Evening summary
- The UK’s GDP posted a record fall of 20.4% in April as the economy suffered a total lockdown loss of 25%, ONS figures revealed. The staggering figures showed just how badly the pandemic paralysed the economy. The figures marked the biggest monthly decline since 1997 when records began.
- Poorer areas in England and Wales have bit hit hardest by Covid-19, ONS figures showed. The data revealed that people living in the most deprived areas died of coronavirus at double the rate of those living in the most wealthy areas. The London borough of Brent recorded the worst overall age-standardised rate with 210.9 deaths per 100,000 population.
- The UK ‘formally confirmed’ the Brexit transition period would not be extended. Michael Gove said the moment for extension had passed and Michel Barnier said the EU “took note” of the UK’s decision adding talks would be intensified: “We must now make progress on substance”.
- Full border controls on goods entering the UK won’t apply until July next year, the government announced. Its plan involves a phased implementation of controls in January, April and July next year.
- The R number may be above 1 in parts of England, figures released by Sage revealed. The R for all regions remains close to 1 with the South West of England recording the highest, at between 0.8 and 1.1.
- The UK death toll reached 41,481. Another 202 deaths were recorded across all settings.
That’s it from me today on the UK side. If you would like to continue to follow the Guardian’s coverage of the pandemic, head over to the global live blog for the worldwide picture.
Hartwig Fischer, the head of the British Museum, which has faced its own controversies about looted historical artefacts, said in response to Boris Johnson’s comments that there was “a debate to be had” about the removal of statutes.
He said:
There is not one simple single answer to that complex question, but I think the exasperation which is directed now against these sculptures is a pent-up anxiety and exasperation which is down to the fact that we have not addressed adequately this whole massive part of our past about shared complicated history. And that debate is far from being over, that will go on and it has to go on.
Updated
Prisons are starting to report spikes in violence, often linked to illicitly-brewed alcohol, as well as a rise in self-harm and suicide, as the heavily restrictive regime designed to combat the spread of the coronavirus continues, the chair of a prison watchdog network has warned.
In a letter to the justice select committee, Dame Anne Owers, the chair of the independent monitoring boards (IMBs), statutory bodies set up to monitor welfare of prisoners in individual prisons, said while prisoners were initially compliant, as lockdown restrictions in the community are relaxed, frustration is growing.
Some of the violence in prisons is fuelled by “hooch”, alcohol brewed illicitly behind bars, often using fruit rations and bread or deodorant. It is believed the restrictions have impeded the flow of illegal drugs into the prison and turned some inmates towards brewing their own alcohol.
The restrictive regime in prisons has seen increased time in cells, segregation and a ban on all visits to prisons across the country.
As at 5pm on Thursday, 492 prisoners had tested positive for Covid-19 across 80 prisons, a 0.4% increase in 24 hours, while there were 961 infected staff across 105 prisons, revised down from 964 due to an error with reporting.
Owers said the IMBs had raised concerns about mental health across the prison estate.
In one prison there had been an increase in sleeping tablet prescriptions, she said.
Elsewhere, the letter revealed that symptomatic prisoners in isolation often have no direct human contact and some were unable to access showers. At one prison, healthcare visited only on the first and fifth day of isolation.
As a result, concerns have been expressed that prisoners are reluctant to reveal symptoms to avoid such extreme isolation.
Updated
Q. When will student nurses get clarity on the shape their courses are going to take from September?
Powis says institutions are having to rethink the way they do teaching and effectively deliver training in a Covid context.
And that’s the end of the press conference.
Q. What solid, measurable action is being taken to make sure the NHS and social care system is a safe, supportive place for BAME nurses?
Shapps says Kemi Badenoch is working with PHE on recommendations on this.
Powis adds there is an understanding that people at greater risk need additional support and risk assessments against the work they’re doing, and where necessary redeploy them.
Q. Is it acceptable that student nurses who answered the government’s call to join the frontline response to Covid-19 are being asked to carry out duties beyond their level of competence? How will they be fully protected and supported?
Shapps says people should be working in areas in which they are and feel competent.
Q. Is it fair to say that UK businesses aren’t ready to trade with the EU without a deal at the beginning of the year?
Shapps says business is being provided with the certainty that the transition period will end at the end of the year.
Q. Is it a possibility the strain of Covid-19 and leaving the EU without sufficient trading arrangement could leave the NHS without enough medicine supplies?
Shapps says that with everything going on we’ve never had a medicines shortage so he’s confident this won’t happen.
Powis says the NHS has a very good understanding of supply chains and looking ahead to deal with problems that might arise.
Disruption to medicine supplies happens often and the NHS is good at dealing with them, he adds.
Q. What would be the best replacement for quarantine system if the review concludes a different approach needs to be taken?
Shapps says air bridges / travel corridors with countries with lower infection are a potential way forward, along with testing at ports and airports.
Q. Is the government in talks with countries regarding air bridges, how are the talks going and have any countries declined to work with the UK so far?
Shapps says they don’t want to reimport the virus from abroad, hence an initial blanket quarantine.
They are actively working on travel corridors, he says. The first review of quarantine will take place on 29 June, he adds.
