British Politics

Boris Johnson’s restrictions for pubs will not apply to bars in parliament. Despite requiring pubs to close at 10pm, and encouraging drinking establishments to collect data for the track and trace system, the Times reports the same rules will not apply where politicians frequent. That is because parliament is using a loophole which claims “workplace canteens […]

Liberal Democrat members have ruled out an amendment to a motion at conference which would have seen the party campaigning to rejoin the EU immediately after the transition period ends. But the party did vote in favour of an amendment which backs supporting a “longer term objective” of the UK being a member of the European Union. In a […]

A senior Tory MP has claimed that Boris Johnson ruled out a second national lockdown to prevent chancellor Rishi Sunak from quitting. Number 10 has denied a rift between the prime minister and his chancellor, but there are fears the pair are at odds about how best to deal with a second wave of the […]

Former Commons speaker John Bercow has warned Boris Johnson against sidelining parliament by pushing through coronavirus laws without a vote or debate before they are enacted. Bercow told BBC Radio 4’s World This Weekend: “Parliament has been unavoidably constrained by Covid-19 but it should not now avoidably constrain or hamper itself. Debate, scrutiny and votes […]

The mayor of Liverpool has said that the 10pm closure of pubs was “making things worse not better” in the bid to tackle coronavirus. A video clip of a crowd singing and dancing in the street on Saturday was widely shared on social media and brought condemnation, including from Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson. Shut […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has insisted there was “definitely science” behind the 10pm curfew for hospitality venues. Dowden was questioned on reports from a Sage scientist (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies), who claimed that the group had never talked about the impact of the policy of closing hospitality services earlier. Professor Graham Medley said: “I never […]

Results of approximately 60,000 coronavirus tests carried out in an NHS hospital or Public Health England lab cannot be linked with England’s newly-launched NHS Covid-19 app. The app, which has been available for download across England and Wales since Thursday, has been hailed by health secretary Matt Hancock as an “important step forward” in the […]

Boris Johnson has called for an ‘early warning system’ to alert countries about the possibility of a pandemic – like the one the EU has in place that the UK is set to leave from the end of the year. Johnson is to make a speech on video link via the United Nations General Assembly […]

Thousands of UK citizens living in the EU are being warned their bank accounts could close due to Brexit. Lloyds Bank, Barclays and Barclaycard and Coutts – which is owned by NatWest Group – are all warning UK customers their accounts will close by December 31. Lloyds, alone, has written to 13,000 customers saying it will not be […]

The UK’s richest Brexiteer has officially moved to tax-free Monaco, saving himself nearly £4 billion in tax payments. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who had an estimated fortune of £17.5 billion, has left Britain for the sunny principality in the south of France. He changed his tax domicile from Hampshire to Monaco, the sovereign city-state that has a laxed […]

Labour has indicated it could join more than 40 Tory MPs to support a rebel plan to force a vote on new coronavirus powers. Labour sources said it was likely the party will back a proposed amendment to the Coronavirus Act tabled by influential Tory Sir Graham Brady who is trying to force greater parliamentary […]

Campaigners have staged a protest outside Matt Hancock’s health department urging the government to put the coronavirus test and trace system into public hands. The We Own It campaign group said its research showed that the public did not agree with the use of private firms, pointing out they have so far failed to get […]

Public health experts have warned Boris Johnson against pursing herd immunity or mimicking Sweden coronavirus response. Independent SAGE – an independent group of scientists who provide advice to the government – has warned Britain is in a “dangerous place”. The committee released a report in which it advised against the strategy of herd immunity or […]

Downing Street has denied that there is a rift between prime minister Boris Johnson and his chancellor Rishi Sunak, after Johnson stayed away for his big economic speech in the Commons. A spokesperson said Johnson fully supported the package and denied he treated the police visit as being more important than the chancellor’s announcement. “Obviously […]

Home secretary Priti Patel has been mocked for continuing to claim “tests are available” rather than acknowledge that the public are struggling to get them. Patel appeared on BBC Breakfast to answer questions about the fact people in some of the worst areas for coronavirus have been unable to get the kits to decipher whether […]

The latest Conservative attack lines over Brexit have backfired, after it tried to accuse Labour of taking the side of “the EU” in parliament by voting against Boris Johnson’s bill. Moments after the Internal Market Bill passed its second reading – designed to override the Withdrawal Agreement bill and international law – the Tories claimed […]

