From stamp duty to the triple lock, Andy Haldane says bold Burnham leadership can usher ‘vibe change’ for UK economy
Delta variant now makes up 99 per cent of new Covid cases in UK June 18, 2021 The Delta variant now accounts for 99 per cent of new Covid-19 cases in the UK, according to the latest Public Health England data. In the week to June 14, Britain reported another steep rise in new cases of the Delta variant, which was first identified in India. The latest PHE data showed the variant [...]
Notting Hill Carnival: Celebration cancelled for the second year running June 18, 2021 The organisers of Notting Hill Carnival have announced that this year’s event will not take place on the streets “due to the ongoing uncertainty and risk Covid-19 poses.” Instead, the late August bank holiday event will go ahead online as it did last year. The move comes a few days after the government delayed the [...]
PM keen for UK workers to return to office but govt leaves decision up to businesses June 18, 2021 The Prime Minister is understood to be against large-scale working from home continuing beyond final lockdown restrictions easing, as the government hands discretion to “employers and employees”. Boris Johnson is opposed to the level of working from home seen during the pandemic becoming permanent and had hoped to ease guidance this month, The Telegraph first [...]
Sunak: Existing help for businesses hit by lockdown extension generous enough June 17, 2021 Rishi Sunak has tonight ruled out any extra financial support for businesses hit by the four-week long extension to lockdown. In an interview with the FT, the Chancellor said that the existing schemes had “erred on the side of generosity” in order to “accommodate delays to the roadmap”. Although the Treasury yesterday announced an extension [...]
42m Brits: Four in five UK adults given first dose of Covid vaccine June 17, 2021 The government today said over 42m adults in the UK have received their first dose of the Covid vaccine. The latest figures show almost 73m doses of the vaccine have been administered in the UK, with more than 30m adults receiving both doses. The government says it is on track to offer a first dose [...]
Test and Trace: UK regulator extends approval for Innova Covid test, despite US recall June 17, 2021 Britain’s medicines regulator has extended the emergency use approval for Innova’s rapid Covid tests, used for NHS Test & Trace, after the US said they “should be thrown in the bin”. The MHRA approved the lateral flow tests for continued use, after carrying out its own checks over the last week. Innova is the UK’s [...]
CureVac shares plunge after Covid vaccine falls short in clinical trial June 17, 2021 The German biotech lost more than half its value after a preliminary analysis of late-stage trials found its Covid-19 vaccine was only 47 per cent effective. CureVac’s disappointing mRNA vaccine trial results call into question its future contribution to the global vaccination effort. The interim analysis of the jab’s trials found that it was one [...]
Pandemic crash: Almost 200,000 UK travel jobs lost or at risk due to Covid crisis June 17, 2021 Around 195,000 people working in the UK travel industry have either lost their job or are at risk of losing their job due to the Covid-19 crisis. The sector employs around 526,000 people across the UK in ordinary times, meaning that more than a third (37 per cent) of all jobs in the sector face [...]
Covid-19 cases surge in England, driven by unvaccinated young June 17, 2021 The coronavirus pandemic grew “exponentially” at the beginning of the month, driven by younger age groups who had not yet received the vaccine, according to a study published today. Researchers for the Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (REACT) study looked at data from the period 20 May to 7 June, which showed the prevalence of [...]
Leaked text messages: Boris Johnson called Matt Hancock ‘totally f***** hopeless’ June 17, 2021 Boris Johnson described Matt Hancock’s performance when it came to mass testing in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic as “totally f****** hopeless”, Dominic Cummings has claimed. Treasury minister Jesse Norman said today that the Prime Minister’s is “firmly behind” the health secretary after the messages emerged. “I think this is some of the [...]