They will only open up air bridges when it’s safe to do so, he says.
Q. What extra arrangements are the NHS putting in place to prepare for a potential second wave this winter and the effects of a second lockdown?
Powis says staff working flexibly, the Nightingale hospitals are there in case we need them, and different ways of working such as remote consultation will all ensure there is capacity to deal with a second wave.
Q. What do you say to businesses in the south-west who are actually quite worried about it [the R value]?
Shapps says stay alert and stay at home as much as possible.
Q. The R rate may have risen above 1 in the south-west [between 0.9 and 1.1]. Are we moving now towards the possibility of regional lockdown?
Shapps says a large number of tests are being produced, which gives more data about where issues could bubble up in future.
Powis says Sage takes data from numerous academic groups who do modelling around the R number to produce a consensus.
There is a range, as a result, he says.
The most important thing is that in all regions, the central projection is below 1, he adds.
Q. Why has there been an increased in outbreaks in hospitals in the last week?
Powis says we are moving from community incidence, to over time there more local, discrete, individual outbreaks, including in hospitals and other settings.
Q. Given the dismal economic figures today, wouldn’t it be sensible to mandate wearing masks everywhere, not just on public transport, to get the economy back on its feet and stop further spread of the virus?
Shapps says face coverings on public transport not face masks.
Social distancing is still the most important thing to do along with washing your hands and not touching your face, he says.
Public transport is an enclosed space, but that’s not the case out on the streets, he adds.
Hendy says that as the economy ramps up, it seems logical to mandate face coverings now on public transport.
Powis adds the evidence is weak but there is some evidence, so it’s better for enclosed spaces.
Q. The R number is still near to 1, largely to the amount of coronavirus in hospitals and care homes. Does that show we’re not preventing the spread there?
Powis says minimising the risk of infection in hospitals is an area that is being focused on, e.g. increased testing for staff and patients.
Shapps denies chief nurse dropped from No 10 briefing ‘after refusing to back Dominic Cummings’
Q. Is it true, and do you think it’s right, that the chief nursing officer Ruth May is either unwilling or unable to attend these press conferences any more because she won’t defend Dominic Cummings?
Shapps says he doesn’t think this is true as she has attended many times and he’s noticed one of her tweets is pinned on the No 10 Twitter feed.
Powis says he doesn’t know but he’s been here many times saying exactly what he thinks.
Updated
Q. How can it be that where you live can double your chances of dying from Covid-19, doesn’t this show more needs to be done to deal with health inequalities?
Shapps says he agrees more needs to be done to level up health inequalities and linked issues such as access to opportunities.
Powis says the NHS is focusing on this more in its long-term plan.
Many of the risk factors e.g. diabetes, obesity, are seen more frequently in deprived areas of the country, he says.
Tackling those issues fundamentally in a targeted approach will mean people are less likely for infections such as Covid-19, he adds.
Simon from Dorset asks what work is being done to establish if antibodies mean less risk of infection or possible immunity.
Powis says after any infection the body will generate antibodies to control the infection and ensure the virus doesn’t take hold in future infection.
They are now measuring antibodies and getting a sense of how many people have developed antibodies to the virus, he says.
It will only be studies over time that answer the question, but they’re underway in the UK and internationally, he says.
Siren is recruiting healthcare staff who might have been exposed into a study to observe if they are infected again and how that corresponds with antibody levels, he says.
David from Sunderland asks what specific plans the government has to create jobs.
Shapps says the government has an enormous battle on its hands in recovering from the pandemic.
They’ve tried to put their arms around the British people to protect jobs from a temporary but severe jolt to the economy, he adds.
They want to be proactive in getting the economy going again in a safe way, he says.
People should avoid large gatherings, including to protest, Shapps says.
For the sake of your health and that of friends and families, don’t attempt mass gatherings, he says.
Jet Zero Council will be charged with making net zero emissions possible for future flights, Shapps says.
Travel could be refused and you could be fined if you're not wearing face covering, Shapps says
If you can work from home you should continue to do so, Shapps says.
If you can’t, you should try to avoid public transport, he says.
If you must, you should try to do so at quieter times, he adds.
From Monday, you must wear face coverings on public transport, he says, in a bid to prevent those who show no symptoms from infecting others.
Transport operators will be able to refuse permission to travel where someone isn’t wearing a face covering, he says, and fines can be issued for refusal to comply.
Journey makers will also be deployed in the coming weeks to remind commuters to wear face coverings, he adds.
The transport secretary is speaking now.
The R rate remains unchanged from last week at between 0.7 and 0.9, he says, which is stable. They want to keep the R below 1.
As of 12 June, a further 1,541 cases were confirmed positive. The number of people testing positive is falling, he says.
The number of patients in hospital with coronavirus is broadly continuing to fall across the regions and four nations, he says.
The 7-day rolling average of deaths continues to fall, he adds.
Updated
Shapps is joined by Prof Stephen Powis, the national medical director for NHS England, and the chair of Network Rail, Peter Hendy.
