Markus Andrews

Health 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.“I can report that Greater Manchester has submitted for consideration to the JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] a request that we have permission to vaccinate all over 16s in Bolton and more widely,” he said. “That request has gone in and we understand it is being considered.”Current government policy is to get the jab to everyone aged over 18.Infection rates have doubled among under 25s in Bolton in the space of a week: there were 152 cases per 100,000 people reported in the seven days up to 7 May but, for those aged 15-19, the rate stands even higher at to 223 per 100,000.In total, the north west town now has the second highest infection rate in England, according to government data.Public Health England has said the town has one of the highest rates of the India variant anywhere in the country and that there is some evidence of community transmission.Mr Burnham, who was re-elected as the region’s Labour mayor last week, said: “The way to mitigate the risk is to accelerate vaccination, particularly in the communities most affected by the Indian variant.“It is the Indian variant that is largely responsible for the increase that we’re seeing in Bolton.”The Department for Health and Social Care said in a statement no decisions have been made on whether under-18s should be routinely offered vaccinations.A spokesperson said: “We continue to follow the advice of the independent JCVI to vaccinate the most vulnerable people in society first. The priority order is primarily based on age, which is the biggest factor determining mortality.”Bolton Council said rates in three areas – Rumworth, Deane and Great Lever – were “worrying” especially as the take up of vaccinations was 10 per cent lower than the national average.The latest surge comes on the back of an especially torrid year for the town. In September it became the first place in the UK where bars and restaurants were told to shut for a second period after infection rates there became the highest in the country. More

Keir’s Starmer’s deputy has said voters did not know what the Labour leader stood for in the recent election campaign.Angela Rayner also admitted she had “frank” and “robust” conversations with Sir Keir, days after she emerged from a reshuffle with a clutch of new roles. Many Labour MPs believe Sir Keir’s authority was diminished over the weekend when a backlash against reports Ms Rayner had been demoted saw her given a new 24-word-long job title.The reshuffle was prompted by Labour’s defeat in last week’s by-election in Hartlepool. In an interview with the BBC, Ms Rayner said: “What I heard on the doorstep is they [voters] didn’t know what Keir Starmer stood for. So that’s what I think our challenge is.”She admitted that “people want to know what the Labour Party’s going do for them, and that we’re not squabbling with each other” as she insisted she had a good working relationship with her party leader. But while she joked that her hair colour had led her to be labelled “fiery” as a child, she added: “I can shoot from the hip… And, you know, Keir’s a very measured person. So actually, we work incredibly well, on that basis, because, you know, we bounce off each other, we kind of spark off each other, because we are different. We’re not competing with each other, we both bring something unique to that partnership.”In an interview with ITV news, Ms Rayner declined to go into the details of her discussions with the Labour leader.But she said: “Everyone knows I’m quite a trade union negotiator, and a robust talker, and Keir is very frank with me and I’ve really enjoyed the fact we’ve had that constructive open relationship and I’m pleased that will continue.”Ms Rayner also admitted that Labour had in the past got the “tone wrong” and sounded patronising to voters. “I’ve talked about the patronising tone that we have sometimes actually, and I’ve felt that as a working-class girl. We don’t want people to do things for us, or tell us what to do we want the empowerment to do things for ourselves.”In both interviews, Ms Rayner also suggested that she had been appointed to her new posts because she wanted to be more “front-facing”. At the weekend she was stripped of her roles as party chairwoman and campaign co-ordinator.But she was made shadow first secretary of state, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow secretary of state for the future of work. Earlier this week, Sir Keir and Ms Rayner were spotted having a cup of coffee in Westminster, as they sought to draw a line under speculation of divisions between them. But just hours later Sir Keir’s closest parliamentary aide Carolyn Harris resigned, after MPs suggested she had exacerbated tensions between the leaders’ office and his deputy. More

If there is one measure in the Queen’s Speech that appears to be a more or less naked attempt at suppression of the Labour vote, it is the proposal for compulsory voter ID at polling stations. The many critics of the idea, again mostly on the opposition benches, argue it is as unnecessary as it is undemocratic. They note that in recent years there has been only one conviction for this particular type of election fraud, “personation”, as impersonation is known in this context. The Electoral Commission noted with some satisfaction in a 2014 review that there is “no evidence to suggest that there have been widespread, systematic attempts to undermine or interfere with recent elections through electoral fraud”. In the course of their discussions with election officials in town halls, the police and others, the Electoral Commission concluded this: “Electoral fraud is not widespread, and reports of specific fraud are focused on specific places in England in a few local authority areas”. Even in those cases, the type of fraud tended to be “harvesting” of postal votes by campaigners, rather than the very rare examples of personation. Outside Northern Ireland, where the old slogan was “vote early, vote often”, personation has never been an issue in UK elections. The problem of dishonesty, one might add, is more likely to lie with those who get elected rather than the electorate, given what we know about the MPs’ expenses scandal and various instances of hypocrisy and worse perpetrated by serving ministers. More

