Markus Andrews

Children will be sent back to school and adults given new freedoms to meet outside from early March under government plans to loosen lockdown.Boris Johnson is expected outline the changes in an address to the nation later this month, having said on Saturday that he was cautiously “optimistic” about falling cases. Under current government thinking, from March 8 people will be able to meet one friend from outside their household for a coffee on a park bench or picnic outside.But the Sunday Telegraph newspaper reports that mixing inside and larger gatherings will remain against the rules.At around the same time, children are expected to be sent back to school – with debate continuing in Whitehall about whether primary and secondary schools will go back at the same time.The prime minister said on Saturday he “very much hoped” also to reopen schools at the same time but he also said the government wanted to monitor any changes to the “R” rate before unlocking too much.The planned relaxation is likely to provide comfort to some of Mr Johnson’s Tory backbenchers, who have been lobbying for restrictions to be lifted on the back of the vaccination programme.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 scientific advisors have been urging caution and say lifting all restrictions now would invite another wave of infections.In letter to the prime minister, the leaders of the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) group of lockdown-sceptic Tory MPs said the “tremendous pace” of the vaccine rollout meant restrictions in England should begin easing.The letter was organised by outspoken lockdown critics Mark Harper and Steve Baker, and claimed the backing of 63 Conservative MPs.They said schools “must” return from 8 March and called for pubs and restaurants to reopen by Easter.But speaking on Sunday morning foreign secretary Dominic Raab rejected calls for an “arbitrary commitment” to lift all coronavirus restrictions by the end of April.”We do need to be very careful how we proceed. We have made good progress. We don’t want to see that unravel because we go too far too quick,” Mr Raab said.”We are not making what feels to me like a slightly arbitrary commitment without reviewing the impact that measures have had on the transmission and the hospital admissions of the virus.
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The government will extend its eviction ban for another month, ministers have announced – but loopholes for landlords will stay in place.Most renters will now be protected from bailiffs until 31 March after another decision made just a week before the lapse of the current period. But campaigners point to exemptions that are already seeing many of those worst hit by the pandemic summoned to court for possession hearings and facing homelessness.Under exemptions introduced at the start of 2021, landlords can now evict tenants who accrue six months of arrears in rent – even if it has been built up during lockdown.Previous versions of the ban allowed evictions for people who had not paid nine months of rent, but crucially excluded any debt built up since March so that people who lost their jobs because of the pandemic were secure.Ministers say the revised approach is a “balance between protecting tenants and enabling landlords to exercise their right to justice”.But it goes back on an earlier promise by Mr Jenrick that nobody would be made homeless as a result of economic damage inflicted by the government coronavirus response. 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“Last-minute decisions and half-measures from the government are putting people’s homes at risk,” said Labour’s shadow housing secretary Thangam Debbonaire.“Ministers promised nobody would lose their home because of coronavirus, but the current ban isn’t working. The government should give people security in their homes, by strengthening and extending the ban for the period restrictions are in place.”The London Renters Union (LRU) branded the eviction ban policy “fake” and called for the loopholes to be closed.“This new fake evictions ban allows landlords to send in the bailiffs and kick tenants out of their homes in the middle of a pandemic,” the union wrote in a letter to Mr Jenrick shared with The Independent.“Many of our members were up to date with their rent payments before the start of the pandemic. But just like another 800,000 renters around the country they have lost income since March 2020, fallen into rent debt, and are now at immediate risk of being evicted.“Many people in this situation have possession hearings this month and, thanks to your rule change, they could be made homeless in a matter of weeks.”Some renters hit by the new loopholes already have possession hearings scheduled for next week, despite the country being in a national lockdown.Victor Yuan, a tenant from east London who is a member of the union, told The Independent: “I lost my job in the theatre industry at the start of the pandemic. When I told my landlord I couldn’t afford rent, he responded by threatening me, changing the locks on my property and cutting off the electricity.“I managed to get back in to my home with support of the London Renters Union, but of course I still can’t make the rent. I have no recourse to public funds, so the homelessness team at the council has refused to help me – not that they have much capacity to help anyone.“Now the government’s latest rule change means that I’ve got to go to court next week for a possession hearing. My doctor has prescribed me long-term medication because of the impact the stress has had on my mental health. If I lose the court case, there’s nothing to stop a bailiff evicting me from my home.“The government says they’re keeping renters safe but that’s clearly untrue – I could be made homeless next week.”The LRU says the full eviction ban should be reinstated by amending the Housing Act, that rent debt should be written off, and that the government should hold to its commitment to abolish Section 21 evictions and introduce rent controls.The charity Citizens Advice estimates that around half a million tenants are in arrears, with the average amount owed being £730.Landlord groups criticised the extension of the ban. Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association said the policy “means debts will continue to mount to the point where they have no hope of paying them off” and “will lead eventually to them having to leave their home and face serious damage to their credit scores”.He added: “The government needs to get a grip and do something about the debt crisis renters and landlords are now facing. A package of hardship loans and grants is needed as a matter of urgency. To expect landlords and tenants simply to muddle through without further support is a strategy that has passed its sell-by date.”
