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More Than 100 People Arrested At London ‘Kill The Bill’ Protest

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The Metropolitan Police said 107 people were arrested in London on Saturday as demonstrations were held across England against plans to increase police powers.

Thousands of people marched in towns and cities in protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, despite the Covid-19 lockdown.

The proposed legislation would give police in England and Wales more powers to impose conditions on non-violent protests – including those deemed too noisy or a nuisance, with those convicted liable to fines or jail terms.

Throughout Saturday, police dealt with what they said were “peaceful” Kill the Bill protests in areas including London, Newcastle, Birmingham, Liverpool and Dorset.

On Sunday, Scotland Yard said 107 people were arrested for a range of offences during the demonstration in central London.

The alleged offences included breach of the peace, violent disorder, assault on a police officer and breaches of coronavirus legislation.

The force previously said 10 officers had been injured, though “none of these are believed to be serious”.

Footage shared on social media appeared to show the arrests of legal observers, who typically monitor the actions of police during demonstrations.

One woman was also arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon.

Outcomes await for those who have been arrested, the force added.

Commander Ade Adelekan said: “While our advice to people remains not to attend large gatherings, the vast majority of people who attended central London yesterday adhered to social distancing, and engaged and listened to my officers.

“However, as the afternoon wore on it became clear that a small number of people were intent on remaining to cause disruption to law-abiding Londoners.

“Despite repeated instructions from officers to leave, they did not and, amid increasing levels of disorder, arrests were made.

“We should not allow the behaviour of a few individuals who attend these events with the purpose of committing criminal acts to taint the good behaviour of the majority who attended yesterday.”

In Bristol, Avon and Somerset Police said more than 1,500 people attended a protest in the city.

The M32 motorway was temporarily closed to inbound traffic at junction 3 when a smaller group of protesters occupied the road.

At around midnight, a section 35 dispersal order was issued for the city centre following “several instances of minor disorder between protesters”, police said.

Seven people were later arrested.

Superintendent Mark Runacres said: “At around midnight there were several altercations between the small number of people who remained in the city centre. We never tolerate violence and so we made the decision to move people on.

“It’s disappointing that once again there were those who refused to listen to our requests to leave and that we had to make arrests.”

There was a low-key response from Northumbria Police as hundreds of people gathered beneath Grey’s Monument in Newcastle.

Protesters, including one who held up a placard saying “we will not be silenced”, cheered as a singer with a guitar performed in opposition to the proposed Bill.

Many took the knee at the Civic Centre and held a minute’s silence for victims of oppression, after which a round of applause broke out.

Dorset Police thanked those who took part in “peaceful protests” in Bournemouth and Weymouth and stuck to the Covid-19 restrictions.

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PM To Detail ‘Traffic Light’ System For Overseas Holidays And Travel

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Boris Johnson is to outline plans for the easing of coronavirus restrictions on foreign travel from England, potentially opening the way for holidays abroad this summer.

The PM will announce details on Monday of a “traffic light” system for rating overseas destinations, lowering controls on journeys to those countries assessed as being at the lowest risk.

Officials stressed travel would not begin before May 17 at the earliest and that it was still too soon to predict which countries would be cleared.

The advice remains that people should wait for the full report of the government’s global travel task force due on April 12 before booking a holiday.

It comes as many European countries are imposing new lockdown restrictions as a third wave of the pandemic spreads across the continent.

Under the traffic light system, assessments will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of a country’s population which has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

Travellers arriving from countries rated “green” will not be required to isolate although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.

For those classed as “amber” or “red”, the restrictions will remain as they are with arrivals required to isolate or enter quarantine.

The industry body, Airlines UK, which has been calling for some type of traffic light system, said it was important that mass air travel was able to resume soon.

“There are tens of thousands of jobs dependent upon aviation and restarting travel, and the sector cannot survive another lost summer with little or no revenue,” said chief executive Tim Alderslade.

“We can do this proportionately and in a risk-based way, it’s not a question of opening up the border to every country out there.

