Category Archives: uk politics

Government Defeated Again Over Cladding Scandal In Lords Vote

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The government has been defeated again over the cladding scandal as peers backed a fresh bid to ensure flat owners do not have to pay for fire safety work.

The House of Lords passed an amendment to the fire safety bill proposed by the Lord Bishop of St Albans, Alan Smith, by 326 votes to 248, to ensure leaseholders do not have to pay for the removal of unsafe cladding from homes.

It sets up a fresh headache for Boris Johnson in the Commons, where Tory MPs are threatening to rebel over what they see as unfair costs being passed to homeowners to fix historic fire safety defects identified after the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Thousands of people living in flats cased in combustible cladding face huge bills after the Grenfell fire revealed major flaws in medium- and high-rise buildings’ fire-safety.

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick last month attempted to defuse the row by promising £3.5bn of cash to help homeowners.

But he was accused of “betrayal” of leaseholders as it was revealed the plans would force some leaseholders into taking out loans.

The money will only pay for the removal of cladding in buildings over 18 metres high. 

People living in buildings below that height will have to take out loans, wiping thousands of pounds off the value of their homes.

Leading Tory rebel MP Stephen McPartland said the government defeat was “brilliant news”.

He told HuffPost UK: “The amendment protects leaseholders from paying for historic fire safety costs and retains the status quo in the Fire Safety Reform Order 2005.

“Leaseholders, action groups and supporters of the amendment do not want the taxpayer to pay – we want those responsible to pay, and only the government has the power to provide the funds up front and then levy those responsible to pay them back.

“The focus is now on to persuade the government to work with us and leaseholders to find a compromise that protects leaseholders from paying for historic fire safety costs.”

Smith told the Lords that ministers had not addressed the “severe adverse financial consequences that this bill will create for leaseholders”, and that ministers were “morally wrong in their treatment of leaseholders in this crisis”.

He said freeholders would be able to force leaseholders to reimburse “staggering” costs for fire safety work that need to be carried out through no fault of their own. 

The bishop told the Lords: “Far from the government’s estimated remedial costs of around £9,000 per leaseholder depending on the terms of the lease and the work involved, a leaseholder could very easily be handed a bill of £50,000 payable within weeks.”

Citing a survey by Inside Housing, he said many of those affected are already seeking bankruptcy options.

“How can this be fair? How can this be just?” he said.

“It’s not the leaseholders who sold defective cladding.

“It was not leaseholders who fitted defective cladding.

“Leaseholders are the innocent party – they purchased their properties in good faith, believing them to be safe.

“And if this bill passes unamended, it is they who will pay.

“Not the cladding providers, not the developers, but hardworking ordinary people, forced to pay for defects that were deemed safe when they purchased their apartments.”

He added: “By not including sufficient provision to protect leaseholders, a conscious decision would be made to impose poverty, possibly bankruptcy, and certainly misery on thousands of ordinary people – people whose only crime was being aspirational.

“Those responsible should be the ones who pay.”

Labour housing spokesperson Lord Kennedy of Southwark, who backed the amendment, said: “The leaseholders are victims and have done nothing wrong.

“They deserve to be treated much better than they have been by the government.

“They have done everything right, they have bought their property and are paying their mortgage and are being penalised for the failure of others.

“Surely that cannot be right.

“The fact that their building has been covered in dangerous cladding has made their flats worthless – they cannot sell them but they are still expected to pay their mortgage and other charges.”

The bill will now return to the Commons for further consideration in another round of parliamentary ping-pong.

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No.10 Awkwardly Dodges Questions About Whether Boris Johnson Wanted To ‘Ignore’ Covid

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Prime minister Boris Johnson

Downing Street has awkwardly dodged a string of questions about claims that Boris Johnson said ignoring Covid would be “the best thing” early in the pandemic.

The prime minister’s spokesperson ignored every opportunity to contradict the claims made in a bombshell BBC report, which also says cabinet ministers felt the PM should have installed a tougher lockdown last autumn to save more lives.

The documentary further claimed Johnson’s aides explicitly advised him to tell the public to stop shaking hands – despite which he boasted about shaking hands with hospital staff during an early press conference.

The PM’s spokesperson was asked four times on Tuesday about the central claim that Johnson was overheard saying at the start of the pandemic that “the best thing would be to ignore it”.

