Sumon Admin – Page 26

26Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

PM stands firm on free meals policy

Boris Johnson has admitted he hasn't spoken to Marcus Rashford since June but has praised the footballer's terrific food poverty campaign. The Manchester United forward is leading a high-profile campaign for the expansion of free school meals and also for the provision of meals during all school holidays for those in need. The government has so far refused to bow to growing pressure over the issue, despite having previously performed a U-turn prior to the summer holidays when they provided meal vouchers to around 1.3 million children in England. espite not extending the voucher scheme for this October half-term and having resisted calls to extend the scheme until Easter next year - Mr Johnson on Monday vowed that ministers will do everything in our power to make su...

24Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

NHS will be unable to cope

Millions of people across the UK are waking up to stricter coronavirus restrictions on Saturday as health officials battle to stem the spread of the disease. From midnight, South Yorkshire joined Liverpool City Region, Greater Manchester and Lancashire on the highest Tier 3 alert level, banning mixing between households indoors and forcing many pubs and bars to close. In a letter to residents Sheffield City City Region mayor Dan Jarvis acknowledged many people would find the return stricter rules “deeply frustrating” and would fear for their futures and their livelihoods. But he added: The scientific advice is that they can help. We still have a difficult path ahead, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel, he said. It came as Wales began a two-week national...

23Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

UK and Japan sign £15bn trade deal

The UK and Japan have signed a free trade agreement at a ceremony in Tokyo, hours before negotiations on a post-Brexit deal with the European Union are due to resume. The UK-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which was agreed in principle last month, marks Britain's first deal with a major economy since Brexit. The government claims the agreement will boost trade with Japan by £15.2bn over the next 15 years and UK businesses will enjoy tariff-free trade on 99% of exports to the country. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss had struck the deal with Japan's foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi on a video call on 11 September. After the ceremony, Ms Truss said: "How fitting it is to be in the land of the rising sun to welcome in the dawn of a...

21Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

UK & EU agree to restart Brexit talks

EU trade negotiators will return to London on Thursday to restart Brexit trade talks, after both sides promised to work intensively for a deal. Downing Street had previously told chief negotiator Michel Barnier there was no point in him coming to the UK unless the EU fundamentally shifted its position. But following a telephone conversation between the EU chief negotiator and his UK counterpart Lord Frost, a Downing Street spokesperson said the UK was ready to try and bridge remaining divides and would welcome Mr Barnier’s team to London. Mr Barnier had earlier on Wednesday told the European Parliament that a deal was within reach if both sides were ready to make compromises. Lord Frost discussed the implications of this statement and the state of play with Mr Bar...

20Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

London Mayor urges axing of 10pm curfew

The controversial 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants should be immediately scrapped to help hospitality businesses adjust to new coronavirus restrictions, Sadiq Khan has said. The Mayor of London said allowing pubs and restaurants to stay open later would provide a financial boost after Tier 2 restrictions banned households in the capital from mixing indoors. The new measures, which came into force in London on Saturday, mean pubs and restaurants can only serve groups of customers who live together and abide by the "rule of six". Mr Khan said: I have said for a while that the current curfew rule needs to be rapidly reviewed. We saw the worrying consequences of increased social mixing on the streets and on public transport in the capital around 10pm immediately aft...

20Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

400,000 pupils off school last week

More than 400,000 children in England were off school last week for coronavirus-related reasons, as the government admitted that “unevenness” in lost learning could affect 2021 exam results. Weekly attendance statistics from the Department for Education (DfE) estimated that up to 5% of England’s 8.3 million state school pupils lost classroom time, including as many as 50,000 with confirmed or suspected cases of Covid-19. The number of schools having to shut completely increased by 50% compared with the previous week, with 60 estimated to have closed, affecting at least 12,000 pupils, the statistics showed. The DfE figures, based on daily returns from headteachers, found that more than 350,000 pupils were out of school because of possible contact with someone with C...

19Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

UK refuses to restart Brexit talks

Downing Street has refused to restart Brexit deal negotiations despite Michael Gove performing a U-turn at the dispatch box in which he praised a “constructive move” by the EU minutes after declaring the talks “effectively ended”. The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, seemingly agreed to all the government’s demands for the resumption of Brexit talks in pursuit of a deal – sending a tweet just as Gove was making a statement in the Commons castigating the bloc. A No 10 spokesman said the prime minister had noted the EU’s offer to “intensify” the talks during a call between Barnier and his British counterpart on Monday but insisted there remained no basis yet to resume the negotiation. The spokesman said: This was a constructive discussion. The UK has noted the ...

18Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Featured, United Kingdom

Gove calls out EU over Brexit deal

Michael Gove today told Michel Barnier 'the ball is in your court' if the European Union wants trade talks with the UK to resume as he said the bloc had given Britain 'no choice' but to step up its preparations for a no deal split. The Minister for the Cabinet Office said Brussels had shown in recent weeks it was 'not serious' about striking a deal because it had failed to compromise on key issues. He said he still hoped a deal could be done in the coming weeks but stressed that for the UK to consider going back to the negotiating table the EU will have to drastically overhaul its approach. He borrowed a term from Star Trek as he said the EU was trying to 'keep us in their tractor beam' and suggested Brussels had broken its word by failing to agree to a Canada-styl...

17Oct

By Sumon AdminNo Comments

Europe, Featured

NZ’s Ardern hails ‘strong mandate

Jacinda Ardern will govern New Zealand for a second term after the Labour party secured a historic landslide victory in the general election, attracting so many votes it could become the first party in decades to be able to govern alone. Ardern’s deft handling of the Covid-19 outbreak and resolute belief in science and experts was credited with earning the trust of New Zealanders, who cast early votes in record numbers, giving her party more votes than at any other election in the past five decades. With nearly 100% of the vote counted, Labour had secured 49%, with the opposition National party on 27%. Labour was expected to win 64 of the 120 seats in parliament, and National, 35. It is the best result for the Labour party in 50 years, being hailed as “extraordinary...

15Oct

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Featured, United Kingdom

Sunak warns ban could cost jobs

Rishi Sunak has warned a 'blunt' circuit-breaker national lockdown could cause 'permanent damage,' to UK jobs and firms. There are growing calls, particularly from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, for a two-week circuit breaker to be implemented as a means of slowing the Covid-19 infection rate. Manchester and Lancashire could well join Liverpool under Tier 3 restrictions on activity as part of the Government's latest Covid-19 strategy. Chancellor of the Exchequer Mr Sunak has defended regional lockdowns, saying they prevent nationwide measures that would be a 'hit to businesses and jobs. But A YouGov poll estimates around 68 per cent of the population would support a two week, nationwide, circuit breaker lockdown. Mr Sunak, alongside Cabinet minsters including Bu...

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