“If there are concerns about variants restrictions will remain but where it is safe to do so we need to start the process of opening up.

“We cannot with a straight face talk about Global Britain without aviation.”

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These Are The First Mass Events You Might Be Able To Attend

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The government is to begin trials to enable the safe return of crowds to mass gatherings including Wembley football cup finals and indoor events such as comedy clubs as it prepares to launch its so-called “vaccine passport”.

People attending a range of sporting events, conferences and clubs will be tested both before and after in the next step towards the easing of restrictions in England.

Ministers said the scheme, which will include the FA Cup final at Wembley, will be used to gather scientific evidence on how venues can reopen without the need for social distancing.

However the move is likely to prove controversial with many MPs deeply concerned about the implications for civil liberties of requiring people to prove whether they are clear of the disease in order to attend certain events.

More than 40 Tories have signed a letter publicly opposing the use of vaccine passports in a campaign which has brought together ex-Conservative and Labour leaders Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Jeremy Corbyn.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove, who has led the task force responsible for drawing up the plans, acknowledged it raised “a host of practical and ethical questions” which needed to be resolved before there could any wider rollout.

However he said that it was essential that the government took the lead, otherwise venues and other businesses would simply begin setting up their own certification schemes.

“These questions aren’t easy to resolve but I don’t think we can duck them,” he said in an article for The Sunday Telegraph.

“Unless the government takes a lead we risk others establishing the rules of the road.”

The first trial is due to take place on April 16 at the Hot Water Comedy Club in Liverpool with an audience of 300 to be followed two days later by the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley with a crowd of 4,000.

Other events where the scheme is to be tested include the World Snooker Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, running from April 17 to May 3, and a mass participation run at Hatfield House on April 24 and 25.

The pilots will culminate with the FA Cup final on May 15, again at Wembley but this time with a crowd of 21,000.

People attending the trials will have to adhere to an agreed code of behaviour when they purchase a ticket and to take a Covid test both before and after the event.

They will be required to follow existing government guidance, including wearing face coverings, and to provide contact details of everyone in their group for NHS Test and Trace.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said: “By piloting a range of measures to reduce transmission, we can gather vital scientific evidence to inform our plans for allowing events in the future.”

At the same time the government is working on the development of a “Covid status certification” scheme, the so-called “vaccine passport”.

Ministers have said that it could involve the use of the NHS app, although they acknowledge there will have to be an option for paper certificates for those who do not have access to the digital option.

In developing the scheme, officials will take into account three factors, whether an individual has received the vaccine, has recently tested negative for the virus, or has “natural immunity” having tested positive in the previous six months.

Ministers believe the scheme will be most useful in managing the risks where the are large numbers of people in close proximity such as music festivals, sporting matches and nightclubs.

Settings where certification will not be required include essential shops and public transport.

It will also not apply initially to businesses which are set to reopen over the coming weeks such as pubs, restaurants and non-essential retail.

Officials are working with clinical and ethical experts to ensure there are “appropriate exemptions” for people who are advised to the vaccine and for whom repeat testing would be difficult.

Boris Johnson, who will set out more details on Monday, said: “We have made huge strides over the past few months with our vaccine programme and everyone in the country has made huge sacrifices to get us to this stage in our recovery from Covid-19.

“We are doing everything we can to enable the reopening of our country so people can return to the events, travel and other things they love as safely as possible, and these reviews will play an important role in allowing this to happen.”

The PM will also outline the government’s approach for easing restrictions on foreign travel when its global travel task force reports on April 12.

Ministers have made clear that the ban on foreign travel will remain in place until at least May 17.

When it is finally lifted, it will be replaced by a risk-based “traffic light” system with red, amber and green ratings for countries around the world.

This will be based on a range of factors, including the proportion of the population that has been vaccinated, rates of infection, emerging new variants and the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing.

Travellers arriving from countries rated “green” will not be required to isolate although pre-departure and post-arrival tests will still be needed.

