Politics

Brexit news – live: Starmer blasts Johnson for ‘slow, slow, slow’ Covid response as Amazon halts more NI sales


Boris Johnson refuses to say why he thinks UK has highest death toll in Europe

Labour leader Keir Starmer has blasted Boris Johnson for his “slow, slow, slow” response to the pandemic and demanded the PM provides answers as to why the UK has the highest Covid death rate in Europe.

Mr Johnson admitted it would not be possible to reopen schools in February – but said he “hoped” pupils would be able to return by 8 March. It comes as Amazon halts sales of wines, beers and spirits in Northern Ireland due to complex new excise rules.

The company is reportedly ready to pull more products – including over-the-counter medicines – over changes brought in by the Brexit deal. Meanwhile, discontent is “growing” in loyalist communities in Northern Ireland over protocol arrangements, a senior police officer has warned.

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‘We need to see an awful lot of flexibility’ – Stormont minister tells EU

A Stormont minister has urged the EU to agree a common sense solution to problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Gordon Lyons said the bloc needed to show greater flexibility as hauliers and businesses grapple with complex challenges following Brexit which have emptied supermarket shelves and left lorries stranded in Great Britain without loads. 

The Democratic Unionist Executive Office junior minister said: “There needs to be conversations with the EU about the difficulty of implementing this and the problems that will come as a result of them being put into place. 

“These are not concerns I am making up or pulling out of the air. It is what we heard directly from those who will be most affected by them. 

“There needs to be common sense when it comes to goods coming from Great Britain into Northern Ireland that have no risk of entering into the EU. We need to see an awful lot of flexibility there and we need to see change in the approach.”

Vincent Wood27 January 2021 16:41

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Asylum seekers will face new border control rules – Patel

New border control rules “will apply” to those seeking asylum, Priti Patel has said.

Conservative Damian Collins said: “As the Home Secretary knows, more than 8,000 people entered the UK last year by crossing the Channel in small vessels in order to claim asylum when they arrived.

“Could she say what impact her statement today has on the system of managing quarantine for people that arrive and enter the asylum system?

“And also, given the recent major outbreak of coronavirus at Napier Barracks in Folkestone where many have been accommodated, can she confirm the Home Office is working to reduce the number of asylum claimants at Napier and that there will be no new people arriving until the Covid outbreak is under control?”

The Home Secretary replied: “First of all, rules will apply, testing will apply to everyone with regards to illegal entry to the United Kingdom and those who are seeking to claim asylum – although our policy is clear, they should be claiming asylum in the first safe country and not risking their lives by travelling through a small boat or illegally being trafficked by people traffickers.”

On Napier Barracks, Ms Patel told MPs “Covid-compliant measures” are in place already, adding: “We are going to enhance our measures now even further to prevent the spread of coronavirus and to protect public health.”

Vincent Wood27 January 2021 16:18

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Government notes ‘influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world that they are in’

Labour’s Yvette Cooper has said she welcomes hotel quarantine measures, but added “they don’t go far enough to deliver a comprehensive system”. 

Speaking in the Commons, she said: “In the first wave, less than 1 per cent of new cases came from China, the overwhelming majority from European countries the Government said were low risk at that time.”

“Could I ask the Home Secretary about the number of people likely to still be arriving who are not covered by quarantine hotels, still won’t have to do further tests on arrival and will be able to go straight onto the public transport system from Heathrow or wherever they arrive? Can she confirm is that likely to still be thousands of people each day and does she think that it wise?”

Ms Patel replied: “Travel is down from 90 per cent compared to this time last year. Clearly there are travel bans in place for countries that are red listed and that’ll continue and the announcement today will also reduce the number of travelling passengers, I do want to emphasis that, because people should simply not be travelling.

“We see the examples… I will call some of them out. Border Force have given me examples where even at St Pancras people have been turning up with their skis, that is clearly not acceptable. 

“We see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world that they are in, mainly in sunny parts of the world. Going on holiday is not an exemption and it’s important that people stay at home.”

