Category Archives: Politics

UK coronavirus live: estimated 618,700 people in England had Covid last week; Liverpool begins mass-testing

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Latest updates: ONS figures represent around 1.13% of population; Operation Moonshot trial launches in Liverpool on Friday

A coronavirus passport app promoted by the Olympian Zara Tindall has been reported to a health regulator over concerns it is mis-selling antibody tests.

The V-Health Passport was touted as a “game changer” to get sports fans back into stadiums and major events. It involves spectators getting a rapid antibody test prior to attending an event, with results uploaded on a health passport on an app.

In the advert, Zara and Mike Tindall were being told they don’t have the virus – you can’t say that. This could do harm, with people getting into sporting events with negative results while they are infectious.

I have no problem with the app, it’s the use of the app. A lot of health professionals have seen it with their head in their hands.

Some schools may be sending children home “too readily” amid the pandemic, the chief inspector of Ofsted has said.

Parents of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been told that schools cannot accommodate their children due to Covid-19 risk assessments, according to Amanda Spielman.

And here, many parents haven’t made an active decision to keep their child at home – they’ve been told that schools can’t accommodate them. Because it’s too difficult, because Covid risk assessments won’t allow it. It’s deeply concerning and, understandably, many parents feel cut adrift.

For the children with SEND that have been able to get back into education, it hasn’t been plain sailing either. We’re hearing that many have suffered setbacks in their communication skills – probably down to having reduced social interaction for such a long time.

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How UK government misrepresented Covid projections – explained

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No 10 has admitted an ‘error’ in the way data was presented to make case for second lockdown

The UK Statistics Authority has rebuked the government over its lack of transparency around projected Covid-19 deaths and hospital admissions, saying it could cast doubt over official figures.

A range of estimates were used to make the case for a second English lockdown in a press conference on 31 October. However, the UKSA said “the data and assumptions for this model had not been shared transparently”, potentially undermining confidence in official figures.

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Operation Moonshot: Covid mass-testing trial begins in Liverpool

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Asymptomatic people encouraged to get tested as scheme launches amid some confusion

The UK’s first mass-testing trial is under way in Liverpool as part of the government’s Operation Moonshot drive to test up to 10 million people a day.

Six new testing centres opened their doors to Liverpudlians at noon on Friday as the city’s health chief urged the city’s 500,000-strong population to volunteer for a coronavirus test over the next fortnight.

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UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson holds news briefing on first day of England’s new lockdown

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Latest updates: PM gives televised address after Sunak extends furlough until end of March

Q: What is your response to concerns about the data presented by government? (See 4.11pm.)

Johnson says the government is happy to share the data it has.

Q: Won’t we have to live with restrictions for some time?

Stevens says the NHS is prepared for coronavirus.

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Rishi Sunak announces extension of UK’s coronavirus furlough scheme – video

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The chancellor has announced that the government will extend the UK's furlough scheme until March as the second wave of Covid-19 infections and new lockdown threaten to push up unemployment. In a major climbdown, Rishi Sunak said the Treasury would continue to pay 80% of workers’ wages

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UK can expect at least three Covid waves with lockdowns, Mordaunt says

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Tory MP defends strategy as rebels warn they will not vote to extend latest restrictions

The UK should be braced for at least a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and further lockdowns, a minister has said as Tory sceptics warned they would not vote to extend England’s four-week shutdown.

Penny Mordaunt, the paymaster general, told MPs on Tuesday that there could yet be a rolling series of lockdowns – but argued this was not evidence that the measure was ineffective.

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Met police told to reveal if spies still used in political groups

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Head of undercover policing inquiry says he expects to be told if practice is continuing

The head of the inquiry into undercover policing has insisted that Scotland Yard reveal whether it is currently deploying spies in political groups.

The surprise intervention from Sir John Mitting came on the second day of public hearings in the inquiry into spying operations that targeted mostly leftwing groups for at least four decades.

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Deciphering the quirks of England’s second Covid lockdown rules

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Details around the restrictions are proving complex enough to puzzle even ministers

The government has published the full regulations for England’s second national lockdown, which is to begin on Thursday and will last for four weeks. A number of details had already emerged, and some are sufficiently complex to have puzzled even ministers.

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Liverpool to pioneer UK’s first attempt at mass Covid testing

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Up to 500,000 people in city will be tested in bid to measure feasibility of mass population screening

Up to half a million people in Liverpool are set to be tested for Covid-19 under the UK government’s first attempt to embark on city-wide mass testing and track down every case of the virus.

The Guardian also understands that the self-isolation period for those who test positive for coronavirus, and their contacts, could be cut from the current 14-day period to seven days as early as this week.

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UK coronavirus live: Starmer accuses Johnson of ‘catastrophic failure of leadership’ over England lockdown

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Latest updates: PM tells MPs he makes no apology for trying to avoid a nationwide lockdown

Ruth Davidson, the former Scottish Conservative leader, and current Tory leader in the Scottish parliament, is confident that Boris Johnson was making a concession to Scotland (and the other devolved administrations too, presumably) on furlough. See 5.34pm.

Under questioning from @Douglas4Moray, PM gives reassurance that furlough is available to devolved administrations now and in the future https://t.co/2aE8rEtEDj

In the Commons Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, asked if Scotland could access the furlough scheme beyond November.

Johnson said the furlough scheme was a UK-wide scheme.

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The lockdown rebels preparing to defy No 10 on Covid restrictions

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From former Tory ministers to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, the key figures standing against a second lockdown

As England braces for a second national lockdown, Downing Street once more faces a rebellion over tougher restrictions. Ahead of a Commons vote on Wednesday, several Conservative MPs are weighing up their options. Here are some key figures who may line up against the government and the broad camps they sit in, alongside Nigel Farage and his plan for a new anti-lockdown party.