For those classed as “amber” or “red”, the restrictions will remain as they are with arrivals required to isolate or enter quarantine.

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Tory Councillor Says £500 Self-Isolation Payment Could Be ‘Incentive’ To Spread Covid

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PAUL ELLIS via AFP via Getty Images

Shoppers pass beneath an electronic sign promoting the NHS Covi-19 app, outside the Arndale Centre in Manchester.

A Tory councillor has come under fire after suggesting £500 Covid-19 self-isolation payments would be an “incentive to spread” the virus.

John Fuller OBE, who is the Conservative leader of South Norfolk Council, told BBC Newsnight on Thursday: “Let’s not have a system whereby if you catch Covid, you get £500.

“That is an incentive to actually spread the disease, and that’s not in anybody’s interests.”

When asked by host Kirsty Wark, “Are you really saying £500 is an incentive for people to spread the disease?” he replied: “What I’m saying is… let’s not… I said let’s not have the incentive, I didn’t say it was, let’s not have an incentive that would encourage people to catch the disease.

“Our job is to bear down on it as quickly as we can.”

His words were condemned by Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotherham, who described the suggestion as “shocking” and “an insult” to the people who have died as a result of Covid-19. 

People who have been told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace are entitled to a £500 Test and Trace Support Payment.

But Labour has said the payment – which can be claimed by those who cannot work from home but need to isolate – should be available to everyone without access to workplace sick pay.

The Test and Trace Support Payment applies to both employed and self-employed people in England, but there is concern that some people who need it are unable to access it.

On Thursday’s BBC Newsnight, the Liverpool mayor cited figures showing 70% of applications for the payment were being rejected.

“There is no one-off £500 payment that would convince anybody, even on low pay, to actually get Covid,” he said in response to Fuller.

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Pfizer Jab’s ‘Off The Scale’ Antibodies Could Protect Against Brazil Variant

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“The other potential is that you boost your antibody levels so high from whatever vaccine you have that there’s enough to go around and you cope with the variant.

“We’ve certainly seen in this paper that the antibody levels are so good, really after the first two weeks, that we are pretty confident that this should be very helpful against the Brazilian variant.”

Asked if he is surprised how well the vaccines have worked in older people, he said: “We were. When we sent these samples to Porton Down they said ‘we can’t give you results right now because we’ve got to dilute them because they’re so high, they’re off the scale’.

“The antibody levels were so high that they’d gone above the thresholds so they had to dilute them.”

But he added it will be crucial to see how long antibody levels are maintained after people have had a Covid-19 vaccine.

“It will be important to assess that and whether they wane at different rates in people of different ages,” he said.

“I think that’s something that we have to watch out for.”

Although the new study did not look at the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine, Prof Moss said the evidence for the jab is that “it’s very, very effective”.

He added: “The UK has a strong portfolio of vaccines – Pfizer, AstraZeneca, we’ve got Moderna coming very soon, and Novavax as well.

“So yes, I think it’s possible that we can have very broad vaccine coverage across the UK very quickly.”

On T cell responses, Prof Moss said they are “better against variants overall” than antibodies, but he added the role of T cells in fighting coronavirus is still uncertain.

“I do think cellular immunity is very important,” he said, adding that a third of people in the study had no cellular responses detected.

“We know that, as people age, their cellular and immune responses are more difficult to elicit.

“Even influenza vaccines are much less effective in older people so that’s something that we will keep an eye on very closely.”

Prof Moss also said the UK’s plan to exit lockdown appears to be “on track”, with policies to control variants, the development of new vaccines and a strong immunisation programme.

“I think we can be confident about gaining control of variants with the current plans, and also leaving lockdown,” he said.

First author on the paper, Dr Helen Parry, a National Institute for Health Research academic clinical lecturer at the University of Birmingham, said: “Our research provides further evidence that the mRNA vaccine platform delivers a strong immune antibody response in people up to 96 years of age and retains broad efficacy against the P.1 (Brazilian) variant, which is a variant of concern.”

