Coronavirus

Matt Hancock has said he has no problem breaching laws surrounding the issuing of contracts again if he were the health minister during another public health emergency. The health secretary refused to apologise after a High Court ruling found he had “breached his legal obligation” to publish details of contracts within 30 days. The breach applied to […]

The Labour Party has criticised the decision to delay enforcement action against companies that fail to report their gender pay gap by this year’s deadline. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it will not begin enforcement proceedings against companies until six months after the deadline of April 4, the Guardian newspaper reported. The […]

Jeremy Corbyn has called on Boris Johnson to sack his health secretary and replace him with someone who would “obey the law” following the minster’s run-in with the courts over the awarding of Covid contracts. The former Labour leader on Monday said that “answers are required” from the prime minister over Matt Hancock’s role in unlawfully […]

Boris Johnson has said spring and summer in England will usher in changes to make lives “incomparably better” as he set out a plan to fully ease the lockdown by June 21. The prime minister defended his “cautious but also irreversible” approach to relaxing restrictions with a four-step plan on Monday, arguing he will not […]

Scientists advising the government fear that a fresh wave of coronavirus cases and deaths could hit the country by July as lockdown lifts – with the most optimistic assumption leading to a further 30,000 deaths. Documents published by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) show how modelling predicts a big rise in cases and deaths if restrictions lift […]

Matt Hancock has declined to apologise after the High Court ruled the government unlawfully failed to publish details of billions of pounds’ worth of coronavirus-related contracts. The health eecretary has faced calls for greater accountability after a judge said he did not publish redacted contracts in accordance with the transparency policy. However, Hancock insisted legal […]

Our understanding of Covid, and of how to treat it, has grown enormously over the past year. But mortality hasn’t significantly fallen. In the early weeks of 2020, the NHS prepared for the pandemic however it could. Wards were labelled red and green to keep active Covid cases away from those not infected, where possible. […]

A year ago coronavirus switched from being something remote to something much more real. For everyone, that precise moment of understanding was different. Nicky Woolf reports. There is a before, and there is an after. Before was normality – going to the pub, socialising, hugging, shaking hands, not being afraid. After was isolation, despair, loneliness, sickness and death. […]

New Zealand has attracted the envy of many European liberals, not just for its handling of Covid but – perhaps not unconnected – also its political leadership. Returning native Garth Cartwright reports back from a nation experiencing a very different pandemic. Imagine a land where the populace is enjoying a long, blissful summer; theatres, cinemas, […]

The government unlawfully failed to publish details of billions of pounds’ worth of coronavirus-related contracts, the High Court has ruled. The Good Law Project took legal action against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) for its “wholesale failure” to disclose details of contracts agreed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The government is required by […]

England should impose a “traffic light system” for re-opening various sectors of the economy, Tony Blair has advised in a report published by his thinktank, the Tony Blair Institute (TBI). The former Labour prime minister weighed into the lockdown debate by publishing his own plans on how the nations should ease restrictions. The plan includes a […]

The number of companies moving to the Netherlands because of Brexit remained consistent in 2020, despite foreign investment falling by a quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic. Amsterdam topped the list of favoured Dutch cities by companies looking to relocate, after it overtook London as the largest trading hub in Europe last month. The Dutch capital has lured […]

Sir Keir Starmer pledged to lead a “moral crusade” to address inequalities and injustices exposed by the coronavirus crisis, as he announced plans for recovery bonds to give savers a stake in Britain’s future. The Labour leader used a major speech to call for a “new chapter” in the country’s history after the pandemic laid bare […]

Dominic Cummings urged Boris Johnson to scrap the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), an inside source has revealed. Johnson was being told the disband the committee over fears some experts were leaking information to the press in order to pressure the prime minister into pursuing tougher coronavirus restrictions. A source told the Mail that matters […]

A new partnership between business and the state is needed as the country rebuilds from the coronavirus crisis, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will say. Next month’s Budget represents a “fork in the road” for British society, with a chance to reject the “insecure and unequal economy” of the past, he will say in a […]

Nicola Sturgeon has criticised Downing Street after Dominic Cummings admitted he made a recommendation that led to a friend’s firm receiving government work.  Cummings made the admission after campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the payment of more than £500,000 to research firm Public First without a formal tendering process. The first minister hit out […]

