Here's a summary of the latest developments
- 21,052 new people tested positive for Covid and 24 people died in the UK as weekly cases decrease and weekly deaths rise, the latest government figures show.
- The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced that the NHS coronavirus app will be modified today so that fewer contacts are told to self-isolate. He said the changes would “ensure we are striking the right balance” between cutting disruption and protecting the at-risk.
- Boris Johnson said he wants travel rules that are “as simple and user friendly as possible” but that it was vital to take a balanced approach to avoid importing new coronavirus variants from abroad. Speaking during a visit to Stevenage, the prime minister did not rule out an amber watchlist but said he wanted to see “an approach that is as simple as we can possibly make it”.
- Conservative MP Henry Smith, the chair of the Future of Aviation Group, has said further complicating international travel rules will put people off travelling. He warned the introduction of an amber watchlist would be “squandering the successful vaccine rollout”.
- Unite has urged the government to take further action to support travel industry jobs amid the pandemic, claiming the traffic light system is not working. Diana Holland, the union’s assistant general secretary for civil air transport, also said there is disagreement within the government about how to move forward.
- US Travel Association president and CEO, Roger Dow, said the White House was being “too cautious” on reciprocating the UK’s decision to lift restrictions on transatlantic flights. He praised the British government’s “very wise” decision to remove isolation requirements for vaccinated US arrivals and urged the US government to do the same.
- A decision on whether over-50s will be given a third coronavirus vaccine will be made within weeks. If it is given the go-ahead, all people in the age bracket, plus the clinically vulnerable, in England are expected to be offered a booster jab before Christmas.
- The Heathrow CEO, John Holland-Kaye, has urged the government to “keep things simple” rather than introduce new rules in an attempt to rebuild public confidence in travel. It comes as ministers are in discussions about creating a new amber watchlist of countries that potentially could be moved onto the red list.
- A leading psychologist has accused the government of implying that “infections don’t matter” – in turn potentially putting young people off getting the coronavirus vaccine. Stephen Reicher, a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews who sits on the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), said the government needed to send out “clear” and “consistent” messaging that getting vaccinated is a matter of both personal and social responsibility.
- New rules for vaccinated travellers from US and EU lead to ‘300% increase’ in bookings but Airlines UK warns government’s handling of France was ‘total disaster’. It comes as from 4am on Monday, new rules came into effect meaning that fully vaccinated travellers from the US and EU no longer have to isolate when they arrive in the UK. But the rules have not yet been reciprocated for UK travellers.
That’s it from us for today. For the latest coronavirus news from around the world, you can follow our global Covid blog:
Updated
Prof Christina Pagel, director of the clinical operational research unit at UCL, reports some good news:
Some good covid news:
— Prof. Christina Pagel (@chrischirp) August 2, 2021
More evidence that the reduction in covid cases after 19th July was real - hopsital admissions in England have dropped quite a bit over the past few days.
Looking regionally, this is mostly driven by drops in the NE, but no region is increasing. pic.twitter.com/y5x2UonZNU
The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, said he found it “really beneficial” being in an office at the beginning of his career - as opposed to working from home - as he told of the importance for young people of reopening workplaces.
He told LinkedIn News: “I have spoken previously about young people in particular benefiting from being in offices. It was really beneficial to me when I was starting out in my career.”
He said that on a visit last week to Scotland he met young people starting careers in financial services, Sunak’s former industry.
I was telling them the mentors that I found when I first started my job I still talk to and they have been helpful to me all through my career even after we have gone in different ways.
I doubt I would have had those strong relationships if I was doing my summer internship or my first bit of my career over Teams and Zoom.
And that’s why I think for young people in particular being able to physically be in an office is valuable.
But he said the government is leaving the decision on returning to offices up to businesses:
We’ve kind of stopped saying that people should actively work from home and have now left it up to businesses to work with their teams to figure out the right approach.
In terms of a return to work, which we have said we would expect that and recommend that to be gradual from when the restrictions eased, in keeping with everything else that we are doing, it’s been gradual, it’s cautious, it’s careful, so there will be a gradual return back to the offices and I think that is what broadly will happen.
