Boris Johnson challenges EU after Italy blocks Astrazeneca vaccine shipment March 5, 2021 Boris Johnson has challenged the EU’s decision to approve the blockade of 250,000 doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine from being shipped to Australia. Italy yesterday announced it had blocked the shipment of vaccines made at its Anagni plant near Rome after the British-Swedish drug manufacturer failed to meet its EU contract commitments. The European Commission gave [...]
Covid: UK R rate rises despite lockdown measures March 5, 2021 The UK’s R rate has crept up slightly, despite Covid cases falling to their lowest level since September amid nationwide lockdown measures, according to the latest official figures. The rate of reproduction of coronavirus now stands at 0.7 to 0.9, meaning every 10 people infected will likely infect between 7 and 9 other people. The [...]
France could block vaccine shipments over shortages, health minister says March 5, 2021 France has suggested the country could block exports of Covid-19 vaccines, the French health minister said this morning, echoing Italy’s move which stopped 250,000 vaccines from reaching Australia yesterday. Health minister Olivier Veran said France “could” follow Italy’s steps when ask by French broadcaster BFM TV. The minister added that France received 800,000 doses of [...]
Liz Truss insists UK has not breached Northern Ireland protocol March 5, 2021 Trade minister Liz Truss has insisted Britain has not breached the Northern Ireland protocol in the Brexit trade deal, something it has been accused of doing by the European Union which has promised to take legal action. “These are temporary easements and it’s perfectly common practice whilst deals are being implemented to have temporary easements [...]
Test and Trace to receive extra £15bn, bringing total funding to £37bn March 4, 2021 The Test and Trace scheme is set to receive an extra £15bn, bringing its total funding over two years to £37bn. The contact tracing scheme, which has been awarded £22bn so far, will receive a further £15bn over the next financial year. The new figures were first revealed by the Huffington Post. It also revealed [...]
EU to launch legal action against UK ‘very soon’ over Brexit grace period extension March 4, 2021 The EU will launch legal action against the UK “very soon” over Britain’s extension of a grace period for checks on goods heading to Northern Ireland, the vice president of the European Commission has said. Maros Sefcovic told the Financial Times the decisions announced by the UK government yesterday had been a “very negative surprise”. Ministers [...]
Exclusive: UK to begin backdoor push to get Joe Biden to dump Trump’s steel tariffs March 4, 2021 The UK will begin a push to get Joe Biden to ditch Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs on British manufacturers, after the US today moved to de-escalate a long-running transatlantic trade dispute. The government is hoping the US’ decision to suspend a raft of tariffs on British goods, like Scotch whisky and Stilton cheese, [...]
Italy blocks Astrazeneca shipment to Australia as vaccine shortage row escalates March 4, 2021 The Italian government has blocked the export of an Astrazeneca vaccine shipment to Australia as a row over EU shortages continues to escalate. Astrazeneca had requested permission from the Italian government to export around 250,000 vaccine doses made at its Anagni plant near Rome to Australia. However, Italian authorities blocked the request after the British-Swedish [...]
US Capitol ‘at risk of attack’ today after FBI warns of QAnon militia riot plans March 4, 2021 FBI aware of possible second attack on US Capitol after militia groups threaten to remove Democrat lawmakers.
UK government reaches six-figure payout settlement with ex-civil servant after Priti Patel row March 4, 2021 The government has reached a payout settlement with the Home Office’s former top civil servant after he claimed home secretary Priti Patel orchestrated a campaign to oust him from his job. Former Home Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam said today he had settled with the government out of court, after previously suing for unfair [...]