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Boris Johnson has announced that an independent public inquiry into the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic with statutory powers will begin in spring 2022.After months of demands over the timeframe of a probe, the prime minister told MPs it will be held under the 2005 Inquiries Act, with the powers to summon witnesses to give evidence under oath and compel the release of government documents.Around 15 months after the country entered its first lockdown and 127,629 deaths, according to the latest official government figures, Mr Johnson said the state had an “obligation to examine its actions as rigorously and as candidly as possible”.Insisting that devolved administrations would be consulted before the final scope of the inquiry was published, he said the process will “place the state’s actions under the microscope”, adding: The government will establish an independent public inquiry on a statutory basis.”The Covid-19 bereaved justice group, which has been spearheading the calls for the inquiry, welcomed the statutory basis of the probe, but warned that spring 2022 “is simply too late to begin”.“It sounds like common sense when the prime minister says that an inquiry can wait until the pandemic is over, but lives are at stake with health experts and scientists warning of a third wave later this year,” the organisation said. “A rapid review in summer 2020 could have saved our loved ones who died in the second wave in winter.”A Downing Street spokesperson declined to put a timescale on the inquiry or to say whether it can be expected to conclude before the next general election.The spokesperson said the chair and terms of reference for the inquiry would be made public “in due course” and said that Mr Johnson will be ready to give evidence under oath if requested. Other inquiries launched by the 2005 Inquiries Act that are still active include the Undercover Policing Inquiry (2015), the Grenfell Tower Inquiry (2017), the Infected Blood Inquiry (2017), the Manchester Arena Inquiry (2019) and the Jermaine Baker Inquiry (2020).Attempting to explain why the inquiry will not begin before spring 2022, the prime minister suggested there was a “high likelihood of a surge” in the winter of Covid cases and an increase in hospitalisations — requiring officials’ attention.“Our own scientific advisers judge that although more positive data is coming in and the outlook is improving there could still be another resurgence in hospitalisations and deaths,” he told MPs on Wednesday.In a sober warning, he said: “We also face the threat of new variants and should they prove highly transmissible and elude the protection of our vaccines they would have the potential for even greater suffering than we endured in January.“There is any case a high likelihood this winter when the weather assists the transmission of respiratory diseases.”While welcoming the announcement, Sir Keir Starmer questioned why the inquiry could not begin before 2022, asking in the Commons: “I understand a statutory inquiry will take time to set up, but why could it not be later this year? Why could it not start earlier?”Mr Johnson said the preparatory work to establish the terms of reference and the inquiry chair “will happen before the spring of next year”, adding: “We will be getting it under way, we will be taking some key decisions.“I think the House will agree that it would not be right to devote the time of people who are looking after us, who are saving lives, to an inquiry before we can be absolutely, much more certain than we are now that the pandemic is behind us.” More

Far left to blame for Labour defeats, suggests Tony BlairThe scale of damage to UK trade with the EU inflicted by Brexit has been laid bare in official figures which showed goods exports to the bloc in the first quarter of 2021 down by 18 per cent compared to the last three months of 2020.Trade with the EU continued to recover from the precipitous collapse in January – when UK exports fell by 42 per cent – with sales to the continent in March up 8.6 per cent (£1bn) and imports up 4.5 per cent (£800m) compared to February.But Thomas Sampson of the London School of Economics said that today’s figures suggest that the “incomplete bounceback” seen in February has now stalled.Elsewhere, Gordon Brown said Boris Johnson will be remembered as the prime minister who oversaw the break-up of the United Kingdom if Scotland presses ahead with an independence referendum and votes to leave.The former prime minister accused Mr Johnson of failing to understand the union, and criticised his government for failing to make it a priority in yesterday’s Queen’s speech.In an interview with Times Radio on Wednesday, the ex-Labour leader said: “I don’t think he’s thought about it, I don’t think he understands it, I think he’s got to start beginning to understand it.”Show latest update

