Junior health minister Edward Argar and Tory backbencher Sir Charles Walker are among several MPs self-isolating over concerns about contact with Nadine Dorries, who tested positive for the coronavirus this week.
It comes as Boris Johnson is set to move the UK into the “delay” phase. Criticising the government’s staggered response, former regional director of Public Health England John Ashton accused the “superficial” prime minister of having “no grasp of public health”.
Rishi Sunak has defended his Budget amid warnings of a recession, and questioned the usefulness Donald Trump’s move to shut down travel from Europe. The chancellor said the UK would not impose a similar ban, saying there was “no evidence” such measures work.
Scotland set to cancel big public events
Large gatherings look set to be cancelled in Scotland, following an announcement by Nicola Sturgeon.
The Scottish first minister said she would recommend cancelling gatherings of more than 500 people to protect frontline services during the coronavirus outbreak as it was now “inappropriate” to continue as normal.
The advice on cancellations is expected to start from Monday.
“This is a decision that we are basing on resilience issues and not simply on the action that we are required to take to reduce the spread of the virus,” she said at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday.
Large gatherings to be cancelled in Scotland due to coronavirus, Sturgeon says
First minister says decision has been taken to ‘protect resilience’ of frontline servicesPM’s plan little better than no-deal Brexit, UK’s former ambassador to EU warns
The limited EU trade agreement Boris Johnson wants could be little better for the economy than a no-deal Brexit, the UK’s former ambassador to Brussels Sir Ivan Rogers has warned.
Sir Ivan, who served as the UK’s top official in the EU capital under both David Cameron and Theresa May, said: “I think you could reach a quick and dirty, skinny, very thin, FTA [free trade agreement]. You might question how much economic value it has in comparison with no-deal.”
But Sir Ivan also told a think-tank event in Whitehall he was not optimistic at the prospect of any deal being reached by the end of the year.
“Do I honestly sit here optimistic at the moment that all of this is going to happen? Of course not. I persist in saying regularly to financial market players here ... that the risk of no-deal is very considerably underestimated.”
Our correspondent Jon Stone has the details:
Boris Johnson trade deal plan little better than no-deal Brexit, UK's former ambassador to EU warns
Ivan Rogers says some in Downing Street appear to be 'misjudging' negotiations‘Spending plans nothing like as generous as they appear’
Our political editor Andrew Woodock has more on the Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis of the Budget. The respected think said austerity was not over for most public services – pointing out that day-to-day spending per person remain almost a fifth lower than 2010 levels to the middle of this decade.
When spending which simply replaces EU funding is taken into account, departments other than health will find their day-to-day current budgets 19 per cent lower per person in 2024/25 than when David Cameron came to power.
“The current spending plans are nothing like as generous as they appear,” said IFS chief Paul Johnson.
All the details here:
Austerity not over for most public services, warns thinktank after Budget
Departments other than health facing day-to-day spending almost one-fifth below 2010 levels to the middle of this decade, says IFSPublic want parties to work together, says Labour MP
Labour MP Wes Streeting said the co-operation between health secretary Matt Hancock and his opposite number Jon Ashworth has been “reassuring” during the coronavirus crisis.
“I think that’s what the public want to see – politicians working together, not squabbling about it, and most importantly being guided by the evidence.”
Former Tory cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom added: “Now is a time where you cannot afford to be playing games with this.”
‘Superficial’ PM has no grasp of public health, says expert
Prof John Ashton, the former regional director of Public Health England, has offered a scathing critique of Boris Johnson’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“We have a superficial prime minister who’s got no grasp of public health ... Our lot are behaving like 19th-century colonialists playing a five-day game of cricket.”
“Boris Johnson should have convened COBR himself over a month ago and had regular meetings with the chief medical officer with the evidence,” Ashton told The Guardian.
He added: “Our lot haven’t been working openly and transparently. They’ve been doing it in a (non) smoke-filled room and just dribbling out stuff.”
Austerity will continue ‘for long time’ in key areas, says IFS
The respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has offered its analysis of the Budget – and said austerity would continue in key areas of public services “for a long time to come”.
Paul Johnson, the director of the IFS: “While austerity is clearly at an end in the sense that spending is rising, spending levels in many areas are set to remain well below 2010 levels for a long time to come. Expectations may be disappointed.”
