Author: Sumon Admin

    Boris Johnson is facing mounting pressure to impose a half-term “circuit-breaker”, with scientific advisers stressing that a two-week lockdown could save thousands of lives by the end of the year. Sage members have reportedly calculated that more than 7,000 lives could be be saved if schools are closed and people are ordered to stay at home for a fortnight from October 24. Their conclusions are to be published in a paper today, after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for a short and sudden lockdown, warning that drastic short-term measures were needed to prevent a “sleepwalk into a long and bleak winter”. It comes as the Government’s new three-tier coronavirus system comes into force in England, with London and other areas set to move into higher risk categorie...

    Government ministerial salaries are to be frozen in the coming year, prime minister Boris Johnson has announced, amid furore about an expected £3,300 hike for MPs. Ministers will still get the MPs’ pay rise along with all members of the House of Commons, but they will not receive any increase on the separate salary they receive on top as members of the government. The salaries of ministers in the Commons have been frozen since 2010, meaning that secretaries of state have missed out on rises totalling £4,168 over that period, said Downing Street. While MPs’ pay is set by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, ministerial salaries are fixed by the government and successive prime ministers since 2010 have held them down to avoid a political backlash. Ipsa...

    Boris Johnson said the country was entering a "new and crucial phase" in the fight against coronavirus, as he delivered a Downing Street press conference about the new "three-tier" system of lockdown restrictions. Pubs, bars, casinos and gyms in the Liverpool city region will be forced to close from Wednesday after the city was classified a “very high” risk area due to surging rates of Covid-19 infection. In “high risk” areas, indoor mixing between households will be banned, while current national restrictions  including the rule of six and the 10pm curfew will apply to all other “medium risk” areas. Mr Johnson is said to have thrashed out the final details of the restrictions during a Cobra emergency committee this morning and will hold a Downing Street press conf...

    As the Brexit transition period countdown hits 81 days, the UK’s business secretary Alok Sharma has called on companies to take action now to prepare. Britain's Business Secretary Alok Sharma arrives for a cabinet meeting at the FCO in London, Britain September 22, 2020. Photo: Leon Neal/Pool via Reuters Sharma is due to write to 600,000 businesses on Monday 12 October, emphasising that there is no time to waste to get ready for the UK’s new start. Boris Johnson has said the transition period, due to end at the end of the year, will not be extended. The EU and UK have been negotiating for months on the finer points of the exit agreement. Johnson said the country is committed to exploring every avenue to reach an agreement on Brexit talks, in a phone call to Franc...

    Boris Johnson will outline a new three-tiered system of coronavirus restrictions next week as leaders press Downing Street to be consulted on lockdown measures. The Prime Minister is expected to reveal the full details of the much-anticipated approach in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, following criticism of the Government for not keeping MPs properly informed of changes. After a meeting with Government officials, leaders of West Yorkshire councils wrote a joint letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak stating: We are concerned by rumours in the media that we might be pushed into Level 3 of a new system set to be introduced, without any discussion or consultation, or without adequate economic measures put in place to support affected people and businesses. ...

    Rishi Sunak will on Friday be forced to open the Treasury cheque book again to support companies told to close in local lockdowns, little more than two weeks after he set out his “winter economic plan”. Amid claims the government had turned its back on parts of northern England, which are set to face tougher lockdown restrictions in the coming days, the chancellor will set out details of a new local furlough scheme. Keir Starmer, Labour leader, accused the government of losing control of the fight against coronavirus, while leaders of northern cities claimed they had been left in the dark by Boris Johnson’s government. People aren’t asking for miracles they just want to know that the prime minister has a plan and a strategy in place, Sir Keir wrote in the Daily Tel...

    Coronavirus caused three times more deaths than pneumonia and flu combined in the first eight months of this year, according to new figures. Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed there were 48,168 deaths due to COVID-19, 13,619 due to pneumonia and 394 deaths due to influenza in England and Wales between January and August. Out of all deaths during this period, COVID-19 accounted for 12.4%, whereas 0.1% were due to flu and 3.5% caused by pneumonia. "Since 1959, which is when ONS monthly death records began, the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in the first eight months of every year have been lower than the number of COVID-19 deaths seen, so far, in 2020," said Sarah Caul, head of mortality analysis at the ONS. In care homes, which hav...

    Figures from the bank show the average residential home sold for £249,870 ($322,877) in September, with the highest annual rise since 2016. Russell Galley, managing director of Halifax, noted political uncertainty had weighed on prices last September, but said the market had still been extremely strong since the first national lockdown eased. Prices were up 1.6% on the previous month in a third month in a row of gains. Growth has lost less steam than expected by analysts, who had predicted monthly growth of 0.6%. It comes in spite of the resurgent coronavirus, tighter lockdown restrictions and the ongoing economic crisis, with some experts calling the property boom a paradox. There has been a fundamental shift in demand from buyers brought about by the structural ...

    Boris Johnson has spoken of the "frustration and hardship" brought about by the pandemic, but vowed that the Government will "build back better" to solve the UK's “chronic underlying problems”. Addressing the Tory Party conference, Mr Johnson, who faces a Tory revolt over some of the curbs on freedoms that have been introduced, also said that ministers had been "forced into erosions of liberty we deeply regret" but insisted there is "no reasonable alternative" to "lockdown enforcement and bailouts". It came as London saw surge in coronavirus cases, with more than 1,000 new infections being reported every day , official figures show. The capital was declared an area of Covid-19 concern on September 25 when there were just over 600 new cases a day. Meanwhile, Sheffie...

    A technical glitch which meant almost 16,000 Covid-19 cases went unreported has been slammed as shambolic after it emerged that it led to delays in tracing contacts of people with coronavirus. The number of UK Covid cases surged by 22,961 on Sunday after it was revealed that thousands of cases were not included in daily reports, due to some data files reporting positive test results exceeding the maximum file size. On Monday evening, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the data issues should never have happened. It came as more than 12,000 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in the UK. Meanwhile, in a speech to the virtual Conservative Party conference, Chancellor Rishi Sunak issued a warning that pandemic levels of spending and borrowing cannot go on forever, a...