Boris Johnson news: No ‘perfect way’ to end lockdown, Whitty warns as Scottish and Welsh leaders attack ‘shambolic government’
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The UK government was accused of a “shambolic” response to the coronavirus pandemic as it lifted its travel quarantine for 59 countries and further eased lockdown restrictions.
Scottish and Welsh leaders both described the new policy for arrivals in England as a “mess” as police forces braced for the “perfect storm” of pubs reopening for “Super Saturday”.
However chief medical officer Chris Whitty said there was no “perfect” way to reopen Britain’s economy after the lockdown. Meanwhile Boris Johnson indicated he would not take the knee in support for Black Lives Matter – saying he does not believe in such “gestures”.
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Unions unhappy about plans for school ‘bubbles’
The teaching unions aren’t exactly bowled over by Gavin Williamson’s plan for “bubbles” to keep classes and year groups apart from September.
The education secretary, setting out his plan for the “mandatory” autumn return of all schools, said separate start, finish and break times should be put in place.
“The logistics of keeping apart many different ‘bubbles’ of children in a full school is mind-boggling,” said Geoff Barton, the ASCL head teachers’ union leader.
Deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries has also been receiving some flak on social media for saying said parents should “control their teenagers in their social interactions outside of school as well”.
England scraps quarantine requirements for top holiday destinations
The Department of Transport (DfT) has confirmed people can head for Spain, Italy, France and Germany from 10 July without having to quarantine when they get back.
Roughly 60 countries will on the full list of “reduced risk” countries exempt from restrictions published soon, according to the BBC.
The Foreign Office will lift its no-go warning from dozens of holiday and business destinations – setting out new guidance on Saturday.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps suggested the Scottish government was to blame for delays in getting to this point. With Nicola Sturgeon thought to be reluctant to agree to the plan, the DfT said last night that devolved administrations “will set out their own approach to exemptions”.
Extend furlough arrangements in areas with local lockdowns, Labour urges
Chancellor Rishi Sunak must extend furlough arrangements in areas like Leicester which are forced into local lockdowns and offer targeted support for businesses and sectors threatened with mass redundancies as his job retention scheme winds down, Labour has said.
In a speech in London on Friday, shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds will accuse the government of delivering “an exit without a strategy” from the £60bn package of support for business offered during the coronavirus pandemic.
She will say that Sunak must present a “back-to-work budget focused on jobs, jobs, jobs” in his emergency economic statement next week, telling the chancellor that for workers forced to stay home by government lockdown rules “the reward for months of sacrifice cannot be a redundancy notice”.
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more details:
Cars produced in Japan to be stamped ‘Made in Britain’ PM plans
Products from Japan or South Korea would be stamped “Made in Britain”, under Boris Johnson’s plan to save the domestic car industry after Brexit.
The proposal is an attempt to prevent punishing tariffs driving away the likes of Nissan and Toyota.
The idea is that goods made solely from foreign parts, but assembled in the UK – most notably vehicles, but also prepared foods and other manufactured goods – would be granted the same exemptions from tariffs as those from UK components.
It also means the UK is effectively asking the EU for the benefits of a customs union, a new analysis says – despite the PM insisting the UK is leaving the trading arrangement.
One trade expert said it will sound “ridiculous” to voters promised huge benefits from leaving the EU.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more:
List of 60 countries and territories exempt from quarantine out today
Grant Shapps has explained travellers to England from around 60 countries and overseas territories will no longer have to quarantine when they arrive in the UK – and said the government will be publishing a full list of countries that will be exempt later on Friday.
The transport secretary said: “There will be a list of 50-plus countries. If you add in the overseas territories (there will be) 60-something-or-other that will be announced later today. France, Germany, Italy and Spain will be on that list.”
Shapps also told the BBC said the countries people will be able to travel to England from without facing quarantine restrictions will be split into two groups, divided into either a green or amber category.
While quarantine measures will be lifted, passengers arriving in the UK will still need to fill out a “locator form” Shapps said. “That asks where you’ve been and where you’re coming back to. It is a criminal offence not to complete that form accurately and there are quite substantial fines.”
He also said he hoped the list would be adopted by all four nations in the UK.
PM’s father ‘ignored travel advice’, says transport secretary
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has been asked about Boris Johnson’s father Stanley jetting off to Greece during lockdown.
“He will have ignored travel advice, not restrictions,” Shapps told Sky News – pointing out that quarantine rules forcing people to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return would still apply to Johnson.
He also said “everyone can decide what to do with the advice.”
Asked whether the advice is “optional”, he said: “Yeah, the clue is in the name, but the quarantine isn’t [optional].”
The Foreign Office advice will be changing from Saturday, and quarantine restrictions will lifted for around 60 countries and territories from 10 July.
Will Scotland scrap quarantine restrictions on UK list?
A Scottish government spokesman has responded to the news quarantine rules will changed for around 60 countries and overseas territories from 10 July by saying ministers in Edinburgh were still “actively considering the public health impact of these proposals”.
He added: “Once they have done that they will announce any changes in relation to Scotland.”
The spokesman said: “It is disappointing that the UK government have chosen to make an announcement on the countries they intend to exempt before a four-nations agreement has been reached.
“We would still like to reach a four-nations approach if possible but that is difficult when the UK government change proposals and give us last-minute sight of them.”
US will be on ‘red-list’ of banned travel destinations
Passengers arriving into England from the US will not be exempted from quarantine rules, transport secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday.
Asked whether the US would be on a ‘red-list’ of countries to which a 14-day quarantine period will apply, Shapps said: “I’m afraid it will be.”
“The US from a very early stage banned flights from the UK and from Europe so there isn’t a reciprocal arrangement in place,” he told the BBC.
Scottish government ‘frustrated’ by No 10’s travel plan
Scotland’s justice secretary Humza Yousaf criticised the UK government’s approach to quarantine easing, saying the Scottish government was not given adequate consultation.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Reporting Scotland programme, he said he wants to take a “swift” decision and is “all for” a four-nations approach.
“That’s why it is so frustrating that the information that the UK wanted us to consider has either been given to us the night before they intend to make an announcement, including last night, or indeed given to us 30 minutes before a meeting with substantial changes, and of course that is no way to get any kind of agreement,” he said.
“There’s some countries that may not be as high-risk as England or a lower risk than England but, clearly, coming into Scotland, if they are a higher risk – France, Italy, Spain all have a higher prevalence point than Scotland does – then clearly that’s going to have a different potential impact in Scotland than it does in England,” he added.
“If our chief medical officer’s advice is such that the impact could be really negative in relation to the progress that we are making then ultimately we will have to take a different approach but it’s not something I would do lightly.”
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