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Police are investigating an incident in which “thugs” grabbed Professor Chris Whitty in a London park and jeered, after video of the episode circulated online.A clip of the chief medical officer for England being put into a headlock was posted to Twitter on Monday night and was quickly condemned.At least two young men are seen grabbing the scientist as they ask him to stop for a photo in the park, near Westminster.Another voice can be heard saying: “Leave the gentleman alone.”It was not immediately clear when the incident took place or who had made the video.Prof Whitty was verbally abused in a London street in a similar video in February.The Metropolitan Police said it was aware of the footage and is investigating the circumstances.Vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi tweeted: “This is disgusting and these thugs must be found and charged. Zero tolerance for harassing a public servant.”A Met Police spokesperson said: “We’re aware of a video being shared online showing an incident in St James’ Park.“Officers spoke to all those involved at the time and their details were taken. We are in contact with the victim and the circumstances continue to be investigated.” More

Tens of thousands of children and babies in the UK could be left in limbo within weeks amid mounting delays in the processing of their EU settlement scheme applications, lawyers and charities have warned.Experts warn of a “disaster waiting to happen” as over 80,000 youngsters are still waiting for a decision, while many others are said to have not yet applied due to difficulties meeting “rigid” evidential requirements or parents simply being unaware they need to apply for their children.All EU nationals and their family members in the UK, including children of all ages, must apply to the EU settlement scheme by 30 June, with those who do not automatically becoming undocumented.The only exception is babies born after their parents have been granted EU settled status. But those born to parents with pre-settled status must still apply, and they must do so within three months of the baby’s birth.Charities have reported a surge in requests for help from parents having difficulty applying for EU settlement for children and newborn babies or those waiting long periods for an outcome for their child’s application.Campaign group the3million has written to immigration minister Kevin Foster expressing “concern” that many parents with EU settled status have not realised their children are not automatically covered under the scheme, or are finding it difficult to prove their children’s residence.An analysis of government figures, seen by The Independent, shows that as of March 2021 children made up 26 per cent of the current backlog of applications, despite only accounting for 15 per cent of applicants overall. More than 84,700 children were still waiting for a decision in March.While the overall backlog reduced between December 2020 and March 2021, the proportion of children crept up from 22 per cent to 26 per cent – indicating that these claims are taking longer than average to process.

This is putting tens of thousands of children at risk. That they run up such a backlog for a group they recognise as vulnerable, and that they made it harder to clear such cases, is a scandalDr Kuba Jablonowski, research fellowAnd more recent figures published by the Home Office this week, which provide no breakdown of children, show the overall backlog has risen again since March, from 323,730 to 334,500 – suggesting that the number of children waiting will have also increased.Lawyers say the delays are likely to be due in part to the Home Office’s requirement, introduced on 1 January, that children must show evidence they were in the UK prior to the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December.Caseworkers are said to be requesting this evidence after a child’s application has been submitted, creating further delays, as it is often difficult for parents or guardians to obtain the relevant documents, such as school or employment records, for a young child or a baby.Luke Piper, head of policy at the3million, accused the Home Office of focusing too heavily on “rigid requirements” on proof of residency rather than applying discretion on a case-by-case basis. “If an applicant is the child of people with settled status the caseworkers should just pick up the phone and talk to the parents. They shouldn’t refuse the child or cause delays,” he said.Dr Kuba Jablonowski, research fellow at Exeter University, who carried out the analysis, said: “This is putting tens of thousands of children at risk. That they run up such a backlog for a group they recognise as vulnerable, and that they made it harder to clear such cases, is a scandal.”The Home Office has said that any applicant who has not received a decision by 30 June will continue to have their rights protected until their application is concluded.However, charities are concerned that agencies required to check immigration status, such as the NHS and employers, will not be aware of this and could deny people access to basic services while they are waiting for a decision.Marianne Lagrue, of Coram Children’s Legal Centre, said a verbal assurance was “not enough” to ensure that one’s rights would be protected.“Their access to education, healthcare and services that they need in crisis are dependent on these services understanding those individuals’ rights. There’s so much scope for human error,” she added.Marieke Widmann, of the Children’s Society said the charity had seen a “huge rise” in enquiries about EU settlement over the past few weeks, with most asking for help with children’s applications.“We are getting emails and calls from parents confused as to whether their children need to apply to the scheme, some asking how to make an application from the start. Others who have applied, but have not yet had a decision, are worried about the impending deadline,” she said.“We are concerned that support services are at full capacity and so many parents have no idea where to turn for help. Even worse, there are no doubt many out there who haven’t yet realised they need to apply for their child.”

