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Boris Johnson has rejected plans to pay people £500 to help them self-isolate if they catch coronavirus.The prime minister’s spokesperson said on Friday the government had “no plans” to introduce the payments.It comes after a leaked document from Matt Hancock’s department of health revealed that the policy was being looked at.Asked about the leak, the spokesperson said: “There are no plans to introduce an extra £500 payment. As you are already aware we already offer a £500 payment to support those on low income who cannot work from home.”Ministers are concerned that people may not be self-isolating when asked to because they need to keep working to pay the bills. Existing support payments to help people self-isolate are limited to those claiming Universal Credit and who cannot work from home.The alternative proposals, spelled out in an official “options paper”, would have seen the payments extended to anyone testing positive, at a cost of £453 million a week to the Treasury.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 comes as figures show around three quarters of those who apply for the current self-isolation grant are rejected because of its narrow scope. Its as been paid to just 12,069 people of 49,877 who applied, according to official figures publicised by Labour.The government slightly improved statutory sick pay at the start of the pandemic, but it is still among the very lowest rates in Europe at just £95.85 and not available to all workers. 
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A new £800 fine for house party guests has been mocked on social media, with users joking about the 15-person threshold.People suggested the new move – which imposes harsher penalties for those at parties over a certain number – appeared to condone smaller gatherings. “Does this mean house parties for 14 people are fine?” Piers Morgan tweeted.The Twitter account for Jonathan Pie, a news reporter character portrayed by comedian Tom Walker, tweeted: “Breaking:  House parties of up to 14 people are allowed.” Someone else edited the announcement to remove the mention to 15 guests or over. “All they had to do was this,” they said.Under current rules, people risk a fine starting at £200 if caught at an illegal gathering, while organisers of those attended by more than 30 people can be fined £10,000.The new £800 penalty, coming into force next week, will apply for people in groups of over 15 people and will double after each offence up to a maximum of £6,400 for repeat offenders, the home secretary 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 weekdayAfter it was announced on Thursday, people made jokes about going to house parties with 14 people, which are not covered by the harsher fine.In reply to Priti Patel’s tweet introducing the new penalty, one person shared a clip of someone dancing in a club, saying: “Me at a gaff with 14 people.”Another social media user joked: “I’ll keep it to 14 then don’t worry Priti.” “Getting £500 for catching Covid makes it a lot more tempting to get the £800 fine for attending a house party,” comedian Simon Brodkin joked. Meanwhile, someone else replied to Ms Patel’s tweet about the new fine, saying: “I wouldn’t worry too much, good chance your record will be deleted.” The Home Office has been approached for comment.Announcing the new £800 fine for house parties at Thursday’s Downing Street press conference, Ms Patel said: “The science is clear: such irresponsible behaviour poses a significant threat to public health. Not only to those in attendance but to our wonderful police officers who attend these events to shut them down.”The home secretary added: “As this latest measure demonstrates, we will not stand by while a small number of individuals put others at risk.”The Metropolitan Police issued more than 140 fixed penalty notices (FPNs) totalling £39,000 in just two days last weekend. These included a house party of more than 40 people in Tower Hamlets and a large party at a place of worship in Hackney.Last week South Yorkshire Police handed out 127 FPNs, of which 92 were for indoor gatherings.In Greater Manchester, police responded to three separate parties over the weekend, the largest one involving more than 40 people at a flat in Cheetham Hill.Martin Hewitt, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said: “We have made it repeatedly clear that house parties and other large gatherings should not be happening. They are dangerous, irresponsible, and totally unacceptable.”I hope that the likelihood of an increased fine acts as a disincentive for those people who are thinking of attending or organising such events.”Additional reporting by Press Association More

Statues of two of historic political figures will be pulled down from sites in central London over their links to slavery.The City of London Corporation has voted to move monuments to William Beckford and Sir John Cass in Guildhall because they gained their wealth through the slave trade – admitting the icons symbolise “a stain on our history”.It comes only days after Boris Johnson’s government introduced legislation aimed at safeguarding controversial historic statues, as communities secretary Robert Jenrick argued they should be protected from the “baying mob” of activists.Under the new legislation, if a council intends to grant permission to remove a statue and Historic England objects, Mr Jenrick will be notified so he can make the final decision.
The City Corporation said it will remove the two statues in Guildhall and “re-site” them, and is also considering commissioning a new memorial to the slave trade.
The statue of William Beckford, a two-time lord mayor of London in the late 1700s who accrued wealth from plantations in Jamaica and held African slaves, will be moved to unknown location and replaced with a new artwork.Meanwhile, the likeness of Sir John Cass, a 17th and 18th century merchant, MP and philanthropist who also profited from the slave trade, will be returned to its owner, the Sir John Cass Foundation.
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 weekdayCatherine McGuinness, the City Corporation’s policy chairwoman, said the decision was the result of “months of valuable work” by their Tackling Racism Taskforce, which was set up in June following Black Lives Matter protests in London.She said: “The view of members was that removing and re-siting statues linked to slavery is an important milestone in our journey towards a more inclusive and diverse city.”
The death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Minneapolis sparked protests across the world, with the statue of Edward Colston dumped into Bristol Harbour and a memorial to Sir Winston Churchill vandalised with the words “is a racist”. More

