Matt Hancock has said the UK must “come down hard” on the South African coronavirus variant after community cases were found in eight areas across England. “Surge testing” will be carried out in the eight postcodes where a total of 105 cases of the SA variant – called 501Y.V2 – have been identified. Worryingly, 11 […]
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A press photographer has been arrested and held for seven hours by police for taking pictures of a protest outside a former barracks that houses asylum seekers in Kent. Andy Aitchison, 46, took photos of a demonstration outside Napier barracks on Thursday morning as protestors threw buckets of water mixed with food dye at the […]
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The EU’s decision to trigger a Brexit clause to block the export of Covid vaccines to Northern Ireland has been roundly condemned in Belfast, Dublin and London. The governments of the UK and Ireland have held “frantic talks” to try and “avert a full scale crisis” after the European commission triggered article 16 of the […]
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Nicola Sturgeon is being accused of undermining the UK in its escalating battle with the EU over vaccine doses. The Scottish first minister is “threatening to publish details of confidential supplies” that the “UK government wants to keep secret”, the Times is reporting today (Thursday). The other pro-Conservative broadsheet, the Telegraph has also piled in, […]
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The head of the inquiry into claims of bullying by Priti Patel at the Home Office has resigned after the prime minister ignored the findings that the home secretary broke the ministerial code. Boris Johnson’s ruling that Patel should not step down is an unprecedented act, forcing the resignation of Sir Alex Allan, the prime […]
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The prime minister said the £16.5 billion boost to defence spending will restore the UK as Europe’s top maritime power with massive investment in cyber-warfare, drones, laser weapons and space programmes. It also signals a marked threat to the UK’s overseas aid budget – a major part of which is to prevent and avoid conflicts […]
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The highly critical National Audit Office report into the government’s awarding of £18 billion in procurement deals has been overshadowed by infighting in the Labour party and the prime minister’s green plan for the UK. The parliamentary watchdog made a number of startling findings including a lack of transparency, failures to explain why certain suppliers […]
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Scottish Conservatives are furious about Boris Johnson’s latest gaffe saw him call devolution “a disaster” just months before the Holyrood election. From his self-isolation in Downing Street the prime minister managed to send – via the power of a Zoom meeting with 67 Tory MPs comprising the Northern Research Group – political shock waves across […]
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The UK has secured five million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine which claims to have almost 95% effectiveness against the virus. Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the UK has “an initial agreement” for five million doses from the US drugmaker, but added they will not be available until spring 2021. “Absolutely brilliant news,” hailed […]
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Boris Johnson has taken control of Number 10 by sacking his chief adviser Dominic Cummings just 11 disastrous months after the chief advisor delivered a landslide election victory. It is also just seven weeks until the end of the UK’s transition period from the EU and Cummings’ exit from Number 10 follows fast behind director […]
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