Markus Andrews

The damaging practice of burning grouse moor peatlands will be partially banned in England, ministers have announced, prompting criticism that the measure does not go far enough.Some conservationists cautiously welcomed the crackdown, which will mean shoot organisers will no longer be allowed routinely to set fire to heather on ecologically sensitive sites.
But the ban comes with exceptions, and wildlife experts say more urgency is needed to help tackle the climate crisis.  The ban will apply to blanket bogs – peat more than 40cm deep – on a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) that is also a Special Area of Conservation or a Special Protection Area unless a licence has been granted or the land is steep or rocky.Environmentalists have for many years condemned the practice of setting light to upland peatlands that are rich in wildlife, which is done in winter to ensure grouse have new, more nutritious shoots of heather to eat before they are shot for sport.  But the burning releases carbon into the atmosphere, adding to the climate crisis. The UK has 13 per cent of the world’s blanket bog, which store more than 3,000 million tons of carbon.Wet bogs also support a range of birds, including breeding dunlin and golden plover.
Advocates of the burning say it protects areas from wildfires, and that differently aged heathers protect threatened ground-nesting birds.
But some experts argue burning makes the land vulnerable to fires, destroys habitats and increases flood risks.
The new ban also does not apply where scree makes up half the land area. And environment secretary George Eustice may also issue burning licences for “wildfire prevention, for a conservation purpose or where land is inaccessible to cutting or mowing machinery”. These licences may last several years.Luke Steele, of Ban Bloodsports on Yorkshire’s Moors, said: “England’s grouse moors are woefully under-regulated so we welcome today’s announcement that burning on fragile blanket bog will no longer be routinely allowed in many areas.
“However, the legislation does not go far enough, given it fails to end burning on degraded shallow peatlands, which need restoring to their healthy, deeper state.  “In the midst of a climate emergency, there is no justification to allow fires to be set on any carbon-rich peatlands.”
More than 660 fires have been started on grouse moorlands in Yorkshire alone since 2018, according to new research by Mr Steele’s group.  The Wildlife Trusts questioned why the ban was only partial, saying: “If, in some places, the reason they are burnt is to prevent wildfires spreading over dry ground, the best way to stop fire happening is to block ditches and help the peat become wet again.
“It is deeply frustrating that it has taken so long for the government to commit to this – 14 months after it was first promised.  “It will be extremely embarrassing if we are still burning any of our peatlands when the climate conference meets at the end of the year.
“The government’s own advisers say we need to restore all upland peatlands to meet climate targets. So while it’s a tiny step forward, much greater urgency is needed across a huge range of comparably burning issues to protect our wildlife and tackle climate change.”
Natural England chairman Tony Juniper said: “This is a hugely welcome announcement that will see better protections for our globally important peatlands.”
The government says it will set out further steps to protect peatlands this year and a £640m Nature for Climate fund will launch a programme of peatland restoration. More

The UK government is demanding an urgent explanation from the EU after the bloc took on powers to block the export of Coronavirus vaccines that could interrupt supply  to the UK.  Downing Street warned the EU that “as a friend” it should not try to disrupt the delivery of jabs to the UK. A No 10 spokesman said: “The UK Government is urgently seeking an explanation from the European Commission about the statements issued by the EU today and assurances as to its intentions.“The UK has legally-binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and it would not expect the EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt the fulfilment of these contracts.In what was seen as an escalation of the ongoing row over delays to the supply of AztraZeneca vaccines to the EU, the bloc triggered Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol on Brexit, in an attempt to ensure the province is not used as a back door to the UK. In its statement No 10 said the UK government had also “reiterated the importance of preserving the benefits of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and the commitments that have been made to the two communities” in Northern Ireland.  The move triggered shockwaves in Ireland and the UK. 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 weekdayWithin hours Ireland’s prime minister Micheal Martin had spoken to the European Commission’s president to express his concerns over EU plans to block the supply of Covid-19 vaccinations into Northern Ireland.Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove separately raised concerns with the European Commission’s vice president Maros Sefcovic.  A No10 spokesman said the prime minister also spoken to EU Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen about the matter.“[Mr Johnson] expressed his grave concerns about the potential impact which the steps the EU has taken today on vaccine exports could have,” he added.
