Boris Johnson has said it is “absurd and shameful” the Winston Churchill national monument is at risk of attack by protesters this weekend, and warned Black Lives Matter supporters that the responsible thing to do is “stay away from these protests”.
The prime minister went further and claimed the tearing down of statues constitutes “lying about our history”, adding: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past.”
Full border controls with the EU won’t be ready until at least six months after the Brexit transition period ends on 31 December 2020, the government has announced. It comes as the latest GDP figures show the British economy shrank more than 20 per cent in April.
Robert Peel statue boarded up in Tamworth
Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher said the statue of Sir Robert Peel, former prime minister and founder of the Metropolitan Police, was being covered up by the council to "protect it from agitators who can't get their history right".
Writing on Twitter, he said: "The council is doing this because of the threat to the statue and man of whom we are all proud.
"These threats help no one, but distract from a message of peaceful protest."
The MP appears to be referring to claims that anti-racism campaigners wrongly targeted statues of Peel after mistaking him for his father (also Sir Robert Peel), who made his fortune in the cotton trade and opposed the abolition of slavery.
Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher said the statue of Sir Robert Peel, former prime minister and founder of the Metropolitan Police, was being covered up by the council to "protect it from agitators who can't get their history right".
Writing on Twitter, he said: "The council is doing this because of the threat to the statue and man of whom we are all proud.
"These threats help no one, but distract from a message of peaceful protest."
The MP appears to be referring to claims that anti-racism campaigners wrongly targeted statues of Peel after mistaking him for his father (also Sir Robert Peel), who made his fortune in the cotton trade and opposed the abolition of slavery.
Former chancellor steps down as editor of Evening Standard
George Osborne has stepped down as editor of the Evening Standard - to become editor-in-chief.
He will be replaced by David Cameron's sister-in-law Emily Sheffield, former deputy editor of Vogue.
George Osborne has stepped down as editor of the Evening Standard - to become editor-in-chief.
He will be replaced by David Cameron's sister-in-law Emily Sheffield, former deputy editor of Vogue.
UK coronavirus death toll rises by 202
The Covid-19 death toll has risen by 202 over the past 24 hours, the government announced on Friday – bringing the total to 41,481.
It comes just days after leading scientist who advised the government to implement lockdown warned that deaths from the pandemic could have been halved if restrictions were introduced sooner.
Two-metre rule could be reduced, PM hints
Boris Johnson has indicated that the 2-metre social distancing rule could be reduced if infection rates continue to fall in the community, even if transmission in care homes and hospitals keeps the crucial R figure high.
The prime minister is coming under intense pressure to cut the minimum distance, with pubs and restaurants warning that the existing rule will make it unviable for them to reopen.
But there are concerns that the so-called R rate - which measures the average number of people each Covid-19 patient infects - is remaining stubbornly close to the 1 figure above which scientists warn it will not be safe to ease lockdown.
Millions of jobs at risk, union warns
Millions of jobs are at risk unless the government commits to large-scale investment in the economy, a union has warned, after the alarming GDP figures showed that output shrank by 20 per cent last month.
Our business correspondent Ben Chapman has the details:
Millions of jobs at risk as UK economy shrinks by a fifth, union warns
Hopes of a quick economic recovery have been quashed, reports Ben Chapman, and the government must now try to prevent a deep recession turning into long-lasting damageSchools will not return full-time if 2m rule stays, say academy leaders
Academy leaders have poured cold water on the government’s plans to get all children back to school full time by September, saying lessons will not be logistically possible if 2m social distancing guidelines remain in place.
Hamid Patel, chief executive of the Star Academy group, which runs some of the UK’s best performing schools, is calling for urgent recognition that schools may not be able to fully reopen unless drastic action is taken.
Mr Patel, who also sits on the board of the education watchdog Ofsted, told the BBC that if the ambition is “genuinely for all schools to reopen in September, open and honest discussions are needed” about what “workable solutions” could be achieved.
Schools will not return full-time if 2m distancing rules are still in place, say academy leaders
‘Open and honest discussion needed’, says academy head Hamid PatelDeath rates twice as high in England’s deprived areas
London still has the overall highest mortality rate over the past three months, with 137 deaths per 100,000 people — more than a third higher than the next highest region, the latest ONS figures show.
