Markus Andrews

France’s foreign minister has accused the UK of playing “blackmail” games with the export of Covid vaccines, as the row over jab supply across the continent continues.The EU’s national leaders have yet to agree on new controls for vaccine exports, but French president Emmanuel Macron has backed a plan by the European Commission allowing tougher restrictions on exports – which could impact on delivery to Britain.Mr Macron’s foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian criticised Boris Johnson’s government approach to vaccine purchasing and exporting – suggesting No 10 was under pressure over supply because it lacked enough doses for second shots.“The United Kingdom has taken great pride in vaccinating well with the first dose except they have a problem with the second dose,” Mr Le Drian told France Info radio on Friday.“We cannot play blackmail. I hope we are going to come to an agreement, it would be absurd to have a vaccine war between the UK and Europe,” the minister said.Mr Le Drian added: “You can’t be playing like this, a bit of blackmail, just because you hurried to get people vaccinated with a first shot, and now you’re a bit handicapped because you don’t have the second one.”It comes as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has warned the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that it must “honour” its vaccine contract with the bloc before exporting doses elsewhere in the world.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 weekdayIn an apparent dig at the UK, Ms Von der Leyen also urged “transparency” from other countries – but did not confirm if the EU would bring in tougher export restrictions on jabs.The commission chief also said she had “no knowledge” of the UK exporting jabs, while 77 million doses had been exported to 33 countries by the EU so far. More

A “pub passport” app to show coronavirus vaccination status will not be in place in time for 17 May, when pubs, restaurants and cinemas reopen doors for customers to come inside, a cabinet minister has confirmed. There was a furious reaction from publicans and Tory MPs when Boris Johnson floated the idea of landlords being given powers to bar unvaccinated drinkers, and the prime minister yesterday said that any such plan might not be possible until everyone in the country had been offered the coronavirus jab.Now cabinet minister Robert Jenrick has confirmed that domestic certification will not be in place by May, and said that ethical and practical concerns will be considered before deciding whether they it should be introduced in the longer term.One option under consideration by a review being conducted by Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove would see the existing NHS smartphone app being used as a “Covid status certificate”, with a QR code providing a link to details of jabs and tests and a photo of the holder to prevent certificates being shared. Mr Johnson has suggested that passports could be granted not only to those who have been vaccinated but also anyone who have developed antibodies as a result of being infected with and recovering from Covid-19 and people with a recent negative test for the disease. A negative test might provide rights of access to venues for as little as 24 hours.Read more:The prime minister said on Thursday: “I do think there is going to be a role for certification. There are three basic components. There’s the vaccine, there’s your immunity you might have after you’d had Covid and there’s testing – three things that could work together.”But he stressed that no decisions had yet been taken, and said that such a scheme may only be possible “in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine”.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 weekdayMr Jenrick was asked on Times Radio whether a certification scheme could be in place in time for the 17 May date set down in Mr Johnson’s roadmap as the earliest possible time for indoor hospitality to reopen under social distancing rules and for theatres, concert halls and sports stadiums to open to limited audiences.He replied: “No, we’re taking time to consider this issue carefully. It is a complex issue.”Any rollout would not be until after the “whole country has been vaccinated”, he said.The minister said that certification for international travel was “not entirely within our control”, but that the government would ensure citizens are able to travel to countries which demand proof of vaccination.And he made clear that it was not yet certain that the government will opt for a passport scheme.“Domestically, there are a range of issues we need to work through, that work is now happening and it will be reporting back later,” he said.“But if we do go down that route, we don’t anticipate it being in the near term.” Mr Jenrick said the government “completely understands” the reservations expressed by MPs and hospitality providers over a passport scheme.Tory lockdown sceptic Steve Baker has warned the move could create a “two-tier Britain”, while the chief executive of the UK Hospitality trade body Kate Nicholls said it was “simply unworkable, would cause conflict between staff and customers and almost certainty result in breaches of equality rule“.Mr Jenrick said: “We’re looking into the practical issues, the ethical concerns and we’re being guided by the best medical and scientific opinion and we will be bringing forward the outcome of that work in the coming weeks. “We don’t have an immediate plan to take action. Our focus at the moment is the vaccine rollout – that has to be our priority.”Subject to the government’s four tests – on the rollout of jabs, efficacy of vaccination, falling hospitalisation numbers and emergence of new variants – indoor hospitality venues will reopen from 17 May to seated guests, while theatres, concert halls and sports venues will be allowed to admit crowds of up to 1,000 indoors or 4,000 outdoors, so long as they do not exceed half of the maximum capacity. More

