UK Politics

Urgent operations such as cardiac and cancer treatments are being delayed in hospitals as the NHS is stretched like never before, health leaders have warned. More than 20 hospitals in England have declared critical incidents due to increasing numbers of medics being forced to isolate, putting further pressure on a service already stretched by the spike in Covid cases.It came as a cross-party group of MPs warned of the consequences of Boris Johnson’s decision to “ride out” the Omicron wave without further restrictions, saying the backlog of almost 6 million patients on waiting lists in England would grow.Dr Stephen Webb, president of the Intensive Care Society, told The Independent: “Staff isolation and staff illness due to Covid restricts our ability to care for other patients. “We are hearing from our members that virtually all intensive care units (ICUs) are under strain primarily because of staffing constraints and this is resulting in many having to limit access for patients having urgent operations.“Patients who may need an urgent procedure – say a cardiology procedure – that patient will undoubtedly wait for longer in hospital until a spot becomes available for them to be transferred to.“That urgent treatment will be restricted because of staffing restrictions, and we have heard that is happening within intensive care units because ICUs have less staff to open beds. Those staffing shortages are not just in ICU.”On Wednesday Chris Hopson, of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, warned the health service was “stretched like never before”. Another 194,747 infections were recorded on Wednesday, and 334 more deaths.Education, transport and retail were also being hit, with some schools telling pupils to stay home as the Christmas holiday drew to an end.Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, told MPs that teacher absences are expected to rise further from the 8 per cent recorded before the festive break.But Mr Johnson confirmed that there would be no tightening of restrictions on social and economic life to try to rein in the Omicron variant. And he boasted that it was his “balanced and proportionate” response to the highly contagious variant which had allowed England to “keep this country open, keep our economy moving more than any other comparable economy in Europe”.Rules on Covid testing were relaxed, with the removal of the requirement to confirm a positive lateral flow reading with a PCR test. But the change will do little to ease the burden of self-isolation, as the seven-day minimum period always began from the moment infection was first detected.Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, on Wednesday announced a reduction from 10 to seven days, in line with England, but Downing Street played down the prospect of a further cut to five days in line with advice that it would encourage a premature return to work which could result in more infections.Meanwhile, the requirement for vaccinated passengers to take a pre-departure test before travelling to England was removed from 7 January in recognition of the fact that Omicron is now endemic in the UK and other countries around the globe.New figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that an estimated 3.7 million people in the UK had Covid-19 in the week ending 31 December, the highest number since comparable figures began in autumn 2020. One in 15 people in England had the virus, rising to one in 10 in London.The 334 deaths was the worst of the Omicron wave and the highest since February last year, but was artificially inflated by a backlog of data from English hospitals which had gone unreported since 1 January.The Independent has seen an internal staff message from University Hospitals Dorset this week declaring a critical incident, in which the trust said it had “very limited number of beds” and the “few beds” it does have are not appropriate for patients, leading to the cancellation of some elective operations.Meanwhile, University Hospitals Birmingham told staff on Tuesday it has been forced to close all of its surgical theatres at Good Hope Hospital.Birmingham Community Healthcare Foundation Trust has told patients that it cannot accept any new referrals to its physiotherapy and occupational therapy services and is cancelling non-urgent referrals due to “significant pressures in the hospital and in the community”.One senior clinician told The Independent their trust had an increase in staff sickness by “hundreds” in just 24 hours and warned: “If the staff losses are sustained at this rate or worse accelerate, I’m not sure how we deliver anything“Currently [we are] doing everything we can not to cancel cancer operations and we still have a few elective wards that are Covid-free but if we continue to lose staff at this rate, it may happen.”Mr Johnson told MPs that hospital admissions were “doubling around every nine days” and the UK was experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases it had ever known.But he insisted that plan B measures – including the wider use of masks, Covid passes for mass-audience events and work from home guidance – were “helping to take the edge off the Omicron wave”.Current measures were “balanced and proportionate ways of ensuring we can live with Covid without letting our guard down”, he told MPs.And he said he believed that, by the planned review of plan B on 26 January, “life will return to something much much closer to normality [and] it won’t be necessary to have the restrictions that we currently have in place”.But Labour MP Afzal Khan told him England was in “an unsustainable situation”.“Last night, 17 hospitals across Greater Manchester announced they were suspending non-urgent surgery due to the impact of Covid-19 and at least 10 trusts across England have already been forced to declare critical incidents since Christmas,” Mr Khan told the House of Commons.“Last week the PM said he hoped we could ride out this wave but I don’t think our hard-working NHS staff or the government’s scientific advisers would agree.”Downing Street insisted that declarations by trusts of critical incidents “are not a good indicator necessarily of how the NHS is performing” as they might last in some cases for as little as a few hours.But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson acknowledged that the NHS was facing “a challenging number of weeks” and said the possibility of additional measures had not been ruled out as it was not yet known whether the UK or England had yet reached the peak of the Omicron wave.“It’s too early to judge what the full impact of Omicron will be, so it’s right that we keep measures under review as the public would expect,” said the spokesperson. “But as it stands – as the prime minister has been clear – we believe that we have the right package of proportionate measures in place.”An NHS spokesperson said: “While there is no doubt January will be a tough month for staff, the NHS has tried and tested plans in place to handle increased pressure and despite these anecdotal reports, services will continue to prioritise people with cancer, a suspected stroke or heart attack.“The NHS will continue Covid and non-Covid care so anyone who needs care should get in touch with the NHS as they usually would so they can get the support they need.” More