More than 3 million 18- to 29-year-olds in the UK have still not gone for their first jab.
According to a snapshot of government vaccination figures by the Press Association, vaccination take-up among young people is consistently low across the UK.
In England an estimated 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds have not had their first jab, or around 2.7 million adults. In Wales the figure is 25%, in Scotland it’s 28% and in Northern Ireland it’s 39%.
Updated
NHS Covid app to reduce number of people pinged
Here’s the report from Jessica Elgot, chief political correspondent, on the changes to the NHS Covid app (also see 16:05 and 16:11):
From Monday, the app will only instruct close contacts to isolate if it is within two days of a positive test, rather than five days, which the government said was in line with the latest public health advice.
It comes amid reports that people are ditching use of the app in droves and the Department of Health said it was urging people to continue to use the app now the changes have been made.
It said the update did not impact the sensitivity of the app, or change the risk threshold, and would result in the same number of high-risk contacts being advised to self-isolate.
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “We want to reduce the disruption that self-isolation can cause for people and businesses, while ensuring we’re protecting those most at risk from this virus. This update to the app will help ensure that we are striking the right balance.
Updated
21,052 new people tested positive for Covid and 24 people died as weekly cases decrease and weekly deaths rise
An additional 21,052 people in the UK tested positive for coronavirus today and 24 have died.
Government figures show that a total of 535 people died in the last week - marking a 20.2% rise compared with the previous seven days. Meanwhile, 184,550 people tested positive in the last week - marking a 27% decrease on the previous seven days.
On 30 July there were 5,943 people in hospital with coronavirus and 889 people on beds with ventilators.
The number of coronavirus patients in hospital rose by 14.8% in the seven days between 21 July and 27 July.
The latest vaccination figures show that as of yesterday, 46,872,411 people had received their first dose and 38,464,025 their second.
Updated
Sky News reports that the NHS app (see 16:05) will be modified today so that fewer people will be “pinged”.
Currently, the app looks at contacts dating back five days of a person who inputs a positive test and is asymptomatic. Going forward, it will look at contacts dating back just two days.
The government says far fewer contacts will be notified to reduce disruption to businesses while protecting those most at risk, reports the broadcaster.
Updated
NHS app to be modified to reduce the number told to self-isolate
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, has announced that the NHS coronavirus app will be modified so that fewer contacts are told to self-isolate, reports the Press Association.
He said the changes would “ensure we are striking the right balance” between cutting disruption and protecting the at-risk.
Boris Johnson also said (see 15:36) that he wants to “convert” the vaccine rollout into a “fast and sustainable” economic recovery.
Asked what he would do to hold on to Conservative voters in southern constituencies during a visit to Airbus in Stevenage, the prime minister said:
All I would say to everybody in the country is we are in favour of jobs and growth throughout the UK. We have got a big programme to convert the vaccine rollout into the fastest and most sustainable economic recovery that we can.
There were emotional scenes at Gatwick today as couples and families separated by coronavirus were reunited after the loosening of travel restrictions.
Here’s a report from the Press Association:
A couple separated by Covid were engaged at Gatwick as the airport marked the first day of relaxed quarantine measures.
Ben Gilkes and Cristina Paiva had been apart for two months after Ben was unable to go on their joint trip to Portugal after catching Covid-19 between his first and second jabs.
Cristina, a nurse, returned from Porto on the first day of relaxed quarantine rules for EU arrivals. Ben heralded her homecoming by popping the question alongside a bouquet of flowers. His mother, Rosie Nightingale, was also present.
The proposal was one of many emotional reunions marking the relaxation of restrictions for double-jabbed EU and US travellers.
Those who have had both jabs of a Covid vaccine were allowed to enter the UK from 4am this morning after the government announced they would be exempt from quarantine on 27 July.
John Gurney, a British ex-pat who lives in Amsterdam with his family, brought his young children to see their grandmother who lives in the UK for the first time since Christmas 2019.
