Markus Andrews

Dominic Raab will today issue a call to Nato to “face down” the threat from Russia and ensure that Moscow experiences real-world consequences for hostile activity. At the first in-person meeting of Nato foreign ministers in a year, the foreign secretary will reassert the UK’s “unwavering” support for the transatlantic military alliance as the bedrock of western security following Brexit.He will warn that Russia is deploying new and disruptive technology to threaten democracies and open societies around the world, and will say that the UK fully backs Nato as a military deterrent and a “strong, united, political bulwark against Moscow’s destabilising activities”.And he will say that this includes Russia’s development of new, cutting-edge missile systems built to evade conventional defences, as well as state-backed cyber-attacks that target sensitive data, try to interfere in elections, or spread disinformation about coronavirus.The meeting in Brussels comes at a moment of heightened tension between Russia and the west, following the Kremlin’s furious response to new US president Joe Biden’s description of Vladimir Putin as “a killer”.Read more:Russia is steeled for a new round of US sanctions over Biden’s claims that it meddled in the presidential election, and on Tuesday won China’s support for its call for a summit of permanent members of the UN Security Council to deal with the turbulence caused by what it claims is “destructive” American behaviour.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 weekdayAttending his first Nato summit as US secretary of state, Antony Blinken on Tuesday publicly affirmed the “steadfast commitment” of the US to the military alliance, following four years of friction under the presidency of Donald Trump.Last week’s integrated review, setting out the defence, security and diplomatic agenda of Boris Johnson’s administration for the coming decade, identified Russia as “the most acute threat to our security”, citing the poisoning of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury as well as interference in Ukraine.It warned that Moscow could be expected to step up its activities aimed at undermining democratic systems and open economies in the wider European neighbourhood in the coming years.The review stated: “The UK respects the people, culture and history of Russia. However, until relations with its government improve, we will actively deter and defend against the full spectrum of threats emanating from Russia. “Through Nato, we will ensure a united western response, combining our military, diplomatic and intelligence assets in support of collective security. We will uphold international rules and norms and hold Russia to account for breaches of these, working with our international partners, as we did after the Salisbury attack. “We will also support others in the eastern European neighbourhood and beyond to build their resilience to state threats. This includes Ukraine, where we will continue to build the capacity of its armed forces.”Ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of foreign ministers, Mr Raab said: “This is an important opportunity for Nato allies to gather together and discuss the value of our alliance in a world where democracies are under threat from authoritarian powers and non-state actors who use cyber threats and malicious new technology to sabotage the rules-based order.“The UK, as a leading defence and diplomatic power, fully backs Nato as a strong military deterrent to the threats from Russia but also as a strong, united, political bulwark against Moscow’s destabilising activities.”Mr Raab will voice UK support for Nato’s open-door policy which offers a route to membership of the alliance, including for countries facing Russian aggression such as Ukraine and Georgia.  More