Jacob Rees-Mogg has reportedly called on Boris Johnson to abandon the planned rise in National Insurance in the face of the looming cost of living crisis.The leader of the House of Commons was said to have spoken against the tax rise at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying it could not be justified amid rising inflation and uncertainty over energy prices.Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, was said to have refused to change course as it would mean having to find the money elsewhere.A cabinet insider said Mr Rees-Mogg felt “finding savings would be more frugal and responsible” than raising taxes, according to the Financial Times.The Telegraph said three government sources had confirmed that the exchange took place.The 1.25 per cent increase in National Insurance is due in April, when the cost of living crisis is set to peak.It will come after inflation hit 5.1 per cent, more than double the UK’s 2 per cent target.Households are set to suffer another blow in April as the energy price cap is expected to be raised.The Resolution Foundation said the combined effect of rising bills and taxes would cost an average of £600 per household.The National Insurance rise was announced in September as a means to fund social care. It was expected to raise £12bn.The proposal was met by backlash from Tory MPs as being “un-conservative”. Ten Tory MPs voted against the proposals and many more abstained. Mr Rees Mogg is said to have privately warned against the change in September as he was concerned like many in his party after the chancellor put Britain on course for the highest tax burden since the 1950s. The prime minister and chancellor are facing growing pressure in their party to tackle the cost of living crisis before it gets worse.Some 20 Tory MPs and peers signed a letter in the Sunday Telegraph asking them to help consumers facing “fuel poverty” as gas and electricity payments continue to rocket. More

School exams will definitely go ahead this year, the education secretary has said, amid concern about rising staff absences due to Covid-19. Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon Nadhim Zahawi said GCSEs and A levels would “absolutely” take place – after two years of disruption due to the pandemic.But he warned that the immediate situation in schools was likely to get worse, with more staff absences due to illness and self-isolation expected. “We must do everything we can, everything in our power to keep all education and childcare settings open and teaching in-person,” he told MPs.”Schools will be suffering some degree of staff absences. At the end of last year the figure was about 8 per cent of staff off, and that is probably likely to rise with increasing cases in school and of course young people as we return to school.”Asked by Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis whether “exams will go ahead as normal and we will get back to [the] exam structure that everyone is so desperate to return to”, Mr Zahawi replied: “I can absolutely give him that assurance.”Some schools have reported that as many as one in five staff members could be missing following the Christmas holidays.With term due to start again this week the Department for Education (DfE) told headteachers they should consider “combining classes” to keep face-to-face teaching in place.And the government has introduced some changes, such as requiring children to wear face coverings, in a bid to reduce transmission.Conservative MP Desmond Swayne was among Tories to query the masks’ reintroduction, asking whether it was “proportionate to test asymptomatic children and then when they’re negative to mask them up anyway”.Mr Zahawi used the Commons exchange to defend the government’s policy of requiring children to wear masks to “help reduce transmission at a time when rates of infection are high”.Admitting that the situation was “not ideal” he added: “My department has also looked at some observational data from a sample of 123 schools where face coverings had been in use in the autumn term and found that there was a greater reduction in Covid absence compared to those where students didn’t wear face coverings.”But Labour accused the government of not prioritising children’s education.”Children are having to be wrapped up in their coats to learn. It is incompetent, complacent and inadequate. Our children deserve better,” said shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson.Ms Phillipson said that on December 30 “barely half of eligible children aged 12 and over had received even their first vaccination”.And she highlighted a shortage of lateral flow tests, which the government is encouraging parents and children to take to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in schools”I looked last night at lateral flow tests online. There were none available for home delivery. We cannot test our children twice a week if there are not the tests available to do it,” she said. More