Mr Gurney said: “It’s just a relief because of the tension of the [vaccine] passport thing and you wonder ‘are all of these QR codes going to work?’ My mum just said to the grandkids: ‘You’re real, you’re not just on a screen’.
“We normally come every Christmas and then last Christmas we sort of presumed you will and then haven’t and then they were like. ‘oh, it’s happening and then oh it’s not’.”
Jack, Sam and Dan are brothers who have reunited with their brother Ryan for the first time in two years after he spent time working in Russia and Ukraine.
On arrival at Gatwick, the brothers and their gathered family cheered Ryan through the arrival gate.
Jack, who had not seen Ryan for a year longer than his brothers, said: “It’s a bit surreal to finally be all together again after so long.”
Updated
More of the prime minister’s comments from Stevenage:
I understand that people care very much about their holidays, people want to go abroad, I understand how much people plan, prepare, for the summer holidays.
But we have also got to remember this is still a dangerous virus and we must try and stop variants coming in, must stop importing variants from abroad, so we have to have a balanced approach.
What I want to see is something that is as simple and as user-friendly for people as possible.
On travel, we have had to balance it because of the anxiety that I think a lot of people have - I have - about importing new variants, bringing back the disease.
We also have to recognise that people want, badly, to go on their summer holidays, we need to get the travel industry moving again, we need to get our city centres open again and so we want an approach that is as simple as we can possibly make it.
In other Boris Johnson-related news, the Guardian’s Scotland editor, Severin Carrell, writes:
Police Scotland has saved itself from a diplomatic and political gaffe after an attentive officer realised that calling its special security operation to protect the prime minister, Boris Johnson, Operation Bunter might cause problems.
The name was apparently allocated by the force’s computer from a list of pre-selected names, the Scottish Sun has reported, before an officer drew Police Scotland back from the brink and changed it, to Operation Aeration.
The prime minister is thought to be planning a visit to Scotland later this week, to promote his government’s case against independence. There are hints some members of the force enjoyed the joke, before the operation was renamed.
The Sun quoted an “insider” saying: “Operation Aeration was selected as the alternative. But I’m not sure moving away from Billy Bunter to a name that implies the PM is full of air is much of an improvement.”
The paper’s source said: “The name ‘Operation Bunter’ was given to the preparations. But several people pointed out the foolishness of calling it after a fat, posh English public schoolboy - not least given the PM is known for being a bit portly.”
Police Scotland refused to comment on the mechanics of the decision, but a spokesperson said: “Operational names are auto-generated by computer and can be changed if deemed to be inappropriate.”
Jason Groves, political editor of the Daily Mail, believes the prime minister’s comments could hint that the amber watch travel list might be dropped.
Boris Johnson hints the amber watch travel list could be shelved. Acknowledges need to minimise risk of importing Covid variants, but says he wants a system that is 'as simple and user-friendly as possible'
— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) August 2, 2021
PM says wants travel rules that are 'as simple and user friendly as possible' but warns of danger of importing new Covid variants
Boris Johnson said he wants travel rules that are “as simple and user friendly as possible” but that it was vital to take a balanced approach to avoid importing new coronavirus variants from abroad.
Speaking during a visit to Stevenage, the prime minister did not rule out an amber watchlist but said he wanted to see “an approach that is as simple as we can possibly make it”.
He said while the UK vaccine rollout had been at a “pretty good” pace and, citing IMF growth figures, that the UK economy and society “is just about the most open in Europe”, he said “on travel, we’ve had to balance it”.
He emphasised that there was “still a dangerous virus” and that he and others have anxiety about importing other variants into the UK.
Updated
Gatwick's MP Henry Smith warns amber watchlist would 'squander' the vaccine rollout
Conservative MP Henry Smith, the chair of the Future of Aviation Group, has said further complicating international travel rules will put people off travelling.
He warned the introduction of an amber watchlist would be “squandering the successful vaccine rollout”.
The MP for Crawley, whose constituency includes Gatwick airport, told the Press Association that adding more layers to the traffic light travel system “will just put more people off from booking international travel and will mean that there isn’t an August of meaningful travel to save travel and aviation sector jobs” and have a detrimental impact on families who have been separated for 18 months.
