High Court rules Hancock acted unlawfully over multibillion-pound Covid contracts

Health secretary Matt Hancock acted unlawfully by failing to publish details of multibillion-pound coronavirus contracts awarded by the government, a High Court judge has ruled. Mr Justice Chamberlain said Hancock had “breached his legal obligation” by failing to publish details of the contracts within 30 days, adding the public has a right to know where […]

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UK on track for record levels of child poverty, warns Children’s Commissioner, yet education secretary’s focus is a culture war

The Children’s Commissioner for England has used her final speech to excoriate the people employed and paid to educate, look after and protect the children of this country, while simultaneously condemning the silence around their collective failings. Anne Longfield, whose six year tenure ends this month, delivered a devastating final report on how far children […]

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NHS reform will give ministers more power; China bans BBC ‘fake news’

Matt Hancock’s blueprint to reform the NHS, better integrate social care and “do away with irksome bureaucracy” will also hand greater power over the NHS to ministers. Conservatives have broadly welcomed Hancock’s shakeup to the health service, laid out today, while Labour has been questioning the health secretary’s priorities and timing given the UK is […]

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Government ‘betrayal of millions’ in cladding scandal; BoE governor warns households of higher costs

The government has been accused of “a betrayal of millions’” over their £3.5 billion fund to fix the cladding scandal that has left leaseholders in debt and limbo since the Grenfell fire, more than three and a half years ago. Politicians from all parties joined homeowners and campaigners to condemn the government’s £3.5 billion fund […]

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PM to publish roadmap out of lockdown as R rate falls – but death toll rises past 111,000

The coronavirus rate of infection in the UK is back below 1, figures released today reveal, confirming the epidemic is finally shrinking, a month into England’s third lockdown. Boris Johnson is set to publish the government’s roadmap for lifting the lockdown restrictions in England on February 22, as data confirmed a decrease in positive coronavirus […]

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DUP ‘absolutely astounded’ to be accused of stoking tensions over Brexit border crisis

Arlene Foster claims she is “absolutely astounded” at suggestions her Democratic Unionist Party is stoking tensions to undermine the Northern Ireland protocol that has rocked post Brexit relations and put at risk the Good Friday Agreement. Foster’s comments follows revelations that border staff at Northern Ireland’s ports were stood down by a DUP minister who […]

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