Updated
Grant Shapps' press conference
As the government admits the R number may have risen above 1 in some parts of England (see 2.50pm.), the transport secretary will lead this afternoon’s press conference, which is due to begin shortly.
The Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said that a drop of 20.4% in GDP in April was unsurprising and generally in line with what the Bank had expected.
Speaking to Sky News, he said:
Well obviously it’s a dramatic and big number, but actually it’s not a surprising number.
The economy clearly closed down substantially in the end of March into April, so it’s not surprising. It’s actually pretty much in line with what we were expecting.
Now the big question of course is obviously what happens next. We monitor a lot of very high-frequency data these days, we have a lot of access to that data. Which is why we had a reasonably good read on what was going to happen in April.
We see signs of the economy now beginning to come back into life in the high-freq data, we do see that. It’s early days, and obviously I don’t want to emphasise too much. It’s a gradual coming back into life but we do see those signs.
The Department of Health, in a breakdown of testing statistics on its website, said in the 24 hours up to 9am on Friday 59,973 tests were sent out for delivery and 42,406 were processed in person under pillar two of the testing regime, which includes swab testing of the wider population.
Some 40,058 tests were carried out on 23,703 people under pillar one - swab tests in NHS hospitals and Public Health England labs for people with clinical needs and health and care workers. This was the only pillar for which the number of people tested was given.
Another 46,491 tests were antibody tests, under pillar three, and 4,325 antibody and swab tests were carried out under pillar four as part of a national surveillance programme studying the prevalence of the virus.
Fewer than one in six adults in England “strongly support” the easing of stay at home measures across the country, a survey suggests.
Only 15.6% of almost 2,000 adults surveyed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said they strongly backed the easing of the lockdown, which started on 10 May in England.
A third said they “tend to support” the easing, while a similar proportion (34%) said they tend to or strongly oppose the move.
This compares with 37% of adults in Wales and 44% in Scotland who said they strongly support relaxing the measures, which happened separately in the two countries.
The ONS analysed responses from 1,914 adults in Great Britain aged 16 and over between 4 and 7 June.
It also found that more than a fifth of 130 adults who have returned to the workplace, where they have direct physical contact with others, said they have not worn protective gear in the last week.
Over a third of employed adults said they had travelled to and from work in the past seven days.
Of these, 46% said their work requires direct physical contact with other people, 22% of whom said they had never worn PPE during the past seven days.
Almost two-thirds (63%) said they often or always wore PPE.
Among those who have returned to their offices or workplaces where they do not need to be in physical contact with others, under half said they had always kept two metres apart.
More than a third (36%) said they had managed to do this often.
Four in 10 said they had often or always worn PPE during the last seven days at work.
ONS spokesman Hugh Stickland said:
As stay at home guidance is being relaxed, with more shops and outdoor entertainment spaces opening, we will continue to monitor how safe people feel in different environments, including the workplace.
Updated
R value for all regions close to 1
The R-values for all regions of the country are hovering close to the critical threshold of 1, according to government estimates published today, suggesting the epidemic is continuing to decline slowly.
The average R value for the UK, as a whole, remains at 0.7-0.9, with values ranging from 0.7-0.9 in the east of England to 0.8-1 in London, the Midlands and north-west England, with the highest value seen in south-west England at 0.8-1.1.
The south-west currently has very low rates of infection, meaning that higher R value there is not necessarily a cause for concern.
Prof Matt Keeling, of the University of Warwick, said the values were all closer to 1 “than we would ideally like to see”. “This also means we haven’t got much wiggle room for additional relaxation of social distancing measures,” he said.
Updated
The Turner-prize winning sculptor, Anish Kapoor, described the prime minister’s opinion on statues as “bullshit”, adding:
Statues are not history; they are emblematic monuments to our past which can be thought to represent how we see ourselves and our history.
It is long overdue that we reassess these emblems and get rid of the bigots they portray. We must acknowledge the horror perpetrated in our names by these horrid individuals and seek to find nobler ways to make spaces of commemoration and history. This must now mean looking at the forgotten amongst us.
Boris Johnson had said that removing statues, including of imperialist figures, was to “lie about our history”. He tweeted:
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.
Updated
Now for some lighter news. A zebra born at a Gloucestershire wildlife park has been named after Dame Vera Lynn in a nod to wartime lyrics used to inspire hope during the coronavirus pandemic.
Born on 7 June, Vera was named after the Queen punctuated a speech to the UK public during lockdown with words from Dame Vera’s 1939 song We’ll Meet Again.
The baby zebra is the first of her near-threatened species ever to have been born at the Wild Place Project, Bristol, which has been closed since 20 March.
First-ever baby zebra born at Bristol's Wild Place Project named after singer https://t.co/KDMu7YG61R pic.twitter.com/BMTm4doGGz
— Bristol Biz (@BristolBizz) June 12, 2020
Updated
R number above 1 in parts of England – Sage
The reproduction number, or R, of coronavirus across the UK remains between 0.7 and 0.9, while across England it is 0.8-1.0, according to the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.
Sage also published regional values for R in England for the first time, with thesouth-west having the highest range at 0.8-1.1.
