UK government has abandoned its own Covid health advice, leak reveals

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak said to have agreed to decision not to follow public health advice on testing in vulnerable settings

Public health advice is no longer being followed under Boris Johnson’s “living with Covid” strategy to end mass testing, senior civil servants have acknowledged in a leaked account of a cross-Whitehall briefing.

The briefing by a senior member of the Covid taskforce was delivered to civil service leaders across Whitehall on Thursday afternoon, making clear that following public health advice was no longer the sole priority.

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UK politics live: sending Nato forces to Ukraine would risk leading to ‘existential’ threat, says minister

Latest updates: armed forces minister tells Commons Nato and UK forces must not play active role; 1,000 troops on standby to help with refugee response

Culture secretary Nadine Dorries welcomed Uefa’s decision to strip St Petersburg of the Champions League final over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

She said:

I welcome Uefa’s decisive action to strip St Petersburg of staging this year’s Champions League Final.

Russia must not be allowed to exploit sporting and cultural events on the world stage to legitimise its unprovoked, premeditated and needless attack against a sovereign democratic state.

I appreciate there is an urgent question on Ukraine later on, but I wonder if the government has given any indication about whether they are going to make a statement about our relations with China, given that China has done nothing to condemn the Ukrainian incursion, and whether the government will also make a statement about what is happening in the Balkans where I understand that missiles are arriving in Serbia ready to destabilise the Dayton Agreement and create a new crisis there.

I have been given no notification that anything is forthcoming. What I would say is that we do have the urgent question and I am sure that he may be able to press the minister if he were able to catch my eye.

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NHS Scotland Covid app rebuked for breaching data privacy laws

UK watchdog says app was not clear about how data is used and it may consider ‘further regulatory action’

The Scottish government and NHS Scotland have been rebuked for breaching data privacy laws on a Covid vaccine status app downloaded by millions of people.

The Information Commissioner’s Office, which polices the UK’s privacy laws, said it had warned the Scottish government and NHS last year that there were serious privacy problems with the app, but not all those problems were fixed before it was launched.

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UK says it will work ‘all day’ to persuade Europe to cut Russia off from Swift

Foreign secretary goes on diplomatic drive to rally support for peak sanctions measure

The UK has said it will work “all day” to persuade fellow European states to cut Russia off from the international Swift payment system.

The UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, ended the pretence that Britain was not at odds with its fellow European leaders over the issue. He said there was still time for Russia to be excluded, and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: “The UK is working with allies to exclude Russia from the Swift financial system.”

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UK politics live: Boris Johnson promises ‘massive sanctions’ after Russian invasion of Ukraine

Latest updates: prime minister condemns Russian president Vladimir Putin and promises to stand with Ukraine

General Sir Richard Shirreff, the former British officer who was Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander, told the Today programme this morning the possibility of the war in Ukraine leading to military conflict between Britain and Russia could not be ruled out. Asked if this was possible, he replied:

Absolutely there is a possibility that we as a nation could be at war with Russia, because if Russia puts one bootstep across Nato territory, we are all at war with Russia. Every single one, every single member of the Nato alliance.

Article 5 [of the Nato alliance] says an attack on one is an attack on all, so we need to change our mindset fundamentally, and that is why I say our defence starts in the UK on the frontiers of Nato.

What became evident in the days leading up to this invasion is that Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated. That bizarre video of him berating his senior officials shows that he’s making these decisions increasingly in isolation and illogically.

And unfortunately I think that that is part of the reason why the initial round of international sanctions that [were] put in place by ourselves, by France, Germany, the US, Canada and others, didn’t have the deterrent effect.

The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect. Just the announcement that it’s coming - we’ve seen the Russian stock market, the equivalent of the FTSE, drop by over 30%. That is a huge reduction in Russia’s economic abilities to fund this invasion.

And those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion.

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Britons living in EU can’t keep pre-Brexit rights, European court advised

Blow to UK nationals as advocate general finds against Alice Bouilliez, who objected to losing voting rights

The European court of justice has been advised that British nationals living on the continent do not keep the advantages of EU citizenship now the UK has left the bloc, in a blow to campaigners fighting to keep more of their rights after Brexit.

Anthony Collins, an Irish advocate general at the court, said in an opinion published on Thursday that British nationals “who enjoyed the benefits of union citizenship do not retain those advantages following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU”.

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Boris Johnson promises massive sanctions to ‘hobble’ Russian economy

PM says ‘we will not just look away’ and Putin’s ‘barbaric adventure’ in Ukraine must end in failure

Boris Johnson has said that “a vast invasion is under way, by land, by sea and by air” in Ukraine, as he promised to impose “massive” sanctions that would “hobble” the Russian economy.

Speaking as world leaders scrambled to respond to the attacks that began in the early hours of Thursday morning, the UK prime minister said Russia had “attacked a friendly country without any provocation and without any credible excuse”.

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UK government accused of ignoring victims in efforts to tackle ‘sex for aid’

Foreign office’s ‘top-down’ approach failing people it is seeking to protect, says watchdog, with abuse cases still underreported

The British government has not listened to victims in its efforts to tackle abuse in the humanitarian sector after the “sex for aid” scandals, a UK watchdog has said.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai) said the government was falling short because of a “top-down” approach and needed to listen and learn from recipients of aid who remained reluctant to report abuse allegations.

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Freedom or folly? The end of England’s Covid restrictions

Today marks the first day in nearly two years that no laws will be in place in England to deal with the spread of Covid-19. But is the government still following the science?

