News and Opinion

Extending the post-Brexit transition period could hinder the UK’s efforts to deal with coronavirus, pro-Brexit minister Michael Gove has claimed. The UK and Brussels are currently negotiating a fresh trade agreement via video-telephone conferencing, due to the coronavirus. Despite officials in both London and the Belgian capital admitting that the two rounds of formal talks […]

A ‘highly respected’ centenarian and Bangladeshi immigrant is raising thousands of pounds for coronavirus victims from his London garden as he fasts for the religious festival of Ramadan. Dabirul Islam Choudhury was inspired by the efforts of fellow 100-year-old Captain Tom Moore. Picture: Channel S – Credit: Archant Dabirul Islam Choudhury, from Bow in the […]

The government could be taken to court if it does not improve privacy features on its NHS coronavirus tracking app, a group of lawyers have claimed. The lawyers have argued that the government’s decision to store users’ personal data on a central database could break privacy laws. In a published legal opinion, Ravi Naik, legal […]

Matt Hancock has been criticised after telling a Labour MP, who serves as an A&E doctor, to reconsider her ‘tone’ after she questioned the government’s approach to coronavirus. Rosena Allin-Khan speaks in the House of Commons. Photograph: Parliament TV. – Credit: Archant Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Labour’s shadow mental health minister, used her appearance at the […]

Chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance told a Commons health committee that testing should have been ramped up sooner. Vallance and deputy medical officer Jenny Harries were hauled in front of MPs to answer questions on the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak. The pair agreed ‘lots of things’ could have been done differently, including […]

Some scientists who sit on the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) committee discussed explaining ‘herd immunity’ to the public to explain why it was not imposing social distancing measures faster. The advice – published by SAGE after calls for greater transparency – showed some of the experts wanted the government to explain the […]

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said it was ‘regretful’ Boris Johnson had chosen to brief the media ahead of MPs on his coronavirus exit strategy. Johnson is set to outline his lockdown exit strategy on Sunday, which he will do during the daily Downing Street press conference. But the move had infuriated Sir Lindsay […]

When radio presenter James O’Brien discovered what man recovering from a coronavirus coma wanted to do as soon as he woke up, he was left almost speechless. Patrick, from Islington, was induced into a coma after contracting covid-19 on March 23 and nearly had his life support turned off three times. When he finally woke […]

The UK has reached the highest coronavirus death toll in Europe after more than 30,000 deaths were recorded from Covid-19. The UK has passed Italy as the country with the most Covid-19 deaths in Europe, with the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that 29,710 deaths involving Covid-19 in England and […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said the resignation of Jennie Formby as the party’s general secretary was by ‘mutual agreement’. Formby, a close ally of ex-leader Jeremy Corbyn, announced she was standing down from her post on Monday. The former union chief said she applied for the role two years ago ‘to support Jeremy […]

A Labour politician has been reprimanded by his own party for breaching party guidelines around publicity and media activity. Cllr Ian Henderson (left) during the food bank run and Tory Kensington and Chelsea council leader Elizabeth Campbell (right). Photograph: Twitter. – Credit: Archant Councillor Ian Henderson was seen delivering food parcel donations totaling more than […]

Nigel Farage has branded those flouting the coronavirus lockdown ‘middle class hypocrites’ hours before he received a knock on the door from police for doing the same. Appearing on his LBC programme, the Brexit Party leader reflected on polling that showed between 70% and 80% of the British public do not want the lockdown to […]

International trade secretary Liz Truss has insisted she can ‘drive a hard bargain’ as post-Brexit trade talks begin between Britain and the United States. Truss and the US trade representative Robert Lighthizer will open the talks with a video conference call on Tuesday. The first round of negotiations will then continue for around two weeks, […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on a ‘national consensus’ towards plans to get the country out of the coronavirus lockdown. Sir Keir urged Boris Johnson to work with Labour and others opposition parties to devise an exit strategy. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB): ‘I’ve been calling for an exit strategy discussion […]

Nigel Farage has been ridiculed on social media after he turned to Twitter to complain about receiving a visit from the police for flouting lockdown rules. Nigel Farage appears to flout coronavirus rules to film a video rant on a beach. Photograph: Twitter. – Credit: Archant Farage had complained the police had been ‘bombarded’ with […]

Scientific advisers recommended stopping the shaking of hands with others on the day the prime minister boasted he was doing so with ‘everybody’ at a hospital. Boris Johnson attempts to shake Phillip Schofield’s hand on This Morning. Photograph: ITV. – Credit: Archant Newly-released documents of the Independent Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), a […]

