Covid ‘freedom day’ arrives as Johnson and Sunak self-isolate

As legal restrictions lifted, PM and chancellor perform U-turn to quarantine after trying to get out of it, writes Matt Mathers

(PA)

So here it is. After 16 months of restrictions the brakes are being removed and we hurtle into ‘freedom day’ full steam ahead. As the clock struck midnight, clubbers filled dancefloors from London to Liverpool to celebrate their new-found liberties. But with Covid cases surging and hospitalisations rising, how long is the party going to last? Following a furious backlash and a U-turn, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak follow Covid-positive colleague Sajid Javid by spending day one of the new dawn in quarantine. You couldn’t make it up. Away from freedom day, Keir Starmer is said to be backing a purge of Labour’s far-left factions.

Inside the bubble

European scrutiny committee hears from cabinet minister David Frost on the UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the bloc at 2.45pm