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The government will ask the British public to open their homes to Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion amid intense criticism of its response to the refugee crisis.Levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, is expected to set out on Monday details of the new “sponsored” route to allow Ukrainians without family links to the UK to come to the country.The scheme was announced last week by Priti Patel, the home secretary, but details have been unclear amid reports of “different views” between Whitehall departments over the exact nature of the programme.According to the Daily Telegraph, a hotline and webpage will be made available where individuals, charities, businesses and community groups will be able to offer rooms to those escaping the conflict.It was added Ukrainians using this route to Britain would be granted permission to stay in the UK for an initial 12 months, with the ability to work, claim benefits and free healthcare.Those offering housing would have to agree to take the refugees for a minimum period – potentially six months – and demonstrate that they meet appropriate standards, the report said.According to Western officials, the number of people fleeing the Russian invasion – already around 2.5 million – could reach 4 million within days as the Kremlin continues to wage war.While many have fled to neighbouring countries such as Poland, Hungary and Moldova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has estimated tens of thousands of people escaping the conflict may come to Britain.After days of criticism over the government’s handling of the situation, including the bureaucracy of the current visa routes and a lack of preparation despite weeks of warnings over a possible invasion, Boris Johnson insisted more details would be forthcoming next week. He told Sky News: “On Monday, you’ll get from the levelling up secretary, you’ll get the programme that will allow people to come in, so (if) people want to welcome (refugees) into their own homes, they can do so.”Speaking about the sponsorship scheme, the technology minister Chris Philp also added on Friday: “We’re going to be making announcements in the very near future about a scheme for UK local authorities, and indeed UK families, to welcome Ukrainian refugees, we’ve announced that principle and the details of how that scheme works will be laid out in the very near future.”The move comes after Ms Patel was urged to do more to make it easier for those coming to the UK through the existing family route and yesterday announced in a U-turn that from Tuesday people will be able to apply online for a visa and will no longer have to go to a processing centre to give their biometrics.But experts have warned there are still “major gaps” in the scheme and refugees would still have to go through a “chaotic and frustrating” online process.It also not clear how many of the 2.5 million Ukrainians to have fled the conflict so far have access to a passport.The British Red Cross said the quickest way of fixing the problem would be to remove the requirement for a visa — a move backed by the Ukrainian ambassador in London — while the Refugee Council said Ms Patel’s announcement “does not go anywhere near far enough”.A No 10 spokesperson told reporters on Friday: “We will set out details of the humanitarian sponsorship scheme soon… that will allow those Brits who can and want to, help and support Ukrainians to do so.“The Department for Levelling Up are working incredibly closely with the Home Office to make sure we can have up and running and soon as possible.“We want to make sure we can facilitate those Brits who kindly want to host Ukrainians, as well as businesses and charities to be able to sponsor people to come to the UK. Both departments are working tirelessly to do that”.The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015.Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here. If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More

