurants reopening indoors in England and Wales and further relaxations in most of Scotland, the prime minister, Boris Johnson, urged Britons to enjoy their new freedoms with “a heavy dose of caution”.New figures showed positive cases and deaths from coronavirus beginning to creep upwards after a precipitous fall from peaks in January, with infections in variant hotspots Bolton, Blackburn and Bedford continuing to grow.The health secretary, Matt Hancock, warned that the B1.617.2 variant, thought to be partly responsible for the raging pandemic in India, could “spread like wildfire” among unvaccinated groups in the UK.Even with the number of Britons with two vaccine doses passing 20 million on Sunday and tests showing the Pfizer vaccine offers 97 per cent protection from mortality, the Indian variant has the potential to cause “a very, very large number of cases”, the health secretary warned.While most of those hospitalised in Bolton had failed to take up the offer of immunisation, six patients had received the vaccine and one – who he described as “frail” – had been given both doses.Mr Hancock announced that vaccines will be offered to the over-35s from this week, as the government accelerates its drive to protect more of the population. Early data from tests at Oxford University gave “a high degree of confidence” that vaccines are effective against the Indian variant, he said.The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is considering reversing its advice that under-40s should be offered an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab, in a bid to speed up the rollout.As well as the reopening of indoor hospitality, Monday sees the return of hugging and gatherings by family and friends in each other’s homes in England. Hotels and indoor entertainment venues will reopen in England and Wales, while most of Scotland – with the exception of Glasgow and Moray – will move from level 3 to level 2 restrictions, allowing groups of up to six to meet inside a home and stay overnight.Mr Johnson said: “Together we have reached another milestone in our roadmap out of lockdown, but we must take this next step with a heavy dose of caution.“We are keeping the spread of the variant first identified in India under close observation and taking swift action where infection rates are rising.“The current data does not indicate unsustainable pressure on the NHS and our extraordinary vaccination programme will accelerate – with second doses being bought forward to give the most vulnerable maximum protection.“But now everyone must play their part – by getting tested twice a week, coming forward for your vaccine when called and remembering hands, face, space and fresh air.“I urge everyone to be cautious and take responsibility when enjoying new freedoms today in order to keep the virus at bay.”In a round of media interviews on Sunday, Mr Hancock said it was “too early to say” whether the removal of most restrictions in England will go ahead as planned on 21 June.And he was unable to rule out the reversal of Monday’s relaxations or the imposition of localised lockdowns in areas hit by the Indian variant.“We don’t rule out further action,” he said. “It’s not a step we want to take, but of course we might have to take it and we will if it’s necessary to protect people.”Mr Hancock insisted: “Our strategy remains on track. It is just that in the race between the vaccine and the variants, the variant has got more legs. That makes it more challenging but the overall strategy remains on track.”The latest figures showed that 36,573,354 people had been vaccinated by Saturday (69.4 per cent of the adult population) of whom 20,103,658 had received a second dose (38.2 per cent).The 20 million second-jab milestone was passed as the NHS smartphone app began recording individuals’ vaccine status for the first time, in a step which will be necessary for any future move to use proof of status a “passport” for access to certain venues.In a possible sign of the impact of the Indian variant, positive tests over the week to 16 May were up 8.6 per cent on the previous seven days at 15,918, while deaths over the seven-day period were up 10.4 per cent at 74.A member of the government’s Sage scientific advisory group said ministers must be ready to reverse Monday’s relaxations if there is evidence of a rapid rise in cases.“I think we have to monitor this very carefully, I don’t think we should rule anything out,” Professor John Edmunds told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show. “So if things look like they’re getting worse rapidly, then I do think that action needs to be taken.”Prof Edmunds added: “I think we should be concerned, but not panicking. We’re in a much, much better place now than we were when the Kent variant first hit us back in November, December.”But another Sage member, former chief scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport warned the pandemic is at a “perilous moment” and it will be “extremely important” to keep an eye on the numbers over the next few weeks.“There’s every grounds to be very cautious about the ability to open up in June,” said Prof Walport.Looking ahead to Monday’s relaxations, he told Sky News: “My advice is that just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should.“As far as possible socialise outside, maintain social distancing, if you’re going to hug, hug cautiously.”And Mr Hancock agreed. While saying he was looking forward to being able to hug his parents again after a year, he added: “We’ll probably do it outside and keep the ventilation going: hands, face and space.” More

