Category Archives: UK news

Edwin Poots resigns as DUP leader after 21 days in post

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Leadership drama in Northern Ireland’s biggest party could sink the power-sharing assembly at Stormont

Edwin Poots has resigned as leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) after colleagues rebelled over a deal to revive the Northern Ireland assembly, triggering a new political crisis in the region.

Poots quit on Thursday night after just 21 days in the job, the latest drama in a leadership meltdown in Northern Ireland’s biggest party that could sink the power-sharing assembly at Stormont.

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Previous Covid infection may not offer long-term protection, study finds

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Research found marked differences in immune response of medical staff six months after contracting virus

Previous infection with coronavirus does not necessarily protect against Covid in the longer term, especially when caused by new variants of concern, a study on healthcare workers suggests.

Researchers at Oxford University found marked differences in the immune responses of medical staff who contracted Covid, with some appearing far better equipped than others to combat the disease six months later.

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How do we learn to live with Covid in the UK?

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Analysis: Lockdown extension brings questions on when and how UK can draw a line under social distancing

The Commons vote to delay step four of England’s roadmap out of lockdown has focused attention on when and how the country can draw a line under social distancing and, in the words of the prime minister, “learn to live with the virus”.

While the surge in cases in Blackburn – one of the original Delta variant hotspots – may have peaked for now, Public Health England expects recent rises in the north-west to be mirrored across the UK. What that means for hospitals and lives will become clearer in the next four weeks.

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Sinn Féin designates deputy first minister to avert Stormont crisis

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Westminster-backed deal to legislate for Irish language protections saves Northern Ireland executive from collapse

Sinn Féin will nominate Michelle O’Neill as deputy first minister at Stormont after the party president, Mary Lou McDonald, said she received a commitment from the UK government to legislate for Irish language protections at Westminster.

McDonald earlier said she was going to meet the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, as her party and the DUP attempted to avert a fresh political crisis at Stormont.

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Number of EU citizens seeking work in UK falls 36% since Brexit, study shows

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Figures from the jobs website Indeed expose the impact on employers as they struggle to recruit staff

The number of EU citizens searching for work in Britain has fallen by more than a third since Brexit, according to a study that exposes the impact on UK employers as they struggle to recruit staff.

Figures from the jobs website Indeed show searches by EU-based jobseekers for work in the UK were down by 36% in May from average levels in 2019. Low-paid jobs in hospitality, the care sector and warehouses recorded the biggest declines at 41%.

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Matt Hancock says Delta variant accounts for 96% of new UK Covid cases – video

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The health secretary tells the House of Commons that the spread of the variant led the government to delay step four of its roadmap for easing restrictions in England. He said it spread more easily than the Alpha variant, and that there was some evidence that the risk of hospital admission was also higher

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Covid cases have peaked in Blackburn, official figures show

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Infections in England’s worst-affected council area fall steadily since 7 June, says PHE

Covid cases in Blackburn with Darwen, the local authority with England’s highest infection rate, have peaked, Public Health England figures indicate.

PHE data shows a total of 897 cases in Blackburn with Darwen for the seven days to 10 July, giving the town a rolling rate of 599 cases per 100,000 people.

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Nora Quoirin: Malaysia court overturns inquest’s misadventure verdict

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High court ruling leaves open possibility of criminal involvement, in victory for family

A Malaysian court has overturned the findings of an inquest into the death of the French-Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin, stating that the coroner was wrong to conclude she died as a result of misadventure.

The high court judge Azizul Azmi Adnan instead issued an open verdict, which does not rule out the possibility of criminal involvement and could pave the way for further investigations into her disappearance.

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UK criticises Leo Varadkar over united Ireland comments

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Irish deputy PM’s remarks ‘unhelpful and ill-advised’, says Northern Ireland secretary

The British government has rebuked Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, for saying he believed there could be a united Ireland within his lifetime.

Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Commons on Wednesday the comments were “unhelpful and ill-advised”.

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UK excluded again from EU’s Covid-safe travel list, but US added

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British tourists face continued restrictions as bloc opens up to other vaccinated travellers

British tourists face continued restrictions on travelling to the EU this summer even as the bloc opens up to others, including residents of the United States.

Eight countries are to be added to a list of countries from where the EU says non-essential travel is safe, but the UK has not been included.

