John Major: Johnson broke lockdown laws and is eroding British democracy February 10, 2022 Boris Johnson broke his own lockdown laws and is eroding trust in British democracy, according to former Prime Minister John Major. Major launched a withering attack on the PM today, saying his response to the partygate scandal made the government “look distinctly shifty” while too often “the truth has been optional” for ministers. Major has long [...]
North Korea refuses Covax vaccine deliveries as scheme shrinks number of allocated jabs February 10, 2022 North Korea has reportedly not accepted any Covid-19 vaccines from the global COVAX scheme, leaving millions of allocated vaccines to be re-distributed. The worldwide vaccine sharing programme has dialled back the number of doses it had allotted to North Korea to help it meet international immunisation targets, Reuters first reported. A little over 8.1m vaccines [...]
ONS: Number of UK ‘high growth’ firms has fallen by 15 per cent since 2014 February 9, 2022 The number of UK firms considered to be “high growth” job creators has plummeted by 15 per cent between 2014 and 2020, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures, compiled by Labour, showed that 14,190 firms were considered to be high growth at the end of 2014 and that this [...]
Covid: Self-isolation and all other restrictions to be dropped this month February 9, 2022 Self-isolation requirements and all other remaining Covid restrictions will be dropped by the end of this month for England, Boris Johnson has announced. Johnson told MPs today that the government would soon bring forward a full strategy to deal with the later stages of the pandemic and that all restrictions will be dropped around 24 [...]
European Central Bank preps lenders for potential Russian cyberattack February 9, 2022 The European Central Bank is reportedly preparing lenders for a possible Russian cyberattack, as analysts warn the move could be used to de-stabilise Ukraine prior to invading. The Bank is on high alert amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters first reported, having had its sights locked on the rise of scams in the [...]
Starmer attacks PM and ‘loan shark chancellor’ over Covid fraud February 9, 2022 Sir Keir Starmer has hit out at the government over the billions of pounds lost to Covid fraud, accusing Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak of “turning a blind eye to scammers”. The Labour leader also labelled Sunak today as the “loan shark chancellor” over his recently unveiled package of measures aimed to reduce household energy [...]
Covid-19 restrictions could end a month sooner than expected, says Johnson February 9, 2022 All of England’s remaining Covid-19 restrictions could be scrapped a month earlier than expected, prime minister Boris Johnson has said. “Providing the current encouraging trends in the data continue, it is my expectation that we will be able to end the last domestic restrictions, including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive, a [...]
Truss travels to Russia today in bid to ‘de-escalate’ Ukraine crisis February 9, 2022 Liz Truss will meet Russia’s foreign minister in Moscow today in a bid to de-escalate the Ukraine crisis and “pursue a diplomatic solution”. The foreign secretary said in the lead up to her trip that Russia “should be in no doubt about the strength of our response”, referencing the raft of sanctions Nato countries will [...]
UK’s post-Covid small business support programme sees slow take-up February 9, 2022 Rishi Sunak’s post-Covid scheme to boost productivity among small British businesses has seen it reach just a tenth of its target in its first six months. The Help to Grow scheme, launched in August last year, is intended to support 30,000 small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by offering business training in areas like marketing [...]
Health minister Gillian Keegan apologises for in-person meeting despite positive Covid-19 result February 9, 2022 Minister Gillian Keegan has apologised for continuing an in-person meeting after testing positive for Covid-19. The minister for care and mental health took to Twitter to publicly apologise and be “upfront” about her “mistake” last night. Keegan had attended a meeting with three fathers who had lost their daughters to suicide, and took a “precautionary” [...]