1620830403Convicted war criminal Radovan Karadzic will serve the rest of his sentence in a UK jailThe Bosnian Serb wartime leader was convicted of genocide and crimes against humanity for his part in the atrocities committed during the 1992-95 war.Karadzic was convicted in March 2016 on 10 counts including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as the political mastermind behind Serb crimes in the 1992-95 Bosnian war and sentenced to 40 years, later increased to life.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “Radovan Karadzic is one of the few people to have been found guilty of genocide.“He was responsible for the massacre of men, women and children at the Srebrenica genocide and helped prosecute the siege of Sarajevo with its remorseless attacks on civilians.“We should take pride in the fact that from UK support to secure his arrest, to the prison cell he now faces, Britain has supported the 30-year pursuit of justice for these heinous crimes.”Matt Mathers12 May 2021 15:401620829975Is Angela Rayner’s admission about Keir Starmer the honesty Labour needs to win back the Red Wall?Could the tension between Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner be a force for good within Labour?Our columnist takes Andrew Grice takes a look at the recent row between the two leaders, and what it could be mean for the future of the party:Matt Mathers12 May 2021 15:321620827037Andy Burnham urges authorities to give jab to all over-16s amid India variant surgeHealth chiefs in Greater Manchester have requested permission to vaccinate everyone over the age of 16 after a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases among young people in Bolton.Andy Burnham, the region’s mayor, said he and officials had made the plea amid concerns the spike – seemingly driven by the India variant – could grow out of control without decisive action.Our north of England correspondent Colin Drury reports: Matt Mathers12 May 2021 14:431620826084We’re looking into PM’s county court judgement, Downing Street saysDowning Street has said it is “looking into” Boris Johnson’s county court judgement over an unpaid debt.“I have seen that report, we are looking into this issue,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said.“I can confirm it is nothing to do with the refurbishment of the Downing Street estate, where all such bills have been duly paid either by the government or the prime minister personally.”Asked whether the prime minister could be trusted with the nation’s finances if he could not manage his own, the spokesman said: “I think our record on the economy is very clear.”Asked whether there should be concerns about the prime minister’s personal finances, Mr Johnson’s press secretary said: “You should not be concerned, no.”Earlier today it was revealed Mr Johnson is facing a court judgement over an unpaid debt of £535:Matt Mathers12 May 2021 14:281620824986 Trade with EU increases but remains below pre-Brexit levelsThe scale of damage to UK trade with the EU inflicted by Brexit has been laid bare in official figures which showed goods exports to the bloc in the first quarter of 2021 down by 18 per cent compared to the last three months of 2020.Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock has the story: Matt Mathers12 May 2021 14:091620823656DUP’s Foster staying tight-lipped on who should replace her as party leaderOutgoing DUP leader Arlene Foster says she will vote in the party’s leadership contest to replace her.But the first minister would not be drawn on whether she would back Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the Lagan Valley MP, or Edwin Poots, Stormont’s agriculture minister to take up the role.”I will be voting, one should always use your vote regardless of what the election is. I will be voting on Friday,” she said.”I won’t be saying who I’m voting for because I think that would be incredibly unfair,” she said.Matt Mathers12 May 2021 13:471620820402Next winter may bring even more Covid suffering from variants, warns JohnsonBoris Johnson has issued an extraordinary warning of even “greater suffering” next winter than the public endured this year, if new Covid-19 variants take root. Rob Merrick reports:Jane Dalton12 May 2021 12:531620819682Pandemic inquiry delayed till spring, PM saysBoris Johnson has announced a public inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic will begin from spring next year.The prime minister said the probe will be held under the 2005 Inquiries Act — meaning it will have powers to compel witnesses to give advice.He told MPs the inquiry would be able to take oral evidence under oath and will place “the state’s actions under the microscope”.He said the government has an “obligation” to learn every lesson from the crisis, adding: “The government will establish an independent public inquiry on a statutory basis”.Suggesting there was a “high likelihood of a surge” in the winter, he said the right moment for an inquiry to begin would be spring 2022.