The east of England is at 0.7-0.9, London, the Midlands, the north-west and the south-east at 0.8-1.0, and the north-east and Yorkshire at 0.7-1.0.
But experts cautioned against the use of regional R values – the average number of people an infected person passes the disease on to – saying that as the number of infections falls, regional R values become less reliable.
Instead, from next week the government will publish the growth rates for regions that are based on data and make fewer assumptions.
Updated
Public Health Wales said a further 10 people had died after testing positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,435, while the total cases increased by 77 to 14,658.
The latest number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Wales has been updated.
— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) June 12, 2020
Data dashboard:
💻 https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱 https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh
Find out how we are responding to the spread of the virus in our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/IYjyJlGlj5
UK death toll rises by 202 to 41,481
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said 41,481 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Thursday, up by 202 from 41,279 the day before.
The government figures do not include all deaths involving Covid-19 across the UK, which is thought to have passed 52,000.
The DHSC also said in the 24-hour period up to 9am on Friday, 193,253 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 1,541 positive results.
Overall, a total of 6,434,713 tests have been carried out and 292,950 cases have been confirmed positive.
The figure for the number of people tested has been “temporarily paused to ensure consistent reporting” across all methods of testing.
As of 9am 12 June, there have been 6,434,713 tests, with 193,253 tests on 11 June.
— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) June 12, 2020
292,950 people have tested positive.
As of 5pm on 11 June, of those tested positive for coronavirus, across all settings, 41,481 have sadly died.
More info:
➡️ https://t.co/r2YbE2e3O8 pic.twitter.com/H97R4N7jTs
NHS England said another 70 people who tested positive for Covid-19 have died, bringing the total number of confirmed, reported deaths in hospitals in England to 27,860.
The number of deaths of patients with Covid-19 by region are as follows:
East of England 4
London 8
Midlands 13
North East & Yorkshire 8
North West 23
South East 11
South West 3
Total: 70
One further coronavirus-linked death has been reported in Northern Ireland, taking the total reported by the Department of Health to 539.
There were 16 new confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the total to 4,838 since the pandemic began.
UPDATE on coronavirus (#COVID19) in NI.https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/oskHVFAF49
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) June 12, 2020
England’s chief nurse, Ruth May, was dropped from one of Downing Street’s daily coronavirus briefings after refusing to publicly back Dominic Cummings’ behaviour during the lockdown, according to the Independent.
A senior NHS source was quoted as saying:
A No 10 Spad [special adviser] asked her directly how she would answer the Dominic Cummings question and she refused to play along and told them she would answer the same way as Jonathan Van-Tam. She was dropped immediately from the press briefing.
Updated
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has given his reaction to Michael Gove’s confirmation that the UK will not be seeking an extension to the transition period.
🇪🇺 has always been open to an extension of the transition period. At today’s Joint Committee, we took note of UK’s decision not to extend. We must now make progress on substance. To give every chance to the negotiations, we agreed to intensify talks in the next weeks and months.
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) June 12, 2020
At the start of her daily press conference, Nicola Sturgeon, announced that three more people have died from coronavirus in the Scotland.
Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon says a further three people with #COVID19 have died bringing the total deaths in the country to 2,442.
— SkyNews (@SkyNews) June 12, 2020
Get the latest #coronavirus news: https://t.co/MM9B2TegVZ pic.twitter.com/2uwvByWFpN
PM: 'do not go on these demonstrations'
Johnson also urged people not take part in anti-racist protests this weekend, claiming that a “growing minority” was using the demonstrations to attack the police and public property.
He said:
What makes me sad about what’s happening today, is that you’ve got a situation in which the statute of Winston Churchill, who is a national hero, has had to be boarded up for fear of violent attack. That, to me, is both absurd and wrong. You should not have a situation in which people who are protesting on one basis are violently attacking the police or public property.
I’m afraid what’s happened with these demonstrations, is that .... a growing minority unfortunately have hijacked them, and they are using them as a pretext to attack the police to cause violence, and to cause damage to public property.
My message to everybody is that for all sorts of reasons, they should not go to these demonstrations. And whatever our feelings about the cause, we should not support a demonstration that is in all probability, looking at what’s happened before, going to end in deliberate and calculated violence.
PM Boris Johnson says he understands "why people feel outraged" and are taking part in protests against discrimination and racism
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 12, 2020
But "we should not support a demonstration that is in all probability... going to end in deliberate and calculated violence"https://t.co/hoRXHc6QXG pic.twitter.com/r5ZhBWrMfM
Boris Johnson insists UK economy can bounce back after being 'badly hit'
Boris Johnson has insisted the UK economy can bounce back after the lockdown largest drop in GDP since records began.
The prime minister said he was “not surprised” at official statistics indicating the UK during April had experienced the largest single drop in economy activity since records began as a result of the coronavirus shutdown.
Speaking to broadcasters, Boris Johnson said:
We’ve always been in no doubt this was going to be a very serious public health crisis but also have big, big economic knock-on effects. I’m afraid I’m not surprised by the figures we have seen.
The UK is heavily dependent on services, we’re a dynamic creative economy, we depend so much on human contact.
We have been very badly hit by this.
