Markus Andrews

Ministers will announce next week that the ban on overseas holidays will end on 17 May as part of the government’s Covid-19 roadmap out of lockdown restrictions, it has been reported.The Telegraph reported on Friday that the government was planning to introduce a traffic light system to allow Britons to go abroad on holiday, with a “tiny handful” of countries expected to be on the green list with the lowest level of restrictions.All people, including those who have been vaccinated, will have to take a PCR coronavirus test when they return to the UK, according to the newspaper.Most European countries are reportedly likely to end up on the amber list, meaning holidaymakers will be required to quarantine for 10 days when they return and take two tests on days two and eight of their isolation.Those returning from red list countries will be forced to quarantine for 10 days in government-approved hotels at their own expense, the paper said.The Times also reported on Friday that the government was expected to approve plans for a green list of countries where people can go on holiday next month, with destinations such as Portugal and Malta potentially set to be included.Earlier this month, Boris Johnson said he understood that people were “impatient” to book summer holidays this year and insisted that he had not “given up” on resuming non-essential travel on 17 May.“I do want to see international travel start up again. We have to be realistic – a lot of the destinations we want to go to at the moment are suffering a new wave of the illness, of Covid, as we know,” the prime minister said.”We can’t do it immediately, but that doesn’t mean we’ve given up on 17 May. We’ll be saying as much as we can, as soon as we can, about international travel.“I know how impatient people are to book their holidays if they possibly can. But we just have to be prudent at this stage.”More than 34 million adults in the UK have received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine so far and 14.5 million have received both doses, according to government figures, as of Friday.If the lockdown easing in England does go ahead next month as planned, indoor hospitality such as pubs and restaurants will be allowed to reopen serving groups of six people or up to two households.Cinemas, museums, galleries and theatres will also be allowed to reopen for the first time since the start of the third national lockdown in January. More

Strict rules requiring English care home residents to isolate in their rooms for 14 days after returning from days out are being scrapped, after protests.Ministers have bowed to pressure to end the restriction – which had triggered the threat of legal action – after visits to the gardens of friends or family members, or to parks and beaches.Boris Johnson said: “We know how challenging this time has been for care home residents, so I am pleased that they can now leave their homes to reunite with their loved ones outdoors.”The move comes after campaigners attacked the strict need for isolation as a breach of human rights law, arguing there is no scientific justification for it.John’s Campaign, a group which supports those with dementia, had begun legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care over the 14-day rule.They also pointed out that anyone in the UK who tests positive for Covid-19, or who flies in from abroad, must quarantine for only ten days.Helen Whately, the care minister, said: “I know residents and their families have found the restrictions on trips out of care homes incredibly difficult.“This is one more step towards getting back to normal, while protecting care homes from the continued risk of Covid-19.”However, the new guidelines make clear that residents leaving a care home must be accompanied by either a care worker or a nominated visitor.They will not be allowed meet in groups, or allowed to go indoors, except to use the toilet, and must avoid using public transport wherever possible.There is an exemption for anyone who wants to vote in person in next Thursday’s local and mayoral elections, if they have not arranged a postal or proxy vote.The other complaint of residents and their relatives is homes that continue to restrict trips out – despite most residents having received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccination.However, the new guidance will make no change in that area, effectively leaving the decision in the hands of the owners of care homes.Latest statistics show that 95 per cent of residents have received their first dose of the vaccine and 71 per cent have received their second.Residents who have tested positive, or who have symptoms of the disease, must self-isolate and would therefore not be able to leave their care home.In the event of an outbreak, all residents must self-isolate and visits out are suspended to prevent the wider spread of the virus. More

Sales of coal and wet wood for burning in the home will be phased out from today in England, as the government brings into force new restrictions to combat harmful pollutants.Forming part of the Clean Air Strategy, the plan to ultimately ban the purchase of the polluting fuels for domestic use was first announced by former prime minister Theresa May’s government almost three years ago.The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said the new restrictions will come into effect from today, with sales of bagged traditional house coal and wet wood in units under two cubic metres banned.The sale of wet wood in larger volumes will need to be sold with advice on how to dry while the sale of loose coal direct to customers via merchants will be phased out by 2023.Shops will also be required to use a new certification scheme to label products to ensure they can be easily identified by customers.Burning at home, particularly with coal or wet wood is, “a major source of the pollutant PM2.5 – tiny particles which can enter the bloodstream and lodge in lungs and other organs”, the department says.The government is not imposing an outright ban on the use of wood or coal-burning stoves but people will be required to buy “cleaner alternatives”, such as dry wood and manufactured solid fuels producing less smoke.It comes as the government faces scrutiny over the legally binding net zero target on emissions by 2050 and prior to a gathering of world leaders at the major climate summit, Cop26, in Glasgow later in the year.Rebecca Pow, the environment minister, said burning cleaner fuels was “a more efficient option for households across England, helping reduce our exposure to this incredibly harmful pollutant and benefiting the environment”.“This legislation marks the latest step in delivering on the challenges we set ourselves in our clean air strategy, making sure that both we and future generations can breathe cleaner air,” she added. “We know air pollution at a national level has reduced significantly since 2010 – with emissions on fine particulate matter down 11 per cent and nitrogen oxide 32 per cent – but there is still a huge amount to do to tackle pollution from all sources, including transport, agriculture, industry and domestic burning.”Labour’s shadow environment secretary, Luke Pollard, welcomed the news but warned it is “still not enough”, adding: “The government needs to go further on tackling air pollution. Labour would pass a Clean Air Act which would put World Health Organisation air quality standards into law.” More