“It is my strong view that the country wants to see an independent inquiry into the pandemic last year,” he said.Keir Starmer questioned Mr Johnson on why the inquiry could not start earlier and whether spring 2022 would be setting it up or to start taking evidence. Ashley Cowburn reports:Jane Dalton12 May 2021 12:411620817294 Immigrants to be stripped of right to challenge deportation using judicial reviewImmigrants and refugees will be stripped of the right to challenge deportation orders in the High Court, under a new crackdown to speed up “removals”.Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick reports: Matt Mathers12 May 2021 12:011620816048Stories on Tory ‘sleaze’ and Johnson’s Covid comments only affected those most ‘politically engaged’Stories about Tory sleaze and Boris Johnson’s alleged ‘bodies pile high’ comments did have an impact on voting intention at last Thursday’s elections – but only among those who are politically engaged, a YouGov poll suggests. Findings of survey below: Matt Mathers12 May 2021 11:40 More

Labour needs “total deconstruction and reconstruction” in order to revive as a party amid the “major setback” of last week’s poor electoral performance, former leader Tony Blair has warned.In a frank assessment of the party’s new leadership, Mr Blair also said that Sir Keir Starmer lacked a compelling economic message, was “struggling to break through with the public”, and was being backed into “electorally off-putting positions”.The former prime minister’s intervention comes after Angela Rayner, the deputy leader who was involved in stand-off with Sir Keir over the weekend after she was removed as party chair, said voters did not know what the Labour leader stood for at the recent election.As some on the left of the party raised questions over Sir Keir’s stewardship of the party after the loss of the Hartlepool by-election and 327 councillors at the local elections, Mr Blair, however, insisted in an article for the New Statesman: “The Labour Party won’t revive simply by a change of leader. “It needs total deconstruction and reconstruction,” he wrote. “Nothing less will do”.He added: “At present, Labour expresses perfectly the progressive dilemma. Corbyn was radical but not sensible. Keir seems sensible but not radical. He lacks a compelling economic message. “And the cultural message, because he is not clarifying it, is being defined by the ‘woke left’, whose every statement gets cut-through courtesy of the right.”In a separate interview on Wednesday, Mr Blair also told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that the success of the government’s vaccination roll-out, with over 35 million people having received a first dose, “gave a boost to the government” at the recent elections.Asked whether it was possible he would be the last Labour politician to be elected as prime minister, he replied: “Well, it’s a huge problem for Labour because we did something the Labour has never done in its history before.“If you go back 120 years of Labour’s history, there are three occasions in which the far left have got near to the leadership of the Labour Party: 1935, 1983, and 2019. All of them have been the worst defeats we’ve ever had.“But only in the last defeat – 2019 – did the far left actually capture the leadership of the party itself. You can agree with Jeremy Corbyn, don’t agree with him, but it was a dramatic change in the type of Labour Party that had been put forward.”He added: “It’s a challenge to be fair to him [Sir Keir], which is much more difficult that I had. I came to the leadership of the Labour Party after Neil Kinnock had made huge reforms. Then I was able to take it all further.“Keir has literally taken the Labour Party over at probably the hardest part of its entire political history – I’m deeply sympathetic to him.”Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Ed Miliband, another former leader of the party, said Labour had a “mountain to climb” and insisted Sir Keir had managed to put the “Remain-Leave argument behind us”.“But we all have a collective responsibility to show exactly what we stand for going forward – absolutely we do,” he said. “We should be bolder, of course we should bolder.”He added that Sir Keir believes the country needs a “big economic change” to make it less “unfair, unequal and unproductive”, stressing now was not the time to “blow the final whistle” on his leadership.“What I’m interested in is what we do now. You don’t blow the final whistle on the match a third of the way through the match, which is where we are probably in this parliament; we go out and we fight for what we believe in.“That’s what we’ve got to do as a party – look to the country, as Angie Rayner is saying.” More