Updated
The vice-president of the EU Commission Maros Sefcovic has said Michael Gove “could not have clearer” in ruling out an extension to the transition period.
Speaking after talks with Gove, Sefcovic said:
He [Gove] referred to the very clear position of not asking for the extension even though, as you know, our President Ursula von der Leyen was ready to provide for one.
He explained that this was the promise which was given to the British citizens in the election campaign and also Prime Minister Johnson was very explicit on this issue.
So he made it very, very clear and, as you know, the only body which can decide about the possible extension in this spirit is the Joint Committee.
We just concluded the proceedings so I take this as a definite conclusion of this discussion and therefore I was pleading so much for the acceleration of our work - in my case on the proper implementation of the withdrawal agreement, but I think it has also clear implications for the work of Michel Barnier to make sure that we will proceed much faster in the discussion on our future relationship.
Press conference by Vice-President @MarosSefcovic following the second meeting of the #EU-UK Joint Committee 🇪🇺🇬🇧
— EC AV Service (@EC_AVService) June 12, 2020
Full press conference and pictures available here:https://t.co/uAzxJFFK7j pic.twitter.com/vSjpcJu6rS
Sefcovic added:
I have to underline that the meeting took place in very good atmosphere and I am glad that at the end of our discussions we also arrived at some positive results, which I believe would pave the way forward for the proper implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.
However, with some six months to go before the end of the transition period we still have lots of work to do.
The window of opportunity to put in place the operational measures needed to ensure that the protocol can function as intended on January 1 2021 is rapidly closing.
Updated
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, has said it is thought the R figure in Wales has gone from 0.8 to 0.7.
He said this may give “additional headroom” for lockdown easings.
Drakeford said there had been “tremendous social solidarity” in Wales backing the lockdown. He said decisions would be made next week about whether any more restrictions could be lifted.
We need to use the headroom to allow more economic activity to happen. Coronavirus is a health crisis but it is also an economic crisis.
But he added that the government would not be pressured into easing the lockdown too quickly.
We will stick to the path we have chosen.
UK 'formally confirms' Brexit transition period will not be extended
The Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said he has “formally confirmed” to the EU the UK will not extend the Brexit transition period, adding:
The moment for extension has now passed.
I just chaired a constructive EU Joint Committee meeting with @MarosSefcovic
— Michael Gove (@michaelgove) June 12, 2020
I formally confirmed the UK will not extend the transition period & the moment for extension has now passed. On 1 January 2021 we will take back control and regain our political & economic independence pic.twitter.com/nZjNpez8LI
It follows a letter to the prime minister from the first ministers of Scotland and Wales warning that failing to extend the transition period would be “extraordinarily reckless” at a time when the UK economy will be just beginning its recovery from the coronavirus crisis (see 11.52am.).
Updated
Here is our story on the prime minister’s comments about the removal of statues of controversial figures from public spaces.
He made it clear in his thread on Twitter that he believes removing statues, including of imperialist figures, is “to lie about our history”.
Updated
The prime minister Boris Johnson has waded into the debate about the role of statues in public history in the wake of anti-racism protests across the UK.
In a thread on Twitter he claimed the protests had been “hijacked by extremists” and said it was “absurd and shameful” that the statue of Winston Churchill was at risk of attack.
It comes after the memorial in Parliament Square was boarded up to protect it ahead of more planned weekend demonstrations. The prime minister said:
We cannot now try to edit or censor our past.
A protective box was placed around the statue of the former premier after it was vandalised with the words “Was a racist”. The Cenotaph, which has also now been protected with hoarding, was also targeted.
Johnson added:
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.
Johnson added that the “only responsible action” was to stay away from planned protests this weekend.
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. 1/8
— Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 12, 2020
Updated
First ministers warn PM failing to extend Brexit transition period would be 'reckless' amid pandemic
The first ministers of Scotland and Wales have called for an extension to the Brexit transition period, warning Boris Johnson it would be “extraordinarily reckless” to exit the bloc at the end of the year amid recovery from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In a letter to the prime minister, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford said “fundamental issues” still remain between the UK and EU negotiators after the most recent round of talks on a deal.
The Scottish government has repeatedly called for the transition period to be extended beyond the 31 December deadline, but that can only be done if a request is made before the end of this month.
The UK government has previously rejected any calls for an extension.
Sturgeon and Drakeford warned in their letter that exiting the transition period at the end of this year, when the UK economy will just be beginning its recovery from coronavirus, would be “extraordinarily reckless”.
They wrote:
No-one could reproach the UK government for changing its position in the light of the wholly unforeseeable Covid-19 crisis, particularly as the EU has made it clear it is open to an extension request.
We therefore call on you to take the final opportunity the next few weeks provide to ask for an extension to the transition period in order to provide a breathing space to complete the negotiations, to implement the outcome, and the opportunity for our businesses to find their feet after the enormous disruption of recent months.
At the time the Withdrawal Agreement was signed, no-one could have imagined the enormous economic dislocation which the Covid 19 pandemic has caused - in Wales, Scotland, the whole of the UK, in the EU and across the world.