Boris Johnson sparked anger today with a Queen’s Speech which lacked promised legislation on workers’ rights, reform of care funding and protection for veterans of the Northern Ireland Troubles.Furious unions accused the prime minister of “betraying” workers by abandoning a promise of new laws to deal with rogue employers.And social care charities said it was “questionable as to how much longer the sector can be expected to limp on” in the absence of a bill to put its funding on a secure footing.A former No 10 aide to the prime minister, Tim Montgomerie, described the programme of legislation for the coming year as “a thin Queen’s Speech”, adding: “This is a government without any big ideas.”And ex-defence minister Johnny Mercer, who quit after clashing with the PM over Northern Ireland, said ministers had promised legislation to protect armed forces veterans from prosecution for events during the Troubles. “At some stage, we must fulfil our promises to our veterans,” he said.The agenda set out by the monarch in a scaled-down and Covid-secure ceremony, which was her first major public appearance since the death of Prince Philip, featured a number of controversial proposals among its 25 new bills, including:• The introduction of ID checks for voting, which critics say will exclude marginalised groups, the young and ethnic minorities to solve a problem which former minister David Davis said was “non-existent”;• A consultation on banning “gay conversion therapies” which campaigners warned left a big loophole open by focusing on “coercive” practices while allowing religious and community leaders to continue trying to advise or persuade young LGBT+ people to seek therapy;• A relaxation of planning laws which countryside campaigners said could allow property developers new freedoms to build on green fields;• The removal of immigrants’ and refugees’ rights to challenge deportation orders in the High Court;• Legislation to restore the prime minister’s power to choose the date of a general election, abolishing David Cameron’s ill-fated attempt to fix parliamentary terms at five years; • Plans to end “no-platforming” of controversial speakers by imposing fines on universities and students’ unions which fail to “protect freedom of speech”;• A series of bills aimed to begin the process of delivering the “levelling up” agenda which Mr Johnson has used to woo voters in disadvantaged areas of the Midlands and the north of England, with an expansion of adult education and investment in broadband, 5G, rail and buses; and• A Health and Care Bill designed to better integrate the NHS and social care systems.The government also promised a “levelling-up white paper” setting out how Mr Johnson intends to meet the promises made to voters in former Labour-voting areas.But the third Queen’s Speech of Mr Johnson’s time in power was most notable for its gaps.Almost two years after the prime minister declared on arrival in Downing Street in July 2019 that he had “a clear plan” already prepared to deal with the intractable problem of social care funding, he was able to say today only that proposals for change would be published by the end of 2021.Care England, which represents independent providers, described the absence of a bill as “a missed opportunity”.“Without the much-needed – not to mention heralded – reform it is questionable as to how much longer the sector can be expected to limp on,” said CEO Professor Martin Green.And Richard Kramer, chief executive of national disability charity Sense, said: “It is not acceptable for disabled people, and others who use social care, to fall foul of financial trade-offs or bartering between government departments – this is about people’s lives and it’s time social care reform is given the urgent attention it needs.”An employment bill, which was promised in the 2019 Queen’s Speech but delayed by the coronavirus crisis, was dropped from this year’s programme, prompting TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady to complain: “We need action now to deal with the scourge of insecure work – not more dithering and delay.”The GMB’s acting general secretary Warren Kenny said the failure to deliver a bill to deal with employment practices like zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire  showed an “abject lack of leadership”.Mr Johnson told MPs his package would unleash the “pent-up energy of the UK economy” and spread opportunity to “take this country forward”.But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the failure to act on social care after the pandemic was “nothing short of an insult to the whole nation”. More

Queen’s Speech unveils plans on freedom of speech, voter ID and snap electionsBoris Johnson has unveiled Conservative plans to press on with various measures, including the controversial voter ID policy, in a Queen’s Speech which outlined 26 potential laws in total.Announcing the list of measures, the monarch began by saying the overall aim was to “level up opportunities” across the UK. Among them is a health and care bill, to better integrate the NHS and social care systems; a planning bill, to make it easier to build new homes, schools and hospitals; and the return of the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, which sparked demonstrations when it was last before parliament.The speech also made reference to “bringing forward proposals” to fix the UK’s troubled social care system but, perhaps unsurprisingly, did not provide any concrete details. It comes as a Commons committee revealed the extent to which David Cameron bombarded government ministers with at least 25 texts, 12 WhatsApp messages, 11 calls and eight emails over a four-month period, telling them that the failure to provide financial support to Greensill Capital was “nuts” and “bonkers”.Financier Lex Greensill is scheduled to give evidence before the House of Commons Treasury Committee this afternoon, while former PM Mr Cameron will be grilled on Thursday. Read more:Show latest update