He added: “We are becoming increasingly at a competitive disadvantage to many other countries who have opened up international travel far more, many European countries and the US in particular”.
Updated
Confused by all the talk of an amber watchlist? Aubrey Allegretti, Guardian political correspondent, explains how it would affect Covid travel rules for England in this helpful Q&A.
Unite urges government to support travel industry and says traffic light system 'not working'
Unite has urged the government to take further action to support travel industry jobs amid the pandemic, claiming the traffic light system “is not working”.
Diana Holland, the union’s assistant general secretary for civil air transport, also said there is disagreement within the government about how to move forward.
She said:
The current traffic light system is not working and there is disagreement within government about how to move forward.
While the situation remains uncertain and complex, the government must provide job-saving support to our aviation and travel industry.
Unlike France and Germany, which has specific support in place for the aviation industry, she said the UK civil air transport sector has “haemorrhaged jobs”.
She added:
With the summer season all but scuppered and travel not expected to return to sustainable levels for the immediate future, the government must follow the lead of our competitor nations and take action to secure jobs, and make sure aviation can rebuild safely and sustainably for all our futures.
Hi, it’s Miranda Bryant back on the blog. Please get in touch with any suggestions: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk
A decision on whether the over-50s will need a third Covid-19 jab is to be set out by vaccination experts in the next few weeks.
If the programme is given the green light, it is expected that all those over the age of 50 or clinically vulnerable in England will be offered a booster jab before Christmas.
NHS officials have set plans in motion to deliver a joint coronavirus and flu jab campaign in the autumn, but it is still not known whether a booster jab will be needed.
Experts advising the government - the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) - will deliver guidance before the programme is due to commence on 6 September.
Pharmacies will play a significant role in the programme for delivering third jabs to help top up immunity levels as GP surgeries resume usual duties as much as possible.
The Telegraph said the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, had briefed MPs on the plans, which include the aim of delivering an average of almost 2.5m third doses a week and carving out an increased role for pharmacies.
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: “The government is preparing for a booster programme and JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) have published interim advice on who to prioritise for a possible third vaccine from September 2021.
Updated
Nicola Sturgeon has asked the prime minister to meet her to discuss the country’s recovery from coronavirus, and tweeted a picture of her letter to him.
The Scottish first minister invited Boris Johnson to meet with her at her official residence, Bute House in Edinburgh.
She said that as the prime minister was due to be in Scotland this week, it would be “their first opportunity to meet in person for a while”.
While she acknowledged she and Mr Johnson “differ politically”, she stressed the Scottish and UK governments must “work together where we can”.
In a letter to the prime minister, Sturgeon said that his trip north “might offer us an opportunity to meet in person in Edinburgh for a discussion on the current Covid situation and our respective plans for recovery”.
I understand the PM will visit Scotland later this week. Since this would be our first opportunity to meet in person for a while, I’ve invited him to Bute House to discuss Covid/recovery. We differ politically, but our governments must work together where we can. pic.twitter.com/Fo4N4nr2oN
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) August 2, 2021
Over to Downing Street..
Updated
UK companies are facing labour and materials shortages that are hampering Britain’s manufacturers from taking advantage of a post-lockdown boost in demand, a survey by IHS Markit/Clips has found.
The Guardian’s economics editor, Larry Elliott, reports:
Updated
Passengers arriving in the UK today after quarantine rules for vaccinated travellers from the US and the EU were changed have told of their joy at not having to isolate.
Nurse Elaine Burt, 55, who was waiting at Glasgow airport to be reunited with her sister and nephews arriving from Boston for the first time in 20 months, told the BBC: “We never thought it was going to happen with all of the different restrictions but we left it to the last minute to see what was possible. I can’t wait.”
Ben Hamilton, 19, a veterinary medicine student from Texas, said it was a “relief” not to quarantine after arriving in Scotland. The Glasgow university student told the BBC: “It’s the first time I’ve got back and not had to quarantine.”
