Boris Johnson news: Brexit deal ‘some way off’ one week ahead of PM’s deadline as Keir Starmer attacks Covid response
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Your support makes all the difference.A Brexit deal is “some way” away as negotiations on a key obstacle remain fraught, the UK’s chief negotiator has said.
But Lord Frost added that Britain’s door “would never be closed to a deal” even if Boris Johnson’s 15 October deadline is missed.
Meanwhile, following talks with Mr Johnson, the European Council president Charles Michel urged Britain to put its “cards on the table” because although the EU wanted a deal, it would not agree to one if the cost was too high.
As difficult as Wednesday was on the Brexit front, coronavirus threw up more challenges still for the government.
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer challenged Mr Johnson over his government’s coronavirus testing failures at PMQs, accusing him of “messing up” his response to the crisis. The Labour leader has also demanded ministers publish scientific evidence for the 10pm pub curfew.
In the north of England, regional leaders are in revolt over how local lockdowns have affected their cities. The leaders of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle city councils have written to the government, arguing its strategy is failing and that they should be put in control.
On a sunnier note, Grant Shapps and Matt Hancock have now created a taskforce designed to reduce the burden of the 14-day quarantine for travellers to the UK.
It will explore how a new testing regime can “facilitate more Covid-secure travel whilst protecting the population from imported cases”.
European Council chief doesn’t mince words after meeting PM
The UK must “put its cards on the table” if it wants a Brexit deal, Charles Michel has said, because the EU will not agree to one if the cost is too high.
Breaking story: Fractious talks between Johnson and European Council chief
The EU has lashed out at Boris Johnson for failing to engage in the Brexit talks, telling him: “Time for the UK to put its cards on the table”, writes Rob Merrick.
Charles Michel, the European Council president revealed his frustration with the prime minister after talks intended to unlocks the stalled negotiations.
EU demands Boris Johnson ‘puts Brexit cards on table’
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
Khan warns on homelessness this winter
Homeless people may have to choose between sleeping rough during the winter or risking Covid-19 infection in a communal shelter unless there is funding and guidance from Westminster, Sadiq Khan has warned.
In a letter to Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, the London mayor demanded help for those working with homeless people to protect them from coronavirus and freezing temperatures.
In a typical year, communal winter night shelters start to open in November as temperatures fall, often in churches or community buildings. In London, they hosted about 700 people last year.
Mr Khan said that while there is an exception to the rule of six for voluntary and charitable services, opening these communal shelters as normal would expose service users and staff to a substantial risk of infection.
Homeless people should be given the same protection as other members of society, he said.
In a statement, Mr Khan said: "It would simply be callous and inhumane to tell rough sleepers that the price of staying off the streets this winter could be catching Covid-19.
"Homeless people deserve safety and protection from Covid as much as anyone - this is particularly the case given they often have underlying health conditions."
The mayor said he was increasingly concerned at the government's "complacency and inaction" as it has not published any guidance on communal sleeping or provided funding for Covid-safe alternatives.
A Ministry of Communities spokesperson said: "We have given councils in London and the GLA £605m of emergency grant funding to deal with the immediate pressures they are facing - including to support rough sleepers - and recently announced over £43m in funding for interim accommodation and support for the most vulnerable people.
"We are working with councils, charities and other partners - backed by over half a billion pounds this year alone - to protect vulnerable rough sleepers this winter, and provide longer term accommodation and tailored support as part of our commitment to end rough sleeping for good."
Sketch: Boris Johnson is trying to spread his failures around, but they’re all his
Boris Johnson deserves some credit. In the last six months, from a standing start, the country’s coronavirus testing capacity has been vastly increased, writes Tom Peck.
And it is this increased capacity that has been the centrepiece of the strategy to contain the virus, which, against comparable countries, has been relatively successful.
Boris Johnson is trying to spread his failures around, but they’re all his | Tom Peck
For no more than the crime of agreeing he should at least try to succeed, it appears the prime minister expects everyone else to take responsibility for his faults
Scottish Labour campaigning for Margaret Ferrier’s resignation
Labour in Scotland has launched a petition calling for Margaret Ferrier’s resignation.
The SNP MP travelled extensively within the UK and to local businesses in her constituency despite having coronavirus symptoms, and later tested positive.