Labour called on Brussels to abandon the move. The shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Louise Haigh, describing the development as “deeply destabilising”.Political parties across Northern Ireland also appeared to unite in their condemnation of the move. And, in an unusual step the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted that the EU had been inspired by Christian social teaching “at the heart of which is solidarity. Seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU’s basic ethics. They need to work together with others.”The row erupted as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford University, to be used across the EU.  More

Britain’s stand-off with Brussels over vaccines intensified today as the EU took on powers to block the export of Covid-19 jabs in a move that could interrupt the delivery of millions of life-saving doses to the UK.And there was fury in London that the new “transparency and authorisation mechanism” requiring companies to seek the approval of European authorities before shipping vaccines out of the 27-nation bloc will apply to Northern Ireland – even though the region is treated as part of the EU customs union under the Brexit divorce deal.The Cabinet Office minister, Michael Gove, raised concerns with the European Commission’s vice president, Maros Sefcovic, over the lack of prior notification of the action, which entailed Brussels invoking a special “safeguard” mechanism in the Northern Ireland protocol.The UK government is “urgently seeking an explanation” from the bloc  over the move, which the Commission said was being taken because it was not possible to impose controls over goods moving on from Northern Ireland to mainland Britain. Labour called on Brussels to reverse course, with the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, Louise Haigh, describing the development as “deeply destabilising”.Downing Street warned the EU that “as a friend” it should not try to disrupt the delivery of jabs to the UK.  A No 10 spokesman said: “The UK has legally-binding agreements with vaccine suppliers and it would not expect the EU, as a friend and ally, to do anything to disrupt the fulfilment of these contracts.”
He added that the prime minister had raised concerned during a conversation with Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin over the EU’s use of Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.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 had urged the EU to “urgently clarify its intentions and what steps it plans to take to ensure its own commitments with regards to Northern Ireland are fully honoured,” the spokesman said.Although Brussels insisted that the new mechanism was not directed at any particular country, the UK was the only one of the EU’s neighbours not to be included on an exemption list from the mechanism, widely seen as a precursor to a possible export ban if the bloc runs short of vaccines.Mutual mistrust was fuelled by the suggestion of the EU justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, that “maybe the UK wants to start a vaccine war”.There were fears the mechanism could be used to halt the delivery of 3.5 million jabs that are due to be sent to the UK from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium over the coming weeks.The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “The pandemic is having devastating effects in Europe and all around the world. Protecting the health of our citizens remains our utmost priority, and we must put in place the necessary measures to ensure we achieve this.”The move came as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its long-awaited approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford University, to be used across the EU, amid a furious row with its manufacturer over supply levels.But the French president, Emmanuel Macron, threw doubt on the value of the Oxford jab, describing it as “quasi-ineffective” for over-65s, despite the EMA’s assurance that it could be used safely on the elderly. Germany also confirmed that it will only give the vaccine to people aged 18-64.Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, insisted that the AstraZeneca jab “can be used on all ages” and would deliver similar immune responses among both older and younger adults.Mr Macron claimed the jab “doesn’t work the way we were expecting to” and also questioned the decision of countries such as the UK to leave a long gap between the initial and booster doses of the vaccine.