Boris Johnson news – live: ‘Shameful and crass’ PM refuses to apologise after blaming care homes for coronavirus deaths, as UK resumes arms sales to Saudi Arabia

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Boris Johnson blames care home owners for deaths from coronavirus

No 10 has said Boris Johnson won’t be offering an apology to the care sector after provoking anger with his claim “too many” care homes didn’t “properly follow procedures” during the coronavirus crisis. Care sector chiefs condemned his remarks as “cowardly”.

"Care homes across the country were dealing with an extraordinary amount of different guidance that was coming out from Government on an almost daily basis.", Vic Rayner, executive director of the National Care Forum, told the BBC "So for the suggestion that they were not following procedures as laid out is totally inappropriate and, frankly, hugely insulting."

It comes as the government announced Britain will resume selling arms to Saudi Arabia despite assessing the country could be using them to commit war crimes. Meanwhile, Russia said it would hit back at UK sanctions against 25 Russian officials with reciprocal measures.

Elsewhere, Huawei has denied targeting members of the British elite for support. It follows claims made in a new dossier – reportedly compiled with the help of former MI6 spy Christopher Steele – that the firm tried to persuade high-profile figures in the UK to act as “useful idiots”.

Key Points

• PM accused of ‘travesty of leadership’ over care home comments
• Huawei denies trying to target ‘useful idiots’ of British elite
• Russia will respond to UK sanctions with ‘reciprocal measures’, says Kremlin
• Tory MPs warned against ‘anti-Chinese sentiment’
• UK to resume arms sales to Saudi Arabia despite ‘possible’ war crimes

[7 July 2020 17:35 · Vincent Wood]

Education minister says no child should see chances dashed by virus

Education minister Nick Gibb said no child should have their life chances damaged by the impact of Covid-19.

Speaking to the commons Mr Gibb said: "Education recovery lies at the heart of our national mission as we emerge from the disruption caused from the coronavirus pandemic and no child should see their life chances damaged by being out of school for so long."

He added: "Our ambition is to provide equality of opportunity for every child and to support parents and carers."

"Since 2010, most children are now attending good and outstanding schools, the attainment gap between the disadvantaged and their peers has narrowed at all stages, a record proportion of disadvantaged students are going to university, we have a world-class curriculum and ambitions for world-class technical education.

"The effects of the current epidemic will be felt across society for a considerable time. It was right that we moved rapidly to secure a massive one-off investment in our schools to tackle both lost time in education and foster greater focus on proven approaches so that all pupils can receive the education they have a right to expect."

[7 July 2020 17:49 · Vincent Wood]

EU citizen registration scheme risks another Windrush scandal, MPs warned

EU nationals are in danger of slipping through the cracks of the government's Brexit registration scheme and turning into another Windrush-style scandal, citizens' groups have warned.

MPs on the EU future relationship committee were told by community groups that there was simply no way to tell whether how many people had been left out of the scheme because there were no accurate figures for how many were eligible.

EU nationals in the UK have been expected to sign up for "settled status" because of Brexit bringing and end to free movement, but campaigners have complained that the scheme is poorly designed and will leave some people behind.

More below:

[7 July 2020 18:13 · Vincent Wood]

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