Boris Johnson has admitted that there are “many things” he wishes his administration had done differently in the fight against Covid-19, as his chief medical officer acknowledged that the UK’s performance in the pandemic represents “a bad outcome” internationally. Speaking on the anniversary of the first coronavirus lockdown, Mr Johnson told a Downing Street press conference that he would personally be dealing with this “deeply difficult and distressing period” for as long as he lives.As the nation lit candles in remembrance of those lost to the virus, chief medical officer Chris Whitty cited new official figures showing that 147,179 people had died from the disease, adding: “More will do so, but we are now on the downward slope.”While stressing it was difficult to make comparisons between different countries’ performance in dealing with Covid, Prof Whitty said: “The general point is we had a bad outcome. Many other countries had a bad outcome. What we want to try to do is to minimise mortality in the future and learn lessons from the past.”Prof Whitty said the chances of eliminating Covid-19 from the world entirely were “as close to zero as makes no difference”.Mr Johnson again declined to name a date for the public inquiry which he has promised into the handling of the pandemic, and refused to be drawn on whether he could have saved lives by locking down more quickly in common with other countries around the world.Read more: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 he identified some of the areas where he accepts his administration got things wrong, particularly in failing to realise early on the importance of transmission of the disease by people showing no symptoms.“The single biggest false assumption that we made was about the potential for asymptomatic transmission, and that did govern a lot of policy in the early days,” he said.“That misunderstanding about the reality of asymptomatic transmission certainly led to real problems.”Mr Johnson was asked whether, with the benefit of hindsight, he would have locked England down earlier both when the pandemic first hit in the spring of 2020 and in the autumn when scientists advised a two-week circuit-breaker to stop a second wave in September.He did not deny having delayed too long, saying only: “These are very, very hard decisions and there are no good outcomes either way.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stepped up pressure for an early inquiry, telling reporters on a hospital visit in London: “I think the government was very slow to react.“They were slow in the first wave, slow to go into lockdown, very slow with protective equipment to the front line. But then we went into the second wave and instead of learning the lessons they repeated the mistakes.”Mr Johnson went straight from the press conference to a meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee at which he urged MPs to back him in a Commons vote on Thursday to extend coronavirus regulations to October.Although the PM is certain of victory thanks to Labour support, Tory backbenchers said they expect “a few dozen” rebels to resist the move, dismissing government claims it is necessary to allow the continuation of business support schemes such as furlough.One senior MP told The Independent that Mr Johnson will struggle to maintain restrictions even as long as the scheduled 21 June end-date for his roadmap to take England out of lockdown.With no sign of any spike in cases since schools returned on 8 March and reported deaths reaching a six-month low of just 17 on Monday, the MP predicted that the public will simply cease to obey rules if they perceive the threat of hospitalisations and fatalities has passed.“I sense growing concern – and not just among Conservatives – about the mismatch between the rate of vaccination and the pace of decline in infections and hospital admissions on the one hand and the extraordinarily slow lifting of restrictions on the other,” said the MP.With half of adults vaccinated and around a quarter believed to be carrying protective antibodies because of previous infection, the UK was “approaching the territory where a virus finds it very hard to spread”, said the MP.Mr Johnson paid tribute to all those who had made sacrifices over the past year. “At the right moment, we will come together as a country to build a fitting and a permanent memorial to the loved ones we’ve lost and to commemorate this whole period,” he said.Mr Johnson’s comments were welcomed by the cross-party March for Change group, which is launching a consultation on the design for a permanent memorial.Lib Dem MP Layla Moran said: “The London memorial must be a permanent reminder of the sacrifice made by all key workers who got the UK through this crisis. The only fitting place for it is on Whitehall, where wreaths can be laid.” More

A year on from the first lockdown, and the old firm make another not-quite-celebratory appearance at a Downing Street Covid-19 press briefing. The prime minister, with his principal lieutenants, the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and the chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, aka the two gentlemen of corona, reprised their triple act, for the benefit of a nation roughly where it started, in lockdown. They are older, wiser and and no doubt chastened by the ordeals of the past 12 months (during which Boris Johnson and Whitty caught Covid). Another year over, and what have the press conferences done?In the earliest days of the pandemic they played a vital role in public education and accountability, as the officials and the prime minister were subjected to daily questioning about this mysterious and terrifying new virus. The cast list gradually developed, with other clinicians and showings and alternative ministers leading proceedings, but up until June they were held every day. After that the frequency was gradually wound down as the first lockdown was relaxed, adding perhaps to a false sense of security during the summer of 2020. In due course, through the tier system and then the second full lockdown the frequency has picked up, though weekend sessions (as with the announcement of lockdown number 2) are rare and they are kept to a half an hour, compared with an hour plus in the early days. The first press conference was in fact held on 16 March last year, by Johnson, Whitty and Vallance. Johnson asked for voluntary self-isolation, and a few days later expressed the hope that the coronavirus tide would be turned in 12 weeks. Those were the days. Mostly they have been informative rather than sensational, and the advisers have mostly refrained from taking the opportunity to publicly chastise ministers. More