The underrepresentation of women and minority groups in parliament must be tackled, MPs have warned.A report, carried out by the Women and Equalities Committee, said the government must introduce measures to ensure a “generation of women in politics” is not lost.The study found a meagre 6 per cent of all 650 MPs sitting in the House of Commons are women from minority ethnic backgrounds. Meanwhile, only around a third of all MPs are women – with researchers noting this is a smaller proportion of female MPs than comparable European nations.Caroline Nokes, who is chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, noted the job of MPs is ultimately to represent their constituents, adding that racial and gender inequalities mean “at present, we simply don’t”.The MP for Romsey and Southampton North added: “It is within our power to improve this. Part of encouraging women into any profession is making that workspace inclusive. “Women are disproportionately carers in society; catering to the needs of parents and other caregivers is an easy win for the House of Commons and a journey upon which they have already embarked. But they must go further and faster.“The most glaring problem is the shocking abuse and misogyny which all women in politics, and especially minority ethnic women, suffer. This must not become an accepted part of the job. Viscous abuse, including rape and death threats, is totally unacceptable.”Ms Nokes called for measures to be rolled out to safeguard female MPs and political candidates, warning women could be put off pursuing political careers if this issue is not addressed.The report argues “vicious misogynistic abuse must not be accepted as an inevitable fact of a woman’s life in politics,” and draws attention to the fact harassment leads to the “poorer retention rate of female MPs” in comparison to male politicians.Cross-party MPs involved in the report urged the government to introduce section 106 of the Equality Act 2010, which would force respective political parties to reveal the ethnic and gender diversity of parliamentary candidates. Ministers were also asked to use the Online Safety Bill to bolster “sanctions” against individuals who threaten or abuse female politicians on social media.It comes after a recent study found about seven in 10 women say they would not become a politician because of fears of facing abuse or harassment in the role.The research conducted by the Fawcett Society, a leading gender equality charity, discovered almost six in 10 women think sexism in local politics is a barrier to pursuing a political career.Seven in 10 said problems juggling work as an MP or councillor with other responsibilities in their lives would be an obstacle, and six in 10 said a lack of confidence to offer themselves up held them back. More

A new government plan aimed at improving farm animal welfare must not distract from ministers’ backtracking on a ban on fur and foie gras, critics have warned.Farmers will be encouraged to keep cows, pigs and sheep healthier and in better conditions under the “animal health and welfare pathway” plan from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.The payment-by-results scheme will include annual visits by a vet paid for by the government, and grants will be available for equipment and technology or to upgrade housing for cattle to reduce lameness and calf mortality.Farmers will be encouraged to improve biosecurity to control pig diseases and improve the feather cover of laying hens, the government says.Laying hens often suffer bald patches where they are repeatedly pecked by others through frustration caused by overcrowding, and pigs have their tails and teeth routinely cut for similar reasons.The government also pledged for the first time to implement the better chicken commitment (BCC), which requires slower-growing breeds and lower stocking densities.Hidden cameras inside chicken barns that supply supermarkets have repeatedly shown birds struggling to breathe and collapsing under their own weight because they are bred to grow exceptionally rapidly. And dying birds are also cannibalised by others or trodden underfoot because of crowded conditions.The Humane League, which has long lobbied supermarkets, chefs and caterers to adopt the better chicken commitment, welcomed the official policy as “a really significant and welcome milestone”.But spokeswoman Hannah Yates added: “It should not serve to distract from the concerning backtracking on the fur and foie gras legal ban”.The government is reportedly set to ditch plans in the Animals Abroad Bill to outlaw fur and foie gras imports after cabinet members Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brandon Lewis and Ben Wallace objected.It has prompted a furious response across the UK, with animal-welfare organisations uniting to condemn the decision while hoping the ban can be introduced through another bill.Naturalist Chris Packham has launched a petition against dropping the ban, saying: “In a civilised society, freedom of choice cannot be allowed to trump moral decency.”A new academic analysis of public attitudes to fur sales has found 83.4 per cent disapproved of imports.The study, based on nine opinion polls between 1997 and 2021, also found 78.4 per cent backed a total ban on fur imports and sales in the UK.Footage and testimonies from inside fur farms have shown mink, raccoon dogs and foxes suffering infected, painful wounds and mental torture from being caged.Ms Yates added: “The fact that the government is willing to help fund the transition towards the BCC begs the question of why supermarkets are still laggards when it comes to improving chicken welfare.“While leading companies in other sectors such as KFC, Nestlé, Kraft-Heinz, and Sodexo have all committed to the BCC, only Waitrose and M&S have signed up from the retail sector.“Supermarkets should be investing their profits into raising the baseline standards of animal welfare, especially as taxpayers are going to pay for these improvements.”The Independent has asked the British Retail Consortium to comment. More