There was anger on Friday as the collapse of post-Brexit talks over access to Norwegian seas spelt the end of the UK’s distant-water fishing industry after hundreds of years.Hundreds of fishermen and support staff face being left without work and fish and chip shops across Britain will be selling Arctic cod imported from Norway rather than landed by UK ships.Owners of the super-trawler Kirkella are to meet within days to discuss the future of the £50m state-of-the-art vessel, currently laid up in Hull, with options expected to include its sale, reflagging or leasing to operators overseas.Hull West and Hessle MP Emma Hardy told The Independent the failure of talks was a “devastating” blow not only for jobs and incomes in the city but for “Hull’s proud maritime history which was built on its distant fleet”.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also said fishing communities had been “betrayed by the prime minister”.“Whichever way people voted – Leave or Remain – they don’t deserve this,” he said.Britain was forced by Brexit to renegotiate its access deal with Oslo, which had previously been guaranteed by an EU-Norway agreement as part of the Commons Fisheries Policy. The collapse of talks on Thursday means British vessels have no rights to fish in Norwegian sub-Arctic waters in 2021.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the UK had put forward a “fair offer” on access, but the two sides’ positions were too far apart.Jane Sandell, the chief executive of the Kirkella’s owners UK Fisheries, described the “disastrous” no-deal outcome as “a very black day for Britain”.She said that environment secretary George Eustice “owes our crews and the Humberside region an explanation as to why Defra was unable even to maintain the rights we have had to fish in Norwegian waters for decades”. Failure to reach an agreement would be “devastating” for the 100 crew employed by UK Fisheries, she said.The Hull-based Kirkella was, until recently, catching 10 per cent of the fish sold in UK chip shops as the last survivor of a once-proud distant-water fleet.Hull East MP Karl Turner told The Independent it was “absolutely disgusting” to see the world-leading vessel tied up in King George dock, rather than out at sea.“Brexit was supposed to be the fishing industry’s salvation,” he said. “We had shysters like Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson running around saying this was an opportunity to get the fishing industry back.“We have been warning them about this for at least two years and I fear this is probably the nail in the coffin for fishing in Hull. The industry was promised the earth and got nowt.”And Ms Hardy said: “This is on the government’s doorstep. They can’t blame the EU any more. They have no one to blame but themselves.”The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations called for “full scrutiny and analysis” of the failed negotiations.“The loss of very significant fishing opportunities will carry direct consequences for the vessels and fishing businesses concerned but also a range of indirect consequences, including fleet displacement,” the industry body said in a statement.Labour called for urgent support from the government to protect jobs and support coastal communities.Negotiations on fishing rights for 2021 were due to have concluded by the end of last year, but were delayed as Mr Johnson took his trade deal with Brussels to the last possible minute, only reaching an agreement on Christmas Eve. This cleared the way for talks with Norway to begin in January, meaning the early months of this year had already been lost.The absence of a deal will mean Norwegian ships are excluded from UK waters, giving Scottish vessels greater opportunities to catch mackerel. But consumers’ preference for white fish like cod and haddock means that the oily fish has only a small fraction of the UK market. A Defra spokesperson said: “We have always been clear that we will only strike agreements if they are balanced and in the interests of the UK fishing industry.“We put forward a fair offer on access to UK waters and the exchange of fishing quotas, but we have concluded that our positions remain too far apart to reach an agreement this year.Negotiations for an agreement for 2022 are expected to begin in the autumn. More