A senior Tory MP has claimed the public have been ‘too willing’ to stay at home over the coronavirus, as rebel MPs in Boris Johnson’s party warned the government about protecting ‘freedoms’ as well as public health. During a debate on the government’s Covid-19 regulations in the House of Commons, chair of the influential 1922 […]

The police have been reportedly ‘inundated’ with complaints about Nigel Farage breaking lockdown restrictions. In another YouTube tirade, Brexit Party leader Farage said ‘East Sussex Police’ had been ‘bombarded’ with complaints about his recent outing to a beach 100 miles away from his home in Kent, where he filmed a video complaining about migrants at […]

House of Lords peers could lose as much as 50% of their allowance after proceedings go ‘virtual’ due to the coronavirus. A report by the House of Lords Commission recommended slashing the daily rate peers can claim for participating in chamber and committee business to £162, down from £323. The nearly 50% cut comes as […]

A Swiss pharmaceutical giant based in Germany has reportedly developed the world’s first successful coronavirus antibody test that produces ‘99.8% accuracy’. The antibody test – which will be able to identify people who had coronavirus but could not get tested – has received emergency approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), making it […]

Cabinet minister Michael Gove has told MPs it is ‘plain prudence’ not to extend the Brexit transition period beyond the current timetable. The Cabinet Office minister said the government did not want the UK to continue with its ‘European Union-lite membership’ beyond December 2020 in a bid to save taxpayers’ cash and to prevent it […]

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm hired by Dominic Cummings to help with the 2016 Vote Leave campaign has been awarded seven government contracts in 18 months. Faculty, run by Marc Warner, who last week admitted attending scientific advisory group on emergencies (SAGE) meetings, has won more than £280,000 in government work, The Guardian reports. One […]

A partial list of the experts behind the scientific response to the coronavirus outbreak has been published. The government said that only two participants of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) had not given permission to be named on the membership list, which included 50 members. Its publication came after calls for transparency over […]

The defence secretary has claimed that more lives could have been saved if countries had shared more intelligence about the coronavirus. Appearing on Nick Ferrari’s LBC programme, Ben Wallace did not agree with fellow minister Grant Shapps’ claims that deaths could have been prevented if the UK had been quicker with testing. But Wallace said […]

Jennie Formby, a close ally of Jeremy Corbyn, has stood down as Labour’s general secretary. Formby said she applied for the role two years ago ‘to support Jeremy Corbyn’ and said with a new leader in place ‘it is the right time to step down’. ‘When I applied for the role of general secretary in […]

The number of daily tests being carried out for coronavirus in the UK has fallen to below 80,000 – well short of the 100,000 target the government set. Statistics published by the government on Sunday indicate that a total of 76,496 were carried out in the 24 hours up to 9am on May 3. On […]

A minister has resigned after being found in breach of his parliamentary privilege, which he used to resolve a debt dispute. Conor Burns, an international trade minister, stepped down following a Commons standards committee report calling for his suspension. The committee recommended the MP for Bournemouth West be suspended for seven days after it found […]

Trade talks with the US will start tomorrow despite the on-going trade talks with the European Union and the coronavirus pandemic. International trade secretary Liz Truss will lead the talks via video call with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer. The talks are expected to start on Tuesday and will last for approximately a fortnight, with […]

Michael Gove and his wife have been criticised for housing a Holocaust denier’s book after showcasing the couple’s bookshelf on Twitter. Michael Gove and his wife, Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, have come under heavy fire after a photo of their bookcase revealed the couple had a copy of Holocaust denier David Irving’s The War […]

Good Morning Britain presenter Piers Morgan temporarily steps back from the programme after developing ‘mild’ coronavirus symptoms. Morgan has been tested for the virus and will not return to the programme until he receives his results, which are due on Monday. ITV presenter Ben Shephard, standing in for Morgan, introduced Monday’s Good Morning Britain, saying: […]

Britain has formed part of a Brussels initiative to find a vaccine to help with the global coronavirus pandemic. Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, announced plans to raise £6.6 billion to lead the scientific fight-back against Covid-19 on Friday. Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte, French president Emmanuel Macron, and Germany’s chancellor […]

Stalwart Brexiteer MP Steve Baker has labelled Boris Johnson’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions ‘tyrannical’, claiming they could be ‘unlawful’ and struck down in court. Baker, a former chair of the pro-Brexit thinktank, the European Research Group (ERG), said the laws had given rise to a ‘surveillance state’ that had put the nation ‘into imprisonment’. In an […]