Nine of the 10 local authorities with the highest Covid-19 mortality rates since March were London boroughs all struggling with poverty and overcrowding problems — with Brent, Newham and Hackney the very worst hit since the crisis began.
More details here:
Coronavirus death rates twice as high in England’s deprived areas, new figures show
Poor parts of London struggling with overcrowding problems by far the worst hit over past three monthsNEW: Full border controls with EU won’t be ready until at least six months after UK leaves single market
Full border controls with the EU won’t be ready until at least six months after end of the Brexit transition period, the government has just announced.
Businesses importing goods from Europe will be asked to keep records from 1 January next year of what tariffs they need to pay but will not be asked to pay them until July.
The government says it will phase in full controls from April on products of animal origin, with the extra forms and customs declarations required for all traders three months later.
Officials say they were working on the basis that full controls would be in place for July but that they could be delayed even longer if there is significant disruption.
The EU is expected to impose full border controls on goods travelling from the UK on 1 January as planned.
Sadiq Khan: ‘stay at home’
“My message to Londoners: please do not take to the streets to protest this weekend,” the mayor of London has said. “For yourselves, for family members, who may be vulnerable to Covid-19, and for the wider cause: stay home and find a safe way to make your voice heard.”
PM suggests BLM protests probably ‘going to end in deliberate and calculated violence’
Boris Johnson has said he understands “why people feel outraged certainly about what happened in Minnesota at the death of George Floyd” – but suggested people should look at the “positive” things going on in the UK.
“This is a country that has made huge progress in tackling racism – we should look sometimes at the positive stuff.”
“What’s happened with these demonstrations is that … a growing minority have hijacked them. So unfortunately message to everybody is for all sort of reasons they should not go to these demonstrations
“We should not support a demonstration that is in all probability ... going to end in deliberate and calculated violence.”
Extension to transition period 'straightforward sensible' thing to do
Speaking at the daily Welsh Government briefing, Wales first minister Mark Drakeford said the "straightforward sensible" thing to was to have an extension to the transition period because of the disruption caused by coronavirus.
He added: "My letter with the first minister of Scotland urges the prime minister to seek a further extension in order to be able to do the job as he said he set out to do.
Speaking at the daily Welsh Government briefing, Wales first minister Mark Drakeford said the "straightforward sensible" thing to was to have an extension to the transition period because of the disruption caused by coronavirus.
He added: "My letter with the first minister of Scotland urges the prime minister to seek a further extension in order to be able to do the job as he said he set out to do.
"That was to reach a successful end to the negotiations that protects our economy and jobs here in Wales.
"Inevitably that has been disrupted by coronavirus. The straightforward sensible thing is to add the time we have lost on to the current deadline and to be able to do the job that the Prime Minister said he wanted to do."
PA
PA
Chief nurse 'dropped' from coronavirus briefings
England's chief nurse was dropped from one of Downing Street's daily coronavirus briefings after refusing to publicly back Dominic Cummings, senior sources have told The Independent.
As Boris Johnson's chief aide was engulfed in scandal over his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during lockdown, Ruth May had been due to appear alongside health secretary Matt Hancock in the press conference.
But, in practice questions hours before the briefing, she was asked about Mr Cummings and, after failing to give support to the prime minister’s chief adviser, she was immediately dropped from the press conference, according to senior NHS sources.
Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has this exclusive report:
England's chief nurse was dropped from one of Downing Street's daily coronavirus briefings after refusing to publicly back Dominic Cummings, senior sources have told The Independent.
As Boris Johnson's chief aide was engulfed in scandal over his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during lockdown, Ruth May had been due to appear alongside health secretary Matt Hancock in the press conference.
But, in practice questions hours before the briefing, she was asked about Mr Cummings and, after failing to give support to the prime minister’s chief adviser, she was immediately dropped from the press conference, according to senior NHS sources.
Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern has this exclusive report:
MPs have warned three quarters of restaurants, hotels and pubs could go out of business unless Boris Johnson scraps the two-metre rule soon, our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports.
The prime minister has said he wants to reduce the limit, and other countries have introduced one-metre rules.