The legal requirement for people who test positive with Covid to self-isolate will be scrapped on Thursday, the prime minister announced Monday evening.Boris Johnson unveiled his “Living with Covid” strategy during a speech in the Commons, which also included details on the scrapping of free coronavirus tests for most people from April.The PM also announced the scrapping of routine contact tracing, the £500 self-isolation payment and changes to statutory sick pay and employment support allowance which were implemented to help those impacted by the pandemic, would come into effect from 24 March.People will still be advised to self-isolate if they test positive, but there will be no legal requirement to isolate, and there will be no legal requirement for those who test positive to inform their employer of their need to isolate.From 1 April, only the most vulnerable will be eligible for free testing under the new rules and asymptomatic testing will continue for social care staff, however, the Department of Health and Social Care will receive no extra money to deliver the testing.Outlining his “Living with Covid” plan in the Commons, the PM said testing had become “much less valuable” in restricting the spread of Covid and that the £2bn-a-month cost of the system meant the government had to “scale back” what it could offer.A fourth vaccine dose, or second booster, will be offered to those 75 and older, the immunosuppressed and care home residents in the Spring.Mr Johnson warned the Commons that the “pandemic is not over”, with the Queen’s positive test a “reminder this virus has not gone away”.But he told MPs there is “sufficient levels of immunity to complete the transition” from laws to relying on vaccines and treatments and individuals making the right choices.He said: “It is time that we got our confidence back. We don’t need laws to compel people to be considerate to others.“We can rely on that sense of responsibility towards one another.“So let us learn to live with this virus and continue protecting ourselves and others without restricting our freedoms.”The cabinet gave the PM’s plan “unanimous backing” despite the meeting being delayed earlier today following a disagreement over funding.However, Labour leader Keir Starmer criticised the plan saying it was “half-baked”.He said: “As a nation there is no doubt we need to move on from Covid.“People need to know their liberties are returning and returning for good.“But this is a half-baked announcement from a government paralysed by chaos and incompetence. It is not a plan to live well with Covid.”Groups advocating for clinically vulnerable people have also criticised the strategy, particularly the end of self-isolation, while trade unions have criticised the decision to end Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) entitlements on the first day of illness.Helen Rowntree, director of research, services and engagement for Blood Cancer UK, said: “The government is lifting restrictions without a plan to protect immunocompromised people, for who the vaccines are proving less effective.“The Prime Minister may want the country to get its confidence back, but this will cause huge anxiety among immunocompromised people and leave many of them feeling abandoned.“This will lead to people finding it more difficult to live their daily lives and, sadly, some people dying from Covid.”TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “The government is creating needless hardship and taking a sledgehammer to public health.“The failure to provide decent sick pay to all, from the first day of illness, is reckless and self-defeating.“If people can’t afford to stay home when they’re sick, they will take their infections into work.“Ministers’ inability to grasp this fact will leave the UK vulnerable to future variants and pandemics.” More

