Day: November 3, 2019

    Boris Johnson has claimed he feels "deep regret" over the failure to implement his promise of Brexit by Halloween. The Prime Minister replied "of course, of course" when asked if he will apologise to those Conservative Party members who voted for him as they believed he would deliver the UK's exit from the EU by October 31. Mr Johnson also said he can see "no reason whatsoever" about why the UK should extend the Brexit transition period beyond December 2020, adding: "If you get the right Parliament anything's possible. "But what you can do from the beginning is, of course, you can begin negotiating, not just with the EU but with countries around the world, and that's one of the great opportunities that we have next year." The PM earlier said the UK has secured a "...

    Downing Street has taken emergency action to head off winter pressures in the NHS amid growing fears in government that a healthcare crisis could derail the Tory party’s general election campaign. The prime minister Boris Johnson has been holding regular meetings at No 10 with the head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, as evidence mounts of lengthening delays in treatment caused by shortages of doctors and nurses. In addition, the health secretary Matt Hancock has been seeing Stevens every week, on Monday mornings, to assess how to prevent a deterioration in waiting times at hospitals and GP surgeries. The Observer has also learned that No 10, in an unprecedented move, has been planning to set up its own NHS “operations unit” as evidence mounts of lack of capacity and ...