The government needs to, urgently, improve the backlog and make sure cast iron guarantees are in place to guarantee eligible citizen won’t lose their rightsBambos Charalambous, shadow immigration ministerMs Lagrue warned that many children were likely to end up not receiving EU settlement either because their parents or guardians were not able to complete the application process or did not apply at all.“For newborn babies it often it won’t be felt until years later. It will come as a shock. It feels like a disaster waiting to happen,” she said.“Children will suffer needlessly and there might not be an obvious route for support for them to rectify the situation. They’re totally at the mercy of the adults in their lives taking the responsible action, but they are the ones who will feel the full force of any consequences.”She called for faster decision-making and “clear and unequivocal” information to be provided to agencies such as the NHS and employers about the rules.Shadow immigration minister Bambos Charalambous warned that children were being “left behind” due to the Home Office “failing to have control of the scheme”.“The government needs to, urgently, improve the backlog and make sure cast iron guarantees are in place to guarantee eligible citizen won’t lose their rights,” he said.Mr Foster said: “It is completely inaccurate to suggest children who have applied to the EU settlement scheme will be left in limbo.“Through our targeted campaigns to encourage parents to apply for their children, we have seen a rise in applications from under 18s, which accounts for higher numbers of applications being processed.“Since the scheme launched in March 2019, there have been more than 5.6 million applications and more than 5 million grants of status and I would encourage anyone eligible who hasn’t applied, or has not done so on behalf of their children, to apply now.” More

Scotland is “unlikely” to ease coronavirus restrictions further at the end of the month as had been planned, Nicola Sturgeon has said.Speaking in Holyrood, the first minister did not rule out the further relaxation of rules – moving to Level 0 – on 28 June but said the Scottish government wanted to “buy ourselves sufficient time” to allow the vaccination programme to continue its work.She suggested that Scotland would not return to “much greater normality” until later in July at the earliest. “Given the current situation – and the need to get more people fully vaccinated before we ease up further – it is reasonable to indicate now that I think it unlikely that any part of the country will move down a level from 28 June,” Ms Sturgeon said.“Instead, it is likely that we will opt to maintain restrictions for a further three weeks from 28 June and use that time to – with both doses – as many more people as possible.“Doing that will give us the best chance, later in July, of getting back on track and restoring the much greater normality that we all crave.”Ms Sturgeon said it was a “difficult and frustrating” development but “while this setback is not easy, it is worth remembering that we are living under far fewer restrictions now than was the case a few weeks ago”.She added: “The current situation is not what any of us want – but equally it is not lockdown. And vaccination is – with every day that – helping us change the game.”Level 0 is described as “near normal” but a number of restrictions still exist, including limits on the number of people individuals can meet socially in groups, and people are still advised to work from home where possible.Earlier, government figures indicated Scotland has recorded two coronavirus deaths and 974 new cases in the past 24 hours.The daily positivity rate was 5 per cent, down from 5.2 per cent the previous day, according to figures published on Tuesday.There were 137 people in hospital on Monday with recently confirmed Covid-19, up from 128 on Sunday.Seventeen people were in intensive care, no change on the day before.The Scottish government’s announcement follows confirmation on Monday by Boris Johnson that England would see a four-week delay to Covid rules easing, buying more time for people to receive vaccinations.Additional reporting by PA More