Britain’s online shoppers have expressed their dismay after been hit with unexpectedly high post-Brexit charges on items ordered from countries in the EU.  Consumers have been asked to pay up to one-third extra in customs duties, VAT and additional delivery charges once they arrive in the UK.
It comes as one UK retail boss said British firms were considering abandoning or even burning goods returned by their EU customers who are also unhappy about unexpected charges, due to the costs involved in bringing the items back to Britain.One shopper, Ellie Huddleston from London, told the BBC she had been asked to pay out £140 in unexpected costs from couriers DPD and UPS after buying a coat and blouses from EU retailers at £380.“I sent both back without paying the extra fees and won’t be ordering anything from Europe again any time soon,” said the 26-year-old.Customers have complained that they are not being told by online retailers that they will be liable for the extra costs – forcing many to refuse to pay when delivery companies turn up at their door. One British shopper was asked to pay £77 in extra charges on clothes costing £245 purchased from a French retailer.Louisa Walters told The Times: “DPD offered me two options – pay the fees or return the package. There was no way I was paying £77 so I clicked to not accept the package. I was very disappointed.”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 weekdaySome UK retailers said they were considering giving up on many of the goods which EU customers have asked be returned over the costs and paperwork involved in bringing them back into Britain. More

Everyone testing positive for coronavirus could be paid £500 by the government to self-isolate, under plans reportedly being considered by ministers.The scheme, which would cost up to £450m a week, aims to encourage more people to take a test and to persuade those who test positive to stay at home, regardless of their financial situation.The proposal, which is likely to alarm the Treasury ahead of Rishi Sunak’s budget, is said to be the “preferred position” in detailed policy paper at the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) and leaked to The Guardian.Polling, the paper added, suggests many self-employed workers fear they will lose out financially if they comply with advice to self-isolate. It also indicated that only 17 per cent of people with symptoms are coming forward for testing.An existing scheme offers £500 but only to those already registered to receive a means-tested benefit. Councils also have a discretionary fund, but strict eligibility rules mean few Covid patients have got a payout.Research by The Independent revealed that in Liverpool 76 per cent of applications for the £500 were rejected.Pressed on the reports, the environment secretary George Eustice said the government was considering “all sorts” of policies in an attempt to try and help individuals stick to the government’s self-isolation rules.“We always had the £500 support payment for those that are on certain benefits,” he told the BBC. “We have always kept this under review and we know that it is sometimes quite challenging to ask people to isolate for that length of time.“At the moment we are in full lockdown anyway so while people can leave to work, in many cases people will be staying home anyway. We constantly keep this under review. We have got to consider all sorts of policies.”Last night the Department of Health and Social Care declined to deny the reports and a spokesperson said: “We are in one of the toughest moments of this pandemic and it is incumbent on all of us to help protect the NHS by staying at home and following the rules.“All local authorities’ costs for administering the Test and Trace Support Payment scheme are covered by the government, and each authority is empowered to make discretionary payments outside of the scheme.”Fifty million pounds was invested when the scheme launched, and we are providing a further £20m to help support people on low incomes who need to self-isolate.”The Resolution Foundation, a think tank which has previously calculated that only one in eight workers qualify for the financial support currently offered to those told to self-isolate, welcomed the proposal.Researcher Maja Gustafsson said: “The current approach is not fit for purpose with statutory sick pay among the least generous of advanced economies and far too few people eligible for the £500 support payments.”Swiftly putting in place a much more universal and generous system will make a real difference to controlling the spread of the virus.” More