“The goal is not to have the biggest number of first injections,” said the French president. “When you have all the medical agencies and the industrialists who say you need two injections for it to work, a maximum of 28 days apart, which is the case with Pfizer/BioNTech; and you have countries whose vaccine strategy is to only administer one jab, I’m not sure that it’s very serious.”The health secretary, Matt Hancock, welcomed the EMA’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine on a dosing schedule of up to 12 weeks, which he said showed that “British science and global collaboration is saving lives”.But there was growing anger in the UK over the EU’s demand for the company to divert doses produced in Oxford and Keele to make up for a shortfall.The European Commission published a partial copy of the contract it signed last year with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, which stated that AstraZeneca must use its “best reasonable efforts” to manufacture 300 million vaccine doses for the EU, with an option for 100 million more.The 41-page document said that capacity for production would be “at manufacturing sites located within the EU (which for the purpose of this section … shall include the United Kingdom)”.Ms Von der Leyen said that this amounted to “binding orders” to deliver in full, while AstraZeneca insists that it is not committed to any timetable and that its separate contract with the UK gives Britain first claim on vaccines produced domestically.Downing Street made clear that Britain is not willing to accept interruptions to its supplies, saying it expected all contracts for vaccines that it has struck to be “facilitated”.Conservative MP Peter Bone accused Brussels of “bullying”, telling The Independent: “The EU is in a big hole because of its own incompetence and instead of trying to work with the vaccine companies, it is digging itself deeper.“They are not cutting off supplies, but there is an implied threat there. I call that bullying and the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up them.”Eurosceptic former cabinet minister David Jones said: “The EU have a dispute with AstraZeneca Sweden, so decide to respond by blocking the supply of vaccines to the UK, which is not a party to the dispute. Do the EU not care that they are trashing their international reputation? They were once so keen to talk about the rule of law.”And European elder statesman Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden and current co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “I had hoped not to see the EU leading the world down the destructive path of vaccine nationalism. Our continent’s entire history of success has been one of open global value chains.”AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said the company was “working 24/7” to improve supplies to the EU, after being forced to slash planned deliveries from 80 million to 31 million for the first quarter of 2021 because of production problems at a Belgian factory.Mr Soriot said: “We have millions of doses that we are ready to start shipping to the EU over the next few days and weeks.“We have identified additional sources of drug substance that we are redeploying from other parts of the world so we can top up the supply in Europe and make sure we can vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as we can.” More

A senior EU official has suggested the UK is trying to start a vaccine war, in a major escalation of the row over the supply of jabs to protect against Covid-19.Brussels today published a partial copy of its contract with AstraZeneca, which the EU claims obliges the pharmaceutical giant to hand over doses made in plants in the UK.The 41-page document – with many portions blacked out – states that AZ must use its “Best Reasonable Efforts” to manufacture 300m vaccine doses for the EU, with an option for 100m more.It says that capacity for production will be “at manufacturing sites located within the EU (which for the purpose of this section … shall include the United Kingdom)”European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that this amounted to a commitment to deliver in full, while AZ insists that it is not committed to any timetable and that its separate contract with the UK gives Britain first claim on vaccines produced domestically.”There are binding orders and the contract is crystal clear,” von der Leyen told Deutschlandfunk radio. “AstraZeneca has also explicitly assured us in this contract that no other obligations would prevent the contract from being fulfilled.”Downing Street made clear that Britain is not willing to accept interruptions to its supplies, saying it expected all contracts for vaccines which it has struck to be “facilitated”.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 weekdayMeanwhile, Number 10 was at loggerheads with the Scottish government, as Nicola Sturgeon’s health secretary dismissed as “not credible” a UK minister’s claim that publishing details of expected vaccine deliveries would threaten national security.Amid Tory accusations that the SNP-led Scottish government had failed to use all the doses supplied by the UK, Jeane Freeman said that the public had a “right to clarity” on the issue and it was “no longer tenable” for Edinburgh to hold back on publication.It is understood that the UK government fears that public knowledge of the figures would put Britain at a disadvantage in its dispute with the EU, which is demanding the rerouting of AZ vaccines made in Oxford and Keele to make up for shortfalls on the continent.Although London has signalled it is ready for dialogue with Brussels about the supply of doses, there is resentment in the EU over suggestions that the UK inserted a “Britain first” agreement in its own contract with AZ. And Boris Johnson has faced charges of double standards for raising objections to a potential export ban on jabs produced in the EU at a time when the UK has banned the export of many drugs linked to coronavirus.EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders raised the temperature in an interview on Belgian radio in which he suggested that London was stoking up the row.