Johnson said the overall spending package was “substantial”. He said: “It looks fairly well designed. It remains to be seen whether it will be enough to support public services, support the vulnerable and insulate the economy from long-term effects.”
The IFS chief also said tax increases could be on the way to pay for Rishi Sunak’s spending plans, which he said were not as generous as they seemed. “The current spending plans are nothing like as generous as they appear,” he said.
‘If we close schools, thousands of children will go hungry’
Ireland is closing all schools and cancel all public gatherings for the next two weeks amid the coronavirus outbreak, premier Leo Varadkar has announced.
Our chief business commentator James thinks some children will go hungry if schools across the UK are closed in the weeks ahead.
“There will be a social cost from doing that, and it needs to be considered too,” he writes.
“One obvious issue school closures present is childcare. This is obviously a big problem for children with working parents, particularly those who can’t work from home.
“Another issue is that some pupils rely on schools for food. For thousands of children, schools provide their only hot meal of the day.”
More here:
Stop public coming into parliament, says Labour MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy has said it is “irresponsible” to keep parliament open as public tours continue despite politicians testing positive for coronavirus.
The Labour MP told Sky News: “The problem is, we haven’t stopped the public coming into the building. We are giving out tours, PMQ tickets, we’re having receptions – and I just don’t think that’s responsible.”
The MP for Streatham also told MPs she was “concerned we’re potentially spreading the virus”.
She added: “I’m genuinely concerned about older members of this House and older members in our constituencies and those with underlying health conditions.”
The post-Brexit battleground of twinned towns
Brexit has pulled the twinning of British and European towns into sharper public focus. While some pressing local authorities to erase their town’s longstanding relationships with partners on the continent, others have doubled down on their commitments in a bid to show openness.
Oxford City Council marked the 31 January date by raising the flags of its European twin towns and launching a new campaign to facilitate community cohesion.
Holly Eva Ryan has taken a closer look:
The post-Brexit battleground of twinned towns
Some towns double down on their European links while others fight to remove themSturgeon says she is minded to cancel events with 500+ people
The Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has suggested she expects a "sharp rise in cases" ahead of today's announcement at 2pm on the most up to date number of contractions in Scotland.
She also said she is minded to cancel events involving crowds of over 500 people in response to the outbreak, but would await further details of today's Cobra meeting at Westminster.
Johnson chairs emergency Cobra meeting
Boris Johnson is due to chair an emergency Cobra meeting in the next hour during which he is expected to approve moving to the “delay phase” of the coronavirus response, after the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Moving from the containment to the delay stage could mean social distancing measures may be enacted, including restricting public gatherings and issuing more widespread advice to stay at home.
It comes after eight people with Covid-19 were confirmed to have died in the UK, as the total number of positive cases rose to 460.
Boris Johnson is due to chair an emergency Cobra meeting in the next hour during which he is expected to approve moving to the “delay phase” of the coronavirus response, after the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Moving from the containment to the delay stage could mean social distancing measures may be enacted, including restricting public gatherings and issuing more widespread advice to stay at home.
It comes after eight people with Covid-19 were confirmed to have died in the UK, as the total number of positive cases rose to 460.
‘Incredibly grim and yet still unbelievably optimistic’
Our economics editor Ben Chu has more on the latest Budget analysis showing that weaker UK economic growth head will hit average household earnings by almost £600 a year.
The Resolution Foundation think tank noted that the latest pay growth projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) show a weakening in every year of the forecast, stemming from its downgrade for the UK productivity growth outlook.
And this is even before accounting for the potential for the coronavirus crisis to send the UK into recession, which was not factored into the OBR’s numbers.
The Resolution Foundation also described the GDP markdown from the official financial watchdog as both “incredibly grim and yet still unbelievably optimistic”.
All the details here:
Households facing £600 per year hit to earnings due to weaker economy
The Resolution Foundation think tank noted that the Office for Budget Responsibility's latest pay growth projections show a weakening in every year of the forecastJohnson did not talk to Trump about travel ban
Boris Johnson did not discuss the US flight ban with Donald Trump before it was announced on Wednesday night, Downing Street has said.
The PM’s official spokesman said there was no plan for the UK to impose its own travel ban.