US travel industry boss urges White House to reciprocate UK loosening of travel restrictions
US Travel Association president and CEO Roger Dow said the White House is being “too cautious” on reciprocating the UK’s decision to lift restrictions on transatlantic flights.
He praised the British government’s “very wise” decision to remove isolation requirements for vaccinated US arrivals (see 09:44) and urged the US government to do the same.
Currently, he told Sky News that it is “very difficult” for British people to travel to the US. The UK is a “level 4” destination, meaning the US government recommends avoiding travel to the UK.
He said travel restrictions to the UK and other popular travel links is costing billions every week to the US economy. He said transatlantic flights are a “massive market” for the US, with people staying an average of 14 days.
Updated
More than three-quarters of those admitted to hospital with coronavirus received either “good” or “excellent” care, according to a new study.
A review by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) examined the case records of 510 patients across 19 NHS trusts in England last year.
Just over 96% were considered to have had adequate, good or excellent care and 77% were found to have had either good or excellent care, while 3.5% patients were considered to have had poor care.
Dr John Dean, the RCP’s clinical director for quality improvement and patient safety, said:
My colleagues in the NHS have been faced with unprecedented challenges during the pandemic but RCP’s study shows how almost all care provided has been of the right standard.
We can, however, learn from excellent care, and variations in care, just as we can learn from poor care, and I am sure that this study will prove invaluable as we seek to learn from this extraordinary time.
Heathrow airport CEO John Holland-Kaye (see 11:00) has joined calls to replace the travel requirement for PCR tests with lateral flow tests, which are cheaper.
The Times reported today that there are plans for an audit of the 420 test providers (paywall) listed on the gov.uk website and that Sajid Javid, the health secretary, is understood to be concerned about the cost of mandatory PCR tests for UK arrivals.
The International Air Transport Association has said testing prices is a key barrier for people travelling abroad.
The Guardian reported on Saturday that most of the cheapest Covid tests for travellers listed on the government website are not available in what has been described as a “wild west” marketplace:
No traces of coronavirus were found in tests at four major railway stations and on intercity train services, Network Rail has said.
Here’s the full story:
Here’s the Guardian’s Scotland editor Severin Carrell’s story on the Scottish health secretary Humza Yousaf’s discrimination allegations:
Matt Hancock has reportedly not given up hope of resuscitating his ministerial career just four weeks after his dramatic downfall.
The former health secretary has resurfaced in a backbenchers’ WhatsApp group where he thanked people for their support, the Telegraph reports.
“It was the first time he had popped up on the WhatsApp group since he resigned,” one Tory MP told the newspaper. “He was thanking people for their support after he quit, and everyone was very nice to him, saying well done on the vaccine programme.”
Scotland’s health secretary, Humza Yousaf, has complained to watchdogs and is seeking legal advice, alleging his family was discriminated against when their two-year-old daughter was refused a place at a nursery.
Here’s more from PA Media:
Mr Yousaf said he and his wife had contacted the Care Inspectorate and are also seeking legal advice on the issue.
It comes after he said the Little Scholars nursery in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, had said there was no place available for his two-year-old daughter Amal.
The Daily Record newspaper reported that his wife Nadia El-Nakla had emailed nursery bosses in May, asking if there were any available places.
The couple alleged they were told there were “no available spaces in the nursery” – the second time they said they had been turned down.
But they claimed that when a white friend asked if there were spaces for her two-year-old son, just two days later the nursery told her places were available on three afternoons a week.
Mr Yousaf said: “We are fooling ourselves if we believe discrimination doesn’t exist in Scotland. I believe evidence we have proves our case beyond doubt.
“As well as reporting the nursery to the Care Inspectorate we are also seeking legal advice.”
A spokesman for the nursery owners said they were “extremely proud of being open and inclusive to all” insisting that “any claim to the contrary is demonstrably false and an accusation that we would refute in the strongest possible terms”.
Updated
Decision on third Covid booster jab for over-50s expected within weeks
A decision on whether over-50s will be given a third coronavirus vaccine will be made within weeks.
If it is given the go-ahead, all people in the age bracket, plus the clinically vulnerable, in England are expected to be offered a booster jab before Christmas.