The BBC says he repeatedly warned that an overreaction could do more harm than good.

The spokesperson refused to deny the words had been said. “I would point back to what the prime minister said and set out at the time. It has always been our focus to reduce the cases of transmission, to protect the NHS and to ultimately protect lives.

“That’s what we did when we first locked down the country last year and that’s what we have sought to do throughout the pandemic.”

Put to him that he was not denying the allegation, the spokesperson said: “I’m pointing out that throughout the pandemic what we have done is do what we think was the best course of action in terms of protecting lives and in terms of protecting the NHS. That has been our focus throughout the pandemic.”

One source told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg there was a “lack of concern and energy” in No.10 as the virus began to hit the UK. “The general view was it is just hysteria. It was just like a flu.”

The BBC also quoted an unnamed cabinet minister’s frustration with the PM’s unwillingness to tighten restrictions in September as a second wave of infections began to appear.

“We knew there was going to be a second wave and there was a row about whether people should work from home or not – it was totally ridiculous,” they said.

No.10 also tried to dodge questions about a Daily Telegraph report saying the role of the Sage advisory committee of scientists would be “reviewed” after the pandemic, because they hold “too much sway” over ministerial decisions.

“We’ve said previously, there will be a time in the future to look back and analyse and reflect on all aspects of the pandemic,” the spokesperson said.

“But Sage continues and will continue to provide scientific evidence and information to the prime minister, the health secretary, and to the wider government as we move through implementing the roadmap.”

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Tories Get Polling Boost From Over-55s Who Have Had Covid Jab

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Boris Johnson’s “vaccine bounce” is being driven by the over-55s who have so far been given the Covid jab, according to new polling analysis.

A study of Savanta/ComRes surveys by polling expert Lord Hayward found that the Tories’ opening up of a seven-point lead over Labour almost exactly mirrors the age-related rollout of the vaccination programme.

And crucially, the older generations are more likely to vote in the coming set of “super Thursday” local elections on May 6.

The Conservatives are hoping that the vaccine effect, together with Johnson’s personal popularity in the north and midlands, could combine to protect them from heavy losses in key councils in Lancashire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.

Keir Starmer is pushing the government’s planned 1% pay cap for NHS nurses as a key theme of Labour’s local election campaign.

The UK has one of its largest ever sets of elections in May, with polls postponed last year by the pandemic combining with planned contests to allow the first nationwide verdict on the main parties since the 2019 general election.

As well as county, district and city elections, there will be votes for eight London and metro mayors, and for the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

Hayward said that the age differential of those switching support to the Tories was notable, given how the party had been neck and neck with Labour in early December but is now up to seven points behind across several polls.

“It is the older generations who have moved most markedly to the Conservatives. Basically the cohort from [the age of] 54 upwards.

“Now the significant thing is, they are the people who vote in local elections. So not only has that group moved towards the Conservatives, or has the population moved towards the Conservatives, but the people who’ve moved most towards the Conservatives are actually the people who vote generally.”

He went on: “It is quite noticeable. It was first of all the age group from 64 upwards that moved. There’s some sign now that the 55-year-old and upwards are also moving.

“And interestingly enough, they are the people who have received their vaccinations. So there’s clearly an element of ‘vaccine bounce’. I think it goes hand in hand. I don’t think it’s chance.”

More than 90% of pensioners have had their first dose of the Covid vaccine. Everyone aged 55 and over has already been notified they are eligible for vaccination, with some projections suggesting that everyone over 50 could be jabbed by the end of this month. It could take until the end of June to give a first dose to every adult over 18.

Hayward, the pollster who first coined the phrase “shy Tories” to explain John Major’s surprise 1992 victory, said the prime minister could be further assisted by each stage of the exit from lockdown restrictions in the weeks before the May polling day.

But he cautioned that other polling evidence showed concerns about Covid were receding notably since January and it was possible that its salience overall as an electoral issue could diminish in coming weeks as a result.

In a normal year, Labour would be expected to make substantial gains in the local elections, not least as the Tories had impressive seat holds or gains in 2016 and 2017, the baseline for this year’s contests.