Four men have been arrested by officers investigating a video which appeared to show antisemitic abuse being shouted from a car in London on Sunday, the Metropolitan Police said.Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer denounced the incident in which threats were apparently shouted from a convoy of vehicles driving through a Jewish community in the capital.Footage showed a group of cars adorned with Palestinian flags driving down Finchley Road on Sunday, with several individuals standing up through the sunroofs and waving flags as one man shouted: “F*** their mothers. Rape their daughters. We have to send a message.”A Scotland Yard statement said: “Officers investigating a video which appeared to show antisemitic abuse being shouted from a car in north London have made four arrests.“Police received reports of people shouting antisemitic abuse from a car travelling within a convoy of vehicles through the St John’s Wood area on the afternoon of Sunday, May 16.“Enquiries were carried out and officers traced a car to the A40 in Hillingdon. The police helicopter was deployed and officers stopped the car at approximately 18.30hrs.“Four men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences. They were taken into custody at a west London police station.”The cars drove through the St John’s Wood area – a community which houses four significant synagogues, including the oldest congregation within Liberal Judaism, and is described by The Jewish Chronicle as occupying “a special place in British and Jewish life”.In response, the prime minister said: “There is no place for antisemitism in our society. Ahead of Shavuot, I stand with Britain’s Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today.”Labour leader Sir Keir said “there must be consequences” for those involved in the “utterly disgusting” incident, adding: “Antisemitism, misogyny and hate have no place on our streets or in our society.”As Israeli-Palestinian violence continued to intensify this weekend, with medics reporting at least 42 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Sunday, pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets to oppose the violence and show solidarity in several cities, including London, Glasgow and Manchester.Organisers of the march in the capital on Saturday said some 100,000 people were in attendance, as huge crowds gathered outside the Israeli embassy calling on the British government to take “immediate action” to deescalate the situation. Addressing the crowds, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested the demonstrations gave “succour, comfort and support” to those suffering in the conflict, while the Palestinian-UK ambassador Husam Zumlot said: “This time is different. This time we will not be denied any more. We are united. We have had enough of oppression. Today we are saying enough, enough with the complicity.”Scotland Yard said nine police officers were injured while dispersing crowds on Saturday when demonstrators threw projectiles at them during what the force called “small pockets of disorder”.The communities secretary, Robert Jenrick, condemned “some of the language used on marches this weekend and in posts on social media” as “intimidating, criminal and racist”.Referring to the video of the convoy, which was later spotted near Brent Cross and Golder’s Green, Mr Jenrick said: “This, on the streets of London, is deeply disturbing. Vile, criminal hatred like this must not be tolerated.“Whatever your view of the conflict in Israel and Gaza, there is no justification for inciting anti-Jewish or anti-Muslim hatred. The incidents of antisemitism we have seen in recent days have been shameful,” he said, adding: “We must not tolerate this vile, shameful hate in our country. These actions must stop.”Cabinet minister Michael Gove also pointed to footage showing men at London’s protests shouting a phrase relating to a seventh century massacre of Jewish people, now widely interpreted as a battle cry: “Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning.”Sharing the footage, labelled by Mr Gove as “deeply concerning”, Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said: “Can’t stop thinking about this. Happening on our streets. It has to be condemned at the highest level. This is not a call for peace. It is incitement against Jews.”Additional reporting by PA More

