Boris Johnson was hit by a growing revolt over his strategy for easing the Covid-19 lockdown last night as council leaders across the north of England joined unions in vowing to resist plans to reopen schools on 1 June.
Related: Are we all in this together? It doesn't look like it from the regions
Continue reading...Each will liaise over safely reopening businesses and places such as churches and libraries
The government has unveiled five new taskforces devoted to vulnerable sectors of the economy, intended to liaise with unions and others to see how soon each sector can safely resume work with coronavirus distancing measures.
The five areas covered are all ones that have to wait before even limited reopening efforts can begin, in most cases until at least July. They are pubs and restaurants; non-essential shops; recreation and leisure; places of worship; and international air travel.
Continue reading...The chancellor says the coronavirus job retention scheme will be extended for four months, until the end of October. There will be no changes until the end of July, he says, and in August, September and October it will continue with more flexibility. Sunak added that 7.5m jobs have been supported by the furlough scheme and almost 1m businesses helped
Health secretary dodges questions over people’s legal right to refuse return to work; Rishi Sunak expected to extend furlough scheme
Public transport users should face away from each other when they cannot keep a two-metre gap, the government has said. A report from PA Media on the new transport guidance issued by the government this morning (see 9.28am) goes on:
New guidance issued by the Department for Transport on how to travel safely during the coronavirus outbreak states that passengers should minimise the time they spend near other people and avoid physical contact with them.
It acknowledges that “there may be situations where you can’t keep a suitable distance from people”, such as on busier services or at peak times.
The sandwich chain Subway has today started a phased reopening of around 600 of its 2,600 stores across the UK and Ireland - approximately one in four - for takeway and delivery only.
The outlets have all been fitted with new operational and social distancing safety measures to protect customers, third party delivery and supplier drivers and staff. These have been tested in the small number of stores that have remained open to support and serve key workers and hospital staff.
Continue reading...PM ‘engaging positively’ but still in intensive care, according to update on his condition
Boris Johnson remains in intensive care but his condition is improving and he is sitting up in his hospital bed, the chancellor has said.
Rishi Sunak said the prime minister was “engaging positively” with medical staff as he gave an update on Johnson’s condition at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Continue reading...Former EU climate chief Miguel Arias Cañete fears end of Covid-19 will bring higher carbon emissions
Financial help from taxpayers to airlines hit by the coronavirus crisis must come with strict conditions on their future climate impact, the former EU climate commissioner and a group of green campaigners have said.
“It must be conditional, otherwise when we recover we will see the same or higher levels of carbon dioxide [from flying],” said Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU climate commissioner who led the bloc to the Paris agreement, in an interview with the Guardian. “We know the level of emissions we have to commit to [under Paris]. They [airlines] are worried about survival and will need lots of support, lots of liquidity – that gives them a big responsibility.”
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak announced a new self-employed income support scheme on Thursday to help those struggling with the consequences of the coronavirus lockdown in the UK. Under the scheme, the government will pay the self-employed a taxable grant based on their previous earnings over the last three years, worth up to 80% of earnings, and capped at £2,500 a month
Continue reading...The prime minister has announced that all bars, restaurants, pubs, gyms and leisure centres will have to close on 20 March as the Covid-19 pandemic continues. Johnson urged people not to go out on Friday night before every venue has had a chance to close.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, has announced that the government will offer a job subsidy scheme that will provide employers with 80% of a worker’s wage up to a limit of £2,500 a month.
Rishi Sunak announces ‘unprecedented’ scheme offering up to £2,500 a month
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced the government will pay the wages of British workers to keep them in jobs as the coronavirus outbreak escalates.
In an unprecedented step, Sunak said the state would pay grants covering up to 80% of the salary of workers kept on by companies, up to a total of £2,500 per month, just above the median income.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak delivered a coronavirus update to the UK on Tuesday where the chancellor announced that £330bn of guaranteed loans would be made available for businesses, among a number of other loans for smaller businesses. Johnson meanwhile said that ‘we must act like a wartime government’
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
These are from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.