Yet in key “red wall” areas that Boris Johnson won at Westminster level in 2019, there are signs that his personal popularity has increased. There are marked regional differences, with the PM’s popularity still very low in London but actually healthy in the north, the new analysis said.

The Tories will be heartened by another poll on Monday, with an IpsosMORI/Evening Standard survey finding a surge in economic optimism. For the first time since 2015, slightly more people think things will improve over the coming year than think they will get worse.

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Boris Johnson Lies About Labour Voting Against Nurses’ Pay Rise

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Press Association

Prime minister Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson has refused to apologise after falsely claiming Labour voted against a pay rise for nurses. 

The prime minister, who is under fire for his offer to give hard-pressed NHS staff a 1% pay rise, had claimed that Keir Starmer’s party had opposed earlier government plans to give health workers a 2.1% hike. 

The move, part of the NHS funding bill, was never put to a vote but Johnson’s aides have rejected calls for the PM to say sorry or even correct his mistake. 

During prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Johnson told MPs: “The last time we put it to a vote, he (Starmer) voted against it.” 

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth raised a point of order with Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle after the session. 

He said: “The prime minister twice from that despatch box said that the Labour opposition voted against the NHS Funding Bill and the 2.1% increase for NHS staff – this is not the case.

“Indeed, in the debate, as Hansard will show, I was explicit that we would not be dividing the House.” 

Hoyle ruled that it was “certainly a point of clarification” but by that point Johnson had left the chamber. 

Johnson’s press secretary Allegra Stratton, who later faced questions from journalists, refused to offer any apology from the PM. 

She said: “The speaker addressed it in the House immediately after the shadow health secretary and the speaker regarded it as a point of clarification, and he regarded it as having been dealt with.” 

Pressed more than 10 times on whether Johnson would accept he was wrong about claiming there was a vote, Stratton repeated the line and said simply said it was “appropriate” for the speaker to clarify the point. 

She insisted that Johnson was “concerned about the truth of these matters”, she added “it would be difficult if the speaker had not addressed it”. 

Asked about the ministerial code, which says government ministers should correct any error “at the earliest opportunity”, Stratton insisted that “the system worked”, suggesting the speaker corrected the mistake. 

During PMQs, Johnson hinted nurses may be in line for a bigger rise than the 1% proposed by the government. 

Labour has called for a larger rise for all NHS staff and has demanded the government put plans to a vote. 

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Boris Johnson ‘Too Busy’ To Take Parental Leave But Aide Insists PM Is A ‘Feminist’

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Boris Johnson will be too busy to take paternity leave to look after his son Wilf – but the prime minister’s aides insist he is a feminist. 

The PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton also said Johnson accepts his cabinet, overwhelmingly made up of men, does not represent “the public at large” and that he plans to promote women in future. 

Johnson had a child with his partner Carrie Symonds last April but Stratton said the PM has a “huge workload” and will not be taking leave. 

She told reporters on Monday, which marks International Women’s Day: “He is the prime minister and he works a very long day, he has a huge workload and I don’t think he will be taking paternity leave.”

Of the 26 senior ministers attending cabinet, just six are women, and last week Johnson replaced attorney general Suella Braverman, who is taking maternity leave, with Michael Ellis, a move equalities committee chair Caroline Nokes called “disappointing”.

Hinting at an impending reshuffle, Stratton said: “We know that there is improvement to come in the years ahead when he – who knows when this comes – when we have promotions to cabinet.

“He does accept that he would like to improve how representative his cabinet is of the population at large.”

Press Association

Prime minister Boris Johnson

Stratton said Johnson had described himself as “a feminist” during a meeting with female Tory MPs. 

She was pressed on numerous articles Johnson has written describing women in a derogatory way, including calling women “fickle”. 

One Spectator article saw Johnson describe the children of single mothers “ill-raised, ignorant, aggressive and illegitimate”.

Stratton said it was “not unreasonable” to ask questions about Johnson’s previous journalism but insisted “the PM is leading the charge” on changing workplaces for women. 

She also referenced more female Tory MPs being elected in December 2019 and said the only two female PMs the UK had had were Conservatives. 

“There is room for improvement and progress always on many fronts but actually the Conservatives’ record here is not bad,” she said. 

Johnson on Monday hosted a virtual roundtable with nine female business leaders. 