The National Union of Students (NUS) has criticised Gavin Williamson for “galling” comments after he spoke of “dead-end” university courses.The education secretary has faced backlash over remarks on courses which “leave young people with nothing but debt”.It comes just days after the government launched a consultation that put forward plans to halve a subsidy given to universities for some arts subjects, such as performing arts and archaeologyIn an article published by Conservative Home, Mr Williamson said proposed legislation “will strengthen the ability of the Office for Students (OfS) to crack down on low quality courses, delivering on our manifesto commitment”.He said: “The record number of people taking up science and engineering demonstrates that many are already starting to pivot away from dead-end courses that leave young people with nothing but debt.”Mr Williamson added: “Our reforms will open the way for them to embrace the opportunities offered by degree apprenticeships, higher technical qualifications, modular learning and our flagship Institutes of Technology.”Hillary Gyebi-Ababio from the NUS told The Independent: “The education secretary’s galling comment comes just a week after a 50 per cent funding cut to arts subjects and constitutes an assault on a multitude of hugely valuable disciplines that enrich our society.”The OfS said the proposed cuts related to a subsidy it provides – which is “much smaller” than tuition fees – to help universities deliver subjects that are expensive to teach.Ms Gyebi-Ababio, the NUS vice president for higher education, told The Independent Mr Williamson’s comments come after “a year where we have all relied heavily on creative talent, literature and entertainment to ensure our own wellbeing”.She added: “His limited concept of the purpose of education has once again proven himself to be once completely out of touch with the country.”Universities UK told The Independent: “It is essential that the public has full confidence in the value and quality of a university degree, and the overwhelming majority of courses are high quality and offer good value for students.”The body – which represents 140 institutions in the UK – said in a statement: “Increasing funding for high-cost courses such as medicine is vital but the proposed changes to funding for arts subjects is gravely concerning.“Cuts to subjects including drama, music, performing and creative arts could mean a reduction in the number of courses offered.”An OfS consultation with the education secretary earlier this month proposed a cut to a grant for courses in performing and creative arts, media studies and archaeology.Under proposed changes, the OFS said a subsidy provided to universities for help with high-cost subjects would be halved to £121.50 per student per year for some subjects. The UK regulator said the cuts worked out at “a reduction of around 1 per cent of the combined tuition fee and OfS funding”.However, the proposals sparked alarm among musicians, who warned the cut to this channel of funding would be “catastrophic” for most higher education music teaching.The consultation on OfS funding changes proposed an increase in subsidies for high-cost subjects “identified as supporting the NHS and wider healthcare policy, high-cost science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects and/or specific labour market needs”.The OfS said its funding budget “will have to stretch further in the coming years with significant growth forecast in student numbers – particularly in courses that are more expensive to teach.“The government has also highlighted professional shortages in scientists, engineers, medical and dental practitioners, nurses and midwives, and the importance of supporting STEM and healthcare subjects in guidance to the OfS.”It added: “In this context we need to make difficult decisions about how to prioritise our increasingly constrained funding budget.”A Department for Education spokesperson told The Independent earlier this month reforms “are designed to target taxpayers’ money towards the subjects which support the skills this country needs to build back better”. More

The risk of the Indian variant of Covid to the UK has been increased because of the government’s failure to “prioritise the protection of the borders” at a time when Boris Johnson was planning a trade trip to Delhi, a member of Keir Starmer’s frontbench has said.Shadow communities secretary Steve Reed told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that Mr Johnson failed to put India on England’s travel “red list” along with neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh early in April at a time when coronavirus was “running out of control in the whole of the sub-continent”.But health secretary Matt Hancock defended the decision, insisting that levels of Covid-19 positivity among travellers arriving from Pakistan was three times higher than from India at the time.Meanwhile the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus said that the public inquiry into the pandemic must took into the question of whether decisions on India were driven by politics rather than science.Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said:“The delay adding India to the red list allowed thousands of people to enter the UK without going into hotel quarantine, meaning a crucial opportunity to stop the Indian variant was missed.“The Covid public inquiry must look into this decision and whether it was influenced by politics and not the science. It does appear that Boris Johnson put the pursuit of a post-Brexit trade deal with India ahead of public health.