PM under pressure to publish report on measures to protect ethnic minorities
Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to order the immediate publication of a report recommending measures to protect ethnic minority groups from coronavirus.
A review published by Public Health England last week confirmed that Covid-19 is killing people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities at a higher rate than whites, but did not propose action to counter this.
PHE has confirmed that a second report drawing on engagement with informed individuals and organisations within ethnic minority communities. Following criticism, it been prepared for publication next week.
Lib Dem MP Layla Moran commented: “It is simply staggering that this report has not been published already.”
A Labour spokesperson urged the Equalities Minister, Kemi Badenoch to explain what she knew and when about the second report, adding: “The government's decision to block this report is scandalous and a tragedy. The recommendations it makes could have saved lives.”
Gove formally confirms no delay to transition period
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove held the second joint committee agreed under the Withdrawal Agreement with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic on Friday.
Despite calls from the governments in Scotland and Wales for an extension to the 2020 transition period to avoid an “avoidable” economic shock, Gove said he “formally confirmed” that the UK will not be asking for a delay.
But Sefcovic told a briefing in Brussels that the EU “remains open to such an extension”.
We’re expecting Gove to make an announcement later over border operations for when Brexit fully comes into effect at the end of the transition period.
Starmer most popular opposition leader since Blair
Our policy editor Jon Stone had taken a closer look at the popularity of leaders of the opposition after a poll found Keir Starmer has a net +31 per cent approval rating – equal to that of Tony Blair back in December 1994.
Starmer’s +31 per cent approval compares to +23 per cent for David Cameron at the same stage in his leadership, +19 per cent for Ed Miliband, and -1 per cent for his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn.
More details here:
‘Extraordinary’: 25,000 patients discharged into care homes without being tested
Up to 25,000 hospital patients were discharged to care homes without testing during the height of the pandemic, an independent Whitehall report has established.
MPs from both parties condemned the findings from the National Audit Office – which also found that the government ignored calls in 2019 to stockpile personal protective equipment (PPE).
The NAO report established that, for an entire month, “medically fit” patients who did not display any Covid-19 symptoms were discharged without being tested.
Jeremy Hunt, chair of the Commons health committee, said it was “extraordinary” that no one appeared to consider the clinical risk.
25,000 patients discharged into care homes without being tested for coronavirus, report finds
‘Residents and staff were an afterthought yet again: out of sight and out of mind, with devastating consequences’The EU ‘will blink again’, claims Francois
Remember Mark Francois? The Tory MP hasn’t had much reason to appear on TV for a while, but today is one such day.
Asked about the idea the government backtrack on its plan to introduce full border checks with the EU from 1 January, Francois largely ignored the question and talked about getting a deal.
“We’ve got until the end of December to come up with an agreement. [The EU has] blinked once, and I believe if we hold our nerve they will blink again.”
Francois said “we’ve got plenty of time – what we need is political will”.
‘Stay away from these protests,’ says Johnson
Boris Johnson went on to say in his lengthy Twitter thread that the “only responsible action” was to stay away from planned Black Lives Matter protests this weekend.
“As for the planned demonstrations, we all understand the legitimate feelings of outrage at what happened in Minnesota and the legitimate desire to protest against discrimination.
“Whatever progress this country has made in fighting racism - and it has been huge - we all recognise that there is much more work to do.
“But it is clear that the protests have been sadly hijacked by extremists intent on violence. The attacks on the police and indiscriminate acts of violence which we have witnessed over the last week are intolerable and they are abhorrent.
“The only responsible course of action is to stay away from these protests.”
‘We cannot now try to edit or censor our past’
Boris Johnson has tweeting his thoughts on the removal of monuments said that tearing down statues constitutes “lying about our history”, adding: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past.”
He wrote: “The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent reminder of his achievement in saving this country - and the whole of Europe - from a fascist and racist tyranny.
“It is absurd and shameful that this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent protesters. Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial.
“We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history. The statues in our cities and towns were put up by previous generations.
“They had different perspectives, different understandings of right and wrong. But those statues teach us about our past, with all its faults. To tear them down would be to lie about our history and impoverish the education of generations to come.