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Boris Johnson will use Britain’s G7 presidency to push for Covid-19 vaccine distribution in “every single country” around the world.In his first meeting as chair of the international forum the prime minister will urge world leaders to work together to defeat the “common foe” of coronavirus.At the virtual gathering on Friday he will call for an end to the “nationalist and divisive politics” which marred the initial response to the pandemic.The video conference comes ahead of a full G7 summit in Cornwall, scheduled for June, and will be Joe Biden’s first major multilateral meeting in the White House.Downing Street has briefed that Mr Johnson will tell world leaders that the rollout of vaccines offers a fresh opportunity to demonstrate the value of international cooperation.There are concerns that people in many poorer countries may have to wait until 2023 or 2024 to get vaccinated because rich countries have bought up early vaccine supplies. This could have a knock-on effect on richer countries too. The UK government has suggested it might be difficult to open Britain’s borders to the world again until most countries are fully vaccinated. 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 weekdaySpeaking ahead of the meeting, Mr Johnson said: “The solutions to the challenges we face – from the colossal mission to get vaccines to every single country, to the fight to reverse the damage done to our ecosystems and lead a sustainable recovery from coronavirus – lie in the discussions we have with our friends and partners around the world.“Quantum leaps in science have given us the vaccines we need to end this pandemic for good. Now world governments have a responsibility to work together to put those vaccines to the best possible use.
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Keir Starmer has urged against using tax rises as part of the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, amid reports Rishi Sunak is considering freezing the personal income tax allowance.Labour’s leader said he did not believe the aim in the short term should be to “balance the books”.In an interview with The Times, Sir Keir said: “Over the course of the recovery, tax rises are not the right way to ensure that we go forward to a more thriving economy.“There’s an emerging view that I subscribe to that, in the short term, you don’t balance the books and you don’t choke off the recovery by raising taxes on the one hand or reverting to austerity on the other.”He added: “You’ve got to get your economy to thrive.”During the Conservative Party conference last October, Mr Sunak, the chancellor, hinted of tax rises ahead as he said governments had a “sacred duty” to balance the books.The Telegraph reported on Saturday that the chancellor was looking at freezing personal income tax allowances in his Budget next month, in a move which could cost the average family £250 a year by 2024-25.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 weekdayMillions of people may be forced to pay more in tax under the reported plans, with The Telegraph saying officials were looking into scrapping planned increases for the two lower tax thresholds.The newspaper also reported at the end of last month Mr Sunak was considering an increase in capital gains tax. The Treasury has been approached for comment.Labour has also called on Mr Sunak to ease the burden of Covid-related debt on business, warning hundreds of thousands of firms could go to the wall unless the government acts.Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, said companies were facing the prospect from next month of having to start paying back £71bn in government-backed loans intended to nurse them through the pandemic.She said Mr Sunak’s insistence that the loans were repaid on schedule risked “crushing” any prospects of recovery under a mountain
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The government promised in March 2020 that nobody would be made homeless because of losing their income as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For months it appeared to keep that promise with a general ban on rental evictions.But it has since introduced new loopholes to the ban that appear to break the promise. More

Pressure is growing on Priti Patel after she branded the anti-racism protest movement Black Lives Matter “dreadful” and criticised the practice of taking a knee.Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, said his counterpart’s comments were “unacceptable” and that the Black Lives Matter movement was “a powerful call for change from across society”.Ms Patel had said she opposed the civil rights protests as “not the right way at all” and also that she opposed the peaceful symbolic gesture of “taking the knee”.“Last summer was quite a moment with all the protests that we saw taking place,” she had told LBC radio.“We saw policing as well coming under a great deal of pressure through some of the protest.“I don’t support protest and I also did not support the protests that were associated.”Asked whether she would “take a knee”, she said: “No, I would not. I would not have at the time either.”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 weekdayMs Patel said there were “other ways in which people can express their opinions”, but did not elaborate on those she believed were acceptable. On Friday night, Mr Thomas-Symonds said: “The Black Lives Matter movement’s powerful call for change from across society saw so many black people in our country share powerful testimony on the impact of systemic racism.“To be dismissed like this by the home secretary is unacceptable.”