“Ministers are asking the public to take responsibility and show common sense, but failing to do so themselves.”Mr Reed said that the decision to delay the red-listing of India came “as a result” of Mr Johnson’s hopes of going ahead with his three-day visit to meet prime minister Narendra Modi at the end of April.He said that between the red-listing of Pakistan and Bangladesh on 2 April and the imposition of the tightest level of controls on travellers from India, some 20,000 passengers arrived in the UK from India.“The Indian variant appears to have got into the country because of that,” he said. “If the government was prioritising the protection of the borders, we may not even have this level of uncertainty.“Now we have to deal with it, now we’re trying to understand whether this new variant is more contagious or not, but frankly we shouldn’t even be in this position.”The UK was now “in a slightly riskier situation than we should have been because of missteps the government’s taken over protecting the borders”, said Mr Reed.And he said current uncertainty over the relaxation of lockdown was arising because “the prime minister is not always following the science in the way he ought to be doing”.House of Commons home affairs committee chair Yvette Cooper said India should have been put on the red list at the same time as Pakistan and Bangladesh, warning that the delay probably led to “hundreds” of people infected with the variant entering the country.Writing in The Independent, Ms Cooper said the “likeliest explanation” for the delay was the government’s desire to wait until the last minute before cancelling Mr Johnson’s trip to Delhi.“As we know with Covid, delaying difficult decisions makes them worse,” said Ms Cooper.“This isn’t good enough. Throughout a tough winter, the British people have done their bit.“People locked down, families stayed at home and businesses shut up shop. We stopped hugging, gave up Christmas, and we’ve been out in droves to support the vaccine programme. But we needed the government in return to be vigilant against new variants to make sure that those sacrifices weren’t undermined.”But Mr Hancock said that the UK has “some of the strongest border measures in the world” and said that travellers from India were required to go through a testing regime and quarantining at home even when the country was on the amber list.“What matters is the positivity of people coming to this country,” he said.“Here in the UK, because we test everybody who comes through the border, we therefore do know where the risks are.“And that’s why we took the action we did on Pakistan and then on India… When we put Pakistan on the red list at the start of April, that’s because the proportion of people testing positive coming in from Pakistan was three times higher that the proportion coming from India.”India was placed on the red list before the B1.617.2 variant was identified as being of concern, he said.Mr Hancock said: “You have to take decisions based on the evidence that you have, you can’t take decisions based on evidence that you don’t yet have.” More

Health secretary Matt Hancock has insisted it was “perfectly reasonable” for him to help a former Conservative MP win a PPE deal worth £180 million.Internal government emails show that Mr Hancock passed on to officials procuring personal protective equipment an approach from Brooks Newmark, a minister in David Cameron’s government who resigned after sending sexually explicit photographs of himself.An aide to the health secretary sent the bid to the procurement team, asking for it to be brought the personal attention of the government’s PPE tsar Lord Deighton, describing it as “excellent” and calling for it to be dealt with “urgently”.Mr Newmark was lobbying for a dog food company which had set up a firm to broker PPE deals for international suppliers. The deal led to millions of protective goggles being delivered by Hong Kong-based Worldlink Resources and there is no suggestion of wrong-doing on behalf of the company.According to emails released under Freedom of Information rules and obtained by the Sunday Times, the former Braintree MP wrote to Mr Hancock on 27 May last year about the possibility of importing safety goggles from China, adding that he had “chatted with your spad [special adviser] … He will be circulating this idea to you, Michael [Gove] and Liz [Truss]”.Newmark attached a detailed proposal explaining that he had links to a “well connected and powerful” person in China but needed government help in accelerating deals.Mr Hancock responded within hours to say: “Thanks. Definitely one for the PPE team who are firing on all cylinders now.”In response, Mr Newmark said: “Can someone internally please lead the charge in trying to seriously explore this option. I have said all along I can help but I need yours and [Gove’s] support to help make this happen for the Govt.”The following day, Mr Hancock’s aide sent an email to the PPE team, copying in the health secretary: “Please see below from former MP Brooks Newmark … an excellent PPE proposal that the health secretary and I would be very grateful if Lord Deighton could look into urgently.”On 1 June the Department of Health awarded a £178 million contract for protective goggles to the firm without a competitive tendering process.Asked on BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show whether it was appropriate for him to get personally involved in a approach for a government contract from a former colleague, Mr Hancock replied: “Yes, it was absolutely appropriate for people to get in contact with anybody at the Department for Health when the country desperately needed PPE, and I sent this contact straight on to the PPE team, and they looked at it.