The letter claimed that, at best, there would only be a “bare bones” trade deal in place by December, or a move to a no-deal exit from the EU.
Updated
The National Portrait Gallery will not reopen its doors until 2023.
The gallery, currently closed because of the pandemic, had hoped to welcome back visitors before it was due to close on 29 June as part of a £35.5m redevelopment project.
But it said it will now remain shut throughout June “to help contain the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of visitors and staff”.
The gallery’s director Nicholas Cullinan said:
We had very much hoped we would be able to reopen the gallery to visitors before our refurbishment commenced, but sadly it is now clear that this won’t be possible.
We understand how disappointing this will be for many people who had planned to visit the gallery for a final time.
The gallery, near Trafalgar Square in London, will reopen in spring 2023. It will loan hundreds of works from its collection during the period of closure.
David Hockney: Drawing From Life, which was on display when it had to close, will be staged again when the gallery reopens, while the exhibition Cecil Beaton’s Bright Young Things, which was due to end in June, will tour.
The transformation of the gallery will be the biggest since it opened its doors in 1896. It plans to create a new main entrance, “bring back to life” its East Wing and create a public forecourt. It will also redisplay all of the collection in its 40 galleries, providing a “greater and more diverse selection of portraits”.
Updated
Updated
Coronavirus mortality rates more than halved in all but two regions in England and Wales between April and May, the latest ONS figures show.
After rising between March and April, age-standardised mortality rates fell by more than 50% in all regions except the north-east, and Yorkshire and the Humber.
The greatest decrease was in London, where the mortality rate fell by 83.3%.
The local authority with the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in May was Preston, in Lancashire, with a rate of 51.1 deaths per 100,000 people.
The figures are based on all deaths that occurred in March, April and May 2020 where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, and which had been registered by 6 June.
Except in London, mortality rates in May were still higher than in March.
The ONS said as more deaths are registered the mortality rate is likely to increase, especially in May.
The figures show that people living in the most deprived areas of England continue to experience coronavirus mortality rates more than double those of people living in the least deprived areas (see 10.27am.).
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Good morning everyone! I’m Lucy Campbell, taking over the blog for the remainder of the day. Please feel free to get in touch to share news tips and stories we should be covering. Your contributions are always very welcome.
Email: lucy.campbell@theguardian.com
Twitter: @lucy_campbell_
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The British public are deeply divided over the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis, according to a new poll published by the Evening Standard.
The Ipsos MORI survey finds that Boris Johnson wins a run-off between him and the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, over who makes the “most capable prime minister” by 43% to 38%.
More of those polled believe that the prime minister has handled the Covid-19 epidemic well (45%) than badly (42%). This marks a decline since March when the divide was 47%–38% in his favour.
POLL@Keir_Starmer has best ratings for any Opposition leader since Tony Blair in mid-90s* reveals our exclusive @IpsosMORI poll in tonight's terrific @EveningStandard
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) June 12, 2020
(* ie - just before Blair won his record-breaking landslide)
.https://t.co/5r4Q0vtihf
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Infections from Covid-19 have continued to fall, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The ONS snapshot infection survey showed a further fall in infections in the latest data, covering 25 May to 7 June, with an estimated 33,000 people infected at any time over this period, compared to 53,000 in last week’s figures.
The estimate is based on tests on nearly 20,000 people in the community, but excludes those in hospitals and care homes.
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More volunteers are urgently needed to take part in fast-tracked clinical trials to help develop potential Covid-19 treatments, a government research agency chief has said.
Although more than 100,000 people have enrolled to take part in the crucial public health research, Professor Nick Lemoine, of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), said “large numbers of people” are needed to generate the scientific evidence required to establish an effective treatment or vaccine for the disease.
The NIHR has prioritised 48 urgent public health research studies with 101,622 participants recruited to date.
But as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to drop in the UK, the agency said there is an even greater need for people testing positive with Covid-19 to sign up for research.
Prof Lemoine, who is chair of the NIHR’s Urgent Public Health Group, said: “Despite a remarkable 100,000 participants volunteering to help our fight against Covid-19 through taking part in health research, we still need more people to take part.
Breaking: Over 100,000 participants have now enrolled in urgent #COVID19 research supported by the NIHR. But the scale of the challenge and the number of treatments being investigated mean we still need many more participants https://t.co/kVusq03zJO#priorityCOVIDresearch pic.twitter.com/6ecUaAJVWy
— NIHR Research (@NIHRresearch) June 12, 2020
Poorer areas hit hardest by Covid-19 - ONS statistics
New data reveals the poorest in England and Wales have been hit the hardest by coronavirus. People living in the most deprived areas died of Covid-19 at double the rate of those living in the most wealthy areas, according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The figures show people living in the poorest 10% of England died at a rate of 128.3 per 100,000, compared with those living in the most wealthy 10%, who died at a rate of 58.8 per 100,000, between March and May this year. (Poverty is based on the relative deprivation of small areas which are broken into deciles in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2019.)
The same pattern was reflected in Wales where the equivalent rates were 109.5 deaths compared with 57.5 deaths per 100,000.