All the remaining Covid restrictions in England will be lifted today. Instead of a legal requirement to self-isolate when infected, people with coronavirus will be simply advised to avoid passing on the disease. But the government is also removing financial support for those self-isolating, as well as winding down its expensive contact-tracing infrastructure and refusing to continue funding tests for individuals.

It is a moment that has brought celebration to many in Boris Johnson’s Conservative party, a large number of whom have long been stridently opposing every new restrictive measure designed to curb the spread of the virus. But as the Guardian’s Peter Walker tells Hannah Moore, not everyone is overjoyed at the news. Many on the Labour benches detect an overtly political motivation that they say has trumped a more cautious science-backed approach to living with Covid. While Johnson claims to be moving to end restrictions in England faster than anywhere else in Europe, Scotland and Wales are moving notably slower. Meanwhile, those who have in the past been deemed clinically vulnerable to Covid are now expressing anger and anxiety about what is to come.

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UK ‘out in front’ in imposing sanctions on Russia, says Boris Johnson – video

The British prime minister has claimed the UK  is 'out in front' in terms of sanctions against Russia as the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, pushed him for further measures during PMQs.

Boris Johnson said 275 people were subject to sanctions and bank assets were frozen. Only three individuals have been added to the list since the Ukraine crisis escalated at the beginning of the week, but Johnson added: 'There is more to come.'

The UK is expected to provide further military support to Ukraine, including lethal and non-lethal aid

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Alex, Filmon, Mulue and Osman thought they were safe in Britain. So why did the teenage friends take their own lives?

After perilous journeys fleeing human rights abuse in Eritrea, the four boys had arrived safely in the UK. Yet in the space of 16 months they were all dead. What went wrong?

For a while, the four teenage boys, Alex, Filmon, Osman and Mulue, did a reasonably good job of looking after each other. Filmon and Mulue had met in Eritrea before they embarked on their long, dangerous journey to Britain; the others became friends en route or in London, in a park near a Home Office registration centre for unaccompanied child refugees. Their similar backgrounds drew them together, as did the shared experience of travelling 3,300 miles in search of safety.

Mulue and Alex had both spent time in foster care before moving into independent accommodation; Osman and Filmon were living in a hostel in north London. They had all become used to surviving without parents, instead leaning on each other for support. All of them were also struggling with the unsettling reality of their precarious new lives, which was so different from the expectations they had clung to during their traumatic journeys.

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Leak confirms Partygate questionnaire includes police caution

Met’s questionnaire asks recipients if they have ‘reasonable excuse’ for attending gatherings in lockdown

The first glimpse of a Partygate questionnaire confirms that Downing Street insiders are being questioned under police caution – and asked if they have a “reasonable excuse” for attending lockdown-busting gatherings.

Boris Johnson has already returned his replies to the Metropolitan police’s questions, and is believed to have argued that he attended social events in No 10 in a work capacity.

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Ukraine crisis: sanctions against Russia come at a cost to the west

Analysis: The west will adopt step-by-step approach, leaving toughest sanctions as last resort

After all the tough talk of the past month, the sanctions imposed on Russia by the west are unlikely to lose Vladimir Putin much sleep. The response to Boris Johnson’s announcement that five of the less important Russian banks and three individuals would be targeted was: is that it?

The most dramatic news was Germany’s decision to halt approval of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to western Europe. That will have an impact, but may end up affecting Germany more than it does Russia.

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Tory row over testing casts shadow over PM’s Covid announcement

Analysis: cabinet colleagues horrified over wrangling between Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid

Cabinet ministers were already waiting in No 10 on Monday morning when it became clear the sign-off for the prime minister’s much-anticipated end to Covid regulations was not going to be as perfunctory as they had imagined.

A festering row between Rishi Sunak’s Treasury and Sajid Javid’s health department was responsible, first reported by the Guardian last week and still unresolved.

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Johnson to say ending Covid rules in England is a ‘moment of pride’

PM to unveil long-term strategy for living with the virus but health experts say measures are premature

Boris Johnson will proclaim that the lifting of all remaining Covid restrictions in England this week marks a “moment of pride” when he unveils the government’s long-term strategy for living with the virus, despite concerns from scientists, health experts and Labour that the move is premature.

The legal requirement for anyone with Covid to isolate will be ditched a month earlier than planned, while free PCR and lateral flow tests for everyone will be axed to rein in public spending and attempt to restore people’s confidence that life can return to normality. The tests will reportedly be kept for the over-80s.

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Tributes paid to DUP politician Christopher Stalford, who has died at 39

Leaders across Northern Irish political spectrum praised ‘passionate’ Stormont assembly member

Tributes from across Northern Ireland’s political divide have been paid to Christopher Stalford, a Democratic Unionist party member of the Northern Ireland assembly who has died suddenly at the age of 39.

The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said he had talked at length on Friday night with Stalford, whom he described as a friend and as someone who had been “born to be a public representative”.

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West has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan, says David Miliband

‘We are not punishing the Taliban, we are making it worse for the people,’ says former UK foreign secretary

The west has inflicted catastrophic damage on Afghanistan and its own reputation by imposing a policy of starvation on the country, according to David Miliband, the former UK foreign secretary and chief executive of the International Rescue Committee.

“If we wanted to create a failed state we could not have a more effective policy mix than the one we have at the moment,” he told the Guardian.

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‘We’re in a different world’: PM defends end of Covid rules in England

Boris Johnson indicates last restrictions could be eased from next week and free testing will end soon

The country is “in a different world” from when the Covid pandemic started, Boris Johnson has said, meaning the last remaining restrictions can begin to be lifted from next week.

Ahead of an announcement on Monday about the government’s “living with Covid” strategy, the prime minister signalled free mass testing would end imminently and told people to return to the office and “get their confidence back”.

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