BBC delays licence fee changes for over-75s due to virus fears March 16, 2020 The BBC today said it will push back plans to end the blanket free licence fee scheme for over-75s amid concerns about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Pensioners were due to face changes to the licence fee from 1 June, but this will now be delayed until 1 August. Millions of over-75s will have [...]
Second MP tests positive for coronavirus March 16, 2020 A second MP has tested positive for coronavirus, while others have announced they are self-isolating, as Covid-19 continues to spread throughout the country. Kate Osborne, Labour MP for Jarrow, announced this morning she had tested positive for the virus “following a period of self isolation and subsequent testing”. She added: “I will continue to self [...]
Coronavirus: Downing Street to hold daily press conferences to keep public informed March 16, 2020 The government will hold daily televised press conferences to keep the public informed about the coronavirus outbreak, after coming under fire for its approach this weekend. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his senior ministers including health secretary Matt Hancock will go before the cameras alongside the chief medical officer Chris Witty and the chief scientific [...]
PM warns ‘many more families will lose loved ones’ to coronavirus March 12, 2020 Boris Johnson has warned that “many more families will lose loved ones before their time” as he confirms the UK is moving into the second stage of dealing with the coronavirus. The Prime Minister, who chaired a COBRA meeting this afternoon, said it was “the worst public health crisis for a generation”, arguing it was [...]
Coronavirus: Sturgeon confirms UK move to delay stage, but schools won’t be closed (yet) March 12, 2020 The UK has entered the delay phase of managing the coronavirus outbreak, Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed. Scotland now has 60 confirmed cases of Covid-19. As a result of the move from contain to the second stage, Sturgeon said anyone showing symptoms of the virus – specifically a fever and a persistent cough [...]
UK coronavirus: PM to launch tougher measures to delay spread of Covid-19 March 12, 2020 The government will officially announce tougher measures to delay the spread of the UK coronavirus outbreak today after failing to contain the Covid-19 crisis. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair yet another Cobra meeting this afternoon, in which it is expected he will confirm the shift into the second stage of managing the outbreak. [...]
Michael Gove: Coronavirus might derail Brexit trade talks with EU March 11, 2020 Michael Gove has admitted coronavirus could derail the next round of trade talks with the EU amid “specific public health concerns”. Asked what impact the outbreak of the disease, which has led to the whole of Italy being put into lockdown, would have on the Brexit talks, the Cabinet Office minister told MPs it was [...]
Budget: Chancellor says coronavirus will be ‘front and centre’ as PM wishes minister speedy recovery March 11, 2020 This morning’s Cabinet meeting was dominated by a debate around coronavirus, after it emerged overnight that a health minister had tested positive. Mid Bedfordshire MP Nadine Dorries, who is a health minister, revealed she had the disease but was “over the worst of it”. She raised concerns about her elderly mother who “began with the [...]
Huawei rebels defeated – but give government bloody nose March 10, 2020 The government was given a bloody nose by its own backbenchers this afternoon, after a group of rebels led by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith stuck to their guns on Huawei. MPs voted 306 to 282 against an amendment calling for Downing Street to stop using “high risk vendors” – a term that appears [...]
Government would be ‘very unwise’ to ignore Huawei rebels, says David Davis March 10, 2020 The government would be “very unwise” to ignore Conservative rebels on Huawei, even if Downing Street wins today’s key vote, David Davis has warned. Speaking just hours before MPs debated an amendment designed to force the government’s hand on 5G, banning it from using “high risk vendors” after 31 December 2022, the former Brexit secretary [...]