Nine out of 10 local authorities with the highest Covid-19 age-standardised mortality rates were in London. Brent had the highest overall age-standardised rate with 210.9 deaths per 100,000 population, followed by Newham (196.8 deaths) and Hackney (182.9 deaths).
The poorest in England and Wales have been hit the hardest by coronavirus. People living in the most deprived parts died of Covid-19 at double the rate of those living in the most wealthy areas according to new figures from the Office for National Statistics pic.twitter.com/rZLgfG9f0w
— Caelainn Barr (@caelainnbarr) June 12, 2020
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Confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the UK now stand at 291,409. There’s more here on the latest figures from public health authorities on the spread of the virus in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
You can find out more here on how the disease has been progressing where you live:
Uber to make face coverings mandatory for UK drivers and passengers
Uber has said that it will make face coverings mandatory for drivers and passengers across the UK from Monday.
The minicab app firm’s regional general manager for northern and eastern Europe, Jamie Heywood, said: “For months we’ve been urging people to stay home, for their safety and the safety of drivers who make essential trips.
“Now, as cities begin to reopen and people start moving again, we’re taking measures to help everyone stay safe and healthy every time they use Uber.
“We’ve introduced measures to ensure that every driver can access the PPE (personal protective equipment) they need for free to help keep them safe when driving with Uber, and, from Monday, we will require anyone using the Uber app in the UK to wear a face covering.”
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Crime in London on the rise again after lockdown lull
Crime recorded by Britain’s largest police force has started to rise after a sharp drop when lockdown measures were imposed.
The Metropolitan police said all recorded crime in London dropped to 48,349 offences in April, down from 65,633 the previous month, and compared with 74,898 in April 2019.
But in May, total recorded offences went back up to 56,514, according to figures published on the force’s crime data dashboard.
Britain’s top police officer had previously said that falls in gun and knife crime under lockdown were “silver linings” to the pandemic. Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, said officers had a “smile on their face” as they had more time to go after criminals.
Strict lockdown measures were eased in England in the middle of May to allow people to spend more time outside and to exercise with one other member of another household.
The Metropolitan police had also started taking pre-emptive action ahead of an expected rise in crime as society enjoyed more freedom.
Officers visited 1,000 known offenders to try to point them towards “diversionary activities” in an effort to stop crime returning to pre-pandemic levels.
They also targeted 250 “micro hotspots” of previously high levels of street violence and robbery.
The most recent national figures for England and Wales released by the National Police Chiefs Council suggested crime had fallen by a quarter in the four weeks to 10 May, compared with the same period last year.
However assaults on emergency services workers were up 14% during the period, and there was a 4% rise in domestic abuse incidents.
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There’s a fairly damning quote from a UK-based foreign diplomat in a piece from the Telegraph’s Jeremy Warner today about the manner in which the UK has navigated the Covid-19 crisis.
“What has become of your country?” Warner was asked by the diplomat. “We see only a ship of fools, and a plague ship at that.”
Warner makes the argument that more leadership is needed to bring the UK out of lockdown, writing: “Even as a halfway house, transitional arrangement, the 2-metre rule provides no kind of solution. Schools, restaurants, bars, most retailers, and many workplaces cannot be viable as long as it lasts. Time is running out.”
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The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, has said the government needs to “get a grip” on the coronavirus test-and-trace system because “it is holding us back economically as well as in health terms”.
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she said: “We have to get that test, track and isolate system working properly.
“If we don’t have it functioning as well as in other nations, then we risk seeing additional lockdowns and much slower reopening than would otherwise occur.
“And, of course, we risk seeing much lower consumer confidence, and that’s critically important now – that we push demand up.”
Today’s economic figures confirm that Britain “faces the most serious economic challenge in generations”, tweeted the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey, who has also turned his fire on the looming risk again of a no-deal Brexit.
“Not a time to exit the world’s largest market. Not a time to increase trade barriers. Not a time to deny business skills they need with a damaging new immigration system.”
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Virgin Atlantic has become the latest airline to leave a vapour trail of furious customers who are now being told they will have to wait up to four months to receive refunds for cancelled flights.
Following warnings in May from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), more airlines have started processing refunds to customers, after initially trying to get customers to accept vouchers rather than the full cash refund to which they are entitled.
Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways initially bore the brunt of consumer ire, but Virgin Atlantic customers have this week accused the company of not processing refunds in order to prop up the company.
Those behind a Virgin Atlantic refund action group on Facebook, which has more than 400 members, say they are yet to find a single person who has received a voluntary refund from the airline.
The airline’s social media channels are bearing the brunt of anger as well.
Don’t book thro Virgin, I will be waiting 120 days for a £1700 refund for cancelled flight - unacceptable!
— Jenny Barker (@jennyparfitt) June 12, 2020
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Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, has insisted a move to enable all shops to open on Friday had not been fast-tracked in response to the opening of retailers in the Irish Republic.
Retailers were given the all-clear by Stormont ministers on Thursday following a reduction in the numbers of coronavirus infections and deaths.
Scientific experts estimated the level of transmission of Covid-19 is manageable. Outlets like independently-run bookshops have spent days getting ready and installing protective screens while those based in shopping centres also received the green light as ministers accelerated the pace at which society emerges from lockdown.