NHS officials are planning for an autumn joint coronavirus and flu jab campaign, but it is yet to be announced whether a booster jab will be required.
Experts advising the government will make an announcement on the booster before 6 September, when the campaign is due to start.
The Telegraph reports that the vaccines minister, Nadhim Zahawi, has briefed MPs on the plans, including a target of 2.5m third doses per week and a key role for pharmacies in the rollout.
A health department spokeswoman said:
The government is preparing for a booster programme and JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) have published interim advice on who to prioritise for a possible third vaccine from September 2021.
The booster programme – which would ensure millions of people most vulnerable to Covid-19 will have the protection they have from first and second doses maintained ahead of the winter and against new variants – will be informed by the JCVI’s final advice.
Updated
Sky News is reporting that an announcement on travel restrictions could come on Thursday or even earlier.
Heathrow CEO urges government to 'keep things simple' amid proposals for new amber watchlist
Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye has urged the government to “keep things simple” rather than introduce new rules in an attempt to rebuild public confidence in travel.
It comes as ministers are in discussions about creating a new amber watchlist of countries that potentially could be moved onto the red list. Countries reportedly in consideration for the new list (The Times – paywall) are Spain, Greece and Italy.
“Let’s just make it easier now for people to travel,” Holland-Kaye told Reuters. “I think we just need to keep things simple. We need to build confidence in travel.”
Heathrow has forecast that it will be two to three years before levels of travel return to pre-pandemic rates.
Matt Warman, the minister for digital infrastructure, today defended the proposals, saying a travel watchlist would provide people with more information so that they could make “informed decisions”.
He told Sky News:
The point of the watchlist that you refer to is to try and give people a sense of the direction of travel that a country is going in, it’s to try and provide people with as much information as possible when they make those decisions about where they might want to go on holiday.
He added:
People do have to make common sense judgments and that may involve taking into consideration the fact that a country’s rates may indeed be getting worse ... The most important thing that the government can do is make sure that people have as much information as they possibly can, that they have information about which direction a foreign country might be going in so that they don’t inadvertently find themselves having to quarantine when they get back.
Here’s Damien Gayle’s report on Warman’s response to the proposals:
Updated
Leading psychologist accuses government of implying that 'infections don't matter' – potentially putting young people off getting vaccinated
A leading psychologist has accused the government of implying that “infections don’t matter” – in turn potentially putting young people off getting the coronavirus vaccine.
Stephen Reicher, a professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews who sits on the Scientific Pandemic Insights Group on Behaviours (Spi-B), said the government needed to send out “clear” and “consistent” messaging that getting vaccinated is a matter of both personal and social responsibility.
It comes as a new poll by UNiDAYS of 20,000 students found a third have only had a single dose of the vaccine, while another third have not had any doses.
Prof Reicher told Times Radio:
In many ways the implication has been there that infections don’t matter.
So, if the health secretary can say ‘We’re going to have 100,000 cases a day, that doesn’t matter, we’re still going ahead with our policy’, and when you see reopening everywhere, it does begin to send the message that infections don’t matter.
And in fact there’s some evidence that the young people are beginning to say ‘Well, why should I get vaccinated if it doesn’t really matter, if infection doesn’t matter, why should I do things to avoid infection?’
He added:
I think the messaging is really critical from governments as well – it needs to be consistent, it needs to be clear.
And it needs to be about not only the fact that the pandemic is still there and it’s necessary to do something, but this is a matter not only of personal responsibility, but a social responsibility – of doing things for others, doing things for the community so the community as a whole can reopen safely.
Updated
More from Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, who said she doesn’t support the introduction of vaccine passports for everyday activities.
She told Times Radio:
Really we need to make sure that there isn’t transmission taking place – for example, at mass events – that’s why testing and getting that sorted out is so important, but I would agree with Khalid [Mahmood, the Labour MP] when it comes to, in particular, the suggestions that we had over the weekend that there could be some kind of incentives that this would unlock the issue for young people of getting vaccinated.