“The EU has pushed to coordinate the vaccines contract on behalf of the 27 precisely to avoid a vaccines war between EU countries,” said Mr Reynders. “But maybe the UK wants to start a vaccine war.”The UK is concerned that new powers coming into effect from today for the EU to block exports of pharmaceuticals to tackle Covid could interrupt its order for 40m Pfizer vaccines, produced at a factory in Belgium. Mr Johnson’s official spokesman refused to comment on the EU’s contract with AZ.But he said: “We expect contracts to be facilitated.”AstraZeneca has clearly stated they will be able to provide 2m vaccine doses a week and we’ve said we will get that to people as quickly as possible.”The row was sparked by AZ’s announcement last week that it was cutting expected doses for the EU in the first three months of 2021 from 80m to 31m, following production difficulties at a separate plant in Belgium.The surprise move infuriated Brussels, which is under intense pressure to step up the pace of inoculations, with just 2 per cent of EU residents having had their jab, compared to more than 10 per cent in the UK.EU officials pointed to a sentence in the AZ contract in which the company says it is not under any obligation to others that would impede complete fulfilment of the agreement’s requirements.The contract goes on to say that AZ may manufacture at facilities elsewhere to accelerate supply of the vaccine in Europe, provided that it gives prior notification.But it does not make clear whether the Anglo-Swedish company is obliged to send vaccines produced in Britain to the EU.One Commission official acknowledged that a legal challenge may not result in more vaccines being made available.”The centre of gravity of opinion is more like: ‘let’s try and thrash out something with these guys’,” said one senior EU diplomat. More

Boris Johnson has ditched plans to appoint his chief Brexit negotiator to the role of national security adviser months after sparking a backlash over the political appointment.Instead, Sir David Frost, who led the UK’s negotiations with Brussels over a trading agreement, will become the prime minister’s representative for Brexit and head of a new international policy unit in No 10.Mr Johnson faced intense criticism for installing Lord Frost in the role of national security adviser last year because, unlike previous holders of the post, he is a political adviser rather than a career civil servant.But in a statement on Friday, Mr Johnson announced he was reversing the decision, saying: “I am hugely grateful to Lord Frost for his herculean efforts in securing a deal with the EU, and I am thrilled that he has agreed to be my representative for Brexit and international policy as we seize the opportunities from our departure from the EU.”Lord Frost added: “I am delighted to take up this new role as the prime minister’s representative on Brexit and international policy. “With a new agreement with the EU in place, we have huge opportunities to boost our wealth and define what we stand for as a country internationally, and I very much look forward to supporting the Prime Minister on this.”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 coveted role of national security adviser will now be filled by Sir Stephen Lovegrove, who is currently the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and responsible for setting defence strategy.“Stephen brings with him a wealth of experience from across Whitehall and in national security and I look forward to working closely together to deliver this government’s vision for the UK in the world,” Mr Johnson said.Lord Peter Ricketts, the UK’s first national security adviser, joined the condemnation of Lord Frost’s appointment last summer, suggesting the prime minister “accords absolute priority not to expertise and experience, but to political loyalty among his closest advisers”.But he welcomed the government’s decision on Friday, saying: “Stephen Lovegrove is an excellent choice as national security adviser. It means that the UK will once more have a full-time top-level professional with real expertise in this key job. It also means that David Frost’s position is much clearer as a political adviser to the PM.”Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow home secretary, added: “Government chaos and confusion has led to a significant delay in appointing a permanent national security adviser.“Getting such a crucial appointment wrong, in the face of warnings, shows a worrying error of judgment by the prime minister on the crucial issue of our country’s safety. National security is Labour’s number one priority and we will continue to put pressure on the government to get its approach to this vital issue right.”Sir Stephen, who takes up the role next month, said: “I am delighted now to be taking up the role of the national security adviser. “On this broader canvas I aim to deliver the prime minister’s vision for an enhanced and more engaged role for the UK in the world, leading the national security community to embrace the opportunities now available to us, while ensuring we are well prepared to deal with the challenges we face.” More