The Scottish government’s commitment to spend an additional £250m tackling the nation’s spiralling drug deaths crisis has been met with relief among campaigners, sparking “hope at last” that there is now sufficient political momentum behind attempts to tackle it.Holyrood has long been accused of dragging its feet despite mounting public outrage and a soaring death toll, which – with 1,264 deaths recorded in 2019 – is rising at the worst rate in Europe, prompting health minister Joe FitzPatrick to cede to calls for his resignation in December.Accepting the criticism that her government “should have done more earlier”, Nicola Sturgeon announced an additional £50m for each of the next five years to improve and expand drug treatment services.“Anyone who ends up losing their life as a result of drug addiction, is not just failed at the time of their death – in most cases, they will have been failed repeatedly throughout their whole life,” Scotland’s first minister said on Wednesday.“I believe that if we have the will, we can and we will find the ways to stop this happening. Doing so requires a national mission to end what is currently a national disgrace.”Among the announcements were pledges to reduce stigma, increase the number of people in treatment, meet Scottish Tories’ demands for £20m funding for residential rehabilitation clinics, extend the provision of heroin-assisted treatment beyond the country’s first such clinic in Glasgow, and to implement new standards in providing opioid substitutes, such as methadone.After years of underfunding for drug and alcohol services across the UK, the measures and additional funds were welcomed as a possible “game-changer” by the embattled sector.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“Have had to read and reread to believe it’s true. The most promising Scottish drug policy announcement I can remember,” said Dr Saket Priyadarshi, associate medical director at Glasgow Alcohol and Drug Recovery Services. “Many challenges to overcome and clarifications required, but so much good work ahead to be done. And with a sense of hope at last.”And Karen Biggs, chief executive of the charity and housing association Phoenix Futures, said Ms Sturgeon had “given hope to people in Scotland dealing with drug addiction”.Ms Briggs added that “all who have campaigned, used their voice, empowered others to use theirs and called for action to stop people dying of drug use … have been heard and understood”.Mark McGivern of the Daily Record newspaper, which has campaigned heavily for Holyrood to tackle the crisis, said it was “rare that campaigners are stunned in a good way”, welcoming the £250m as “unequivocally, a massive step forward” and “about time, too”.The Scottish government had declared the crisis a public health emergency in 2018 and established a drugs deaths taskforce in 2019, which received £4m in government funding in 2020. But critics had alleged this funding was merely taken from previous budgets for alcohol and drug partnerships, while the taskforce was accused of failing to meet for four months last year. Scottish Labour leadership candidate Monica Lennon said: “An emotional day for many as people affected by substance misuse finally get the full attention of Nicola Sturgeon and her government. Never again can the opportunity for people to get well be taken from them.”
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The move was floated as one of a range of options for improving levels of compliance with the 10-day self-isolation order for international arrivals, but was not recommended.It emerged ahead of a meeting of the government’s Covid Operations (CO) committee on Friday, which is expected to discuss further travel restrictions, such as quarantine hotels to house people arriving in the country by air or sea.The meeting comes just days after the publication of a video revealing that home secretary Priti Patel argued as early as March last year for the closure of borders to prevent the spread of the disease by travellers arriving from overseas.While scientists advised earlier in the pandemic that closing the borders would be ineffective as the virus was already established in the UK population, the issue has resurfaced due to the identification of more virulent mutated strains of Covid-19 in locations like Brazil and South Africa.Ministers fear that the UK’s vaccination campaign could be undermined if a new strain which is highly contagious or resistant to vaccines is imported into the country.Since the suspension of the travel corridor scheme on Monday, travellers from all countries have been required to self-isolate for 10 days after arrival, although those from low-risk countries can pay for a Covid test after five days to secure earlier release.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 weekdayHowever, they are allowed to choose their own location for quarantine, and can use public transport to travel there from ports or airports, amid concerns that too few checks are being conducted to ensure compliance.A tagging system similar to a policy introduced in Singapore last year is understood to have been included in a borders enforcement policy paper circulated in Whitehall.But officials did not recommend the option, warning that it was likely to be challenged on civil liberties grounds.Ministers at Friday’s meeting are expected to discuss Australian-style requirements for travellers to pay to stay at an airport hotel for the quarantine period. Reports suggest that the feasibility of such a scheme has been discussed with the hotel industry, which currently has huge numbers of rooms available because of restrictions on movements during lockdown.Also thought to have been considered is a version of an “enhanced isolation” scheme used in Poland, under which people are contacted daily and told to send a photo to prove their location, with GPS tracking and facial-recognition technology used to confirm reports.A Home Office spokesperson said: “We do not comment on leaks.” More

Jumping the queue for the Covid-19 vaccine by tricking the NHS booking system is “morally reprehensible” and must stop, the home secretary has said.Speaking at a news conference on Thursday Priti Patel refused to rule out fines and other measures to prevent the practice.Her comments come as top medics warns that people using software loopholes to get vaccinated early are at risk of causing the deaths of people more vulnerable than them.”Quite frankly it is morally reprehensible,” Ms Patel said.”These individuals are putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk, the most vulnerable that have been prioritised by the government to receive the vaccine because they are vulnerable in the sense of not just contracting the virus, but could die from this deadly, deadly virus.”Asked whether fines or other measures could be brought in, Ms Patel said: “All our measures are under review.”Website links intended to allow over-70s and health workers book their jabs have been shared on social media – and people using them have reportedly made appointments without being asked for proof of eligibility.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 is not clear how widespread the practice is, but some MPs say they have seen evidence of ineligible people booking appointments.Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS England regional medical director for London, said: “People are being called in priority order so that we can vaccinate those most at risk of serious illness first.”That is why I was horrified to hear reports that some unscrupulous people have used links shared with them to try and falsely book a vaccination appointment.
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