United Kingdom

    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...

    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...

    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 ...

    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...

    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...

    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. ...