China has slapped sanctions on five Conservative MPs, claiming they had “maliciously spread lies” about Beijing’s treatment of the Uighur Muslim minority group.Tory MPs Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, Tim Loughton, and Nusrat Ghani will be now be banned from entering China, Hong Kong and Macao, and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them.They are among nine British citizens – also including two peers, a top lawyer and leading academic – have been hit with the sanctions as part of a retaliatory move, after the UK imposed sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for alleged human rights abuses earlier this week.Why have the MPs and other figures been single out?The five Tory MPs – along with Lord David Alton, Baroness Helena Kennedy, Geoffrey Nice QC and academic Joanne Nicola Smith Finley – have been leading critics of China’s treatment of its Uighur population in Xinjiang province.Read more:Beijing has been accused by Amnesty International and other groups of detaining more than one million members of the Uighur and other Muslim minority groups and subjecting them to forced labour.The country’s foreign ministry has denied the claims, and said the sanctioned MPs had “maliciously spread lies and disinformation” about China’s policies in Xinjiang.The move also represents retaliation against the UK government, after foreign secretary Dominic Raab announced a package of travel bans and asset freezes against four senior officials and the state-run Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau earlier this week.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 weekdayOne of the MPs targeted by Beijing for sanctions is particularly close to the prime minister. Mr O’Brien is in charge of the Conservative Party’s policy board, so enjoys a role in shaping policy at No 10.The sanctions also apply to four UK institutions which have been outspoken about the treatment of the Uighur minority: the China Research Group, the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, the Uyghur Tribunal and Essex Court Chambers. More

One of Boris Johnson’s ministers has been accused of a “pathetic” attempt to re-write history, after claiming the decision to extend free school meals had nothing to do with pressure from Marcus Rashford.Children’s minister Vicky Ford denied a high-profile push by the Manchester United footballer and campaigner was behind the U-turns on meals provided to some of England’s poorest families during an interview on Thursday.Appearing on Good Morning Britain, the minister suggested the government had decided to “extend” the eligibility of a food voucher scheme before Mr Rashford’s intervention.Labour MP David Lammy accused the minister of attempting to “re-write history” on the government’s free school meals “fiasco”.The shadow justice secretary said: “No one will believe this dismissal of Marcus Rashford’s campaign. Arrogant and delusional.”Ms Ford was asked by GMB host Susanna Reid why had taken a footballer for the government to change its policy on food poverty.“Why did it take a footballer to make you extend the free schools meals? Why is it the work of Marcus Rashford to make that happen?” asked the host.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 weekday“No it didn’t, actually Susanna,” she replied. “I had extended the [eligibility] of free school meals to more groups of children right at the beginning of this lockdown.”“Are you saying the work of Marcus Rashford was irrelevant?” the presenter asked the minister.“Hugely respect Marcus and the campaign he’s been doing,” Ms Ford said, before claiming: “He’s been very supportive of the work we’ve been doing.”A well-documented U-turn in November saw Mr Johnson phone Mr Rashford to say the government would commit £170m to extend England’s free school meals voucher programme over the Christmas break, as well as covering the 2021 Easter holiday.It followed a similar U-turn last summer. Mr Johnson had initially rejected the England star’s plea for £15-a-week food vouchers given to children from low-income families to continue over the summer.But in June, in the face of overwhelming public support, MrJohnson called the footballer to explain his decision to extend the vouchers throughout the summer.Ms Ford was reminded on GMB that she had voted against a Labour party motion to extend free school meals over Christmas in October.The minister said: “I voted against the voucher system being done by schools in the holidays because there were other ways we were putting support in – such as the Covid Winter Grant scheme – and that’s really important.” More