Boris Johnson has issued an extraordinary warning of even “greater suffering” next winter than the public endured this year, if new Covid-19 variants take root.Delaying his promised inquiry until next Spring, the prime minister told MPs: “There is in any case a high likelihood of a surge this winter.”The warning – which jars with Mr Johnson’s own statement on Monday that the country will return “close to normal” next month – came despite the success of the UK’s vaccination programme.He said: “Our own scientific advisers judge that, although more positive data is coming in and the outlook is improving, there could still be another resurgence in hospitalisations and deaths.“We also face the threat of new variants and, should they prove highly transmissible and elude the protection of our vaccines, they would have the potential for even greater suffering than we endured in January.”On Monday, the prime minister promised full details of “the end of social distancing” within three weeks, pressing the accelerator on a review into the lifting of all Covid rules.But, in a strikingly more sombre statement, he said: “The end of the lockdown is not the end of the pandemic.“The World Health Organisation has said that the pandemic has now reached its global peak and will last throughout this year.”Mr Johnson cheered campaigners and Opposition parties by finally setting out the format of the Covid inquiry he has been promising for almost a year – which would have full powers.“I can confirm today that the government will establish an independent public inquiry on a statutory basis, with full powers under the Inquiries Act 2005 – including the ability to compel the production of all relevant materials and take oral evidence in public under oath.” he said.But he added: “This process will place the state’s actions under the microscope and we should be mindful of the scale of that undertaking and the resources required to do it properly.“So, I expect that the right moment for the inquiry to begin is at the end of this period in the spring of next year, spring 2022.”The delay means the inquiry will not start until two years after the pandemic broke out and – perhaps crucially – is unlikely to report back until after the next general election, which could be early as 2023.The prime minister also announced a “Commission on Covid Commemoration” will be established, to allow people to “come together and to cherish the memories of those who have been lost”.“Communities across the whole country will want to find ways of commemorating what we have all been through, so the government will support their efforts,” he said.The Commission would “remember the loved ones we have lost, honour the heroism of those who have saved lives and the courage of frontline workers who have kept our country going, celebrate the genius of those who created the vaccines and commemorate the small acts of kindness and the daily sacrifice of millions who stayed at home buying time for our scientists to come to our rescue”, he added. More

The break of the United Kingdom would be Boris Johnson’s lasting and defining legacy if Scotland successfully seeks independence, former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown has warned the prime minister.The argument over Scottish independence has intensified following the SNP’s election victory, which also produced a larger pro-independence majority in the Scottish parliament last week.The prime minister has shown few signs of engaging with the question since last week’s results, saying only that focus should be on the Covid recovery and not on another independence referendum.Mr Brown claimed Mr Johnson’s lasting legacy would be losing Scotland if the country becomes independent, adding he believes the PM does not “understand” the union.“I think he had one sentence in his speech yesterday, the Queen’s Speech, about the union itself,” he told Times Radio on Wednesday. “I don’t think he’s thought about it, I don’t think he understands it – I think he’s got to start beginning to understand it.”“He’s a historian, he must remember that Lord North was the prime minister who lost America and that’s all he’s remembered for. If Boris Johnson becomes the prime minister who loses Scotland … that’s all he will be remembered for.The former PM added: “We need to give some attention to this issue, and we need to do it pretty urgently.”Mr Brown’s think tank Our Scottish Future has become a “campaigning movement” for Scotland to remain in the UK and fundamental reform of the union since the Holyrood election.He has called for a permanent forum of all the nations and regions to be set up where issues can be discussed, including the leaders of the devolved administrations and English mayors.Mr Brown has railed against the “muscular unionism” of the current Tory government, which has said it would like to finance projects in Scotland through local authorities as opposed to Nicola Sturgeon’s government.It comes as the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the Tory government was living in a “parallel universe” by claiming the his party had not won a mandate for indyref2 in Scotland.Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Blackford told MPs that the pro-independence majority at Holyrood meant there was a “fresh democratic commitment to give the Scottish people the right to choose an independent future”He added: “The prime minister needs to reflect on this reality. A fight with democracy is a fight he will never, not ever, win.” More