The Queen is expected to hold a telephone audience with the prime minister and conduct virtual audiences this week as she carries on with light duties despite catching Covid.The 95-year-old monarch, who is experiencing mild cold-like symptoms, is self-isolating at Windsor Castle, where a number of her team have also been hit by the virus.Concerns for the nation’s longest reigning sovereign have been heightened given her age and recent health scare.But Buckingham Palace has said the monarch expects to be at her desk continuing light duties over the coming days.The Queen holds an audience with Boris Johnson most Wednesdays, either in person or by telephone, and has recently been holding one or two diplomatic audiences a week with ambassadors by video-link, and is likely to do so this week if well enough.She is following all Covid self-isolating guidelines after testing positive on Sunday, but her diagnosis comes as Mr Johnson prepares on Monday to bring an end to the legal duty to self-isolate from next week.Downing Street said the Prime Minister intends to repeal all pandemic regulations that restrict public freedoms in England when he lays out his “living with Covid” plan.The Queen will also be working from her red boxes, sent to her every day and containing policy papers, Foreign Office telegrams, letters and other state papers from Government ministers and Commonwealth representatives that have to be read and, where necessary, approved and signed.For company, she has her dogs – her elderly dorgi Candy, corgi puppy Muick and another young corgi.The monarch, if she feels well enough, is also likely to study the Racing Post.She had a win on Sunday when her horse Kincardine won the Federation Of Bloodstock Agents Maiden Hurdle at Newbury.She will also be given a digest of the day’s news from the early-morning radio and television bulletins, and a selection of papers, with her photo gracing most of the front pages after the announcement that she has Covid.Her diagnosis follows a string of cases among the royal family, with the Prince of Wales meeting his mother in the week he tested positive, and the Duchess of Cornwall also isolating after contracting the virus.The Queen has only just reached her historic Platinum Jubilee of 70 years on the throne, on February 6.The Royal Household has its own physicians and the Queen’s doctors will be on hand to take care of and monitor the head of state, with Professor Sir Huw Thomas, head of the Medical Household and Physician to the Queen, expected to be in charge.The Queen has a number of major engagements coming up next month.She is set to host the Diplomatic Reception on March 2, where she will meet hundreds of members of the Diplomatic Corps at Windsor.She is also due to attend the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on March 14 and then the Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service, also at the Abbey, on March 29.The Queen is believed to be triple vaccinated but until recently had been on doctors’ orders to rest since mid-October, after cancelling a run of engagements and spending a night in hospital undergoing preliminary tests.Just a few weeks ago, she had begun to resume her normal duties, hosting at Sandringham her largest reception in months, on the eve of her Platinum Jubilee anniversary, and a few days later she held her first in-person audience with the Prime Minister in many weeks.She now regularly uses a stick and recently commented about her mobility issues, telling two senior military officers during a Windsor Castle reception “Well, as you can see, I can’t move,” when asked how she was.On Sunday, the Queen sent a message of congratulations to Team GB women’s curling team who became Winter Olympic champions after the men’s team won silver, but it is not known if she had tested positive at the time the words were signed off.The Queen, whose husband, Philip, died 10 months ago, spent much of the pandemic in the safety of Windsor Castle, protected in “HMS Bubble”, the nickname given to her reduced household of dedicated staff.The monarch, who for almost two years avoided contracting Covid, has served as a symbol of national stability during the pandemic, delivering two rare televised addresses to the nation weeks apart. More

Sadiq Khan has pledged to oppose the appointment of a new Met Police chief unless they have a “robust plan” to deal with the “cultural problems” that have led to a series of scandals at the force.Writing in The Observer, the London Mayor said he was “deeply concerned” that public trust and confidence in the country’s biggest police force “has been shattered so badly”, which he concluded could only be rebuilt with new leadership at the top of the Met.Dame Cressida Dick dramatically announced she was standing down as Metropolitan Police Commissioner on Thursday evening after Mr Khan made clear he had no confidence in her plans to reform the service.

