Politics

The health secretary has said there are “brighter times ahead” as the coronavirus vaccine rollout continues, but warned the public: “Don’t blow it now.” “We are on the route out. We are protecting the most vulnerable. We are getting the virus under control,” Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference. Live COVID news from

Replacing the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit with a one-off payment of £500 is a “terrible” idea, Labour has said. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reported to be considering giving almost six million benefit claimants the cash payment instead of keeping the £1,000 yearly uplift in Universal Credit. The Universal Credit increase was introduced last year

All UK adults will be offered the first dose of a COVID vaccine by September, Dominic Raab has told Sky News. Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the foreign secretary said: “Our target is that by September to have offered all the adult population a first dose, if we can do it faster than that

Boris Johnson will host this year’s G7 summit in the tiny seaside resort of Carbis Bay in Cornwall, where he will urge world leaders to unite in “building back better” from the pandemic. Joe Biden, who will be US president by then, is expected to attend the event starting on 11 June, alongside the other

More than 400,000 police records have accidentally been deleted from a national database, prompting warnings that criminal investigations could be compromised, Sky News understands. The fingerprint, DNA and arrest history records were wiped due to “human error” and “defective code”, policing minister Kit Malthouse said yesterday. It was initially reported by The Times that 150,000

All travel corridors will close from Monday, meaning everyone arriving in the UK will have to self-isolate. The tighter border restrictions announced by Boris Johnson are aimed at protecting the progress made with the rollout of vaccines in the face of new coronavirus variants being found around the world. It had already been announced everyone

Home Secretary Priti Patel must “take responsibility” for the wiping of 150,000 arrest records from police databases, the Labour Party says. The records were accidentally wiped last week and they included fingerprint, DNA and arrest histories, according to The Times. The newspaper says the technological blunder could allow offenders to go free, as evidence from

The chancellor is facing growing pressure to give more support to people and businesses struggling during the coronavirus pandemic. The Northern Research Group (NRG) and the British Chambers of Commerce have both called for more help during the third national lockdown. The NRG made a submission to Rishi Sunak ahead of his Budget in March

Senior ministers will consider a ban on travel to the UK from Brazil following concern over a new coronavirus strain in the South American country. The government’s COVID-19 operations committee is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the issue, amid reports any travel ban could also be extended to countries neighbouring Brazil. Live COVID

The prime minister has acknowledged there are “teething problems” with trade between Britain and Northern Ireland in the wake of the Brexit transition period coming to an end. Britain’s new trading relationship with Brussels came into effect at 11pm on December 31, following an 11-month Brexit transition period. There have been empty shelves on some

Boris Johnson has told MPs that recent coronavirus restrictions “are starting to show signs of some effect” – but he refused to rule out even tougher measures. The prime minister came under fresh pressure from Labour on Wednesday to tighten COVID rules in order to drive down infections. Live COVID updates from UK and around

The NHS is considering plans to discharge patients into hotels as hospitals become swamped with COVID patients, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has confirmed – as he said it was “impossible to know” how long lockdown restrictions might last. Mr Hancock told Sky News that the government would “look at all options” to relieve pressures on

Pressure on the NHS will not start to reduce until March, ministers have been warned – amid fears that new infections could be running at more than 250,000 a day. Downing Street has been told by government scientists that the rollout of the vaccines is unlikely to cause the mortality rate to decline until later

The health secretary has suggested the prime minister was operating within the rules when he went cycling seven miles from Downing Street during lockdown. Boris Johnson was spotted at the Olympic Park in east London with members of his security detail on Sunday, according to the Evening Standard. Live COVID updates from UK and around

More than 2.6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines have been given to almost 2.3 million people, the health secretary has said, as an NHS boss warned the jab is “not a free pass” to ignore national guidance. Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference that the government was on track to achieve its pledge

Thousands more people will be called for their coronavirus jabs at seven new mass vaccination sites opening in England today, as the government desperately urges people to follow lockdown rules. The new centres in Bristol, Surrey, London, Newcastle Manchester, Stevenage and Birmingham will have the capacity to vaccinate four people a minute, with over-80s and