Category Archives: Politics

UK coronavirus live: Department for Education’s most senior civil servant to step down in wake of exams row

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Jonathan Slater to stand down; Boris Johnson tries to blame ‘mutant algorithm’ for exam results chaos in England; Scotland records first deaths from Covid-19 in over a month

Gatwick airport plans to cut around 600 jobs, which it says is due to the pandemic. Its chief executive Stewart Wingate said:

If anyone is in any doubt about the devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the aviation and travel industry then today’s news we have shared with our staff, regarding the proposed job losses, is a stark reminder.

We are in ongoing talks with government to see what sector-specific support can be put in place for the industry at this time, alongside mechanisms which will give our passengers greater certainty on where and when they can safely travel abroad.

A care provider group is calling on the government to reverse an “extraordinary” decision to allow health inspectors into care homes without regular coronavirus testing.

The National Care Forum (NCF) wants Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors to be included in weekly routine testing prior to on-site visits. The group, which represents 120 of the UK’s social care charities, said the current policy is “not credible” and “very counter-productive”.

For months central government and the regulator have been requiring care homes to essentially eradicate the movement of staff and the flow of people, including close family relatives, into homes.

Having done this, care homes are now being asked to let inspectors into homes without knowing whether or not they are Covid-positive.

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Scotland deficit rises to nearly £2,000 per person

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Data showing fiscal deficit rose to £15bn in 2019-20 sparks row over case for independence

Scotland’s deficit has risen to nearly £2,000 per person after the gap between tax income and spending widened to become more than three times larger than the UK as a whole.

Data released on Wednesday showed Scotland’s fiscal deficit rose to £15bn in 2019-20, fuelling a row over the case for independence at first minister’s questions between Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard.

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Racism endemic at DfID, staff claim

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Report says racism is endemic in UK aid department’s HQ and network of offices abroad

Many black, Asian and minority ethnic men working in the Department for International Development claim to have experienced prejudice at work, including racist jokes and doubts about their legality as UK citizens.

The government’s aid department has also been severely criticised for signing off an anti-sexual harassment campaign that portrayed BAME men following or restraining white women, in a report seen by the Guardian.

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Choosing Tony Abbott as UK trade envoy ‘staggering’, says Labour

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Emily Thornberry labels ex-Australian PM a ‘Trump-worshipping misogynist’ amid reports of role

The shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, has condemned reports that Boris Johnson is preparing to appoint the former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott to a senior trade role, calling Abbott a “Trump-worshipping misogynist”.

The Department of Trade declined to comment publicly on Wednesday but insisted no decision had yet been made, after the Sun reported that Abbott would be given a leading role on the board of trade.

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Boris Johnson drops advice against face mask use in English schools

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Prime minister makes another coronavirus U-turn days before return to classrooms

Pupils in England will no longer be advised against using face masks in secondary schools after Boris Johnson made an 11th-hour U-turn days before classrooms reopen.

In lockdown areas such as Greater Manchester, which have greater restrictions to stop the spread of the virus, wearing face coverings will become mandatory in school corridors where social distancing is more difficult.

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Leadership of merged DfID evidence of ‘hostile takeover’ by FCO, say critics

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NGOs and MPs fear appointments to Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office reflects unbalanced priorities

The UK’s ambassador to the EU is to become political director of the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), one of seven senior officials who will form the core of the leadership team when the department launches next week.

Tim Barrow is one of five appointees from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office chosen to serve on the board of the FCDO. Two further appointments are officials from the Department for International Development (DfID).

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UK to drop ‘Facebook tax’ in favour of post-Brexit trade deal

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Recently introduced tax would have raised £500m, helping to reduce Britain’s huge Covid bill

The UK government is preparing to drop a recently introduced tax on global technology companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon, due to fears that the so-called “Facebook tax” could jeopardise a post-Brexit trade deal.

Rishi Sunak is reportedly planning to ditch the digital services tax which was expected to generate about £500m to help pay towards the huge cost of the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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Bellicose words won’t stop the Channel dinghies – but compassion might | Regina Catrambone

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Fear of what lies behind drives people against desperate odds. Turning them away won’t stop them, and risks more deaths

The dangerous waters of the Channel have seen a rise in the number of people trying to cross to the UK in desperately unsuitable and overcrowded dinghies. The British government has called for the use of defence forces to stop them.