“It is not the current position of the UK, based on medical and scientific advice, that we should halt flights,” said the spokesman.
“We have been following the advice of the chief medical officer and chief scientific adviser in relation to all parts of our response to this virus. The advice we have been given is that that is not a step that they recommend in the UK.”
The spokesman added: “In terms of the US measure itself, it is for individual countries to detail their own responses.”
‘We’ve wasted a month’
There is growing anger among scientists and experts that the government has acted too slowly to combat the coronavirus.
John Ashton, a former regional director of Public Health England, raged at what he labelled a “wooden” and “complacent” response to Covid-19. He warned: “We’ve wasted a month, when we should have been engaging with the public”.
“If this now spreads the way it looks as though it’s likely to spread, there will not be enough hospital beds and people will have to be nursed at home.”
Richard Horton, editor of the Lancet medical journal accused ministers of “playing roulette” with people’s lives.
Plaid Cymru scraps spring conference
The Welsh party has cancelled its upcoming conference, set to take place 20 and 21 March, citing concerns over the coronavirus and “the health and wellbeing of our members”.
It follows a decision by the Lib Dems to cancel their spring conference. Elsewhere, the Association of Electoral Administrators (AEA) has urged the government to consider the legal grounds for postponing May’s local elections.
In a letter to the cabinet office, the AEA said sickness could force polling station closures and raised concerns about whether there would be enough staff to organise the ballot.
EU chiefs condemn Trump travel ban
The heads of the EU Commission and EU Council have criticised Donald Trump’s ban on travel from Europe to the US – claiming the decision was made without any consultation.
In a joint statement Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel suggested it could be counterproductive. “The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” they said.
“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the US decision to improve a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”
EU presidents hit out at Trump's travel ban and say tackling coronavirus 'requires cooperation'
Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel say the EU disapproves of 'unilateral' actionGreen groups slate ‘truly awful’ Budget
Academics and environmentalists have warned the spending splurge unveiled by the government makes it more difficult for the UK to meet its net-zero carbon target to combat climate change.
The chancellor froze fuel duty yet again – making it even cheaper to drive compared with public transport fares, and announced a £27bn, 4,000-mile road-building programme compared with just £1bn for green transport.
Friends of the Earth’s head of policy, Mike Childs, said it “destroys any pretence of UK government leadership ahead of this year’s crucial climate summit … a truly awful Budget.”
Our own editorial today condemns the “abject failure to face up to the climate change emergency”.
Editorial: The Tories have recognised the public spending crisis – and ignored the climate crisis
For all his Budget triumphalism, the chancellor could not disguise his failure to deal with the transcendent question of climate change
Emily Thornberry declares herself in ‘good health’
The Labour MP (and former party leadership contender) has announced she is in “good health” after receiving “concern and well wishes”.
The shadow foreign secretary has posted a tweet saying she is “following all official advice” for coronavirus – but is “not currently experiencing any symptoms that would require me to self-isolate”.
The Labour MP (and former party leadership contender) has announced she is in “good health” after receiving “concern and well wishes”.
The shadow foreign secretary has posted a tweet saying she is “following all official advice” for coronavirus – but is “not currently experiencing any symptoms that would require me to self-isolate”.
Keeping parliament open to public ‘irresponsible’, says Labour MP
Bell Ribeiro-Addy has claimed the decision to keep parliament open to members of the public is “simply irresponsible”.
The Labour MP stated: “As we continue to meet hundreds of people weekly, I am concerned that we are potentially spreading the virus. My biomedical training tells me that a number of members in this House probably already have the virus.
“I am genuinely concerned about older members, older constituents and those with underlying health conditions.”
Ribeiro-Addy called for electronic voting or automatic pairing for any member who may wish to self-isolate at home.
It comes as video footage emerged of health minister Edward Argar, currently in self-isolation after contact with Nadine Dorries, coughing and touching his face at the despatch box on Tuesday this week.
Health minister seen coughing in the Commons
The junior health minister Edward Argar – a colleague of Nadine Dorries currently in the spotlight after he went into self-isolation – was seen coughing in the Commons on Tuesday.
A clip shared by Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov shows Argar spluttering slightly at the dispatch box and taking a glass of water.
Dorries tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday. According to The Telegraph the pair dined together last week.