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Boris Johnson faces Tory fury amid hints of further lockdown

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‘No alternative’ to measures given threat from Covid second wave, PM will tell Commons

Boris Johnson will insist there is “no alternative” to a nationwide lockdown as he addresses the House of Commons on Monday amid mounting fury among Tory MPs, after ministers conceded the new “stay at home” order could be extended beyond 2 December.

The prime minister will tell parliament that without the draconian new measures, which will come into force across England on Thursday, deaths from coronavirus over the winter could be “twice as bad or even worse” than in the first wave.

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The Guardian view on Tories and migration: stop the posing | Editorial

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The drowning of a family of five in the Channel and a fire on a ship off the coast of Senegal should prompt action – ‘thoughts and prayers’ are not enough

“We don’t see migration as a problem at all: we see people dying at sea as a problem and the existence of the mafias as a problem.” Such was the view expressed last week by Hana Jalloul, secretary of state for migration in Spain. Days earlier, more than 140 people had died off the coast of Senegal, after their ship caught fire and capsized, in the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year. Ms Jalloul spoke of efforts to support the regional government of the Canary Islands, which is struggling to cope with the number of arrivals, and stressed her determination to combat organised crime. She also pointed to migrants’ crucial role in Spanish life, including as care workers during the pandemic.

British politicians could profit from studying her example in the aftermath of the drowning of a family of four Kurdish Iranians in the Channel. (A fifth member of the same family, aged 15 months, is missing and presumed dead.) Reports of the deaths of Rasul Iran Nezhad, Shiva Mohammad Panahi and their children drew forth platitudes from the home secretary, Priti Patel, about “thoughts and prayers”. But nothing said by her or Boris Johnson did anything to dispel the impression that their attitude to people trying to reach the UK to seek asylum is chiefly antagonistic. While Ms Patel repeated her opposition to “callous criminals exploiting vulnerable people”, there was no serious attempt to sympathise with the migrants’ desperation – or acknowledge that their reliance on smugglers is a matter not of accident but of political choice.

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Positively shocking: Trump’s boasts of help from Sean Connery fall apart

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President claimed Bond actor helped him get planning permission for Scottish resort

It was less licence to kill and more dramatic licence. Donald Trump’s claim that the late Sean Connery assisted him in getting planning applications passed in Scotland fell apart quickly on Sunday when the chair of the planning committee said the James Bond star was not involved.

In a series of tweets, two days prior to the US election, Trump paid tribute to Connery, saying he was “highly regarded and respected in Scotland and beyond”. It was announced on Saturday the James Bond actor had died aged 90.

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Starmer: most Labour members would not support Corbyn’s EHRC response

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Labour leader says his predecessor should ‘reflect’ on comments about antisemitism

The “vast majority” of Labour members would not have approved of Jeremy Corbyn’s response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report on antisemitism in the party, Sir Keir Starmer said on Sunday.

The new leader also said his predecessor should “reflect” on what he said following the publication of the findings of the EHRC inquiry which found the party responsible for unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination.

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Covid: how chilling projections prompted Johnson to lockdown

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Opposition of Sunak melted away during quad meeting and PM sided with Gove and Hancock

Morgues in converted ice rinks, security guards outside overwhelmed hospitals to turn patients away, even municipal mass graves.

When Boris Johnson’s “quad” of senior ministers met on Friday, they were presented with a chilling prognosis of what would happen if they failed to take draconian action.

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UK coronavirus live: Gove says lockdown could be extended; Starmer rejects union calls to close schools

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Latest updates: Cabinet Office minister says easing depends on R value coming down; Labour leader says schools should stay open

Sir Desmond Swayne, one of the Conservative MPs most opposed to a second lockdown, told Sky News that the policy announced by the PM yesterday would have “disastrous consequences”. He said:

I’m worried about the disastrous consequences for unemployment, for wrecked businesses, for years of under-investment while we try and pay this off, when the reality is that the number of deaths for the time of year is normal and expected.

It is very difficult to believe scientists who tell you that there is a deadly pandemic taking place when there are no excess deaths beyond the normal five-year average.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has called for schools in his region to close for a period during the lockdown to help drive down the virus. He was speaking at a joint conference with Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, who also backed the proposal. Burnham said:

It’s my view, and it’s shared by Steve, that we do need to see a period of closure in our schools if we are to get those cases right down, and if we are to avoid a scenario where large parts of the north-west are simply put back in tier 3 coming out of this.

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Transport for London secures £1.8bn government bailout

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Government backs down on demands for fare increases in significant win for Sadiq Khan

Transport for London (TfL) has secured a bailout from the government worth about £1.8bn just a fortnight after Boris Johnson said Sadiq Khan had “effectively bankrupted” the tube and bus service in the capital.

In a significant win for the London mayor, the government has backed down on demands for fare increases, an extension of the congestion zone to cover the entire city and the scrapping of free fares for children and over-60s.

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Keir Starmer says schools must remain open in second Covid lockdown – video

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Keir Starmer has said schools must stay open during England's second coronavirus lockdown. 'The harm caused to children by not being in school is huge,' the Labour leader told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show. He said the risk of infections could be managed by mass weekly testing at schools. Sir Jeremy Farrar, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has suggested schools may need to close to make the lockdown more effective

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Michael Gove says England’s Covid-19 lockdown could be extended – video

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Michael Gove has said the new coronavirus lockdown in England could be extended beyond four weeks if the number of infections does not fall far enough. Gove told Sky's Sophy Ridge on Sunday show that measures would be reviewed on 2 December and could last longer if the virus has not been contained

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