Today’s daily politics briefingThe leaders of the UK’s five largest business groups have written to Boris Johnson’s government demanding action on the “substantial difficulties” firms are facing over Brexit bureaucracy. They warned of “significant loss of business” unless ministers help ease red tape problems.It comes as the scale of Britain’s export slump was revealed. Some 65 per cent of lorries travelling from the UK to the EU are empty, according to figures from French border authorities. “The balance of UK trade has been badly affected,” said the Road Haulage Association.Meanwhile, the government admitted up to 142,000 tonnes of food could be wasted over the next six months because of border disruption. Labour demanded ministers “take action now to support our exporters and prevent this costly food waste”.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
1611931361Johnson celebrates Janssen vaccine trialsBoris Johnson tweeted: “Very encouraging that early trials of the vaccine developed by Janssen show it to be effective against coronavirus. We have secured 30 million doses, and if approved by our medicines regulator we should expect these to be available later this year.” Samuel Osborne29 January 2021 14:421611930117UK approach to ‘buying abroad and making here at home is paying off.’ Hancock saysThe health secretary, Matt Hancock has said the recent news on the Novavax and Janssen vaccines showed the UK’s “approach of buying abroad and making here at home is paying off”.”I want to say a huge thank you to everybody involved who has helped get the UK in this pole position to protect our population and to make sure we get out of this pandemic,” he said in a video posted to Twitter.Samuel Osborne29 January 2021 14:211611929078Downing Street not doing enough to protect UK against Covid-19, Wales’ first minister says Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has suggested that the new border restrictions the British government has announced are too weak in scope. Under the changes, passengers travelling from “high risk” countries will have to quarantine in accommodation such as hotels. Mr Drakeford said more should be done. Speaking at a press conference in Cardiff on Friday, he said: “I think they’ve done the minimum that was necessary this week and we have supported them in doing that. I think the case for doing more is a significant one.“None of us know where a new variant may crop up. It may crop up in a country where we’ve got no concerns at all at the moment. And in the current arrangements, people could be here with that new virus before we knew anything about it.” Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 14:041611927320UK will support Hong Kong nationals, says Downing Street Downing Street has said that the UK will not “look the other way” when it comes to Hong Kong nationals with British National (Overseas) status. The announcement came ahead of a new visa scheme for those with BNO status, which will start on Sunday. The government’s commitment to support Hong Kong nationals was first given last year after China introduced a controversial security law, which restricts citizens’ rights and freedoms in the territory.  An official No 10 spokesperson said that 7,000 BNO passport holders have been granted leave to settle in the UK since July. Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 13:351611925975Business secretary says debate around BLM has ‘kind of cartoon-like view’ of pastBusiness secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that much of the debate around Black Lives Matter has not grasped the complexity of history. Speaking on the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast, he said: “I think a lot of the debate around Black Lives Matter and imperialism or colonialism has a very kind of cartoon-like view of what was happening over centuries across a quarter of the world.”He also described the toppling of statues earlier this year as an “act of vandalism”.Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more on this story: Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 13:121611924662Schools in Wales could reopen after February half-term, says Drakeford Welsh first minister Mark Drakeford has announced that schools in Wales could start to reopen in February, as the country has seen a significant drop in the number of Covid-19 cases.He said: “If infections continue to fall, we want children to be able to return to school after half-term from February 22, starting with the youngest children in our primary schools.”The country currently has 170 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people, down from 270 last Friday. Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 12:511611923961Amazon plans to open first packing warehouse in Ireland amid Brexit disruption Amazon plans to open its first packing warehouse in Ireland, Bloomberg has reported. While the retail giant said it would not comment on “rumour and speculation”, the potential move would allow the Irish customers to receive its goods faster. Currently, many items are dispatched from the UK to Ireland, with delays resulting from the new post-Brexit customs rules. Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 12:391611922793Greens vow to change policing of cannabisSian Berry, the Green Party’s candidate for London mayor, has vowed to change the policing of cannabis, if she is elected to City Hall. The co-leader of the Greens, who is currently third in the polls, said tackling the problems around the enforcement of cannabis laws would “fix the heart of a lot of the disproportionality of policing”. “The experience of young black men on the streets of London is they are constantly suspected of drug offences when in actual fact they’re even less likely to be taking drugs than white young men. It’s just utterly disproportionate,” Ms Berry told The Independent. Here’s my colleague Andy Gregory with this exclusive: Rory Sullivan29 January 2021 12:191611921628AstraZeneca vaccine contract releaseHas the EU been hard done by? Or are Brussels bosses attempting to cover for their failure to order vaccines quickly enough? The AstraZeneca contract is finally out, so we can all get reading.Adam Forrest29 January 2021 12:001611920421AstraZeneca will release ‘redacted’ vaccine contactUK-based pharma giant AstraZeneca will publish a redacted version of its contract with the EU amid a deepening row between the two sides over vaccine supply shortages.Eric Mamer, chief spokesmen of the European Commission, told a Brussels briefing: “AstraZeneca has agreed to publish the redacted contract signed between the two parties on August 27 2020.”
He added: “We welcome the company’s commitment towards more transparency in its participation to the rollout of the EU vaccine strategy.” More

Britain cannot publish details of its coronavirus vaccine supply contract with AstraZeneca for “national security” reasons, a government minister has said.Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon is coming under pressure from London after threatening on Thursday to release details of projected vaccine deliveries in a bid to explain the slow rollout of jabs north of the border.But prisons minister Lucy Frazer today said that publication would jeopardise national security and put the UK’s supply of vaccines at risk.It is understood that the UK government fears that public knowledge of the figures would put Britain at a disadvantage in the escalating “vaccine war” with the EU, which is demanding the rerouting of doses made in Oxford and Keele to make up for shortfalls on the continent.Scotland’s health secretary Jeane Freeman dismissed Ms Frazer’s claim as “not credible”, telling reporters: “We’ve held off publication in the past at their request but that’s no longer tenable. The public have a right to clarity and we will give them that.”Brussels is furious over AstraZeneca’s announcement last week that it will cut its supplies to the EU by 60 per cent – from 80m to 31m doses – in the first quarter of 2021 because of production problems at a plant in Belgium.The European Commission today said AZ had agreed to the publication of a redacted version of the contract it signed with Brussels, which the EU believes will demonstrate that the pharmaceutical giant has an obligation to divert UK-manufactured vaccines to meet its supply promises.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 EU today took on powers to impose an export ban on vaccines to countries outside the 27-nation bloc, amid fears it could disrupt the UK’s order for Belgian-made Pfizer jabs.Commission president Ursula von der Leyen rejected AZ chief executive Pascal Soriot’s argument that the EU contract required the company only to make “best efforts” to meet a supply timetable. This provision was valid only until it was clear that the vaccine would work, she insisted.And she said there was no “order sequencing” stipulation in the contract, which mentioned four production sites, two of which are in Britain.”There are binding orders and the contract is crystal clear,” von der Leyen told Deutschlandfunk radio, adding it contained clear delivery amounts for December and the first three quarters of 2021.”AstraZeneca has also explicitly assured us in this contract that no other obligations would prevent the contract from being fulfilled.”Boris Johnson’s official spokesman declined to intervene in the row, saying: “Contract matters