International travel has ‘biggest impact’ on Covid death rates February 4, 2021 International travel had the biggest impact on Covid death rates in the first wave, according to a new study, Researchers from the University of Aberdeen studied a range of factors including border arrivals, population density, the population of people living in urban areas, BMI, age and smoking prevalence. They found that an increase of 1m [...]
Almost half of UK exporters hurt by Brexit, says new survey February 4, 2021 Almost half of Britain’s exporters have been negatively affected by the end of the Brexit transition period on 1 January, according to a new survey. The YouGov/HSBC poll found that 42 per cent of exporters said the UK’s exit from the EU’s single market and customs union on 31 December had a “negative impact” on [...]
Boris Johnson: Hotel quarantine for arrivals to UK to be outlined tomorrow February 3, 2021 Ministers will provide further details on the UK’s hotel quarantine policy tomorrow, the Prime Minister has announced. Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Boris Johnson said the health secretary would set out the government’s plan for introducing a mandatory 10-day quarantine on arrivals to the UK from 30 countries. Johnson announced the measures last [...]
Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer butt heads in post-PMQs spat February 3, 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer have reportedly been involved in a heated confrontation after today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). Starmer confronted the Prime Minister just outside the House of Commons, after a back-and-forth during PMQs over whether the Labour leader had in the past called for the UK to stay [...]
UK urges EU to extend grace period to 2023 in bid to soften Brexit impact February 3, 2021 Britain has asked the EU for a grace period extension until 2023 on checks made on trade moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has written to the European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic to ask for urgent political solutions on a number of issues at the [...]
‘Super’ Mario Draghi accepts mandate to try and form the next government in Italy February 3, 2021 'Super' Mario Draghi accepts mandate to try and form the next government in Italy
UK to split from EU rules and unveil post-Brexit state aid regime February 3, 2021 Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will today outline the UK’s post-Brexit rules on government subsidies in a major break with the EU. A statement from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (Beis) department said the new set of rules, which supersede the EU’s state aid regime, will mean “local authorities, public bodies and the devolved administrations [...]
Cabinet minister rubbishes Sunak’s plan to give Universal Credit claimants one-off £1,000 payment February 3, 2021 Work and pensions secretary Therese Coffey has rubbished Rishi Sunak’s idea of giving a £1,000 lump sum payment to Universal Credit holders in what is a new front in an ongoing cabinet row about welfare payments. Coffey told MPs today that Sunak’s lump sum payment idea, intended to offset a cut in a temporary uplift [...]
Test and Trace is failing to persuade 20,000 people to self-isolate each day, Dido Harding admits February 3, 2021 Around 20,000 people each day who should be self-isolating are not being convinced to do so by the government’s NHS Test and Trace scheme, chief executive Baroness Dido Harding has admitted. Facing a grilling from the Commons science and technology committee, Harding said that based on last week’s Test and Trace figures “circa 20,000 people [...]
Trump uses impeachment response to spout election fraud consipracy February 2, 2021 Former President Donald Trump, who is banned from Twitter, tonight found a new outlet to air his unfounded claims about voter fraud, using his legal response to impeachment charges against him in the US Congress as a vehicle for his conspiracy theory.