Boris Johnson says UK wants to work with China, though it poses ‘great challenges for an open society’ – live

Latest updates: PM says UK’s greatest ally will be US as he makes statement to MPs on defence review

In his Sky News interview Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons defence committee, said the security and defence review said that the UK could use nuclear weapons to respond to an attack with chemical or biological weapons. That was a “big change” in policy, he said.

He was referring to this passage on page 77 of the document (pdf).

The UK will not use, or threaten to use, nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons 1968 (NPT). This assurance does not apply to any state in material breach of those non-proliferation obligations. However, we reserve the right to review this assurance if the future threat of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical and biological capabilities, or emerging technologies that could have a comparable impact, makes it necessary.

Here is the Scottish government’s summary of the latest plans for easing lockdown restrictions in Scotland. And here is a graphic summarising what it says.

Scotland’s indicative route out of lockdown. If we all stick with it and get the virus more under control as the vaccines do their work, there is hope for a much better summer on the horizon ☀️ pic.twitter.com/gTKHtJTNn5

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MPs will not get vote on cut to UK aid spending, says Boris Johnson

PM confirms cut temporary amid opposition from his own party including former ministers

MPs will not get a vote on the government’s plans to slash aid spending, Boris Johnson has said in the of Commons, confirming that the cut is intended to be temporary.

The former shadow international development secretary Andrew Mitchell said Johnson was at risk of setting an illegal budget if it did not meet the legal obligation to spend 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) on aid.

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First pictures released of Boris Johnson’s new £2.6m briefing room

No 10 intends the studio, hosted by Allegra Stratton, to be focal point of new media strategy

After £2.6m and a seven-month wait, the curtains have finally opened on a studio based inside Downing Street where the prime minister’s press secretary will address the nation in new White House-style TV briefings.

The first glimpses of the room revealed by ITV showed the podium that Allegra Stratton, a former BBC and Guardian journalist who also worked as communications director for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, will stand behind as she fields questions from journalists.

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Boris Johnson rules out return of Parthenon marbles to Greece

Prime minister says sculptures taken by Lord Elgin would remain in Britain as they had been legally acquired

Boris Johnson has used his first interview with a European newspaper since becoming the UK’s prime minister to issue a point-blank rejection of the Parthenon marbles being returned to Greece.

Johnson insisted that the sculptures, removed from the monument by Lord Elgin in circumstances that have since spurred one of the world’s most famous cultural rows, would remain in Britain because they had been legally acquired.

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‘No 10 was a plague pit’: how Covid brought Westminster to its knees

Insiders tell of a Whitehall in panic mode and reveal virus spread far more widely than was acknowledged

Westminster is an infectious place. A tiny germ of controversy or rebellion can spread across parliament, through Whitehall and into the prime minister’s office within hours. The windowless offices are cramped, MPs sit elbow to elbow in a Commons chamber that can only squeeze just over 400 MPs into its seats, two-thirds of the number in parliament.

It is also a place of macho presenteeism, where the Greggs in Westminster tube station often serves as a nightly dinner spot for some of the most senior office-holders in the land.

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PM demands Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s return in call to Iran president

Boris Johnson tells Hassan Rouhani the British-Iranian dual national must be allowed home immediately

Boris Johnson has told Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, in a phone call that the British-Iranian aid worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe must be allowed to return home to be with her family.

“The prime minister raised the case of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other British-Iranian dual nationals detained in Iran and demanded their immediate release,” a statement from Johnson’s office said on Wednesday.

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Vaccine row: EU has exported 34m doses – including 9m to the UK

Internal figures leaked amid tit-for-tat with Boris Johnson over claims UK had export ban in place

A total of 34m doses of coronavirus vaccine have been exported from the EU despite shortages for people living in the bloc, including 9m sent to the UK and 1m to the US, which has a ban on sales abroad.

The internal figures were leaked as the EU was embroiled in a tit-for-tat with Boris Johnson over claims that the UK had an export ban in place.

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No 10 stays silent after Zac Goldsmith says Prince Harry is ‘blowing up’ royal family

Downing Street refuses to be drawn into judgment on Meghan’s claims of racism or state of mental health

Downing Street has refused to distance itself from a minister’s claim that Prince Harry is “blowing up his family” – but declined to comment after confirming the prime minister had watched the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman said he had watched the two-hour interview but said he had no further comment to make.

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UK ‘balancing books on backs of Yemen’s starving people’, says UN diplomat

Exclusive: former DfID secretary Mark Lowcock shocked by decision of Johnson’s government to cut aid

Ministers have decided to “balance the books on the backs of the starving people of Yemen” in an act that will see tens of thousands die and damage the UK’s global influence, the head of the UN’s Office for Humanitarian Affairs has said.

Speaking with rare bluntness after the UK more than halved its funds to help Yemen, the former permanent secretary at the Department for International Development Mark Lowcock said he was shocked by the decision. It is understood he was given no chance to appeal to the UK to rethink.

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Budget 2021 live: Sunak to freeze income tax thresholds and raise corporation tax to pay for Covid recovery

Latest updates: chancellor extends furlough, universal credit uplift and stamp duty holiday

Sunak turns to corporation tax.

Sunak says he will announce two measures now to address the borrowing.

The government’s response has been fair, he says.