Nicola Sturgeon and SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford are among those calling on Ms Ferrier to stand down, but she has not made any public statement since announcing her test results last Thursday.
Labour held the Rutherglen and Hamilton West seat before Ms Ferrier defeated incumbent Ged Killen at the last election.
The petition, launched online by Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard, states: "It cannot be one rule for MPs and another for keyworkers, constituents and families struggling to keep to the rules."
Mr Leonard said: "Margaret Ferrier is clearly putting her parliamentary salary and access to Westminster perks above the needs of the people of Rutherglen and Hamilton West, who deserve a strong voice at a time when the virus is surging and jobs and living standards are facing such a grave threat.
"Margaret Ferrier has let down her constituents and is now seeking to tough it out solely in her own interests, in the hope that she will be able to cling on.
UK’s coronavirus death toll rises by 70
The UK’s coronavirus death toll has risen by 70, the government said, bringing the total number of deaths to 42,515, writes Samuel Osborne.
The government said a further 14,162 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the UK, bringing the total to 554,275.
UK coronavirus death toll rises by 70 to 42,515
The latest breaking news, comment and features from The Independent.
‘It’s killing us’: These Syrian refugees were set for a new life in the UK – then coronavirus struck
"We were over the moon when we found out we were going to the UK – but now it feels like it’s the end of the world,” says Basil, 35, from the room he lives in with his wife and three young children in Lebanon.
“We just want to start our lives,” the Syrian father-of-three adds dejectedly. Basil fled his home country with his wife, Atifa, in 2011 after their baby daughter was killed at nine months old when a bomb struck their home. The couple – devastated – decided they had to get out, writes May Bulman.
‘Living here is killing us’: Refugees who were due to resettle in UK before pandemic reveal their plight
Hundreds of Syrians were due to move to Britain before the refugee resettlement scheme was halted in March. May Bulman talks to families who are still waiting, more than six months on
Opinion: Essex Man is 30 years old today, and about to start a new life somewhere else
When Simon Heffer, the Conservative historian and polemicist, coined the term “Essex Man” in an anonymous column in The Sunday Telegraph on 7 October 1990, everyone immediately knew who he meant, writes John Rentoul.
Margaret Thatcher, whom he admired inordinately, had built her dominance over the previous 11 years on the support of working-class, council-house buying voters who thought life was getting better and didn’t want Labour to ruin it.
Essex Man is 30 years old today, and about to start a new life somewhere else
It’s been three decades since the term was coined for Thatcher’s working-class voter. So the question now is, what demographic group will be key to winning the next election?
Government unveils traveller-testing taskforce
Ministers have launched a taskforce whose job it will be to reduce the burden of the mandatory 14-day quarantine rule for people travelling to the UK.
It will be chaired jointly by Grant Shapps and Matt Hancock.
The UK's travel sector has repeatedly called for testing at airports to be introduced as a way of reducing quarantine periods for those who get a negative result.
Mr Shapps said: "The current measures at the border have saved lives. Our understanding of the science now means we can intensify efforts to develop options for a testing regime and help reinvigorate our world-leading travel sector.
"This new task force will not only help us move towards safer, smoother international travel as we continue to battle this virus but will also support global connectivity - helping facilitate more Covid-secure travel whilst protecting the population from imported cases."
Mr Hancock added: "We know how these measures have a significant impact on people's lives and on the travel and tourism industries, so we are working hard across Government to explore ways to open up international travel in a safe way."
The Global Travel Taskforce will assess the feasibility of travellers being released from quarantine after paying a private sector firm for a single Covid-19 test following a period of self-isolation.
Starmer calls for Ferrier to quit
Sir Keir Starmer has called on Margaret Ferrier to stand down as an MP after she admitted breaking quarantine rules when infected with coronavirus.
The Labour leader told reporters: "I've been listening to her constituents this afternoon on a virtual event and they're furious with her, they think it's completely inappropriate that she's continuing as an MP.
"She needs to listen to that and step down. It's a huge error of judgment on her part not to have done so.
"We're completely up for it, we're preparing for it, there should be a by-election because she should step down. We've won it in the past, we won it in 2017 and we can win it again but we need that by-election because it's the right thing to do."
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