Fears of “outsiders” bringing danger are exacerbated in the strange times of the coronavirus pandemic, when most of us face unprecedented restrictions on movement, making it a fertile climate to propagate anti-migrant messaging.

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Time-wasting UK makes post-Brexit deal unlikely, says Barnier

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Brussels’ chief negotiator says talks often go backwards as UK fails to grasp EU red lines

Michel Barnier has accused the British government of “wasting valuable time” and warned that a post-Brexit deal between the EU and the UK looks “unlikely”.

With two months to go until the EU-imposed deadline of October, the EU’s chief negotiator said: “Frankly I am disappointed and I am worried.” Barnier said he was “a little surprised” because Boris Johnson had told EU leaders earlier this summer he wanted an outline deal by July.

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UK coronavirus: top GCSE grades surge to record high in England – live news

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Nearly 550,000 pupils in England receive GCSE results awarded entirely by assessment for first time, but BTec students face further disruption

My colleagues Pamela Duncan and Tobi Thomas from the Guardian’s data unit report discrepancies in today’s GCSE results:

A rising tide lifts all boats and this year’s algorithm-to-teacher-graded-U-turn has resulted in an increase in top grades across every subject. However, some subjects’ boats were lifted higher than others.

After all the uncertainty of the exams fiasco, head teachers across the country are celebrating their pupils’ GCSE success, but they say recent experiences have damaged relations with the Department for Education (DfE).

Jules White, head teacher of Tanbridge House secondary school in Horsham, West Sussex and leader of the Worth Less? education funding campaign, was with pupils this morning, watching with delight as they found out their grades.

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Boris Johnson’s proposal for York parliament during restoration is rejected

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Repairs body says it will not review idea of temporary move as decision is for MPs and peers

Boris Johnson’s suggestion of moving parliament to York while a multibillion-pound restoration of the Palace of Westminster takes place will not be considered by a body reviewing the plans.

The prime minister had requested that a “possible location outside London” be looked at as a place for parliament to sit while the crumbling palace is revamped at an estimated cost of £4bn.

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Hancock defends appointment of Dido Harding to lead new health body – as it happened

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Health secretary defends Tory peer’s appointment after speech about axing PHE; Williamson plans to keep role and tries to blame Ofqual for exams mess

Here’s a roundup of this afternoon’s key UK coronavirus developments:

Pizza Express has confirmed plans to close 73 of its restaurants, impacting 1,100 members of staff, as part of a major business rescue plan.

The chain has formally launched a proposal to reduce its restaurant estate and rental cost base through a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

Today we have confirmed that 73 of our pizzerias are proposed to close permanently.

“In most cases, there is another Pizza Express nearby, either already open or reopening soon, to welcome our customers. Our focus is on our people whose jobs are impacted and we will be doing everything we can either to redeploy them or to support them in finding roles elsewhere.

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Gavin Williamson seeks to blame Ofqual for exams debacle

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Education secretary forced into humiliating reversal on A-level and GCSE grades in England

Gavin Williamson has tried to lay the blame for the exams fiasco at the door of the regulator Ofqual after a humiliating climbdown that overturned up to 2.3m grades but left thousands of pupils in limbo.

Two days after saying there would be “no U-turn, no change”, the education secretary apologised and ordered a complete reversal whereby pupils in England will be able to revert to the A-level grades recommended by their teachers, if those are higher.

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UK coronavirus: Gavin Williamson apologises over ‘inconsistencies’ in exam grading process – live news

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Exams regulator Ofqual announces all A-levels and GCSEs in England will now be graded according to teacher assessment following similar moves in Wales, NI and Scotland

One of the groups that had been planning to take the UK government to court over exam grades has said it is dropping its legal action, following the U-turn. Jo Maugham QC, the director of the Good Law Project, tweeted:

Statement on Government A Level U-turn pic.twitter.com/wEWYElgCil

Mary Curnock Cook, the former chief executive of Ucas, said the government must announce immediately that the cap on university admissions will be lifted to accommodate the new grading system.

Many universities will have already filled their courses based on the grades published last Thursday. Speaking on BBC News, she said:

Decisions have already been made by universities about who they accept, who they don’t accept, who goes into clearing and so on. This change will mean that universities have to rethink completely.