Tory MP Sir Desmond Swayne has been criticised for sharing an anti face mask message that described the coverings as “abusive”. As of last week, school children are required to wear face masks during class as well as in communal areas to tackle the spread of Omicron. Sir Desmond Swayne shared a photo of a face mask he has been sent with the political message written on it. The words read: “Putting germ/bacteria ridden cloths over kids faces for 8+ hours is abusive”Sir Desmond shared the image with the caption: “Whoever sent me this anonymously, I agree with you!”He has received backlash on social media for the post, with Professor Stefan Marciniak, from Cambridge University, responding: “As a respiratory doctor and academic I see no sense in your tweet. What evidence do you have? Masks are a helpful measure in reducing viral spread. Please consider deleting your tweet.”Sir Desmond, who was a senior aide to former prime minister David Cameron, has consistently criticised Covid restrictions and described Britain as a “police state” during the pandemic. He has also described the government’s Covid rules as a formal of “social control” and referenced the wearing of masks as an example of this. Sir Desmond also likened wearing a face mask to going about “like Darth Vader” in a Channel 4 interview in 2020. Twitter users poked fun at the Conservative MP for sharing the anti mask message, with one joking that Sir Desmond had sent the mask to himself. On Monday, Education secretary Nadhim Zahawi said that the government wants to make sure that schools had “as many tools to be able to make sure that education is open”. He admitted that it would be “more challenging, of course, to deliver education with masks on in the classroom.”But added: “This is an aerosol-transmitted virus and if you’re wearing a mask, if you’re asymptomatic, then you’re less likely to infect other people.” More

Boris Johnson has ruled out relaxing immigration rules to tempt India to sign a trade deal, after a Tory MP protested at being held “to ransom”.Ministers are expected to open talks with Delhi on easier and cheaper visas on a visit later this month, after hopes for a rapid-fire post-Brexit agreement were thwarted last year.But, in the Commons, the strategy was attacked by Edward Leigh, a Brexit-backing Conservative, who told him: “Whilst a free trade deal is valuable in itself, we should not be held to ransom.“Would he agree with me that our new working-class voters who voted Brexit did not vote to replace immigration from Europe with more immigration from the rest of the world?In response, the prime minister denied there was any such plan, telling Sir Edward: “We don’t do free trade deals on that basis.”Instead, he boasted of lower immigration, adding: “I can tell him actually that net immigration, since we took back control, has gone down and we will continue to make sure that we take advantage.”Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, is believed to have made easier immigration to the UK a red line for closer trade ties – although Delhi has been opposed to free trade agreements for other reasons.The government is under pressure to achieve a trade deal with a major country after the US shelved talks, leaving low-value Australia as the only new partner found since the UK left the EU.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international trade secretary, is expected to fly to India, with Mr Johnson himself keen to visit – after Covid forced him to abandon going in 2021.One option thought to be under consideration is a scheme similar to that agreed with Australia, to allow young Indians to move to work in the UK for up to three years.Another would be to cut visa fees for students and allow them to stay in Britain for a period after they graduate, The Times reported.There could also be reductions in visa fees for both work and tourism, it said. At present it can cost an Indian citizen up to £1,400 for a work visa, while students pay £348 and tourists £95.For British tourists travelling to India the fee is £110, while a one-year business visa costs £165.The country is predicted to become the world’s third largest economy by 2050 but it has always had a protectionist outlook, with hefty tariffs on imports.Last May, the UK and India announced only an “enhanced partnership”, pledging to create 6,500 jobs in the UK through investments centred on health, technology and vaccine development.In the same week, the EU threatened to steal a march by announcing its own trade deal talks were about to start. More

Boris Johnson has wrongly denied saying there was no need to worry about soaring inflation, despite saying fears were “unfounded” just 3 months ago.The prime minister was urged to correct the record when it was pointed out that his claim was untrue, but declined to do so in the House of Commons.The controversy blew up when Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, accused Mr Johnson of getting it “so wrong” when, in October, he dismissed fears that prices are on the rise.Interviewed on Sky News, he was asked “are you worried about inflation?” but insisted he was focused instead on prospects for “robust economic growth”.“People have been worried about inflation for a very long time and those fears have been unfounded,” the prime minister said, after inflation was tipped to hit 5 per cent – with 6 per cent now forecast.In the Commons, Ms Rayner – standing in for the Covid-stricken Keir Starmer – reminded Mr Johnson of his remark, amid growing fears of a cost-of-living crisis.“In October, the prime minister said that fears about inflation were unfounded, but working people across the country are starting the new year facing rising bills and ballooning prices, so how did he get it so wrong?” she asked.He replied: “Of course, I said no such thing, because inflation is always something that we have to be careful about.“But what we are doing is making sure that we protect the people of this country throughout what is unquestionably going to be a difficult period – and that’s why we are ensuring that we’ve lifted the living wage by record sums, we make sure people have cold weather payments, making sure that they have the warm homes discount.”After prime minister’s questions, Ms Rayner rose again to ask Mr Johnson if he would “like to correct the record”, but he declined to do so.In an error-ridden 40 minutes, the prime minister also lashed out at Labour for wanting tough new restrictions to combat the Omicron variant, when the party did not argue for them.He also claimed Labour wants to rejoin the EU and that “poverty is down”, when the numbers living in relative poverty have risen sharply in recent years.Twice, Mr Johnson claimed that warm home discount, to help with energy bills, is worth £140 per week – when the benefit actually pays £140 each year.The inflation rate is currently 5.1 per cent, but the Bank of England has predicted it will peak at 6 per cent in April – the highest figure since 1992.That would be three times the official 2 per cent target, above which the chancellor is required to write an official letter to the Bank defending the disparity. More