“I don’t have anything to do with the award of contracts.”Challenged over whether Mr Newmark got “special treatment” because of his proposal being presented to Lord Deighton by the health secretary’s office, Mr Hancock said: “No, I just pinged it on.”He did not respond to the question of how his office was in a position to say that the bid was “excellent” and needed looking at “urgently” if his involvement had simply been to pass the approach on.Mr Hancock said: “We had a process in place to ensure that when there were opportunities to get hold of PPE to save lives on the front line, that they were looked at rapidly. And in this case, we ended up with 90 million goggles for people in the NHS as a result of this approach.”It was “not true” that companies and individuals with personal contacts with ministers and their officials were able to jump the queue for PPE bids, he claimed.“This process for making sure that when there were high-quality offers that they could be taken up rapidly, that process was open to everybody, and many, many people came through that process, and the result was we saved lives on the front line,” he said.“At no point did we have a national outage of PPE, and I’m incredibly proud of my team that pulled that off.“But of course when somebody approaches the health secretary in the middle of a pandemic when you’re desperately short of PPE, It’s perfectly reasonable for the health secretary then to send on the email and say ‘Can we have a look at this?’, and then I didn’t have anything to do with the signing of any of these contracts.“I wanted it to be looked at. And, by the way, 90 million goggles later, I’m glad that I did.”Lawyer Jolyon Maugham, director of the Good Law Project, which is suing the government over its awarding of PPE contracts, said the “scandalous” contract revealed “VIP access to ministers”.A government spokesperson said: “In response to this unprecedented global pandemic, our absolute priority has always been saving lives.“Decisions on whether to award contracts for PPE are taken by officials. The decision making process includes whether the offer had cleared seven previous checks including clinical acceptability and financial due diligence.“We take these checks very seriously. Ministers are not involved in this process.“We have delivered over 11 billion items of PPE to protect our frontline workers and as the National Audit Office report recognised, all NHS providers they audited were able to get the equipment they needed in time.” More

Boris Johnson’s Brexit minister has issued a veiled threat that the UK is ready to walk away from key elements of its Northern Ireland border agreement with the EU unless Brussels gives ground in talks.David Frost admitted that Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal has disrupted deliveries of goods to Northern Ireland from mainland Britain and put political stability in the province at risk.Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he acknowledged that Downing Street failed to anticipate the additional paperwork and checks which would result from the deal, which he negotiated and Mr Johnson signed and pushed through parliament.Despite the EU making clear throughout negotiations that maintaining the integrity of the single market was a red line for Brussels, Lord Frost accused the 27-nation bloc of taking an unnecessarily “purist” approach to maintaining the customs border in the Irish Sea created by Mr Johnson’s deal.The minister’s intervention is an indication of failure to make progress in talks on the Protocol with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic which have been going on for more than two months.European Commission negotiators have offered to drop checks on food products travelling from the mainland to Northern Ireland if the UK aligns itself with EU plant, animal health, environment and food safety rules.But Lord Frost has resisted this gambit, which would tie the UK’s hands in trade negotiations with countries like the US. Instead, he said today that it was for the EU to “stop point-scoring” and “find a new approach and new solutions” to resolve the situation.Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol allows either the UK or EU to withdraw from provisions in the agreement if they threaten serious and lasting “economic, societal or environmental difficulties” in the province.And Lord Frost left no doubt that the government is considering activating the article – which would allow Brussels to respond with “rebalancing” measures, which could include tariffs on UK exports.“If the Protocol operates so as to damage the political, social, or economic fabric of life in Northern Ireland, then that situation cannot be sustained for long,” warned the Tory peer.