Boris Johnson has condemned China’s sanctions against outspoken MPs and other British citizens, saying: “I stand firmly with them.”Beijing is punishing critics, including former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, in a tit-for-tat retaliation for UK sanctions over Beijing’s treatment of Uighur Muslims.In response, the prime minister tweeted: “The MPs and other British citizens sanctioned by China today are performing a vital role shining a light on the gross human rights violations being perpetrated against Uighur Muslims.“Freedom to speak out in opposition to abuse is fundamental and I stand firmly with them.” Mr Duncan Smith, one of the leading China critics on the Tory benches, said he would wear the sanctions “as a badge of honour”.Read more:And another, Tom Tugendhat, the chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, branded Beijing’s move “a direct assault on British democracy”. Also on the list are fellow Tory MPs Neil O’Brien, Tim Loughton and Nusrat Ghani, Labour peer Helena Kennedy, Liberal Democrat peer David Alton, the China Research Group of MPs, Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, Uighur Tribunal, and Essex Court Chambers.In a statement on behalf of the CRG, Mr Tugendhat and Mr O’Brien said the “profoundly sinister” move could potentially affect 100 MPs involved with the Group.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 weekday“It is tempting to laugh off this measure as a diplomatic tantrum,” they said. “But in reality it is profoundly sinister and just serves as a clear demonstration of many of the concerns we have been raising about the direction of China under Xi Jinping. “It is telling that China now responds to even moderate criticism with sanctions, rather than attempting to defend its actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.”While the MPs said they would not personally be “hugely” affected by the sanctions, they voiced concern that Beijing’s aim was to make others feel threatened and to have a “chilling effect” on businesses which might make decisions based on China’s human rights record.They pointed to retailers like H&M and Nike which have faced a backlash in China after expressing concerns over allegations of the use of forced Uighur labour in cotton production.Mr O’Brien issued a string of tweets highlighting allegations of forced sterilisation and rape of Uighur women, mass internment of members of the Muslim minority and the use of AI face-recognition technology for surveillance.“The first ever sanctions against MPs by Beijing are a big deal and demonstrate exactly the concerns we have been raising,” said Mr O’Brien. “But ultimately, this isn’t about us, it’s about them trying to distract from human rights abuses reminiscent of South Africa under apartheid.”Ms Ghani said: “I won’t be intimidated or silenced and neither must the government. I will use my freedom to raise the plight of the Uighurs and I will take this sanction as a badge of honour.”And Lord Alton said: “The Chinese Communist Party assumes that trading with a state credibly accused of genocide will be more important to the UK than defending the values we cherish. They are fundamentally mistaken.“The imposition of tit-for-tat sanctions is a crude attempt to silence criticism. But the CCP needs to learn that you can’t silence the whole world and that the first duty of a parliamentarian is to use their voice on behalf of those whose voices have been silenced.”At a news conference at the Chinese embassy in London, a spokesman condemned “fabricated reports” about the country’s treatment of people in the Xinjiang region.The action taken – with reports of one million people detained without trial and widespread claims of torture and rape in the camps – “can’t be defined by a few satellite images”, he insisted. Britain, the US, Canada and the European Union slapped sanctions on Chinese officials deemed responsible for human rights abuses in Xinjiang, in a coordinated action on Monday.In retaliation, “the Chinese side decides to sanction nine individuals and four entities on the UK side that maliciously spread lies and disinformation,” a statement said.“As of today, the individuals concerned and their immediate family members are prohibited from entering the mainland, Hong Kong and Macao of China, their property in China will be frozen, and Chinese citizens and institutions will be prohibited from doing business with them. China reserves the right to take further measures,” the statement said. The Chinese Embassy spokesman claimed “lies of the century” were being spread about what was going on in Xinjiang and criticised the UK’s deployment of sanctions.“Human rights in Xinjiang cannot be defined by a few satellite images, fake reports cobbled together by people thousands of miles away,” he said. But Mr Tugendhat said he had been “elected to speak for the people”, adding: “I view this as a direct assault on British democracy and an attempt to silence the people the British people have chosen to speak for them.”The chair of the foreign affairs committee in the German parliament offered “full solidarity with Tom and all his colleagues”.“Banning leading Western parliamentarians from entering the country for asking critical questions won’t do mutual understanding any good,” Norbert Rottgen tweeted.Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy blasted the sanctions as “a blatant attempt to silence British parliamentarians who are shining a spotlight on the appalling persecution of the Uighur people”.And Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Layla Moran voiced “full solidarity” with those named, adding:   “Targeting backbench MPs instead of ministers makes clear this is about China’s disdain for democracy around the world.” More