The PM’s official spokesperson said: “The prime minister has said on numerous occasions that the contribution that women make to the economy is crucial, which is why we provided an unprecedented offer of support to help those sectors they most likely to be employed in.” 

Stratton added that during the meeting, he was interested in hearing about more men taking paternity leave. 

She said: “Lastly but not least, he was interested to hear on what they had to say about whether enough dads take time off to look after their children.” 

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The Coronavirus R Rate Has Risen This Week

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The UK’s Covid R rate has risen to between 0.7 and 0.9, scientists advising the government have said.

It represents an increase after R was estimated to be between 0.6 and 0.9 last week, and suggests coronavirus is spreading slightly more than it was previously.

R measures the number of people, on average, that each sick person will infect.

If R is greater than 1 the epidemic is generally seen to be growing; if R is less than 1 the epidemic is shrinking.

The estimate was published on Friday and provided by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) and the Department for Health and Social Care.

Separately, official figures showed the number of people with Covid-19 in homes across England continues to fall.

Ben Birchall/PA Images

People wait in line for a coronavirus test at a surge test centre, set up in a library, to provide additional community testing following the identification of a mutated variant in the Bristol and south Gloucestershire area

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimate that around one in 220 people in private households in England had Covid-19 between February 21 and 27 – the equivalent of 248,100 people.

The figure is down from around one in 145, or 373,700 people, for the period February 13 to 19, and is the lowest figure since the week to October 1 when it was one in 240.

However, the number of people infected in England is still high when compared to last summer. In the week to August 25, around one in 2,000 people had coronavirus.

The ONS said the percentage of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the latest figures had decreased in all regions except for north-east England, the East Midlands and eastern England, where it said the trend was uncertain. 

In Wales, the latest estimate was one in 285, down from 205, and in Northern Ireland it was one in 325, down from one in 195.

The estimate for Scotland for the week to February 27 was around one in 335 people, down from one in 225.

The latest data is based on swab tests from 684,875 people in the UK, regardless of whether they had symptoms, and does not include hospitals and care homes.

It comes after a government scientific adviser said society will need to learn to live with a “substantial” number of Covid-19 deaths.

Professor Andrew Hayward, who sits on Sage, said the number of deaths will continue to drop as vaccination kicks in, and death rates could begin to look more like those for flu.

Other experts, including Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, have said the UK can expect a wave of deaths next winter, mostly among the unvaccinated and those for whom vaccines do not provide total protection.

Prof Hayward told Times Radio: “I think given the societal trade-offs, we are going to have to live with a degree of mortality that will be substantial.

“I think it will get less over time as more people get vaccinated, and as more people get immune, and I do believe that we’ve been through the worst of this.”

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Rishi Sunak’s Budget Explained In Two Minutes

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his budget in the House of Commons as the UK plots a course out of the Covid crisis. 

Here are the key points. 

Furlough extended until September

The emergency wages scheme was due to close at the end of March, but Sunak has extended the UK-wide scheme until September. However, he will taper the Treasury’s 80% contribution from July. 

Universal Credit uplift to stay… for 6 months 

The £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit will be extended for a further six months. But it is likely the government will continue to face pressure to make the uplift permanent.

Stealth income tax rise 

Sunak introduced a four-year freeze on income tax thresholds.

The move does not hike taxes as such, but will be viewed as a stealth tax in that it will drag employees into higher tax bands as their salaries rise. 

It has been suggested the freeze will bring an extra £6bn into the Treasury coffers. 

The pensions lifetime allowance, and the annual exempt amount in capital gains tax, will also be maintained at current levels until April 2026, he said. 

Hike in tax on big business

Sunak announced he will raise corporation tax, which is paid on company profits, from the current 19% to 25% in April 2023. 

Small businesses with profits of £50,000 or less will continue to be taxed at 19%.

The measure will be controversial among some low tax-backing Tory MPs. 

Sunak stressed the UK would till have lowest rate is the lowest in the G7, with France firms paying 33% and Germany’s 30%. 

Joe Biden’s new US administration is reportedly preparing to raise its corporation tax level from 21% to 28%. 

95% mortgages and stamp duty holiday 

Sunak said help for home-buyers is on its way with the return of 5% deposits. As part of a mortgage guarantee scheme on properties worth up to £600,000, the government will underwrite the remaining 95% of the loan.