Vincent Wood27 January 2021 16:00

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‘Arbitrary dates’ for school reopenings ‘unhelpful’ – teaching union says

Announcing “arbitrary dates” for schools to reopen to all pupils can be unhelpful to parents and school staff, a teaching union has warned.

Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT teachers’ union, has called for a clear plan on how schools in England will be fully reopened.

He said: “Given previous experience, the announcement of arbitrary dates for schools to reopen to all pupils can be profoundly unhelpful to parents and to those working in schools.

“However, a clear plan for how schools will be fully reopened whenever the lockdown restrictions are lifted remains a key question which the Government must now work urgently and openly with the profession to address.”

Vincent Wood27 January 2021 15:45

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Confusion as ‘hotel quarantine’ plan revealed without list of countries or introduction date

The “hotel quarantine” plan has been plunged into confusion, with the government unable to say when it will come into force – or the list of countries targeted.

Vincent Wood27 January 2021 15:30

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Quarantine hotel plan ‘necessary’ to protect public, says Patel

Travellers returning to the UK from 22 high-risk countries on a “red list” will be sent to quarantine hotels for 10 days, home secretary Priti Patel has confirmed.

“These new measures at the border are a necessary step to protect the public,” she said in a statement to the Commons.

With travel from those 22 countries already banned, it means the quarantine crackdown will, at least initially, apply only to returning Britons.

People flying out from UK will face enhanced checks – including a declaration about why they are leaving country for essential travel.

Adam Forrest27 January 2021 15:05

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Johnson should be ‘visible’ in Scotland, says No 10

No 10 has rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s suggested that Boris Johnson shouldn’t bother heading up to Scotland later this week.

The PM’s official spokesman said: “It remains a fact that it is a fundamental role of the PM to be the physical representative of the UK government.

“And it is right that he is visible and accessible to communities, businesses and the public across all parts of the UK, especially during this pandemic.”

Johnson and Sturgeon

(Getty)

Adam Forrest27 January 2021 14:55

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PM says UK better off outside EU vaccines programme

Conservative MP Peter Bone has claimed the EU’s “bureaucracy, inefficiency and petty politics” had delayed its vaccine programme – asking Boris Johnson if Brexit had aided the UK’s response.

The PM replied in the Commons: “We certainly were able to use speed and agility to deliver on the programme that we needed to do,” adding that the UK had been able to do things “better in some ways” after Brexit.

“I think it’d have been a great pity if we’d followed the advice of the leader of the opposition who said stay in the EU vaccines programme.”

Adam Forrest27 January 2021 14:46

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Northern Ireland should freeze co-operation with Republic, says unionist

A unionist in Northern Ireland has called for Brexit co-operation with the Republic of Ireland to be frozen and work implementing the post-Brexit protocol to be abandoned.

Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister – angry over the sea border – said the DUP leaders at Stormont should stop officials operating Irish Sea port checks on goods from the rest of the UK.

Allister, his party’s representative at the Stormont Assembly, said: “I suggest unionist parties within the executive should publicly and jointly refuse to operate the north-south arrangements unless and until the protocol is addressed.”

Dublin Port

(AFP via Getty Images)

Adam Forrest27 January 2021 14:41

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EU citizens offered incentives to leave UK

The UK is offering EU citizens financial incentives to leave the UK and return to their country of origin – a move that activists say “undermines” the government’s claim it is encouraging EU citizens to get settled status.

EU citizens were quietly added to the government’s voluntary returns scheme from 1 January, which is meant to help migrants in specific situations leave the UK voluntarily – and includes up to £2,000 in resettlement money.

The Public Interest Law Centre criticised the offer of money to return to the continent as contradictory.

The centre’s Benjamin Morgan said: “This mixed messaging around settled status on the one hand and voluntary returns on the other, seriously undermines the government’s claim that the rights of vulnerable Europeans will be protected after Brexit.”

Adam Forrest27 January 2021 14:20



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