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Commonwealth veterans launch legal action in immigration row

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Eight Fijian-born soldiers went public five months ago and have yet to receive positive response

Eight Fijian-born soldiers who served with the British army in Iraq and Afghanistan are seeking a judicial review against the Ministry of Defence and Home Office, saying bureaucratic errors have made them illegal immigrants in the country for which they once served.

The group of Commonwealth veterans have been forced to go to court five months after first going public because neither Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, nor Priti Patel, the home secretary, have yet responded positively to their initial complaint or properly reviewed their cases.

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Refugees crossing Channel tell of beatings by French police

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Asylum seekers give accounts of injuries, as Priti Patel says many refugees feel France is racist

Asylum seekers in the UK and France have described injuries they have received at the hands of French police, as Priti Patel said many were making the perilous journey across the Channel because they believe France is racist.

The home secretary made her comments in a conference call with Conservative MPs concerned about the recent surge in numbers attempting the voyage in small boats.

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Ministers criticised over plan to scrap Public Health England

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Critics say PHE is being scapegoated for government’s failings during pandemic

Senior doctors, hospital bosses and public health experts have accused ministers of scapegoating Public Health England for their own failings over Covid-19 by planning to axe the agency.

The government’s decision to scrap PHE and merge it into a new body charged with preventing future outbreaks of infectious diseases produced a chorus of criticism on Sunday.

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Give refugees crossing Channel a chance, say Windrush survivors

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Priti Patel risks replicating Home Office failings that led to scandal, victims and human rights campaigners warn

Survivors of the Windrush scandal have attacked the home secretary, saying her approach to the Channel migrant crossings is creating “the same set of conditions” that led to the government victimising the children of Commonwealth immigrants.

A letter to Priti Patel from 100 prominent refugee and human rights campaigners, including members of the Windrush generation, warns that the “pattern of ignoring expert advice, failing to engage with civil society and branding migrants as criminal” replicates Home Office failings that caused the 2018 Windrush scandal.

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UK coronavirus live: France could quarantine British visitors; UK reports 1,441 new cases in a day

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French move comes after UK added country to quarantine list as well as Netherlands, Malta, Turks and Caicos, and Aruba

Russia is not the only country pursuing domestic politics over global cooperation in the fight against coronavirus, writes Stephen Buranyi.

The WHO last week warned against “vaccine nationalism”, noting that unless countries cooperate, an actually successful vaccine could touch off a worldwide frenzy.

Similar to the scramble for PPE gear and testing reagents when governments seized exports, and the US reportedly tried to intercept other nation’s shipments at global ports, demand for vaccine supplies could result in another pitched battle for limited resources – with the added complication that no one knows which project will succeed, so no one is even sure what they’re trying to source yet.

Related: 'Vaccine nationalism' stands in the way of an end to the Covid-19 crisis | Stephen Buranyi

Rule-breaking pub landlords are facing a police crackdown for failing to properly record customers’ details as concerns grow about a rising Covid infection rate in Birmingham.

The latest data showed the second city had a rate of 23.6 cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 10 August with the trend increasing, according to the NHS Digital progression dashboard.

It looks as though it’s a combination of people socialising and not maintaining social distancing and perhaps hospitality settings or other gatherings of people and this may be the underlying problem.

We are very keen to be working very closely with the police over coming weeks because what we’re noticing across the West Midlands is that as weeks go by the rigour in which pubs in particular are recording names and addresses of customers is dropping off in some locations.

We’d like to encourage the police to re-emphasise to the pubs that they do need to be recording that information.

Pubs and clubs - they also have a very clear responsibility to ensure they’re following the guidelines, that they are getting information on those individuals who attend.

We will work closely with the licensing authorities to crack down on those premises that don’t follow rules and are breaking rules.

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Officers ‘tried to force asylum seeker to airport’ despite court ruling

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Man who was granted injunction due to risk of suicide says he sustained an injury during attempted removal

An asylum seeker who crossed the Channel to the UK on a small boat claims he was forced out of his cell in a detention centre by officers who wanted to put him on a flight even though a judge had halted his removal hours earlier, the Guardian has learned.

He was restrained and sustained an injury during the attempted removal in the early hours of Wednesday morning by officers unaware of the high court decision.

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