1620744345No 10 to tackle foie gras in animal standards bidWave farewell to foie gras. The government is to consider ways to limit the sale of foie gras as part of measures to improve animal welfare, ministers have announced.A new animal welfare bill, unveiled in the Queen’s Speech, will also look at a crackdown on the trade of the delicacy, which involves the force feeding of birds and has been condemned as cruel.The artificially fattened liver of a duck or a goose, foie gras is made using a technique called gavage, force-feeding the birds twice or three times daily, often via a tube down their throats.Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:Sam Hancock11 May 2021 15:451620743175Starmer welcomes Hartlepool’s new Tory MPLabour leader Sir Keir Starmer has welcomed Hartlepool’s newly elected MP, Jill Mortimer, after his own party lost the constituency for the first time in 62 years.Welcoming Ms Mortimer to Westminster, Sir Keir said that he “hopes she doesn’t mind me saying that I hope [her post] won’t last too long”. Safe to say, he received some laughs from his own benches. The loss of Hartlepool cut deep for the Labour Party, and kickstarted a disastrous performance nationally at last week’s elections.Ms Mortimer won the by-election with more than half of the votes cast (51.88 per cent) and a swing from Labour of almost 16 per cent, beating Dr Paul Williams, by 6,940 votes. More

No 10 has suggested pubs will not be required to introduce calorie labels on pints, with the new policy focusing only on food labelling for large hospitality businesses. The government said on Tuesday new legislation will be introduced in the coming year to require the “out-of home sector” – restaurants, cafes and takeaways – to display calorie contents on their menus in a drive to combat obesity.The measure, which will only apply to companies with 250 or more employers, will come alongside restrictions on the promotions of high fat, salt and sugar food and drinks in retailers from April 2022, the government added.This is expected to include curtailing ‘buy one, get one free deals’ and bang shops from presenting unhealthy items in prominent locations such as checkouts and store entrances.The pledge – forming part of the Queen’s Speech, which set outs the government’s agenda for the coming year – was included in measures to “support the health and wellbeing of the nation” after Covid-19 highlighted the “immense costs of ill-health”.Downing Street later said the plans for calories labelling will focus on food and not on drinks, relieving pubs from the need to label the calories contained in pints.“It will be focusing on food labelling,” the prime minister’s spokesman told reporters. “In response to the consultation we are introducing legislation to require large out-of-home settings – which are those with 250 or more employees – to calorie-label the food they sell.”Quizzed on why drinks were not included in the proposed legislation, the spokesperson added: “We’ve listened to feedback from the consultation and we think this is the right approach to take this forward now, and that’s why we will set out more detail in a consultation response which is coming out later”.No 10 launched a consultation into the issue of calorie labelling for large businesses in 2018 and carried out further work in the summer of 2020 “on how compliance should be investigated”.Included in the government’s plans to tackle obesity outlined at the Queen’s Speech, a document provided by No 10 said the Health and Care Bill will also include measures “to ban junk food adverts pre-9pm watershed on TV and for a total ban online”.The plans to curtail junk food adverts were unveiled last year, leading to criticism from the Food and Drink Federation, which urged the prime minister to reconsider the proposals for a full ban online. More