The fourth and final part of Boris Johnson’s roadmap from winter lockdown planned for all limits on social contact to be lifted on or after 21 June, paving the way for the way for the reopening of nightclubs and full audiences at events and performances.However, the prime minister announced on Monday that the four tests — success of the vaccination rollout, vaccine efficacy, the continuous dropping of infection rates and emergence of new variants — had not been met and that the fourth step must be delayed, until 19 July.He also said people may wish to continue social distancing after that date.“This is a virus that’s going to be with us forever,” Sir Patrick Vallance told the same news conference.Limits on numbers for sports events, pubs and cinemas will therefore remain in place, nightclubs will stay shuttered and people will be asked to continue working from home where possible.Downing Street left open the option of ending restrictions on 5 July if the data proves drastically better than expected but conceded this is “unlikely”.Mr Johnson did, however, announce a limited easing of restrictions to take place from June 21 as he faces the prospect of a rebellion from Conservative MPs who are furious about the delay.The 30-person cap for wedding ceremonies and receptions, as well as wakes, will be lifted, with limits to be set by venues based on social distancing requirements.We can expect masks, two-metre distancing and hand sanitiser to be with us for some time, as the vaccine rollout continues over the coming months to take in the less “at risk” groups.Mr Johnson spent the early weeks of February urging extreme caution regarding the lifting of lockdown restrictions.He has been placed under considerable pressure from within his own party after the Covid Recovery Group led by MPs Steve Baker and Mark Harper issued a letter signed by 63 backbenchers hailing the “tremendous pace” of the UK’s vaccine rollout – with 15m jabs already administered – and calling for the swift easing of restrictions. More

As the G7 summit draws to a close, here’s a look at some of the most memorable moments from the past few days:Boris-Biden beach walk love-inBoris Johnson and Joe Biden met as leaders for the first time on Thursday on the eve of the summit, swapping gifts and handshakes for elbow bumps as they posed for photographs before sitting down for talks. Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson joined their husbands hand-in-hand on a stroll along the Carbis Bay promenade before later dipping their toes in the water as baby Wilfred watched in the sand. The US president joked: “I told the prime minister we have something in common. We both married way above our stations.” Mr Johnson hailed Biden as a “breath of fresh air” and played down their differences over Northern Ireland, instead he emphasised the closeness of the partnership between the two countries. “It’s wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and to Joe Biden because there’s so much that they want to do together with us – from security and NATO to climate change,” the PM said. “It’s fantastic, it’s a breath of fresh air. There’s a lot of things they want to do together.”US announces 500 million Pfizer jabs donationFollowing his initial meeting with Johnson on Thursday, President Biden announced his administration’s plan to donate 500 million doses of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine to lower-income countries. He stressed the donation would come with “no strings attached”, comparing the US involvement in the global fight against the pandemic with its role as “the arsenal of democracy in World War 2.” The White House said it was the largest-ever donation of vaccines by a single country and the donation will be managed through the World Health Organisation-led Covax effort. The vaccines will be distributed to about 100 lower-income countries and the African Union. On Sunday, Boris Johnson said the G7 had pledged over 1 billion Covid-19 vaccine doses for poorer nations – far short of the 11 billion doses sought by the WHO. Last month, Biden broke with European allies to throw his support behind a move at the World Trade Organisation to waive intellectual patents for coronavirus vaccines.Sea shanties to woo world leadersOn Saturday night to wrap up the second day of the summit, Mr Johnson hosted a beach barbecue on Carbis Bay for some of the world’s most powerful figures. As scallop and crab claw canapés were passed around and guests enjoyed hot buttered rum and toasted marshmallows around fire pits on the beach, they were serenaded by the local sea shanty group, Du Hag Owr, who describe themselves as “Cornwall’s South Coast Shantymen”.  Guests were also treated to a fly-past from the famous RAF Red Arrows, roaring through the sky trailing white, red and blue smoke. Downing Street was later forced to insist attendees behaved in a Covid-secure way after images from the event appeared to show no social distancing and guests not wearing masks.Jill Biden’s jacket with a messageThe first lady made a pointed fashion choice on her first overseas trip since moving into the White House in January, appearing in front of reporters wearing a simple black jacket which on the black was a message adorned with sparkle: “LOVE”. The choice seemed an apparent nod to her predecessor Melania Trump’s infamous “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO YOU?” jacket, worn on a visit to an immigration detention centre in Texas amid a scandal about children being separated from their families at the border. When asked if she could explain her choice of jacket, Dr Biden simply said that she was bringing “love from America”.Boris swimming in the seaThe prime minister was seen taking a dip off the Cornwall coast on Saturday morning, before walking hand-in-hand with his wife along the beach near their luxurious hotel ahead of the day’s talks. Mr Johnson vowed to lose weight last year after ending up in intensive care with coronavirus and has been frequently pictured jogging and cycling since. Further along the Cornish coast, hundreds of demonstrators also took to the sea and streets to protest against the lack of climate change action from world leaders attending the summit. Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion marched through Falmouth while cleaner seas campaigners Surfers Against Sewage paddled out into the bay from Gyllyngvase beach in Falmouth with banners declaring an “ocean and climate emergency”. The group Ocean Rebellion have also projected a protest message onto a ship in Falmouth harbour housing police officers. More