He said it was a “policy that gives people who can’t afford a big deposit the chance to buy their own home”, adding: “As the prime minister has said, we want to turn generation rent into generation buy.”

In a separate move to bolster the property market, Sunak extended the stamp duty holiday on homes worth up to £500,000 until the end of June. 

Total cost of Covid hits £325bn

Sunak has pumped extra £1.65bn into the rollout of the Covid vaccination programme. 

He told MPs the total Covid-19 support package amounted to a staggering £352bn, or £407bn once other fiscal support is included.

He said: “Coronavirus has caused one of the largest, most comprehensive and sustained economic shocks this country has ever faced and, by any objective analysis, this government has delivered one of the largest, most comprehensive and sustained responses this country has ever seen.”

Covid-hit firms to share £5bn grant fund

Businesses hammered by Covid, such as shops, pubs, clubs, gyms and hair salons, can apply for grants of up to £18,000 as part of a £5bn scheme.

He added that the 5% reduced rate of VAT for the tourism and hospitality sector will be extended for six months to the end of September, with an interim rate of 12.5% for another six months after that.

Super deduction

The chancellor announced a new “super deduction” for companies investing after the Covid pandemic. He said the new measure for investing firms can see them reduce their tax bill by 130% of the cost.

Alcohol and fuel

All alcohol duties will be frozen for the second year in a row and the planned increase in fuel duty has also been cancelled, the chancellor said.

Contactless payment limit

The contactless payment limit is to more than double to £100 from £45. While legally in force from Wednesday, the increase will not happen immediately as firms will need to make systems changes.

Money for the Union

Sunak announced an increase in funding for the devolved administrations by £1.2bn for the Scottish government, amid growing demands for a second independence referendum.

He also announced £740m for the Welsh government and £410m for the Northern Ireland Executive.

Arts funding boost 

Sunak allocated £400m to help museums, galleries and especially theatres in England to reopen. 

This is in addition to the £1.57bn Culture Recovery Fund, established by Sunak and culture secretary Oliver Dowden. 

There will also be a £300m package for sports – much of it targeted at cricket.

Treasury jobs moved north 

Hundreds of jobs will be relocated from London to Darlington under the chancellor’s Treasury North project.

Sunak said that after “a lot of thought and energy”, the new economic campus would be in the north-east market town. 

Civic leaders across the north had made overtures in recent weeks for the Chancellor to send Treasury jobs their way.

A new £12bn UK infrastructure bank will be established in Leeds, with £10bn of government guarantees, Sunak added. 

Freeports announced

Sunak announced the establishment of a new set of freeports, something he claims was only possible post-Brexit. 

They are: East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe and Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth, Solent, Thames and Teesside.

The policy will give tax breaks, cheaper customs and make planning regulations simpler for firms. 

Domestic violence cash boost

Sunak announced an extra £18m for domestic violence programmes. 

It comes after the Covid lockdown saw a rise in attacks and domestic violence killings. 

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Budget 2021: Rishi Sunak Unveils Tax ‘Super Deduction’ For Firms Investing After Covid

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Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled a new “super deduction” for companies investing after the Covid pandemic.

Announcing his budget in the Commons, Sunak said when firms invest, his new policy would see them reduce their tax bill by 130% of the cost.

Sunak also revealed that the government will separately hike corporation tax on the profits of big business from 19% to 25% in April 2023, something which will make him unpopular with some low-tax Tory backbenchers. 

But insisting that the UK will have a “pro-business tax regime” after Covid, he told MPs the new super deduction will unlock investment and specifically reward firms with bold expansion plans in the wake of the pandemic.

Though little detail is yet clear about the new policy, Sunak said in the Commons: “While many businesses are struggling, others have been able to build up significant cash reserves. We need to unlock that investment, we need an investment-led recovery.

Press Association

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will unveil his budget on Wednesday 

“So today I can announce the ‘super deduction’. For the next two years, when companies invest they can reduce their tax bill, not just by a proportion of the cost of that investment, as they do now, or even by 100% of the cost, the so-called full expensing some have called for – with the super deduction they can now reduce their tax bill by 130% of the cost.”

It is forecast to boost business investment by 10%, or around £20 billion extra per year, Sunak said.