Boris Johnson said he felt “like OJ Simpson” as he struggled to pull on a pair of gloves. The prime minister made the reference to the moment in Simpson’s murder trial when the US actor and sports star had difficulty putting on gloves thought to have been used in the killing of his ex-wife, Nicole […]

JAMES BALL on the long road ahead of the country – and the risks facing Boris Johnson’s government. We are, by this point, all old hands at lockdown and reopening – we have at point seen it all before. Twice. So to be back at the phase when newspapers are starting to publish details of […]

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin has called for the government to reopen pubs and restaurants to help improve Britain’s public finances. Martin said his pub chain contributes £1 in every thousand collected by the Treasury in the year to July 2019 and should be allowed to reopen at the same time as non-essential shops. He said the pub industry made […]

Labour has written to the cabinet secretary asking him to publish details on meetings with Tory-linked firms that have secured contracts during the pandemic. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves last week revealed she had written to 10 firms with connections to the Conservative Party awarded contracts during the coronavirus crisis in a bid to […]

A French journalist has called into question Britain’s vaccine strategy after pointing out the UK lagged behind the EU in fully immunizing its population. Writing in the Guardian, Jean Quatremer, of the French newspaper Libération, said the reality of the UK’s vaccine drive was “a little more complex – and not quite such a stunning UK […]

The EU has admitted that mistakes were made in the process leading up to its recent attempt to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol – but pointed out it resolved its mistake within a matter of hours. The European Commission’s vice-president Maros Sefcovic said that the commission “deeply regrets” how it handled the […]

A High Court judge is considering whether a government decision to award a market research contract to a company whose bosses were friends of Dominic Cummings was unlawful. Campaigners took legal action against the Cabinet Office over the decision to pay more than £500,000 of taxpayers’ money to research firm Public First, following the start […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson is preparing to ditch the government’s “stay at home” messaging as reports suggest he will relax England’s lockdown restrictions next month. Officials are looking to drop the “stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives” messaging as the country moves away from lockdown restrictions. Despite telling the public to take reports […]

WILL SELF advances a satirical suggestion to solve some of the country’s problems. In the 1990s – as I’ve often had cause to relate – a profound change occurred in British culture. Up until that point British cuisine was pretty dreadful: over-cooked, urine-smelling veg; overcooked, leathery meat, together with piss-poor trimmings – that was our […]

Senior Conservative backbenchers have urged Boris Johnson to allow Covid-safe weddings to resume from March 8 before permitting unrestricted ceremonies from May 1. Thirteen MPs, including 1922 committee chairman Sir Graham Brady, Covid Recovery Group vice-chairman Steve Baker and ex-minister Tim Loughton, have backed a campaign seeking to pressure the Prime Minister as he considers […]

The Scottish government will publish legislation setting out the timetable and question of a potential second Scottish independence referendum within weeks, Scotland’s constitution secretary has confirmed. The draft Bill – promised in the legislative programme first minister Nicola Sturgeon set out last year – is due to be published before the Scottish parliament enters recess […]

Covid has damaged populists in power. But it has also assisted those in opposition, especially in Europe where the centre is struggling to protect its population, says NICK COHEN. To say the radical right is deceitful and malevolent is to state the obvious but miss the point. I do not mean to discourage you from fighting […]

Keir Starmer is facing mounting criticism from within his own party. JAMES BALL assesses how seriously he should take it. Keir Starmer is, we’re told, a politician in crisis. Despite the devastating effect of coronavirus on the UK and on the standing of the government, the Labour Party lags behind the Conservatives in the polls, his personal […]

Young people are more worried about the effects of Brexit than catching coronavirus, a study suggests. Just over two-fifths (42%) of adults aged between 18 and 29 reported being stressed about Brexit, compared with around a third (32%) who are worried about catching Covid-19, according to a recent UCL survey. The difference could be due […]

Matt Hancock has urged people to be “patient” about the prospect of getting away this summer, despite the health secretary already booking a break in Cornwall. Hancock said that the rollout of coronavirus vaccines was “absolutely essential” for summer holidays to take place. “I know that people are yearning for certainty over whether they can […]

The UK should be “more or less free” of the coronavirus crisis by the end of the year, a leading epidemiologist has predicted. Professor John Edmunds, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said some measures would remain “probably forever”. But he told ITV’s Peston: “I think we will be more […]