Rishi Sunak has warned that staff could “vote with their feet” and quit their jobs if British companies don’t end working from home and let staff back into offices after lockdown ends.The Chancellor said the “spontaneity” that comes from being in an office is unparalleled and that younger employees benefitted from working alongside experienced colleagues.The government made an abortive attempt to get people back into offices last summer that was curtailed by rising Covid infection rates and restrictions, which has meant that many workers have spent the last 12 months working from home.Firms are now assessing how to tackle the issue of remote versus office working once lockdown restrictions are eased, with many backing a hybrid model.Mr Sunak told The Daily Telegraph: “You can’t beat the spontaneity, the team building, the culture that you create in a firm or an organisation from people actually spending physical time together.”Read more:Young people reaped the benefits of proximity to experienced mentors when working in an office, he added.“Imagine you’ve just left college or university you start this job in a big company and you’re sitting at home on your own,” Mr Sunak told The Sun.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 weekday“How do you get to know your peers, how do you learn the culture of an organisation, how do you get those mentors, which are important for your career development?”The Chancellor also said staff may “vote with their feet” and quit roles where they were not provided with an office.It comes after prominent figures, such as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, have said they believe the five-day-a-week office commute is over.On Thursday, Nationwide Building Society unveiled plans to allow 13,000 employees to choose where they work.The lending giant said it would put office staff in control of deciding where they were based according to their job once the latest Covid-19 restrictions ended, after more than half – 57 per cent – said they wanted to work from home full-time.More than a third, 36 per cent, said they preferred a mix of home and office-based work.Additional reporting by PA More

One year on from the first coronavirus lockdown, a new poll has found that Britons believe that Boris Johnson’s government should have been tougher in imposing restrictions at key moments in the fight against the disease.And almost two-fifths of those questioned for The Independent (39 per cent) said the government had been unsuccessful on the crucial issue of keeping the death toll from the pandemic down, with less than one-third (32 per cent) saying it had done that job well.Expert reports have suggested that thousands of lives could have been saved by locking down earlier and that the deadly second wave could have been reined in if greater efforts had been made to stamp out the virus during the summer of 2020, rather than allowing society to reopen as infections waned.Now the new survey by Savanta ComRes has found that voters believe the prime minister was wrong to delay the first lockdown after the first outbreaks hit Europe in the spring of 2020.They said that Mr Johnson and chancellor Rishi Sunak were wrong to encourage a return to restaurants with the Eat Out to Help Out scheme and to urge workers to return to their offices last summer.Read more:And they said it was right to cancel family gatherings at Christmas – something which Mr Johnson waited until the last minute to do, after insisting a festive shutdown would be “inhuman” even as infection rates rose.Mr Johnson’s administration won great credit from those taking part in the poll for its vaccination programme, with an emphatic 72 per cent rating it successful, against just 10 per cent who say it has been unsuccessful.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 weekdayThere were also positive ratings for the government’s performance on protecting the NHS from being overwhelmed (50 per cent successful to 26 per cent unsuccessful), providing support for business (50-21), preserving jobs (42-27), supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) (42-31) and managing children’s education (40-30).But on the crucial issue of handling the death toll from the pandemic, Mr Johnson’s administration was rated to have been unsuccessful by 39 per cent of voters, compared to 32 per cent who deemed its record a success.And similar numbers thought the government had been unsuccessful in protecting residents of care homes, with 35 per cent saying it had done that job well and 39 per cent badly.On specific policy decisions, voters agreed by a decisive majority – 59 per cent to 28 – that the government was wrong to wait until 23 March last year before imposing a mandatory stay-at-home order and shutting pubs, restaurants and shops.First reports of the novel virus had emerged from China in December, and Covid-19 reached Europe in January and was reported in the UK on the last day of that month. Despite the World Health