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Johnson trying to set up charity that could fund No 11 flat revamp

No 10 does not deny reports that scheme could cover costs of works by PM’s fiancee, Carrie Symonds

Downing Street is trying to set up a charity that could cover the costs of the refurbishment of Boris Johnson’s flat, which he shares with his fiancee, Carrie Symonds.

A No 10 spokesman would not deny reports in the Daily Mail that the prime minister is attempting to set up a charity where benefactors can contribute to the upkeep of Downing Street.

Symonds is understood to have undertaken a substantial redecoration of the flat above No 11 that she shares with Johnson and their baby son, Wilfred. Johnson is known to have joked with Conservative MPs about the cost of the refurbishment.

According to the Mail, the purpose of the charitable fund would be to maintain not just the No 11 flat, but also other parts of Downing Street, including the state rooms, and could therefore be presented as having a wider heritage purpose.

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‘Lying is no longer a sin’: former French ambassador on Brexit and Boris Johnson

Exclusive: Sylvie Bermann, who has written book in attempt to understand Brexit, says question of Britain’s identity was key

When Sylvie Bermann arrived in August 2014 as France’s new ambassador, London was, she says, a city of “extraordinary dynamism and optimism”.

French cabinet ministers were queuing up to visit, she said, one after the other, all searching for “Britain’s recipe for success. It was an an astonishing place.”

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Boris Johnson ‘a liar’ who will blame Brexit costs on Covid, says diplomat

Sylvie Bermann, former French ambassador, puts PM’s handling of pandemic alongside Donald Trump’s

Boris Johnson is “an unrepentant and inveterate liar” who feels he is not subject to the same rules as others, Sylvie Bermann, the former French ambassador to the UK during the Brexit vote, says in a new book.

She also claims some Brexiters are consumed with hatred for Germany and gripped by a myth that they liberated Europe on their own, describing Brexit as a triumph of emotion over reason, won by a campaign full of lies in which negative attitudes to migration were exploited by figures such as Johnson and Michael Gove.

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Four key questions on a Covid certification scheme in England

The government is reviewing the options on proof of vaccination or testing status

The idea of vaccine certificates has gained traction in England, as the government weighs their potential usefulness in reopening sectors of society against concerns about privacy and discrimination.

As ministers prepare to launch a review into whether to introduce the documents, here are the key questions to be answered.

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The science behind England’s Covid exit plan – podcast

Nicola Davis runs through the science behind the government’s decision to begin lifting lockdown restrictions, a four-stage plan that starts with the reopening of schools and could see the return of nightclubs on 21 June

On Monday Boris Johnson announced a four-stage plan for England, paving the way for schools to welcome pupils, sports fans to fill stadiums once again and nightclubs to reopen their doors. There is a five-week gap between each phase of the plan, intended to allow four weeks for data to emerge about the impact of the changes, plus a week’s notice for the next stage of easing to be introduced.

The Guardian science correspondent Nicola Davis talks to Rachel Humphreys about the science behind the government’s decision to begin easing out of lockdown. Some, including Johnson’s own backbenchers, have criticised the pace of reopening as too slow. But, Nicola says, experts on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), whose analysis was published alongside the plan, have stressed the need for caution. ‘Decisions about changes to restrictions are best made based on epidemiological data rather than based on predetermined dates,’ they advise.

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Boris Johnson sets out four-step plan to ease lockdown in England – video

The prime minister has announced that schools will reopen from 8 March, while non-essential retail outlets and outdoor service in pubs and restaurants could be back by 12 April, with indoor service earmarked for 17 May at the earliest. No 10 stresses that after the first step, the subsequent stages could be subject to delay and would be guided by 'data rather than dates'

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Cautious Johnson faces battle with own MPs over lockdown exit

Analysis: many on the Tory backbenches want Covid restrictions over by end of April

When Boris Johnson stands at the dispatch box on Monday to deliver his roadmap for easing Covid restrictions for what he hopes will be the final time, there is likely to be a sigh of relief from his scientific advisers who will have won the most recent battle.

Johnson is now gearing up for the next tussle, which will be with his MPs. There is a truce with the cabinet.

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Johnson unveils lockdown exit plan: schools and social contact first

PM to unveil proposals for England on Monday, with shops and restaurants facing longer wait

Social contact with loved ones will take precedence over the reopening of shops and hospitality when Boris Johnson sets out his roadmap for lifting restrictions in England on Monday, with school sports and family picnics offered as a trade-off for a longer closure of retail and restaurants.

Johnson will order the reopening of all schools on 8 March and pledge that two families or a group of six friends will be allowed to meet outdoors three weeks later, the Guardian understands.

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The path out of lockdown: can Boris Johnson keep his boosterism at bay?

England waits to see if PM will stay restrained or bow to backbench pressure with Covid plan

It was an uncharacteristically subdued Boris Johnson who announced from Downing Street that Britain had surpassed the first, phenomenally ambitious target of giving 15 million people a coronavirus vaccine: this was a success, yes, but it was “no moment to relax”, the prime minister said on Monday.

The boosterish rhetoric has been restrained for several weeks – gone is the talk that led to claims there would be normality by November last year, or that it would be “inhuman” to cancel Christmas. Now, escape from the third lockdown must be “cautious but irreversible”.

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