Fewer daffofils are being harvested in the UK due to a shortage of workers caused in part by Brexit, a bulb grower has said.Taylors Bulbs in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, normally harvests around 2.5 million cut daffodil flowers in the average year. Due to a lack of pickers, the firm expects to harvest just a third of that quantity in 2021.Kevin Haynes, horticulture manager, blames this on the lack of pickers. He says numbers of seasonal workers coming to the UK to pick flowers from abroad have shrunk.In their firm this has meant going from a “normal” number of 150 to just 30 this year.Flower growers across the country are being affected by Brexit restrictions and the end of free movement as the UK is no longer part of the EU.Seasonal workers are allowed into the country from further afield with a visa, but this only applies to picking edible crops meaning that flowers are exempt.Read more:“Because of Brexit we’re not allowed to bring in staff,” said Mr Haynes, adding:”We’re not allowed to bring people over for flowers and ornamental, it’s only for fruit and veg.”The horticulture manager went on to say how the company is not exporting any flowers this year, even though normally around one third of their daffodils would be sent abroad.In spite of the disruption, Mr Haynes called it a “good year” and said that although flowers need to be picked by hand, bulbs themselves can be picked by machine.Any pickers working on the harvest come from an agency and are part of the same bubble, Mr Haynes said.The season for daffodil picking lasts for around eight to 10 weeks, from February to April. More

David Davis condemned the proposal – currently being considered by the government – as a “massive intrusion” on ordinary life which would “discriminate” against the young and ethnic minorities.The former Cabinet minister also claimed the move was unnecessary, arguing the UK was on course to achieve “herd immunity” this summer with the success of the vaccination programme.“It doesn’t actually provide protection for the rest of the population,” Mr Davis told a Commons inquiry – also saying there were a “variety of good reasons for people not to take a vaccine”.And, warning Whitehall loves “control of data”, he said: “It seems to me that we are creating a permanent solution for a temporary problem.Read more:“Not for the last several centuries have we allowed the state, or anyone else, to demand that we provide our papers”, Mr Davis said, adding: “This is a very bad time to start.” 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 weekdayAfter months of ducking the controversy, Boris Johnson announced a review last month which is being led by Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister.The prime minister was forced to act as some organisations began exploring a smartphone app that would require proof of a jab – as a way to instil public confidence in the safety of their venues when the lockdown ends.An inquiry is also being carried out by the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which has been angered by Mr Gove’s refusal to give evidence. Mr Davis – an opponent of ID cards in the early 200s – said there should be no objection to “vaccine passports” to go abroad, as foreign travel was not “a fundamental human right”.But, on a domestic version, he insisted that was “not the job of government”, accusing ministers of being “very, very confused about the ethical issues”. Professor Jonathan Wolff, a philosopher and academic at Oxford University, also warned against the move, saying the price of stepping back would only be that the economy would “open up more slowly”.“For me, the nightmare is that people will think that, if they’ve got the passport in their hand, they are safe, that they can’t infect other people and they won’t get infected,” he said.“Also, it may well be there’s abuse and fraud, so some people who haven’t been vaccinated managed somehow to gain the system to get fake certificates.”Mr Gove is expected to announce the findings of his review in June, when step 4 of the roadmap out of lockdown is confirmed – or delayed. More