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Beoris Johnson has said he is cautiously “optimistic” as he prepares to unveil a roadmap for the easing of lockdown later this month.Speaking on a visit to the North East of England the prime minister confirmed the unlocking would likely start with education and end with pubs and restaurants. “I’m optimistic, I won’t hide it from you. I’m optimistic, but we have to be cautious,” he said.But the prime minister declined to be drawn on just when pubs and other lockdown-hit businesses would be able to welcome customers again, warning that case numbers were still historically high. It comes as health secretary Matt Hancock made a hopeful prediction that Britain could be living with coronavirus in the same way it lives with the flu by the end of this year.”I hope that Covid-19 will become a treatable disease by the end of the year,” the health secretary had told the Telegraph newspaper.Mr Hancock added that new treatments “over the months to come” would help turn Covid “from a pandemic that affects all of our lives into another illness that we have to live with, like we do flu”.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 weekdayThe prime minister said his health secretary was right, adding: “A nasty disease like this will roll through. A new disease like this will take time for humanity to adapt to, but we are.”The miracles of science are already making a huge difference, not just through vaccinations but therapies as well. New therapies are being discovered the whole time which are enabling us to reduce mortality, improve our treatments of the disease.”I do think that in due time it will become something that we simply live with. Some people will be more vulnerable than others – that’s inevitable.”Mr Johnson confirmed he would unveil the roadmap for lifting lockdown in England on 22 February – but would not be drawn on the timescales it might include.Asked about pubs, restaurants, and shops reopening, prime minister said the government would study infection data closely before making its decision, adding: “We’ve made huge progress with the roll-out of the vaccines, that’s great, but we’ve also got infections still running very high throughout the country – at levels which last year we would have thought were very high indeed.”Current thinking in Whitehall suggests schools would be the first to reopen in March, followed by non-essential shops if the R number continues to stay below one and cases continue to fall. Hospitality businesses like pubs in restaurants would follow if the falls in cases were sustained.Mr Johnson said: “Our children’s education is our number one priority, but then working forward, getting non-essential retail open as well and then, in due course as and when we can prudently, cautiously, of course we want to be opening hospitality as well.”I will be trying to set out as much as I possibly can in as much detail as I can, always understanding that we have to be wary of the pattern of disease. We don’t want to be forced into any kind of retreat or reverse ferret.”The expected approach to reopening will likely please many of Mr Johnson’s Tory backbenchers, who are calling for restrictions to be lifted quickly.But a top scientist advising the Government has urged caution and said another wave as big as the one currently engulfing the UK could hit if all restrictions are lifted too soon.Professor Steven Riley, a member of the Spi-M modelling group, has said the rollout of the vaccination programme did not mean coronavirus controls could be ended.”No vaccine is perfect. We are certainly going to be in the situation where we can allow more infection in the community but there is a limit,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning.”In the short term if we were to allow a very large wave of infection, that wave will find all the people who couldn’t have the vaccine for very good reason (and) those people who had the vaccine but unfortunately it didn’t give them the protection they need.
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The European Union on Saturday called on China to reverse its ban on the BBC World News television channel.The ban was imposed in apparent retaliation for Britain’s pulling of the licence of state-owned Chinese broadcaster CGTN.The EU said in a statement that Beijing’s move further restricted “freedom of expression and access to information inside its borders”, and violated both the Chinese constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.The statement also said that Hong Kong’s announcement that its public broadcaster would also stop carrying BBC broadcasts added to the “erosion of the rights and freedoms that is ongoing” in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory since the imposition last year of a sweeping new national security law. “The EU remains strongly committed to safeguarding media freedom and pluralism, as well as protecting the right to freedom of expression online and offline, including freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information without interference of any kind,” the statement said. While Britain is no longer in the EU, it remains a member of the Council of Europe, which oversees a 1989 agreement linking broadcasting licences. Britain, the US and foreign correspondents based in China have also expressed dismay over the BBC ban. China’s move on Thursday was largely symbolic because BBC World was shown only on cable TV systems in hotels and apartment compounds for foreigners and some other businesses. However, it comes against the backdrop of growing conflict between Beijing and western governments over a number of issues ranging from human rights to trade and the Covid-19 pandemic in which Chinese criticisms over foreign media coverage have played a prominent role. 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 weekdayChina’s National Radio and Television Administration said BBC World News coverage of the country violated requirements that news reporting be true and impartial, reflecting complaints over BBC reports about the government’s initial response to the virus outbreak in China. Other complaints were over allegations of forced labour and sexual abuse in the northwestern Chinese region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur people and other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups. The EU statement specifically linked the ban to BBC reporting on those topics. It wasn’t clear whether BBC reporters in China would be affected. Last year, Beijing expelled foreign reporters for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times amid disputes with the Trump administration and complaints over media criticism of the ruling Communist Party.Ofcom revoked the licence for CGTN, China’s English-language satellite news channel, earlier this month, citing links to the Communist Party, among other reasons. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Ofcom acted on “political grounds based on ideological bias”.Losing its British licence was a major blow for CGTN, which is part of a global effort by the party to promote its views and challenge western media narratives about China, into which it has poured enormous resources. CGTN has a European operations hub in London. More