United Kingdom

    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...

    Priti Patel has been criticised for refusing to deny that that Home Office made plans to install a wave machine in the English Channel to deter migrants. The home secretary said in an interview with The Sunday Times that it would be remiss of us not to look at all the options in reference to reports the government was planning to build new detention centres to house migrants. When asked about reports earlier this week that she had asked Home Office officials to look into the possibility of a wave machine Patel told the newspaper: That’s operational tactics and, quite frankly, I’m not going to start discussing operational tactics. Several figures criticised the home secretary over the interview on Sunday morning, with former transport secretary Andrew Adonis questio...

    One in three working-age families in so-called “red wall” constituencies won by the Tories from Labour at the last election will be £1,000 a year worse off if government plans to cut universal credit benefit rates go ahead. The government is also focused on supporting people by helping them get into work. This includes launching the kickstart scheme, a £2bn fund to create hundreds of thousands of new, fully subsidised jobs for young people. The potentially dramatic impact on low-income households’ in “left behind” former industrial areas in the north of England, Midlands, Northern Ireland and Wales is highlighted in an analysis by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. The hit would fall disproportionately on families in areas the government has promised to “level up...

    President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus early Friday 32 days before Election Day and while voters are already casting ballots. It’s a stunning reminder that the northwest gate of the White House, where senior staff, VIPs and journalists gain entry to the 18-acre complex, is one of metal bars and not medical masks or face shields. Campaign rallies, candidate debates and rope lines at airport pit-stops offer even fewer protections even for the most powerful person in the world. Nobody knows exactly what happens next. The President of the United States has contracted a disease that has killed more than 207,000 Americans and sickened some 7.3 million. It will undoubtedly add new chaos into an election season already in unc...

    The EU Commission has announced plans to take the UK to court over controversial plans to break international law. Ursula Von Der Leyen said that Brussels was beginning infringement actions against the UK over breaches of the good faith clauses of the the Withdrawal Agreement struck by Boris Johnson. But Mr Johnson has signalled he could tear up elements of that agreement relating to Northern Ireland in the UK Internal Market Bill, which cleared the Commons this week. Ministers have admitted that the plan would breach international law - sending shockwaves through the the UK's negotiations with Brussels. The European Union had called for the UK to withdraw the elements of the legislation by the end of September. But Mr Johnson failed to change tack in light of Ms...

    House prices rose in September at the fastest annual rate since the aftermath of the Brexit vote in 2016, according to the UK’s biggest building society, as buyers continued to take advantage of a benign market despite the coronavirus pandemic. The average UK house price rose by 5% in September compared with the same month last year, to £226,129 – a record high, Nationwide reported. The pandemic has shaken up the housing market, with the return of demand after the UK-wide lockdown and temporary cuts to stamp duty helping to sustain sales even as economists forecast a significant increase in unemployment over the coming quarter. Prices rose by 0.9% month on month in September after jumping by 2% in the previous month as housing market activity surged, Nationwide sai...