Eleven pandemic exercises were conducted between 2015 and 2019, the government has revealed – but it is refusing to release the results on national security grounds.Health secretary Matt Hancock has been accused of “covering up secret reports” during the Covid-19 outbreak.The trials included Exercise Alice, which in 2016 tested the UK’s readiness to cope with Middle East Respiratory syndrome (Mers), another type of coronavirus.Until now, the government has admitted only to having run Operation Cygnus, also in 2016, which over three days simulated a flu pandemic.The exercises came to light after a doctor campaigned for transparency on how well the government had prepared the NHS for a pandemic.Moosa Qureshi submitted a request under Freedom of Information law asking for information about any pandemic operations.His request was rejected on grounds of national security, so he asked for an internal review.Now Public Health England (PHE) has told him the national security exemption is no longer applicable.The pandemic exercises that have been disclosed also include three on dealing with an outbreak of Ebola, three on a flu pandemic, two on coping with lassa, a viral haemorrhagic fever, and two on bird flu.PHE is refusing to release the results of the tests, saying to do so would damage national security.Dr Qureshi, a hospital consultant, said: “The health secretary told parliament that Exercise Cygnus looked at UK preparedness for a flu pandemic – not other pandemics – but the truth is that he’s covering up multiple secret reports on preparedness for other pandemics, including a coronavirus pandemic.”Pandemic preparedness is improved by transparency and public scrutiny, he said.“We’re facing a third pandemic wave and there will be future pandemics. Let’s stop playing politics and get scientific with this.”Last month former No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings  claimed that government “secrecy” in the Covid crisis “contributed greatly to the catastrophe”. The Independent has asked the Department for Health and Social Care to respond. More

The government made policing during the coronavirus pandemic “even harder” with rapidly changing and unclear laws, police leaders have said.The chair of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers across England and Wales, said they had been put in an “extraordinary” position.“For the past 15 months we have been required to police in a way that none of us ever expected to when we joined the job,” John Apter told the body’s annual conference on Wednesday.“We knew it was never going to be easy. But our job was made even harder by the ever changing rules and regulations.”Addressing Priti Patel, Mr Apter said officers had been going out on patrol “literally hours after the new regulations were introduced”.He added: “They had often received no detailed briefing because the laws had only just been passed, which meant they were often going out on patrol with no specific detail about what the change meant for policing. “There was no discussion about how to deal with the new laws or the new guidance and let’s be honest home secretary, the rules were not always crystal clear.”Mr Apter said mistakes had been made as a result of the way laws were introduced, and that police had unfairly become the focus of blame.Martin Hewitt, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told the conference that he had expressed “frustration” at the speed of changes and differences between areas of the UK.“At the beginning it was very hard,” he added. “I’ve expressed that frustration a number of times about the last-minute nature of us understanding what the regulations were going to be.”He said police leaders had created a model, meaning officers had to explain the law to people suspected of breaking Covid legislation and encourage them to follow it voluntarily, before moving to fines and arrests.Coronavirus in numbersHowever, a Crown Prosecution Service review has found that at least a third of coronavirus prosecutions have been wrongful, and legal campaigners are calling for the more than 115,000 fines so far issued in England and Wales to be checked.The home secretary said police officers should not have been “vilified” for trying to “do the right thing” in the early stages of the pandemic.Ms Patel said the government had worked with police leaders and kept them informed but admitted: “You’re never going to get it all right in one go.”“It’s never going to be perfect but the guidance we put out and the changes we brought in through legislation were not always popular but we know they helped to save lives,” she added.“We worked with policing when it came to guidance and the advice that was put out. Look at the way the public responded. We had some spiky moments but by and large the public complied, the public understood.”Rank-and-file police officers were not told of the first national lockdown before it was announced by Boris Johnson on 23 March 2020.The prime minister told the public that if they did not follow unprecedented rules, “the police will have the powers to enforce them”, but laws underpinning restrictions did not come into force for days and have since changed more than 70 times in England alone.A previous survey by the Police Federation, which represents more than 130,000 officers in England and Wales, found that only one in 10 thought that Covid-19 laws were “clear”.Police representatives had expressed concerns to the government about the “tiers” laws that changed from area to area, and “limits on capacity” for enforcing aspects such as the wearing of face coverings in supermarkets.In April 2020, reports issued by two parliamentary committees also warned that gaps between guidance issued by the government and the law were creating confusion among the police and public.Government guidance has been stricter than the law for most of the pandemic, for example saying that people must only make “essential” journeys or exercise outside once a day, when the Health Protection Regulations did not impose those limits.Kit Malthouse, the policing minister, told the Police Federation conference that the government could not “legislate for all public behaviour”.He said the government had tried to ensure police officers were “as clear as they possibly could be”. More