Nicola Sturgeon misled a Scottish parliament committee, an investigation into the government’s unlawful handling of harassment allegations against Alex Salmond has concluded.Publishing their conclusions, which were partially leaked last week, members probing the Scottish government’s botched handling of harassment allegations against the former first minister said they “find it hard to believe” Ms Sturgeon had “no knowledge of any concerns about inappropriate behaviour on the part of Mr Salmond prior to November 2017”.The committee on the Scottish government’s handling of harassment complaints stated: “If she did have such knowledge, then she should have acted upon it. If she did have such knowledge, then she has misled the committee.”It added there was a “fundamental contradiction” in her evidence on whether she agreed to intervene in a Scottish government investigation into complaints by two woman against the former first minister.Read more: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 weekdayIt said that, in a meeting at her Glasgow home on 2 April 2018, Ms Sturgeon “did in fact leave Mr Salmond with the impression that she would, if necessary, intervene”.The report continued: “Her written evidence is therefore an inaccurate account of what happened, and she has misled the committee on this matter.”The committee said Mr Hamilton’s work — published on Monday — had been “completely separate from the work of our inquiry” and said his inquiry was the “most appropriate place to address the question of whether or not the first minister has breached the Scottish ministerial code”.His report considered whether she had broken the rules of behaviour for ministers in her actions following harassment allegations made against her predecessor, but found “the first minister did not breach the ministerial code” in her behaviour.Following the publication of the Hamilton report yesterday, the threat of Ms Sturgeon losing a vote of no confidence at Holyrood — spearheaded by the Scottish Conservatives — appeared to disappear, with the Greens saying they would not support such a motion.Responding to the findings on Monday, Ms Sturgeon said:“As I have previously made clear, I did not consider that I had broken the code, but these findings are official, definitive and independent adjudication of that.“Prior to its publication, opposition politicians stressed the importance of respecting and accepting the outcome of Mr Hamilton’s independent inquiry, and I committed wholeheartedly to doing so. Now that he has reported, it is incumbent on them to do likewise.”Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, however, added: “James Hamilton said it was up to the Scottish parliament to decide if the first minister told the truth. The verdict of the parliament committee is — Nicola Sturgeon misled the public.“This sorry affair has already done enough damage. When will someone take responsibility”. More

It comes after people across the country held a minute’s silence at midday for those who have died from coronavirus as part of a national day of reflection.According to UK government data, there has been 126,172 deaths within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19.This evening at 8pm people are being encouraged to stand on their doorsteps with phones, candles and torches to signify a “beacon of remembrance”.In a statement on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said: “Today, the anniversary of the first lockdown, is an opportunity to reflect on the past year, one of the most difficult in our country’s history.”Read more:The prime minister reflected with Cabinet ministers on “a very dark and difficult year” for the nation on the anniversary of the first lockdown, Downing Street said.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 weekdayHe will lead a press conference in the afternoon on the first lockdown anniversary, which is due to start at 5pm.He will be flanked by Professor Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser.Additional reporting by Press Association More

Matt Hancock has said he “regrets all of the deaths” when asked to reflect on the pandemic a year after the first Covid lockdown was introduced in the UK. Speaking a year to the day since Boris Johnson issued a stay-at-home order, the health secretary told ITV’s Good Morning Britain he remembered learning of the UK’s first death from the disease.“I regret all of the deaths,” he added. “I remember the very first one, and I remember feeling a deep sense of loss, and actually I found out about it when I was here at home, and sitting down, and that really hit me.”The official death toll has now passed 126,000 – the highest in Europe and the fifth-highest worldwide. Ministers faced criticism for delaying the first lockdown, with Italy, Spain and most of the continent acting first. The delay, many argue, led to the UK recording the most deaths in Europe during the first wave of the pandemic. Britain was also slow to adopt rules on wearing masks in public spaces.Read more: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 weekdayFurther delays in reimposing nationwide lockdowns following the easing of restrictions over the summer and autumn were similarly blamed for exacerbating the country’s high coronavirus death toll. By the time a third lockdown was ordered just before Christmas, a new, more contagious variant of the virus first identified in southeast England was becoming the dominant strain. January turned out to be the UK’s deadliest month of the pandemic. Speaking to the BBC’s Breakfast programme, Mr Hancock said: “I think the last year has been probably the hardest year in a generation.“This crisis has touched everybody. My first thoughts go to those who’ve lost loved ones. The impact of that is permanent, I know that from my family.“And, obviously, it’s vital that we are constantly learning and constantly looking at the evidence, listening to scientific advisers, listening to all of the advice and looking at what has happened and how we can improve the response throughout that.” More