Downing Street has issued a warning to peers not to try to block controversial legislation overriding key elements of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. A No 10 spokesman said ministers believed the Salisbury Convention – which states the House of Lords should not vote down legislation to implement government manifesto commitments – should apply to the […]

A Tory MP – who previously claimed they had ‘got Brexit done’ – was ridiculed when she tweeted again to say she had voted again to get it done.Dehenna Davison, the representative for Bishop Auckland, sent the tweet after the Internal Market Bill passed – which could override key aspects of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.The […]

Dominic Cummings has been pictured with an archive letter from one of the leading figures of the US missile and space programmes as he entered Downing Street. The document, from former US air force general Bernard Schriever, appears to rail against the “blizzard of legislation” around defence procurement and accused the system of “inhibiting technological […]

STEVE ANGLESEY looks at the Brexiteers of the Week – including Kirstene Hair, who has become an adviser for the Scottish Tories, despite finding the EU referendum too “difficult”. KIRSTENE HAIRPeople are crying “foul” at football referee turned Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross’ big new signing, an adviser who will help him reach swift decisions […]

Liz Truss has bowed to public pressure and released meetings she had with an influential pro-Brexit think tank which were removed from the public register. Labour accused the trade secretary of performing a “shambolic” U-turn and claimed Truss had been caught trying to bypass rules to stop the “secret lobbying” of ministers. In August, Truss […]

The DUP’s chief whip in Westminster has labelled MPs who voted against or abstained from Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill “agents of the European Union”. Sammy Wilson, a fervent Eurosceptic who supports the Brexit pressure group Leave Means Leave, said he failed to understand why MPs would choose to vote against the prime minister’s internal market […]

A second coronavirus testing site has “disappeared overnight” to make way for a post-Brexit lorry park. The Tipner drive-through centre in Portsmouth, which is owned by Deloitte, was due to become a lorry site on October 5, but was moved to Southampton Airport ahead of schedule and without warning. Portsmouth City Council’s cabinet member for […]

I wonder what clever slogan the ‘genius superforecaster’ in Downing Street is going to come up with as the UK hits a tipping point over the pandemic?“Get Covid Done” sounds like the best. It’s short and snappy and it’s something we can all believe in. What is brilliant about this slogan is it taps into the […]

David Cameron is adding a luxurious heated swimming pool to his £1.5 million family home in the Cotswolds. The former prime minister, an architect of modern-day Tory austerity, has reportedly applied for planning permission for a 45 by 13 foot outdoor pool. West Oxfordshire District Council officials are yet to approve the build, after a complaints from a […]

There was a lot to applaud in Keir Starmer’s virtual conference speech and I understand why he says Labour will no longer “bang on about Europe”. Yet on Brexit, as with other aspects of policy, the party must do far more than keep schtum and hope that the Tories continue to make unforced errors all […]

A Brexiteer MP has complained the UK is “like East Germany under the Stasi” after being spotted on London’s Underground without a face mask. DUP Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson was pictured travelling on the London Underground without a mask days after the government increased fines for failing to wear a mask on public transport to £200. Asked […]

A pub boss has called on Matt Hancock to apologise after implying the hospitality industry were in part to blame for the latest surge in coronavirus cases. Oakman Inns chief executive Peter Borg-Neal said pubs had “sweated blood” to get their venues Covid-compliant by July 4 and that suggestions they were breading grounds for the virus were […]

Business minister Alok Sharma became the latest government minister to clash with Question Time presenter Fiona Bruce over the government’s test and trace system. Bruce asked the minister about a new study which found that only 18% of those developing coronavirus symptoms between May and August had fully self-isolated, with just 11% of those who […]

A Tory former minister has called for Liz Truss to resign from her women and equalities minister role. Truss was criticised after she ruled out changes for people to be able to self-identify their gender and change their birth certificates without a medical diagnosis. The Gender Recognition Act currently requires transgender people to go through a lengthy […]

Michael Gove has claimed Scottish independence would be “worse’ than the worst-case Brexit. The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made the comments during a Commons debate on the UK’s departure from the EU, as he outlined the “reasonable worst case scenarios”. SNP MP Pete Wishart criticised the government’s handling of Brexit and said Scotland […]

Rishi Sunak has defended his Eat Out To Help Out scheme after suggestions it could have contributed to the increase in the spread of Coronavirus. The chancellor said  he felt it would be “simplistic” to connect any one thing to the rise in cases, which has prompted new restrictions aimed at preventing a second national […]