Boris Johnson has said the UK cannot do away with all existing Covid measures, despite “evidence that Omicron causes less severe disease than previous variants” The prime minister told MPs the Cabinet had agreed this morning the government would be sticking to existing “plan B” measures – as he announced on Tuesday.The measures, which include mandatory face masks on public transport and limited immunity passports for some mass events, would last for at least three weeks, he said.Extolling the progress of the NHS booster programme, the PM said the UK was “in a very different position than during previous waves”.But heading off calls from Tory backbenchers, he added: “I know some (MPs) might therefore ask whether this means we can now do away with measures altogether, but I’m sorry to report that hospital admissions are rising rapidly, doubling around every nine days, with already more than 15,000 Covid patients in hospital in England alone.”We’re experiencing the fastest growth in Covid cases we’ve ever known with over 218,000 cases reported yesterday although that included some delayed reporting and potentially of greatest concern, case rates are now rising rapidly among the older and more vulnerable including doubling every week among those over 60, with the obvious risk that this will continue to increase the pressures on our NHS.”Mr Johnson said that it was of the “greatest concern” that “case rates are now rapidly rising among the older and more vulnerable, including doubling every week among those over 60”. The PM said this would lead to an “obvious risk that this will continue to increase the pressures on our NHS”.The prime minister confirmed that the government would be scrapping the requirement for pre-departure tests to travel to England from 4am on Friday. He said the measure, which was brought in to stall the arrival of the Omicron variant, “discourages many from travelling for fear of being trapped overseas and incurring significant extra expense”.He also added that the government would be lifting the requirement to self-isolate on arrival until recent of a negative PCR test. Instead, people will be required to take a lateral flow test “no later than the end of Day 2 and, if positive, a further PCR test to help us identify any new variants at the border”. More

Boris Johnson today claimed he had been proved right to avoid tough restrictions on social and economic activity in England in response to the Omicron wave of Covid-19.As infection rates soared to record levels of more than 200,000 a day and schools were forced to close by staff absences, the prime minister boasted to MPs that his strategy had enabled England to keep its businesses open and its economy growing.And he wrongly accused Labour of favouring a return to lockdown – something Keir Starmer’s party was not demanding at the time of the introduction of Plan B measures on 8 December.Mr Johnson has resisted pressure to follow Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland into tighter restrictions, which have seen nightclubs closed and social distancing rules introduced in the days after Christmas.And he today told prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons that as a consequence England was outperforming other areas of Europe economically.“Because of the steps the government has taken, because of the tough decisions we’ve taken, because of the balanced and proportionate approach that we have taken to Covid, we’ve been able to keep this country open, keep our economy moving more than any other comparable economy in Europe,” Mr Johnson told MPs.“That’s why people are seeing increases in employment and increases in their pay packet as well… “We not only have the most open society and economy in Europe, but we also have the fastest economic growth in the G7,”Mr Johnson said that his “balanced and proportionate” approach to the pandemic had resulted in record low youth unemployment and jobs increasing by 400,000 over pre-Covid levels.And he accused Labour of opposing his light-touch approach “every step of the way”.“When Omicron presented itself, what did they do?” he asked MPs. “They reached for the lever of more restrictions. They said lockdown, we say boosters. They carp from the sidelines, we get on with the job.”In an interview last month, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer made clear that the party was not calling for a time-limited “circuit breaker” lockdown of the kind favoured by some scientists to rein in the spread of Omicron.He told Times Radio on 21 December: “The hospitalisations are different than they were last autumn when we called for the circuit break.“We act in the public interest and we act to protect public health. Therefore the government needs to get a grip, needs to come up with a plan. We will look at it… If we think it’s the right measures then we will then support it.” More