Boris Johnson set to ease coronavirus lockdown restrictions tonight May 10, 2020 Boris Johnson is expected to announce an easing of the UK’s coronavirus lockdown tonight as the government implements a new five-tier warning rating. It is expected that the Prime Minister will announce that, from next week, people will be allowed to exercise more than once a day and sunbathe as long as two metres distance [...]
Norman Lamont: Britons not prepared for the economic hardship ‘around the corner’ May 6, 2020 Former chancellor Lord Norman Lamont has warned the government’s furlough scheme has made people complacent and unaware of the coming economic hardship. Lamont, chancellor under Conservative Prime Minister John Major, said the scheme had lulled “people into a false sense of security” and that many do not realise “their jobs have disappeared or are about [...]
Workers should work ‘four days on, 10 days off’ to ease coronavirus lockdown May 5, 2020 The government should tell businesses to enact a “four days on, 10 days off” policy for workers once the coronavirus lockdown is eased, according to one of the UK’s leading chemical biologists. Chair of chemical biology at Imperial College London Professor Keith Willison, writing for the neoliberal think tank Adam Smith Institute, said this cyclical [...]
UK warns of state-backed cyber criminals ‘exploiting’ coronavirus crisis May 5, 2020 Cyber criminal groups are using the coronavirus outbreak as an opportunity to target national and international groups responding to the crisis, according to Dominic Raab. The foreign secretary said today that there was evidence that cyber criminals were “stealing bulk personal data, intellectual property and wider information” and that the groups were “often linked with other [...]
Rishi Sunak: No ‘cliff edge’ to job retention scheme May 5, 2020 Rishi Sunak has moved to assure people that “there will be no cliff edge” to the government’s job retention scheme, signalling that it could be extended past June for some workers. Sunak last night said he was “working to figure out the most effective way to wind down the scheme”, which is paying the wages [...]
Business groups welcome start of UK-US trade talks May 5, 2020 Business groups have welcomed the start of UK-US trade talks today, urging the government to concentrate on Britain’s small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in negotiations. International trade secretary Liz Truss will host a video conference call with US trade representative Robert Lighthizer today to signal the start of negotiations. The first round of talks [...]
TfL should increase fares to promote social distancing, says think tank May 4, 2020 Transport for London (TfL) should increase fare prices at peak times once the coronavirus lockdown is eased, according to one of the country’s top think tanks. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) released a new report today, suggesting measures such as increased fare prices would act as a disincentive for people catching public transport once [...]
Coronavirus ‘test, track and trace’ app trial launches tomorrow May 4, 2020 The Isle of Wight will trial the UK’s coronavirus “test, track and trace” app from tomorrow, health secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed. Hancock said that health workers will begin to pilot the app on the island tomorrow, before extending it to all 140,000 islanders later this week. The health secretary said the app would supplement [...]
Lloyds boss: Coronavirus business loan scheme was ‘painful’ and ‘flawed’ when launched May 4, 2020 The launch of the government’s coronavirus business loan scheme was “painful” and “flawed”, according to one of the top bosses of Lloyds Bank. David Oldfield, group director and chief executive of commercial banking at Lloyds, said today that the government’s emergency loan scheme was “cumbersome and onerous” when it launched. He added that he still [...]
Coronavirus: London’s NHS Nightingale to be placed ‘on standby’ May 4, 2020 London’s NHS Nightingale is being put “on standby”, with no new coronavirus patients expected at the temporary hospital. The Prime Minister’s spokesman said today that the makeshift hospital, located at the Excel centre, was being mothballed due to limited demand. The hospital was built to handle up to 4,000 Covid-19 patients, however fewer than 20 [...]