Labour’s Lisa Nandy has called the government’s traffic light rating system for travel “confusing” and “dangerous” and urged ministers to scrap the amber designation.On the BBC’s Andew Marr Show on Sunday morning, the shadow foreign secretary said: “I think we’ve got a real, real problem with the travel system that the government has put in place.“We’ve currently got countries on the amber list which the government is basically urging people not to go to but allowing people to go to with very lax quarantine requirements when they come back.“We think the amber list should be scrapped. We think it’s pointless. We think it’s confusing and that confusion is actually dangerous at the moment.”She added that the current list risked “unravelling all of the progress” that had been made against coronavirus to date.When asked if people returning from holidays in France should have to quarantine upon their return to the UK, Ms Nandy did not provide an explicit answer. “I think that we should have robust quarantine measures in place for people coming back into the country. That’s absolutely right.”She added that clearer messaging was needed around travel to countries where new variants were rapidly emerging. “Travelling overseas, particularly when you’ve got countries like Thailand and Vietnam on the amber list where new variants are emerging and being imported into the UK, is the wrong thing to do, and the government ought to be absolutely clear about that,” she said.The traffic light system that Ms Nandy was criticising was introduced on 17 May, with reviews on the countries on each list taking place every three weeks.There are currently 11 countries on the green list, where holidaymakers can return from without having to quarantine, however entry into many of these countries is impossible for most Britons due to local restrictions.Portugal was the only mainstream European holiday destination on the amber list, until Thursday when the government announced it was announced that it would be moved to the amber list, citing fears about rising Covid cases and a mutation of the Delta variantTalking about the decision to downgrade Portugal, transport secretary Grant Schapps said that he and his cabinet colleagues “simply don’t want to take the risk” of mutated variants evading vaccine protection ahead of the planned lifting of all coronavirus restrictions in England on 21 June.There are more than 160 destinations on the amber list, which includes most of Europe, North America and Asian countries where new variants have been found, like Thailand and Vietnam. Although travel is permitted to these countries, travellers are required to quarantine at home for 10 days following their return, and take two PCR tests to confirm their Covid-negative status.There has been confusion over leisure travel to amber list countries. During a recent prime ministers’ questions, Boris Johnson said: “It is very, very clear – you should not be going to an ‘amber list’ country except for some extreme circumstance, such as the serious illness of a family member. You should not be going to an ‘amber list’ country on holiday.”Yet travellers are allowed to travel to amber list destinations without proof of an essential reason, and some holiday companies are offering holidays to amber list countries.No new countries were added to the green list in the first review of the traffic light system, but seven were added to the red list, including Egypt and Costa Rica. Travellers returning from any of the 50 red list countries are required to quarantine for 11 nights in a hotel at a cost of £1750. According to Mr Schapps, red list countries “should not be visited except in the most extreme of circumstances”.The next update to the traffic light system is expected around 24 June. More