between AstraZeneca and the EU are a matter for them. We are confident in our supplies.”Germany’s health minister said he expects the European Medicines Agency to offer only limited approval to the AZ vaccine later on Friday.Berlin has issued draft advice recommending against use of the jab for over-65s, despite the UK’s MHRA regulator and prime minister Boris Johnson insisting that the vaccine is safe and effective for the elderly.Jens Spahn said that Germany will then adjust its own guidance for doctors in the country in the light of the EMA findings, but told reporters: “We don’t expect an unrestricted approval.”Ms Freeman was forced to apologise earlier this month for publishing detailed forecasts of the vaccine supplies expected by the devolved administration, which would allow total expected deliveries for the UK to be calculated by extrapolation.But Ms Sturgeon warned on Thursday that she was ready to do the same again, after the leader of Tories in the Scottish Parliament Ruth Davidson claimed Scotland had been allocated 1 million doses but was failing to use them.Accusing the UK government of double standards for using figures to spin against her while insisting she keep them secret, the first minister told the Holyrood assembly: “I have said to my officials regardless of what they say, I think we will just go back to publishing the actual supply figures from next week, so that we all have transparency around that.”Ms Frazer warned that publication of the contract, setting out details of AZ’s commitments on the timetable of deliveries and exclusivity of supply, would “risk national security”.She told LBC radio: “Of course, security is the most important matter and we should not be jeopardising that.“We have published what it is appropriate to publish and we have been extremely transparent throughout the crisis. We’ve published the hospitalisations, we’ve published deaths, we’ve published the number of people who are vaccinated. Where it is appropriate for the public to be informed, we have done so.”Asked how greater transparency about the vaccine would threaten national security, she said: “It risks security and the security of the vaccine, which risks the security of the people because we do want to vaccinate everybody who needs vaccinating as quickly as possible.”
The former head of the UK’s vaccines task force, Kate Bingham, played down the likelihood of an EU export ban blocking supplies of the Pfizer vaccine.“I just don’t believe it’ll ever come to that,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.“We’ve worked very cooperatively with the European Union… We are interdependent, and I don’t think that the idea that there ae going to be trade barriers is something that we should be considering.“It’s all about how can we collectively vaccinate all those who are at risk as quickly as possible.” More

The business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said a lot of the debate around the Black Lives Matter movement and colonialism “has a very kind of cartoon-like view” of the past.  Mr Kwarteng, the first black MP to head a government department, also described ripping down statues as an “act of vandalism”.  Earlier this year a statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was toppled during Black Lives Matter protests in Bristol.  Mr Kwarteng told the Political Thinking with Nick Robinson podcast: “I think you’ve got to understand history and understand that it’s very complex and there are different arguments that are presented. And I have a plea to understand the arguments and the context of the British Empire.”  He added: “Even when you say the phrase ‘the British Empire’, you’re talking about something that lasted more or less 400 years and covered a huge expanse of territory.  “So within that time and geography there’s a huge amount of variety, different cultures and different time periods and getting a sensitivity to that is hugely important and I think a lot of the debate around Black Lives Matter and imperialism or colonialism has a very kind of cartoon-like view of what was happening over centuries across a quarter of the world.”
When it came to the issue of statues, he said: “I don’t think you can just rip down statues – I mean that’s illegal and act of vandalism.”
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 also said that the public should learn more about the Empire.  “I don’t quite understand what decolonising the curriculum means. Is the implication that it’s a colonial relic and that you’ve got to try and decolonise it? I’m saying the opposite – that you’ve got to learn more about colonialism,” he said.  Mr Kwarteng also said he personally halted a post-Brexit review of workers’ rights and working practices when he was made business secretary three weeks ago.  “I don’t think the opportunities of Brexit are about whittling away worker’s rights or trying to have a race to the bottom or trying to reduce wages,” he said.  “On the contrary, a lot of people in my constituency voted for Brexit because of a stagnation of wages.” More