Foster said on Friday: “We have had our plan, we launched it back on the 12th of May, and in that plan we said we would take a step-by-step process out of the lockdown and we would do it in a way that didn’t have a cumulative impact upon the transmission of the virus.
“We’ve been taking steps to come out, we do that in a gradual way, and we think that now is the right time to open all retail.”
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One third of people who tested positive for coronavirus and were referred to the NHS test-and-trace app were not successfully contacted because they “simply didn’t feel like answering the phone”, the health minister Edward Argar has said.
In the first week of the app being in use, 8,117 people who tested positive for Covid-19 in England had their case transferred to the NHS system.
Of these, 5,407 (67%) were reached, while 2,710 (33%) did not provide information about their contacts or could not be reached.
Argar told BBC Breakfast: “Some people won’t necessarily have answered their phone, you and I know what it’s like if you have flu, for example, and Covid-19 is a much, much nastier disease than that, you sometimes simply don’t feel like answering the phone or responding to much at all.”
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Edward Argar, a junior minister at the Department of Health and Social Care, is being pressed on BBC Radio 4 about when the test-and-trace app, which has been trialled on the Isle of Wight, will be ready.
He’s repeating that new ministerial mantra that the app is (altogether now) the “cherry on the cake”.
The test-and-trace system has got off to a good start, he insists, despite criticism directed at the government after it emerged that a third of those who have tested positive for the coronavirus in England have not provided details of people they have been close to and may have infected.
The data came from the first full week of the new contact-tracing scheme has revealed.
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On an already difficult day for the government, the Financial Times has this piece on how ministers are braced for a wave of job cuts as big companies prepare to launch redundancy consultations before they have to start picking up some of the cost of furloughed workers.
Ministers are reported to fear that many large companies may rush out announcements on job cuts in the coming days and weeks.
One minister told the FT that many Tory MPs were being told by local employers that “redundancy notices are being prepared” – a message confirmed by business organisations.
Centrica and Johnson Matthey became the latest London-listed companies to announce lay-offs while hundreds of manufacturing jobs are also due to disappear at Nissan’s Sunderland factory and Bombardier’s Belfast plant.
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Matt Hancock is facing legal action from the daughter of a man who died from Covid-19 in a care home in which the health secretary is accused of a “litany of failures” and misleading the public with his claim to have “thrown a protective ring” around care homes.
Dr Cathy Gardner launched a high court claim on Friday after her father, Michael Gibson, a retired headteacher, died in an Oxfordshire care home in early April. He became infected after a patient who tested positive for the virus was discharged from hospital into the home.
The request for a judicial review alleges failings “have led to large numbers of unnecessary deaths and serious illnesses” and have been “aggravated by the making of wholly disingenuous, misleading and – in some cases – plainly false statements suggesting that everything necessary has been done to protect care homes during the pandemic”.
Fall in GDP is unprecedented - ONS official
The size of the fall in GDP due to the coronavirus lockdown is a first, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has said.
Jonathan Athow, deputy national statistician at the ONS, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well, 20% is really unprecedented.
“Actually, if you take March and April together, the fall was 25%. So in two months the economy shrank by a quarter.”
The political debate is now being picked up. Here’s Kevin Maguire of the Daily Mirror laying a striking graphic at the feet of the prime minister.
Lost lives and livelihoods: One-fifth(20.4%) of the British economy going off a cliff in April's lockdown and Britain still suffering Europe's highest death toll are a damning double-whammy for incompetent Boris Johnson pic.twitter.com/VElyWRbpgi
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) June 12, 2020
The health minister Edward Argar has meanwhile claimed on BBC Breakfast that the economy is “in roughly the same place” as other western European economies.
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It’s been no secret that the UK growth figures for April would be a horror show. With the economy in full lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic it was inevitable that activity would take a hit of historic proportions.
All that was at issue was whether the news from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) would be bad, really bad, calamitous or so far off the scale that even the most hardcore pessimist had not envisaged it. In the end, it was merely calamitous.
It goes without saying the 20.4% contraction of the economy was the worst on record. The decline was three times as big as the contraction in March and 10 times as big as anything seen before Covid-19. The economy was 25% smaller in April than in February.
Almost two decades of growth has been wiped out in two months.
UK economy slumped by 20.4% in April
Good morning and welcome to the Guardian’s liveblog coverage of coronavirus developments in the UK, where the country has been learning about what a full month’s lockdown does to its economy.
The economy slumped by 20.4% in April in the biggest monthly decline since records began, as the coronavirus lockdown paralysed the country.
Richard Partington has that story here on a day when Boris Johnson is expected to come under sustained pressure from his MPs to take further steps to open up the economy, amid calls for caution from other quarters.
A range of other indicators are also out while the ongoing ramifications of the public health crisis continue to be felt.
On that front, lawyers representing 450 bereaved people whose relatives have died due to Covid-19 have called on the prime minister and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, to hold an immediate public inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis to help prevent many more deaths.
This is Ben Quinn in London. You can reach me on Twitter at @BenQuinn75
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