Nicola Sturgeon can at least be given credit for admitting that, for an independent Scotland, there will be a border with the rest of the UK and that it might not be as it exists today: invisible apart from the “Welcome to Scotland” signs on the motorway.As first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party she could hardly do other than recognise the obvious, and she has: “This is the frankness that certain sections of the media will seek to stir up trouble on – I am not denying that we would need to confront and resolve the issues of being in the European Union for the border between Scotland and England.”The specifics of the border was not much of an issue in the 2014 referendum, because the assumption then (and one reason why independence was rejected) was that either the whole of the UK or Scotland independently would all be part of the EU single market and customs union, and thus trade in goods and service could continue unimpeded (though possible changes to the currency and other changes would complicate matters). More

A Tory council leader has sparked outrage after suggesting self-isolation payments were an “incentive” for people to catch coronavirus.John Fuller, who leads South Norfolk Council and is a friend of Boris Johnson, told Newsnight that the cash could encourage people to contract Covid-19. The deadly illness has killed 130,000 across the UK since February last year.The comments came as the BBC show investigated whether access to the payments – made to people who otherwise could not afford to take time off work – needed to be increased to reduce transmission of the virus.“Let’s flip it the other way around,” said Mr Fuller, an OBE. “Let’s not have a system whereby if you catch Covid you get £500. That’s an incentive to actually spread the disease and that’s not in anybody’s interest.”Apparently stunned by the suggestion, host Kirsty Wark intervened for clarification. “Are you really saying that?” she asked.Read more:“What I’m saying is that let’s not have the incentive,” he replied. “I didn’t say it was. Let’s not have an incentive that would encourage people to catch the disease.”He went on to argue that local councils were more effective at running test and trace operations than NHS Test and Trace – the government’s £37bn behemoth, which critics describe as failing.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayBut his comments about the self-isolation payments were immediately criticised by the Thursday night show’s other guest, Labour mayor of the Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram, who pointed out that 70 per cent of people who apply for the support are rejected.“Nearly 130k people have died of Covid in the last year alone because of his party’s handling of the pandemic,” he later added on Twitter. “What an insult.”Others were even blunter. “Tories think its all about money because that is all they care about,” wrote one person on Twitter.It is not the first time Mr Fuller has caused controversy. In November last year the 53-year-old was reported to the RSCPA after it emerged he had posted photos on social media of apparent attempts to set fire to moles in retaliation for the creatures digging up his back garden.In Facebook images, Mr Fuller, 52, could be seen with a propane can in a wheelbarrow, firing flames into burrows. “A great day to be killing moles,” he wrote. More

Alex Salmond claims Sturgeon will ‘work’ with Alba PartyThe government is facing a legal fight from campaigners over its guidance banning people in residential care over the age of 65 from taking trips outside their homes. John’s Campaign, an initiative advocating for relatives to have better access to their loved ones in residential care, has accused the government of acting unlawfully by imposing a “discriminatory” blanket ban. The advocacy group has said the Equality Act 2010 blocks the kind of “discriminatory approach” it said the government is taking on home care rules.The campaign is also fighting to see rules requiring anyone who leaves a care home to self-isolate for 14 days overturned. Meanwhile, Alex Salmond’s pro-independence Alba Party could be “over” before it has even begun, with new polling suggesting the party is on course to claim zero seats in next month’s Holyrood election.A Survation survey marking the first test of support for the new party found that only 3 per cent of Scottish voters would back Alba on the ballot.Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayShow latest update