She added:
This isn’t rocket science. Government shouldn’t be focused on these kinds of, frankly, attention-grabbing headlines here – they should be listening to the public health services who are already managing to drive up vaccination on the basis of their local knowledge and particularly their local knowledge of where young people are, who they listen to and where they go for the information that they act on the basis of.
Updated
Angela Rayner says ‘We don’t want to be an opposition, we want to be a government’
In an interview with Guardian political editor Heather Stewart, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said her party needed to attract voters because “we don’t want to be an opposition, we want to be a government”.
On Labour’s dip in membership, she said:
Of course we want to attract people to be members of the Labour party, but what we need to do is we need to attract voters as well. And what we’re doing is we’re speaking to the country: we’re saying that actually we don’t want to be an opposition, we want to be a government.
She also talked about being a carer, byelections and how to achieve a “cultural shift” in the workplace.
Rayner said more flexible working would be a “win-win” for staff and employers and that she helped negotiate family-friendly working as a trade union representative.
She said:
It’s about changing the culture in our country. The whole emphasis to me is, yes there’s individual nuggets in here, but it’s about a cultural shift away from people being inflexible, and not looking for new and fresh ideas about how people can engage in the workplace.
Describing herself as somebody who “overshares”, she said the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, “undershares”.
“If you look at Keir’s background, it’s not dissimilar for mine: he looked after his mum, I looked after my mum,” she said. “Keir wasn’t from a privileged background”.
She said he is “very forensic, he’s very intelligent. He’s very passionate about making sure that the country is a better place”.
Updated
New rules for vaccinated travellers from US and EU lead to '300% increase' in bookings but airline industry warns government's handling of France was 'total disaster'
Airlines UK today said new rules for fully vaccinated travellers from the US and EU have led to a “300% increase” in bookings to American destinations, but warned that government handling of France was a “total disaster” for the industry.
It comes as from 4am on Monday, new rules came into effect meaning that fully vaccinated travellers from the US and EU no longer have to isolate when they arrive in the UK. But the rules have not yet been reciprocated for UK travellers.
Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said he welcomed the change and reported a significant increase in bookings to the US.
He told Times Radio:
I think the announcement this morning is very welcome – there will be an uptick in bookings.
We’ve seen from the US around a 300% increase in bookings to the US – but we’ve got to somehow try to find a way to get more countries on the green list and we absolutely should not be going down the road of adding more tiers to an already very complicated international travel system.
But he said the government’s handling of France, sparking a diplomatic row after putting the country on the “amber-plus” travel list, had badly dented consumer confidence.
He said:
Because of the way the government has looked at things over the past couple of weeks with the France decision, which was a total disaster in terms of consumer confidence because people now think with amber, there’s a good chance that whether there’s a watch list or not, that they will be stranded, and that is a real dampener in terms of bookings.
We’ve now only got six to eight weeks until the end of the summer, and tens of thousands of jobs are under threat in the travel and aviation sector.
Until today, only travellers who had received both doses in the UK were able to arrive from amber countries – including the US and much of the EU – without needing to isolate for 10 days.
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, said: “We’re helping reunite people living in the US and European countries with their family and friends in the UK.”
Meanwhile, the Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, has called on the government to be “open and transparent” about travel rules.
Asked this morning whether an amber watchlist should be introduced, she told Times Radio:
Well, no, we don’t want to see additional confusion and chaos here ... We’ve been here before, we’ve been in this chaos before, and yet government seems to be providing just more of the same, more confusion, more extra categories.
What we’ve said for months as the Labour party is that the Conservative government need to be open and transparent, they need to be actually publishing the data that they’re taking their decisions on.
She said the government should be seeking international agreement on vaccine passports, which she said “they’ve said they’re trying to do, but we’ve seen no evidence of progress there”. She also called for “more openness” to “build trust in the system”.
She added:
The problem is, right now holidaymakers just don’t know who to believe and we’ve got ... seem to have the chancellor briefing against the prime minister in the Sunday papers. That’s not building confidence, ultimately, in the system.
Hi, it’s Miranda Bryant looking after the blog today. If you have any tips or suggestions, please get in touch: miranda.bryant@guardian.co.uk
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