“We are responsible for protecting the peace and prosperity of everyone in Northern Ireland and we will continue to consider all our options for doing so.”Confronted by The Independent with the disruption caused to economic life in Northern Ireland by his Brexit deal, Mr Johnson told a press conference on 8 March that he was “optimistic” that the issues would soon be resolved with the application of “goodwill and imagination”.But Lord Frost said today that shops in Northern Ireland had told him that suppliers in the UK are unwilling to sell them their products because they find it “too difficult and too time-consuming to deal with the paperwork” created by the Brexit agreement.“Risks to the supply of all kinds of products remain and may well get worse as the year progresses,” he said.Lord Frost dismissed EU concerns over products which do not meet its standards entering the single market through Northern Ireland as “a risk that does not exist”.He did not accuse Brussels of breaching the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol.But he said: “The EU takes a very purist view of all this. It seems to want to treat goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK in the same way as the arrival of a vast Chinese container ship at Rotterdam. We did not anticipate this when we agreed the Protocol and it makes no sense.“I totally understand why this makes unionism in Northern Ireland anxious and why consent for the Protocol is now fragile. Protests have been occurring and political stability is at risk.“Our overriding aim has always been to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement. If the Protocol is not protecting it, it is not working.“The EU has a responsibility here. The Protocol is a shared UK-EU agreement. The EU needs, rapidly, to find a new approach and new solutions.”He added: “So my message to our friends in Europe is: stop the point-scoring and work with us. Seize the moment, help find a new approach to Northern Ireland, and then we can build a new relationship for the future.” More

Matt Hancock has advised people to be “careful” when hugging others after restrictions on physical contact are lifted on Monday.The health secretary confirmed that he plans to hug his parents when the curb is ended after more than a year, but said he would do it outside in order to reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.Experts say that hugging should be restricted to small numbers of people – probably family members and close friends – and should be kept brief to improve safety.People should hug outside or in well-ventilated areas with their faces turned away from one another and should consider wearing face-coverings of one of them is medically vulnerable.Mr Hancock told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “We should all be careful, we all know the risks. Outside is safer than inside, so even though you can from tomorrow, meet up inside, it’s still better to meet up outside.“Of course there are people who have been yearning to have some physical contact. You should do that carefully. If you’ve had both jabs more than two weeks ago, that’s much safer.”The 42-year-old health secretary revealed he got into trouble with his father for suggesting that it was only his mother he was looking forward to hugging on Monday.“I was asked on Tuesday and I said the thing I’m really looking forward to is hugging my Mum, she’s had two jabs ,” he told Ridge. “Actually, Dad got quite upset about that. I’m really looking forward to hugging you as well, Dad. But we’ll probably do it outside and keep the ventilation going: Hands, face and space.”Mr Hancock added: “We all have a personal responsibility, we all know now the sorts of things that are riskier but we’re able because the case numbers are so low to move away from some of the more restrictive interventions.“I think personal responsibility is an important mantra here because people have been so responsible through the crisis and they’ve really listened and followed the guidance and instructions that the prime minister set out, and that’s the approach we should take together.”Former chief scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport said people need to be “sensibly cautious” when rules on social contact are relaxed on Monday.The Sage member told Ridge: “Complete normality I think is going to take a bit of time to return, and people have got to be sensibly cautious I think.“Well my advice is that just because you can do something doesn’t necessarily mean you should.“As far as possible socialise outside, maintain social distancing, if you’re going to hug, hug cautiously.”New guidance in place from 17 May on meeting friends and family will lift rules on physical contact, instead asking individuals to exercise “personal responsibility”.“Instead of instructing you to stay two metres apart from anyone you don’t live with, you will be encouraged to exercise caution and consider the guidance on risks associated with Covid-19 and actions you can take to help keep you and your loved ones safe,” say the guidelines.“Remember that the risks of close contact may be greater for some people than others and in some settings and circumstances, there will be specific guidance that you will need to follow even when you are with friends and family.” More