Sources in Scotland insist Sturgeon's announcement of ban on gatherings of 500+ from Monday is a "UK-wide" policy. This morning Westminster sources were steering away from crowd bans. Has Sturgeon jumped the gun on something Boris was going to announce next week?
(Sturgeon is not averse to stealing people's thunder to make it look as though she is the one doing all the leading)
The Scottish Green party has cancelled its spring conference, which was due to take place on Saturday 28 March, because of the coronavirus outbreak after the number of cases declared in Scotland jumped to 60 on Thursday.
Ross Greer MSP, a co-chair of the party’s executive, said:
Due to the ongoing coronavirus situation the Scottish Greens executive committee has today taken the decision to cancel our upcoming conference. The health and wellbeing of our members and the public is our primary concern and it is with that in mind that we have taken this decision.
Continue reading...Chancellor announces £12bn to fight coronavirus and £18bn on ‘levelling up’ in reversal of Tory orthodoxy
Rishi Sunak ditched a decade of Conservative economic orthodoxy on Wednesday and claimed the Tories were now “the party of public services,” as he turned on the spending taps with a £30bn package that leaves Britain on course to have a bigger state than under Tony Blair’s Labour governments.
On a day when the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 to be a global pandemic, the chancellor announced £12bn to buttress the economy against the immediate threat of recession and a further £18bn to deliver on Boris Johnson’s election pledge to “level up” the UK.
Continue reading...The 5% rate on sanitary products will end. Rishi Sunak also plans to ensure banks keep circulating cash
The chancellor will announce the abolition of the “tampon tax” in next week’s budget, marking the successful conclusion to a 20-year campaign by women’s rights activists.
Tampons and other women’s sanitary products currently have 5% VAT added to their price, but this will be scrapped, saving the average woman £40 over her lifetime. The tax will end when Britain leaves the EU at the end of December.
Continue reading...Chancellor mulling measures including tax holidays and support when staff self-isolate
Rishi Sunak is poised to announce a package of emergency measures to support businesses hit by the knock-on effects of the coronavirus crisis in his first budget on Wednesday.
The chancellor is considering short-term tax holidays for affected businesses, and taxpayer support for small businesses whose employees self-isolate as the outbreak escalates, the Guardian understands.
Continue reading...75mph winds expected to bring more torrential downpours to one of wettest Februarys ever
A storm is expected to bring further bands of torrential rain to flood-hit communities as it sweeps across Britain.
Forecasters have issued a yellow weather warning as the 75mph storm brings a fresh deluge of rain, up to 50mm (2in) in some places.
Continue reading...The 39-year-old has three weeks to sort out programme after Sajid Javid’s exit
The budget will go ahead on 11 March, the Treasury said on Tuesday, forcing the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to piece together a fresh tax and spending programme over the next three weeks.
A delay was expected after Sunak’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, abruptly quit his job after a demand by Boris Johnson that he sack his advisers and replace them with a team jointly managed with No 10.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak replaces Javid, who refused the PM’s request to sack all his advisers
Sajid Javid has resigned as chancellor after Boris Johnson asked him to sack all of his advisers in a move by No 10 to seize control of the Treasury.
Javid has been replaced by his deputy, Rishi Sunak, the chief secretary to the Treasury, who is a favourite within No 10.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak defends policies amid backlash over early release of Streatham attacker
The chief secretary to the Treasury has rejected the idea that cuts to prison and probation services have made it harder to rehabilitate or monitor terrorism suspects after a man who left prison days ago was shot dead by police after he stabbed two people in London.
Rishi Sunak declined to reveal the measures that Boris Johnson or the home secretary, Priti Patel, would announce on Monday after the attack by Sudesh Amman on Streatham High Road.
Continue reading...