A cabinet minister has defended plans by Boris Johnson’s government to require photographic identification to vote – even if it risks hindering up to two million voters.Environment secretary George Eustice insisted the move has “nothing to do with [Conservative] party interests,” following claims it could limit votes for opposition parties and disenfranchise ethnic minorities.The voter ID proposal has been met with howls of outrage by civil liberties groups and senior MPs in all parties, who have warned it could stop marginalised groups from voting.Mr Eustice denied the Tories wanted to change the system for political purposes, and argued it was necessary to “protect the integrity of our electoral system”.It follows an admission by his Tory cabinet colleague Matt Hancock that there had been only six cases of voter fraud at the last election.Newly released research for the Cabinet Office suggested around 98 per cent of voters held some form of photo ID, including documents which had expired.But the UK-wide study said this figure fell to 96 per cent when considering if recognisable ID was held – suggesting around two million people were at risk of missing out.Questioned over whether the government would drop the plans if that scale of potential voter exclusion was confirmed, Mr Eustice instead stressed there would be extensive scrutiny of the proposal.He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “there will be consultations, there will be pilots, there will be debate in parliament” and considerations on “what exemptions, if any, there might be”.“We are a government that is bringing forward legislation to protect the integrity of our electoral system and to prevent electoral fraud,” the minister added.“You mentioned earlier that older people allegedly potentially find it harder to have photo ID – well in other fora, you’ve put it to me that older people are more likely to vote Conservative.”Mr Eustice claimed: “So it is clearly nothing to do with party interests, it’s about integrity of the electoral system.”Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband told LBC on Wednesday that “we have got a voter ID plan which the Conservative Party think will benefit them”.Mr Miliband said it was “”really, really dangerous” and “absolutely shouldn’t be” in the government’s legislative agenda. “I think it suggests the wrong priorities.”Former Tory cabinet minister David Davis is among the many critics of the plan. He told The Independent it was an “illiberal solution for a non-existent problem”.The Electoral Reform Society, Liberty and Big Brother Watch have all opposed the plan. LGBT+ charity Stonewall also warned that people whose gender identity or appearance may not match their official ID could be blocked from voting.The research carried out for the Cabinet Office suggested people with a disability would be disproportionately affected, with 94 per cent said not to have recognisable ID. The unemployed were also less likely to have any form of ID, at 92 per cent. More

Immigrants and refugees will be stripped of the right to challenge deportation orders in the High Court, under a new crackdown to speed up “removals”.A Judicial Review Bill will overturn a Supreme Court ruling – nearly a decade ago – which allows tribunal decisions to be put forward before the court.Around 700 such appeals are pursued every year, with fierce disputes over how many are won outright while many other cases reach a settlement.The government admits it does not know the success rate, the Queen’s Speech stating: “We are investigating how many of these cases result in a successful outcome for the claimant.”It has briefed Tory-friendly papers that the crackdown is to stamp out “hopeless claims that have already been adjudicated by tribunal judges which frustrate removals at the last minute”.But the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) attacked “a grave injustice, not least because the Home Office regularly gets decisions wrong”.“People seeking protection in the UK deserve to have their voices heard, and their claims calmy and fairly assessed,” said Minnie Rahman, the organisation’s campaigns director:“These plans will deny refugees rights and status and leave many more people in limbo as government’s asylum return deals with third countries appear completely mythical.”Nazek Ramadan, director of Migrant Voice, said: “The government’s plans mean that a significant number of those who would have won their claim in the High Court could be deported.