1617360589Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live blog tracking the latest in UK politics as the government faces a legal challenge to its care home rules. Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 11:491617361378Government faces legal battle over home care rules The government is facing a legal battle from campaigners over its guidance blocking residential care residents over the age of 65 from taking trips outside their homes. John’s Campaign, which advocates for relatives to have better access to their loved ones in residential care, has accused the government of acting unlawfully by imposing a “discriminatory” blanket ban.The advocacy group has said that the Equality Act 2010 is meant to protect against the “discriminatory approach” it said the government is taking with home care rules enforced in response to the coronavirus pandemic.John’s Campaign is also fighting to see rules requiring anyone who leaves a care home to self-isolate for 14 days overturned.Currently, the government’s guidance, which was updated on 8 March, states that trips to see family or friends should only be considered by those who are under 65.Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 12:021617361702Polling suggests it is ‘all over’ for Alex Salmond’s Alba Party New polling suggests it is “all over” for Alex Salmond’s pro-independence Alba Party, with one survey putting his party on course to take zero seats in next month’s Holyrood election. The Survation survey, which is the first to weigh support for the Alba Party, found that only 3 per cent of Scottish voters would support the new party. Adam Forrest reports: Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 12:081617363020Most pubs in England may not reopen under April plans, trade body warns Only around 40 per cent of pubs are likely to have the outdoor space and capabilities to reopen as coronavirus restrictions ease in April, a hospitality industry leader has warned. Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Emma McClarkin, the chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), said the outdoor dining requirement will present a “huge restriction on capacity”. She further warned that pubs that do open under the restrictions will likely be “loss making”, with a ban on indoor payments further complicating “how we will serve people in venues”. The hospitality chief also warned that the potential introduction of vaccine passports could complicate things for the hospitality industry, creating further hurdles for bars and restaurants.Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 12:301617363273More than 70 MPs join cross-party call urging against vaccine passports More than 70 MPs have joined a cross-party call urging against the introduction of vaccine passports to help open up England’s economy.Politicians including Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Tory 1922 committee chair Graham Brady have said they believe the use of such certificates would be “divisive and discriminatory”. Policy correspondent Jon Stone explains: Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 12:341617364561Windrush campaigners disturbed by omissions in race report Campaigners advocating for those affected by the Windrush scandal have expressed alarm over the fact that the issue came up just twice in a controversial government-commissioned report on racial disparities in the UK.The report, which concluded that the UK is no longer a country where “the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities” sparked widespread backlash, with many accusing the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, which authored the report, of downplaying the impacts of slavery and seeking to shut down calls to address structural racism. Speaking to The Guardian, Patrick Vernon, a high profile campaigner in the Windrush scandal said he believed that had the report’s authors focused on the scandal in their report, they would have been forced to “admit there was a systematic, structural failure” in how the Home Office “targeted the Windrush generation”. “I can see why they haven’t included it,” he said.Meanwhile, Anthony Brown, who heads the Windrush Defenders Legal group in Manchester and who was personally affected by the Windrush scandal, said he felt frustrated that it appeared the government had not “fundamentally taken on board what the Windrush scandal means”. “A whole cohort of people were marginalised,” he said. Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 12:561617365399Chantal Da Silva2 April 2021 13:09 More

Campaigners have launched a legal challenge against a blanket ban on elderly residents making trips away from their care homes, saying the government’s guidance strips people of their basic rights and effectively turns sheltered accomodation into a “prison”.Under the rules, which were updated last month, people in residential care over the age of 65 are prevented from leaving home apart from in exceptional cases.This, campaigners say, prevents residents from enjoying simple activities such as walking in a local park.Those who are permitted to leave the care home, for example to visit a friend or relative at the end of their life, must self-isolate for 14 days on their return.John’s Campaign, which has campaigned for the rights of families and care homes residents throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, has launched a legal challenge against the ban and the quarantine rule.Read more:The group said the imposition of a blanket ban, and the failure to communicate and ensure individualised risk assessments are taken for every resident who wishes to make a visit out, is unlawful.They argue that an individual who is 64 but may suffer from conditions that make them particularly vulnerable to infection could have an individualised risk assessment that would allow them to take a trip out of the home, but an individual aged 66 who may be less vulnerable to infection is not afforded the same right.In a letter sent to the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), the group also questions the requirement to self-isolate, arguing that as care homes now have rapid testing, designated visitors are permitted and residents are vaccinated, the requirement is unnecessary.Julia Jones, co-founder of John’s Campaign, said: “I am at a loss to understand how the basic right of a person living in a care home to make their own simple choices over a walk in the park, for instance, has been so comprehensively ignored – and denied – over the past 12 months. “The 440,000 people living in care homes include some who moved in through their own volition, with full mental capacity, never guessing that this simple freedom, enjoyed by everyone else in the population – apart from prisoners – could so easily be denied them.”Nicci Gerrard, also co-founder of the group, called the rules “discriminatory, harmful and wrong”.She said: “Care homes are not prisons, and people living in them should have the same rights as everyone else in society.“What’s more, to make them self-isolate for 14 days if they do leave the care home is to cruelly continue to enforce separation from those they love that has blighted too many lives in the past year.”Tessa Gregory, a partner at law firm Leigh Day, which is supporting the challenge, said: “Care home residents and their families have suffered disproportionately through the pandemic both from the virus itself but also from enforced isolation.“It is vital that as the rules are relaxed for the general population, care homes residents are not left behind. “There is no reason, if appropriate precautions are taken, to prevent residents over working age from having much needed visits out and it also cannot be right that if residents do leave their homes they always have to always isolate for 14 days on their return.”A DHSC spokesperson said: “We know just how crucial visits are in supporting the health and wellbeing of residents. Our current guidance provides a range of opportunities for visitors to meet and spend time with their loved ones in a care home under carefully designed conditions to keep everyone safe.“Residents over 65 can make visits outside of care homes in exceptional circumstances and all decisions in relation to visiting should be made on the basis of a risk assessment centred around the individual. This is made clear in our guidance.“As we move along the roadmap, we are looking to open up more opportunities for visiting both into and outside of care homes – wherever this can be done safely and is supported by data.” More