It has become crystal-clear that there are deep cultural issues within the MetLondon Mayor Sadiq KhanMr Khan wrote that he will “work closely” with Priti Patel on the selection of Dame Cressida’s successor.While the Conservative Home Secretary holds the power over the appointment, she must take the Labour Mayor’s preference into account.Mr Khan wrote: “I will not support the appointment of a new commissioner unless they can clearly demonstrate that they understand the scale of the cultural problems within the Met and the urgency with which they must be addressed.“In short, they need to get it, and they need to have a proper and robust plan to deal with it.”The comments could foment tensions that arose between the Mayor and Ms Patel over the manner of Dame Cressida’s departure, just months after the Home Secretary agreed a two-year extension to her contract.Home Office sources said Ms Patel was angered by Mr Khan’s failure to inform her that he had called Dame Cressida to a meeting on Thursday afternoon, which she considered “rude and unprofessional”. More

We are living through a time of uncertainty and political turbulence – at home and overseas.At home, we take democracy for granted: we should not. It is far more complex than simply having the right to vote.In many countries, there is a widespread discontent of the governed, and democracy is in retreat. Nor is it in a state of grace in the UK.In the last decades of the 20th Century, the number of democratic countries grew dramatically: the arbiter of civil liberties, Freedom House, classified 110 nations as democratic.Democrats were so confident that their way of government was the wave of the future that they stopped arguing for it.Their confidence was premature.In each of the last fifteen years, democracy has shrunk a little, as political and civil liberties have been diminished.In many countries, democracy has never taken root. Where it has, it risks being weakened by populism – often with added xenophobia, or muzzled by elected autocracy. More

Conservationists are up in arms over a UK government decision to sign a new deal with the Faroe Islands following a record mass dolphin slaughter.Ministers have been accused of being “an absolute disgrace” and of “flying in the face of public opinion” after announcing the £5.5m agreement allowing UK and Faroe vessels to fish areas of each other’s waters.It comes after there was a worldwide uproar in September when Faroese hunters caused a bloodbath with the killing of 1,428 dolphins in one go, and dozens of pilot whales just days later.Since then, calls for the government to suspend its 2019 trade agreement with the islands until whale and dolphin hunts end have gathered pace, with 73,000 people signing a petition, and supermarkets being urged to stop selling seafood from the Faroes.UK animal welfare minister Zac Goldsmith wrote to the Faroese and Danish governments condemning the massacre.But fisheries minister Victoria Prentis said on Tuesday she was “pleased to announce” the deal that allows the UK to fish 1,000 tonnes of cod and haddock, worth £2.2m, as well as other species.Fish consumption has risen in the UK as people have stopped eating meat in recent months and years.Responses from the public on social media overwhelmingly condemned the deal when Ms Prentis announced it, some asking whether it was a joke, and others accusing the government of turning a blind eye to mass torture for money. Wildlife-protection lobbyist Dominic Dyer, who launched the petition on the government website calling for a suspension of trade, said he was very angry about the agreement, which showed how “out of touch” ministers were with public views in the UK and Europe.“It’s really badly timed. They’re giving the islanders more access to enriching the economy at a time when international opinion is definitely turning against these horrible hunts,” he told The Independent.“We need to restrict tourism to the islands and trade – we need to hurt them in their pockets and make Denmark feel the pinch so that if they lose more trade, the Danes have to pick up the bill.”The Sea Shepherd and Born Free conservation organisations are carrying out polling in Germany Denmark and Britain on the hunts – called “the grind”, which Mr Dyer was confident would show widespread opposition.The campaigners are aiming to take a delegation of leaders, politicians, naturalists and broadcasters to the islands in the spring to draw the attention of the Faroese government and Danish governments to the “cruelty that has no justification”.Mr Dyer, who said the government argued this deal was a separate strand from other post-Brexit trade, said pressure must also be put on retailers over where they source fish. If the petition reaches 100,000 names, it will be considered for debate by MPs.One commenter tweeted to Ms Prentis: “The UK had an opportunity to state its opposition to the mass #slaughter of #whales and #dolphins. This is nothing to be proud of.”Another said: “Did you by any chance bring up the subject of how they hack dolphins and whales to death in front of their terrified and struggling families? Thought not. Not one moral fibre between the lot of you!”A third told her: “Worldwide condemnation yet you choose to reward them. Shameful.”The government says the Faroe Islands are in no doubt as to the UK position on cetacean hunts, which it raises “at every relevant opportunity”.Immediately after September’s bloodbath, Sea Shepherd said it believed the slaughter had been the largest single hunt in Faroese history, and was possibly the largest single hunt of cetaceans ever recorded worldwide. It said footage showed dolphins suffered prolonged suffering before being killed.The Blue Planet Society said the EU Commission could not “sit back and let the Faroe Islands devastate Europe’s protected dolphin and small whale populations”.A government spokesperson said: “The UK is strongly opposed to the hunting of any cetaceans and continues to call on all whaling nations, including the Faroe Islands, at every relevant opportunity to cease their whaling activities in favour of well-managed, responsible tourism, such as whale-watching.” More