“The government is taking legal rights away from people who need protection – with individuals deported to countries where they are at risk of harm or persecution. What does this say about us as a country?”And the Free Movement website pointed out the government had admitted that abolishing the so-called Cart Judgement “may cause some injustice”.“The Cart safeguard is an important supervisory check on the immigration tribunal and the Ministry of Justice should not be in the business of causing avoidable injustice,” said CJ McKinney, its deputy editor.The Judicial Review Bill will also “protect the judiciary from being drawn into political questions and preserve the integrity of judicial review for its intended purpose,” the Queen’s Speech document says.But critics see the legislation as an attack on the power of people to mount legal challenges, in revenge for embarrassing court defeats during the Brexit saga.Theresa May was humbled over invoking the Article 50 exit notice without MPs’ approval and Boris Johnson humiliated when judges ruled his shutdown of parliament was unlawful.A claim that just 0.22 per cent of immigration judicial reviews are successful – made in a review for the government – has been discredited, lawyers say.In fact, up to one in 11 result in victories, it is now thought, after more complete data was used.Downing Street defended the shake-up, insisting it is necessary to “increase the efficiency of the court and tribunal system and clarify the status of the upper tribunal”.“We want fair access to the legal system for all, but it is right we take action to clarify any issues that need reviewing and make sure we are running an efficient system,” the prime minister’s spokesman said. More

Boris Johnson’s government will not rule out re-introducing tougher restrictions for coronavirus “hotspot” areas, a cabinet minister has said.Despite the success of the vaccine roll-out in bringing down Covid-19 deaths and hospital admissions, there are pockets of the UK where cases are back on the rise.Asked if the government would consider local curbs, George Eustice, the environment secretary, said: “We can’t rule anything out … the reason we’re being incredibly cautious about exiting lockdown, is we want this to be the last.Mr Eustice also told Sky News: “We want to try and avoid having to get into a tiered system and regionalisation. We tried that last autumn, we know that in the end we had to go for a full lockdown.”The minister said certain parts of the country were being closely monitored, and lateral testing in workplaces and schools should allow the health authorities “to pick up these hotspots”.Mr Eustice said it was not yet clear what was behind the local rises, saying he did not know “whether it is particular variants” or people becoming more relaxed about remaining restrictions.The rising number of cases of the Covid variant first detected in India in the UK should make the government reconsider the relaxing of restrictions on 17 May, one leading expert has warned.Prof Christina Pagel, a member of the Independent Sage group, said ministers should act now instead of waiting until things get “really bad before we realise we should have acted several weeks ago”.The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the Indian variant B.1.617 has now been detected in 44 countries – and the UK has reported the highest caseload outside of India.There have been 1,392 cases of the Indian variant detected in the UK so far, according to the Covid-19 genomics UK consortium database.The latest data shows a surge in Covid-19 cases in the Lancashire area of Hyndburn, which has England’s highest two-week case rate of 199.9 per 100,000 people.The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said that Bolton – which has the second highest infection rate at 158.9 cases per 100,000 people – was now a “cause of concern”.Mr Burnham said all over 16-year-olds should be given the Covid vaccine to try to stop the spread of the Indian variant in the area.Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, Lancashire’s director of public health, said he expects there to be another surge in Covid cases after further lockdown restrictions are eased at the start of next week.Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if opening up further could problems in areas with already high case rates, he said: “We are all expecting there will be another surge in the cases, but we also know that we have protected the most vulnerable.”Dr Karunanithi there was still “real uncertainty in terms of the variants and how severe they are going to be”.In Scotland, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, said the region of Moray is likely to stay under level 3 restrictions due to “widespread community transmission” of Covid in the north-east area.With a decision due at the end of the week, it is “highly probable” Moray will remain under tighter rules, despite the rest of mainland Scotland easing into level 2 restrictions on 17 May. More