Organisation declaring the illness a public health emergency of international concern on 20 January and a pandemic on 11 March, the PM was slow to announce compulsory controls, initially making measures voluntary and allowing mass events like the Cheltenham races to go ahead.An Imperial College London analysis found that locking down a week earlier would have cut deaths in the first wave from around 36,700 to 15,700, saving 21,000 lives.On the government’s approach during the summer lull in the epidemic, some 48 per cent now believe that Rishi Sunak was wrong to make his money-off Eat Out to Help Out offer to encourage diners to return to restaurants, compared to 40 per cent who think it was the right thing to do.Some 49 per cent said that the drive to get workers back to offices – culminating in the briefing which produced the notorious headline “Go back to work or risk losing your job” last August – was wrong, against 34 per cent who thought it was right.And, despite Mr Johnson’s fear of a backlash branding him the “Grinch who stole Christmas”, a decisive 52 per cent said it was right to ban multi-household gatherings over the festive period, against just 36 per cent who thought it was wrong.Support for tough measures was strong across all age groups and all regions of the UK, with older people (69 per cent) and Labour (71) and SNP (78) supporters most likely to say the first lockdown should have come earlier.Only 25-34 year-olds and people in London, Wales and the North-West now say that Eat Out to Help Out was the right thing to do.Overall, some 44 per cent of those taking part in the poll said Mr Johnson had handled the pandemic well, against 35 per cent who rated him badly.Mr Sunak was seen has having performed well by 48 per cent and badly by 20 per cent. And health secretary Matt Hancock had a positive rating for his overall performance, with 37 per cent saying he had done well and 31 per cent badly.The Test and Trace system got negative ratings, with 41 per cent saying it had performed badly and 32 per cent well.But the NHS emerged as the overwhelming hero of the piece, with a near-unanimous 79 per cent rating the health service’s handling of the pandemic as successful, against just 8 per cent who said it had done badly.- Savanta ComRes questioned 2,098 British adults between 19 and 21 March. More

A Cabinet minister has attacked curbs on teaching amid the controversy over children being shown a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, saying “issues should not be censored”.Protests broke out outside a West Yorkshire school on Thursday as parents complained that the image had been taken from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.Batley Grammar School apologised over the “inappropriate” image, shown during a religious studies class this week, and suspended a teacher – who is now reported to be in hiding.But Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, said: “This is a country based on free speech and teachers should be able to tackle difficult and controversial issues in the classroom – and issues should not be censored.” The minister said he did not know “exactly what happened in the classroom”, making it “difficult for me to comment, with confidence”.Read more:But he said the protest outside the school gates – also condemned by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary – was “reminiscent to the scenes that we saw in France”.“Most importantly, it’s absolutely unacceptable for teachers and staff in our schools to be threatened or intimidated,” Mr Jenrick told LBC Radio.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 weekday“We need to ensure that there is tolerance and respect, but I was troubled by the scenes I saw outside the school gates.“We don’t want to see those coming to work in our schools, children or parents, feeling threatened or intimidated when they’re coming into school, just because a difficult issue has been tackled in the classroom.” At the school, people gathered around the gates amid shouts of “get the head teacher”, although there were no arrests or fines issued for breaches of the coronavirus restrictions.Parents said they had attended “to show the country Islamophobia won’t be tolerated” and that the image “is so offensive to us”.Garry Kibble, Batley’s head teacher, announced the suspension of the staff member pending an independent formal investigation.“The school unequivocally apologises for using a totally inappropriate resource in a recent lesson,” he said in a statement.“The member of staff has also given their most sincere apologies. We have immediately withdrawn teaching on this part of the course and we are reviewing how we go forward with the support of all the communities represented in our school.”Mr Williamson intervened on Thursday evening, a spokesman saying: “It is never acceptable to threaten or intimidate teachers.“We encourage dialogue between parents and schools when issues emerge. However, the nature of protest we have seen, including issuing threats and in violation of coronavirus restrictions, is completely unacceptable and must be brought to an end.”Schools “are free to include a full range of issues, ideas and materials in their curriculum, including where they are challenging or controversial, subject to their obligations to ensure political balance”, the spokesman said. More