David Cameron bombarded government ministers and officials with scores of texts, calls and emails over a four-month period, telling them that the failure to provide financial support to Greensill Capital was “nuts” and “bonkers”, it has been revealed.A cache of messages released by the House of Commons Treasury Committee showed that the former prime minister and his office contacted ministers including chancellor Rishi Sunak – as well as senior officials at 10 Downing Street and the Bank of England – on 27 separate days between 5 March and 26 June 2020, with multiple contacts on some days.And Mr Cameron’s messages also revealed efforts to lobby Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Michael Gove. But there was no indication that Gove – a former close friend who fell out with the ex-PM over Brexit – responded to his contacts.Meanwhile, it was revealed that Mr Cameron will face two grillings from panels of senior MPs on Thursday this week, facing the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee at 5pm, just after concluding a previously-announced interrogation by the Treasury committee at 2.30pm.Signing his messages “Dc” or “De”, the ex-PM begins with requests for talks and offers of lunch, but the pleas for help become increasingly lengthy and detailed after it was made clear that Greensill’s application for inclusion in the multi-billion pound Covid Corporate Financing Facility had been rejected.In all, at least 25 texts, 12 WhatsApp messages and eight emails were sent, and 11 calls are recorded in a timeline supplied by Mr Cameron to the committee, which is conducting an investigation into the affair with company founder Lex Greensill giving evidence this afternoon.At one point, Cameron tells the Treasury’s top civil servant Tom Scholar he will “see you with Rishi’s for an elbow bump or foot tap”, as he assures him that Greensill are eager to “help” with the government’s response to the Covid crisis.As the decision on CCFF got nearer, Cameron became more persistent, at one stage even telling Scholar: “One last point, then I promise I will stop annoying you”.After the application was refused, he stepped up his contacts, telling the Treasury permanent secretary on 3 April he was “genuinely baffled” by the decision and asking for a phone discussion on what he said was a “bonkers” decision.The same day, he texted Sunak himself to brand the Treasury decision “nuts” and asking him to “call any time on this number”. He also fired off texts and emails to Treasury ministers Jesse Norman and John Glen, as well as 10 Downing Street special adviser Sheridan Westlake, who he told there was “a looming problem you can help solve”.And he emailed the deputy governor of the Bank of England Sir Jon Cunliffe, telling him Greensill had been rejected despite having “dealt with every objection”, and adding: “I think I must be missing something here, Am obviously talking to HMT but would be grateful for any light you could shed on this.”In a text that day to Gove, Cameron wrote: “I know you are manically busy – and doing a great job by the way (this is bloody hard and I think the team is coping extremely well). But do you have a moment for a word? I am on this number and v free. All good wishes De.”Follow-up emails showed that Mr Cameron spoke with Mr Norman and Mr Westlake that day. And he texted Mr Sunak to say he looked forward to speaking the next morning.After speaking to the Chancellor on 4 April, Mr Cameron was pushing for more meetings for himself and Lex Greensill, which took place later that week.After amendments were made to Greensill’s proposals, Cameron texted Sunak again on 22 April, urging him to “give it another nudge over the finish line” and insisting it was “clearly in the national interest.”Over the following weeks, he was repeatedly in touch with the chancellor by text message, assuring him on 23 April that “goodwill and common sense can fix this” and thanking him on 29 April for “huge progress” which he suggested meant that supply chain finance suppliers like Greensill could be included in the facility.By 15 May, he was telling Mr Sunak “think we are there” and adding: “Happy to talk any time, but hope this can now get the green light!”The messages also reveal that in June, Mr Cameron contacted both Mr Sunak and vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi pressing for the maximum loan Greensill could make under the Treasury’s CBILs scheme to be increased from £50m to £200m, describing the difference as “rather crucial”.The contact came to an end on 26 June with a text to Mr Glen stating: “Thanks for your help with this. Sorry the answer is a No, but we appreciate the engagement. All good wishes. De.” More

The government is to consider ways to limit the sale of foie gras as part of measures to improve animal welfare, ministers have announced. A new animal welfare bill, unveiled in the Queen’s Speech, will also look at a crackdown on the trade of the delicacy, which involves the force feeding of birds and has been condemned as cruel. Foie gras, which is often served pan fried or as a pâté, has long been controversial. Earlier this year Fortnum and Mason announced it would stop importing it and phase out the last of its stock. The artificially fattened liver of a duck or a goose, foie gras is made using a technique called gavage, force-feeding the birds twice or three times daily, often via a tube down their throats.The bill will “consider further steps to limit the trade and sale of foie gras”, ministers said. The legislation will also ban the importation of hunting trophies of endangered animals from abroad, as well as implement the Ivory Act to ban trade in elephant ivory. And it will end “the export of live animals for fattening and slaughter” as well as what it describes as the “low welfare practice” of keeping primates as pets, improve standards in zoos and crack down on puppy smuggling. There will also be action on pet theft, amid a rise in the crime during the pandemic.Mandatory cat microchipping will also be introduced, while the operation of current microchip databases will be reviewed.The public will also be educated on how to buy pet dogs and cats responsibly. Ministers say they want to “deliver on our commitment to the highest standards of animal welfare by bringing forward ambitious plans to improve standards and eradicate cruel practices”. They also claim the UK can “take advantage” of its post-Brexit status outside the EU to “go further in protecting our animals, whether on the farm, at home or in the wild”.Lindsay Duncan, from animal welfare charity World Animal Protection, said: “To achieve its ambitions the government must consider animal welfare in trade deals and continue to raise standards including ending the use of cages and removing loopholes from their proposed live export ban so animals are truly protected.“This is needed not just for the millions of animals farmed and imported into the UK but also to ensure we reduce the risk of future pandemics and antimicrobial resistance.” More