Politics

Ministers let up to 10,000 travellers with coronavirus spread it across the country at the start of the pandemic by failing to bring in quarantine rules early enough, senior MPs have said. The government was accused of making “critical errors” over how it treated those arriving in the UK in March, leading to COVID-19 taking

The council with the highest rate of coronavirus infections in England has launched its own contact-tracing scheme because the government’s national system isn’t fast enough, a local official has claimed. Dominic Harrison, the director of public health and wellbeing at Blackburn with Darwen Council, revealed the local authority is developing its own contact-tracing system as

Russian hackers stole secret trade deal papers from the email account of former cabinet minister Liam Fox, according to Reuters. The news agency said Mr Fox’s account was broken into multiple times between 12 July and 2 October 2019 – in the run up to last year’s general election. It said a “spear phishing” message

Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, “the architect of the Northern Ireland peace process”, has died. The former leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) had been ill for some time. Having committed his life to the pursuit of Irish unity by peaceful means, he was fiercely criticised for holding secret talks with

Government plans to delay COVID-19 testing for all residents and staff at care homes until early September have been described as “an absolute kick in the teeth”. A pledge to regularly test all people in care homes for coronavirus throughout the summer had been part of the so-called protective “ring of steel” promised to the

A Conservative MP arrested over allegations of rape will not be suspended from the party while police investigate. A spokesperson for the Conservative whips’ office said: “These are serious allegations and it is right that they are investigated fully. The whip has not been suspended. “This decision will be reviewed once the police investigation has

A former Tory minister has been arrested on suspicion of rape. Sky News understands the MP was accused by a young woman who used to work in parliament. He was arrested and taken to an east London police station on Saturday morning and was released on bail on Saturday night. A police statement said: “On

French officials have been urged to take a tougher stance on migrants, after a record week of Channel crossings. Some 96 people were intercepted in the Channel on Friday – a day after a record 202 migrants made the journey. The previous daily record for migrant crossings was on 13 July, when 180 successfully landed

First we were told to “stay home”. Then we were warned to “stay alert”. Now, Britons are being advised to remember “hands, face, space”. The messaging from the government has changed throughout the coronavirus pandemic, reflecting the different stages of the UK’s fight against COVID-19. ‘Stay home, protect the NHS, save lives’ This clear and

The honeymoon is over. Gone is the optimistic tone of normality returning by Christmas as the scales of influence tip back from the economists to the scientists. So the brakes have been put on. But what could come next? In a hint at a new strategy, we now hear of the need for “trade-offs” with

Universal Credit is failing millions of people and driving the most vulnerable deeper into poverty, according to a new report. A House of Lords committee – including former Tory ministers – today calls for urgent reforms to make the benefit system “fit for purpose”, saying it is particularly harmful to women, disabled people and the

Coronavirus is “bubbling up” in up to 30 areas across the UK, Boris Johnson has warned. The prime minister said levels of COVID-19 are “going down” in Leicester – the first city subject to a local lockdown – but Britons have to be wary of a “really damaging second wave”. “It’s absolutely vital as a

People with coronavirus symptoms in England will be told to self-isolate for 10 days instead of seven, according to reports. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is expected to announce the increase in isolation period on Thursday, but it is not clear if Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will adopt the same policy. Those who have come

Boris Johnson has warned the signs of a “second wave” of coronavirus are surfacing in Europe, as he defended changing travel advice on Spain. The prime minister backed the decision taken over the weekend to tell any travellers returning from Spain to the UK to quarantine for 14 days over fears COVID-19 levels there are

The government was “too slow” to repatriate Britons at the start of the pandemic, according to an influential group of MPs. The report by the Foreign Affairs Select Committee found that there was a lack of “empathy and compassion” shown to some of those stranded abroad. The chair of the committee, Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat,

The transport secretary will cut short his holiday in Spain and return to the UK after being caught out by the reintroduction of coronavirus quarantine measures for the country. Grant Shapps flew there on Saturday morning to start his summer holiday, just hours before the government announced it was scrapping its travel corridor for Spain.