Pupils from better-off families are set to benefit most from the £700 million pound catch-up programme announced by the government. Education secretary Gavin Williamson laid out details of the fund at today’s (Tuesday) Downing Street briefing and stated that no pupil’s prospects should be “blighted by the pandemic”. Williamson confirmed that all schools in England […]
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Boris Johnson has said he takes “full responsibility” for the government’s actions that have led to the UK passing the 100,000 mark for the number of people who have died with coronavirus. A sombre prime minister insisted his government “truly did everything we could” to fight the virus and limit deaths caused by Covid, yet […]
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Doubts are growing over the efficacy of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine with Germany’s leading business newspaper claiming the jab is only 8% effective for over 65s. AstraZeneca have rejected the “completely incorrect” claim with a spokesperson saying the jab has JCVI and MHRA authorisation, adding: “In November, we published data in The Lancet demonstrating that older […]
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The UK government has been warned that Northern Ireland is “one storm or boat breakdown away” from “a collapse of the NI supply chain”. Michael Gove has received an 11-page report forecasting the grim scenario that could occur within five days without urgent action from ministers. Cabinet office minister Gove said the post-Brexit trade chaos […]
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Xavier Bettel, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, yesterday gave a press conference beside an empty podium intended for Johnson. In one of the more dramatic spectacles of the ongoing political drama, Bettel took the opportunity to express his frustrations at Brexit while gesturing to the empty podium. The joint press conference between Bettel and Johnson […]
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The Cabinet Office has been warned to take an urgent risk assessment of its ability to conduct a snap election. The Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) said: “Electoral reform is needed urgently as the current system is no longer fit for purpose. The electoral community cannot continue performing miracles.” The AEA issued a report calling […]
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Businesses will cease to exist if they fail to take climate change seriously, the heads of two central banks have warned. The Bank of England governor Mark Carney and François Villeroy de Galhau of France issued the stark warning in an unprecedented open letter. In it, they said climate change was a threat to the […]
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Vital education, health and housing reforms in Northern Ireland are being thwarted by the power vacuum at Stormont, the province’s top civil servant has said. The devolved power sharing Government of Northern Ireland collapsed in January last year after a row between the two main parties. With the Westminster government unwilling to reimpose direct rule, […]
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Freedom of movement between the UK and EU will end no matter what happens with the Brexit process, Home Secretary Sajid Javid told MPs this week. Javid spoke out as he came under pressure to publish a white paper on the new immigration bill, setting out how Britain will control its borders after it departs […]
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The head of the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 says the UK’s enemies should not underestimate our ability to respond to the threats they pose. In a rare public speech, Alex Younger also questioned why Chinese companies were permitted to be involved with the UK’s 5G mobile network. He was speaking at his former university, […]
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