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Cummings texts show Boris Johnson calling Matt Hancock ‘totally hopeless’

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WhatsApp message published by former aide reveals prime minister’s scathing verdict on health secretary

Boris Johnson described Matt Hancock as “totally fucking hopeless” during the early stages of the pandemic, concerned by the health secretary’s promises on testing, text messages published by Dominic Cummings have revealed.

Writing on Substack, the prime minister’s former chief aide published a slew of texts and documents from emergency Cobra meetings that he said would combat what he called “lies” from Downing Street and the health secretary about the initial handling of the pandemic.

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UK asks EU to suspend Northern Ireland sausage ban

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Brexit minister Lord Frost asks for ‘a bit of breathing space’ to negotiate deal and head off trade war

The UK has asked the EU to suspend an imminent ban on the sale of British sausages in Northern Ireland to give both sides “breathing space” to negotiate an agreement on the Brexit protocol and avert a trade war.

Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, was speaking days after Boris Johnson warned he would do “whatever it takes” to protect Northern Ireland’s position as part of the UK.

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New drug cuts deaths among patients with no Covid antibodies

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Oxford University trial reports cocktail of manmade antibodies reduces fatalities by a fifth

A new drug has been found to cut Covid deaths by a fifth among the sickest patients in hospital and may change official practice so that every patient with coronavirus will have an antibody test before they are admitted.

The Recovery trial based at Oxford University has found a third drug that can help Covid patients recover in hospital – but this one is the first to tackle the virus itself, rather than the inflammation that develops in the later stages of the disease.

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Scotland Yard to review UK Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking claims

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Channel 4 News uncovered allegations socialite groomed young women and girls in UK for Jeffrey Epstein

Scotland Yard has said it will review allegations that British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked, groomed and abused women and girls in the UK.

Maxwell, 59, the former girlfriend of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking and other charges in the US over her alleged role in procuring four teenage girls for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. She is currently in a US prison awaiting trial after proceedings were delayed until autumn.

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Home Office abandons plans to deport Osime Brown to Jamaica

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Family celebrate success of campaign to halt deportation of 22-year-old, who has autism

A 22-year-old man who has autism and his family are celebrating after the Home Office abandoned plans to deport him to Jamaica.

Osime Brown, who left Jamaica aged four to settle in the UK with his mother, Joan Martin, was facing deportation after being released from prison where he had been serving a sentence for stealing a friend’s mobile phone, though he and others said he did not do it.

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More countries restrict travel from UK over Delta variant fears

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Ireland to double to 10 days its quarantine period for UK travellers who are not fully vaccinated

Ireland is to double to 10 days its quarantine period for travellers from the UK who are not fully vaccinated, joining a growing list of countries imposing stricter travel rules on British arrivals due to concerns over the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

The announcement came after Boris Johnson on Monday delayed by a month the final stage of England’s exit from lockdown amid accusations the government should have acted faster by placing India, where the variant was first detected, on its red restricted-travel list before 23 April.

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‘People have already forgotten Jo Cox’: Samuel Kasumu on why he quit as No 10’s race adviser

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He resigned amid the fallout from a government report that dismissed institutional racism. In his first interview since, he says some members of the government are waging a culture war – and endangering the country

Samuel Kasumu is worried about what is to come. The former race adviser to No 10 has watched, dismayed, as commentators and members of the government – who he believes should know better – engage in a bitter culture war. He warns that the consequences for the UK will be severe.

“There are some people in the government who feel like the right way to win is to pick a fight on the culture war and to exploit division,” he says. “I worry about that. It seems like people have very short memories and they’ve already forgotten Jo Cox.” Kasumu believes the man who killed the MP may have been radicalised and worked into a “frenzy” by the narratives in certain newspapers that are pushed by media commentators.

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The Covid Delta variant: how effective are the vaccines?

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Analysis: what protection do they offer against infection, hospital admission and death?

As lockdown easing in England is delayed from 21 June to a possible date of 19 July amid concerns of a substantial wave of hospitalisations due to the Delta variant of coronavirus, we take a look at the latest data on the protection offered by vaccines.

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Why is Israel lifting Covid restrictions as England extends them?

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Analysis: both are viewed as running successful vaccine campaigns, but case numbers are very different

Israel and the UK were viewed as world leaders in their coronavirus vaccine campaigns but whereas the former is lifting almost all pandemic limitations, the latter is now glumly extending its restrictions in England amid a sharp rise in infections.

Despite starting its mass inoculation programme after the UK in December, Israel has sped ahead and it reached a key milestone on Tuesday, scrapping a requirement to wear face masks indoors, one of the final Covid limitations.

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