Sunak said the corporation tax rise will come in from April 2023 and only apply to 10% of companies. 

Smaller businesses with profits of £50,000 or less will be protected from the hike and will continue paying corporation tax at the current level of 19%, he said.

Sunak said it meant 1.4m business – around 70% of companies – “will be completely unaffected”.

The rise puts the UK above the EU average of 21.7% but remains below the US corporation tax level of 27%, though president Joe Biden has said he is looking to increase.

France’s rate is 26.5%, Germany has a rate at 30%, Canada at 26.5%, Japan at 30.62% and Italy at 24%, according to data from KPMG.

The chancellor also said a new UK Infrastructure Bank will be located in Leeds.

He told MPs: “The bank will invest across the UK in public and private projects to finance the green industrial revolution.”.

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Search For Missing UK Case Of Brazil Covid Variant Narrowed To 379 Households

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The search for the unidentified person who has tested positive for the Brazilian variant of Covid in the UK has been narrowed to 379 households in the south east of England.

Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Matt Hancock said the government was contacting “each one”.

Six cases of the variant, known as P1, have been found in England and Scotland.

But on Monday health officials announced they were still hunting for the identity of one of the six.

Hancock said: “We know that five of these six people quarantined at home as they were legally required to do.”

“Unfortunately one of these six cases completed a test but didn’t successfully complete the contact details. Incidents like this are rare and only occur in around 0.1% of tests.”

The health secretary told MPs: “We’ve identified the batch of home test kits in question, our search has narrowed from the whole country down to 379 households in the south-east of England and we’re contacting each one.

“We’re grateful that a number of potential cases have come forward following the call that we put out over the weekend.”

Hancock said the current vaccines being rolled out had not yet been studied against the P1 variant.

“We’re working to understand what impact it might have, but we do know that this variant has caused significant challenges in Brazil,” he said.

“We’re doing all we can to stop the spread of this new variant in the UK, to analyse its effects and to develop an updated vaccine that works on all these variants of concern and protect the progress that we’ve made as a nation.”

He added: “We have no information to suggest the variant has spread further.”

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Boris Johnson Says Tough Border Controls Introduced ‘As Fast As We Could’

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Boris Johnson has said he moved “as fast as we could” to impose strict border controls, as health officials hunt for a person in the UK infected with a Brazil variant of Covid.

The prime minister said the government’s hotel quarantine programme, introduced on February 15, was “a very tough regime”.

The variant, known as P1, was first identified on January 10 in people arriving in Japan from Brazil and is thought to have originated in the Brazilian city of Manaus.

On January 14 the government banned travel to the UK from Brazil and other South American countries.

British nationals were still allowed to return but had to isolate for 10 days at home.

On January 27, the government announced plans to force arrivals from a “red list” of 33 countries, including Brazil, to quarantine in hotels.

But it did not come into force until 19 days later.

Public Health England (PHE) has found six UK cases of the P1 variant in the UK.

But one of the infected people, who was thought to have been tested on February 12 or 13, has yet to be identified. 

Asked on Monday if the government had been too slow to implement quarantine hotel measures. Johnson said: “I don’t think so, we moved as fast as we could to get that going.

“It’s a very tough regime. You come here, you immediately get transported to a hotel where you are kept for 10 days, 11 days.

“You have to test on day two, you have to test on day eight, and it’s designed to stop the spread of new variants while we continue to roll out the vaccination programme.

“We don’t have any reason at the present time to think that our vaccines are ineffective against these new variants of all types.”

The prime minister said PHE did not think the cases of the variant were a “threat to the wider public”.

Nick Thomas Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said the situation showed “unforgivable incompetence” from the government. 

“Despite being warned time and time again, they have failed to act to protect our borders against emerging Covid variants and could put at risk the gains from the vaccine,” he said.

“People will be appalled to hear someone with the Brazilian variant cannot be identified, raising questions about how many others may have been missed by quarantine measures.

“There is no excuse for continuing to ignore Labour’s call for a comprehensive hotel quarantine system.”

Labour has demanded a blanket approach that would see all arrivals placed into hotel quarantine, not just those from a limited number of countries.

MPs were told last week that only 1% of people arriving in the UK every day are required to isolate in hotels. 

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