UK launches new Covid-19 booster vaccine trial this week May 19, 2021 The UK has launched a new £19.3m trial that will trial seven vaccines to see the effects of a third booster jab in protecting patients longer term. The results of the trial “will help inform decisions by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on plans for a booster programme from autumn this year”, [...]
Truss: When will WTO treat China as developed country to stop Beijing’s unfair trade practices? May 19, 2021 The UK and its allies have been “too soft” on China and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) needs to get tough on Beijing’s unfair trade practices, according to international trade secretary Liz Truss. Truss told a Westminster committee today that the UK wants “to improve our toolkit multilaterally and unilaterally” through putting in new subsidies [...]
Boris Johnson signals support for slashing tariffs on Australian food exports in trade deal May 19, 2021 Boris Johnson has indicated he is in favour of signing a UK-Australia trade deal that opens up the country to zero-tariff Australian meat exports. Johnson said today at Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) that a potential trade deal is “a massive opportunity for Scotland and for the whole of the UK” and that opponents of the [...]
Frost: City of London needs to ‘get on and do its own thing’ post-Brexit May 18, 2021 Lord David Frost has said City of London firms need to “get on and do its own thing” post-Brexit as he signals that equivalence is unlikely. Boris Johnson’s UK-EU relations minister also told a House of Lords committee today that Brussels will continue to take decisions on equivalence that are “in their interest”. UK financial [...]
Boris Johnson: England on track to lift Covid restrictions on 21 June ‘as things stand’ May 18, 2021 Boris Johnson has said today that England is still on track to lift Covid restrictions on 21 June “as things stand”, but cautioned there will be a more conclusive answer in a few days’ time. He said there was “nothing conclusive in the data” on the spread of the Indian Covid variant “to say we [...]
Dominic Cummings to reveal only copy of ‘crucial Covid document’ May 18, 2021 Dominic Cummings has asked Twitter if he should give a “crucial…document from Covid decision making” to a Westminster committee or to auction it off for charity, before quickly backtracking and saying he will do both. Cummings will appear in front of a House of Commons committee meeting next week to give evidence about the government’s [...]
Frost: EU needs to get used to UK controlling its own fishing waters May 18, 2021 The EU needs to “get used to” the UK having control over its own fishing waters post-Brexit or else there will continue to be “difficulties”, according to Lord David Frost. The minister for UK-EU relations also told MPs yesterday that the post-Brexit relationship will be “a bit bumpy for a time”. There have been complaints [...]
Indian Covid-19 variant growing in 86 local authorities in England May 17, 2021 Five or more cases of the Indian Covid-19 variant have been found in 86 English local authorities, with Bolton and Blackburn the two worst affected areas. Health secretary Matt Hancock said today that there were 2,323 cases of the more transmissible Covid strain in England, with 483 of them in Bolton and Blackburn where it [...]
UK government to set up new unit to exploit ‘Brexit opportunities’ May 17, 2021 The UK government is setting up a new unit to explore “Brexit opportunities” particularly around shedding EU regulations, according to Lord David Frost. Frost, the minister for UK-EU relations, said he was helping hire a new head of the unit that will come from outside government and that it would explore things like changing financial [...]
Downing Street says post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol in current form should be scrapped May 17, 2021 Downing Street has said the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol cannot continue in its current form and that it should be “urgently” changed. Boris Johnson’s spokesman told journalists today that Northern Irish businesses “have made extraordinary efforts to adjust” to the Brexit treaty’s terms, but that “it’s hard to see the way the protocol is operating [...]