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Northern Independence Party Manifesto Plan Includes Referendum On Ditching The Queen

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Jonathan BradyPA

Reigning Queens screenprint by Andy Warhol

Legalisation of cannabis and referendums on ditching the Queen and scrapping the pound are among the manifesto plans of the newly formed Northern Independence Party that is fighting the Hartlepool by-election.

The draft programme of the NIP, which is a “democratic socialist” party that wants to repeat the SNP’s success in replacing Labour, calls for the public to be given a say over the currency and the monarchy alongside a raft of proposals to create a country of “Northumbria”.

The new state – which would include the north-west, north-east, Yorkshire and Humber, and Cheshire – would accept Brexit for now.

But the draft manifesto adds: “If however the people of a free North want to rejoin the EU at some point in the distant future, then that is a decision for the people.”

The NIP hopes to capitalise on discontent with Keir Starmer’s leadership by backing Thelma Walker, a former Labour MP and strong Jeremy Corbyn supporter, as a candidate in the Hartlepool by-election on May 6.

A draft “mini manifesto” for the local elections, which has been sent to members of the party for consultation but is not yet public, has been passed to HuffPost UK. A final version is expected to be ratified next week.

The mini-manifesto includes a wide range of policies including giving NHS nurses a 15% pay rise and all council workers a “real living wage” of £9.50 an hour.

Among the eclectic proposals are “an increase in the penalties for sheep worrying” to protect farmers, a lowering of the state pension age and council-run e-bike rental schemes.

Referendums of “the people of the free North” would be central to the new state, with the removal of the Queen as head of state and the creation of a new currency among the options.

“Many people in the North love the royal family, and it is not for us as a party to decide this,” the manifesto states.

“If enough people in a free North want to keep the Queen as head of state, as she is in many commonwealth countries, then she will be asked to be. If the majority of people want to be a republic, then we will be.”

Northern Independence Party

Northern Independence Party logo

It takes a similar view on whether to keep sterling. “We don’t know what the relationship between the pound, the euro, and other currencies will look like when we gain independence.

“There are important factors to consider on all sides – while introducing a new currency has costs, and would be disruptive, it could also make it easier to invest in rebuilding our hollowed-out industries, and make our exports more competitive on international markets.”

On drugs, the NIP states: “We believe that cannabis should be legalised, as it has across much of the US and Canada, and will favour harm reduction approaches to other illegal drugs.”

The manifesto also calls for privatised energy and water companies to be brought under public control locally, for more pilots of a universal basic income system and for stronger trans rights, including the legalisation to protect trans teenagers’ access to puberty blockers.

It proposes public libraries should be brought back under council or community ownership, and vows to “support local independent newspapers and journalism by writing for them, taking out adverts, and providing grants to new organisations”.

The NIP recognises that while independence is its ultimate goal, its candidates will in the short term have to “fight the system from within” by backing policies at council and Westminster level that would shift the UK in a more socialist direction.

Since its launch last year, the party has tried to use humour in its online media presence to boost its profile, recently defending the use of a whippet on its logo as a satire on perceptions of the north.

The NIP’s membership has soared since Walker was announced as its candidate for Hartlepool earlier this week, going up from 300 to 1300.

NIP co-funder Philip Proudfoot told HuffPost UK: ”A new state, in order to have buy-in and legitimacy would require lots of referendums, that direct democracy element is foundational to the project.

“If it comes to questions like ‘do you keep the monarchy?’, there’s an ongoing debate within an NIP whether we just put it in as a policy, and then if people vote for us that’s what they’re getting – or whether or not it would be a referendum to be decided.”

Proudfoot said that the party was made up of “ordinary people” ranging from farmers – who want tougher penalties to protect their sheep –  to mental health nurses, from teachers to the unemployed worried about Universal Credit.

Members are being asked for feedback on the draft manifesto ahead of a special meeting expected next week. “We’re trying to be hyper, hyper democratic,” Proudfoot said.

Referring to the cannabis policy, he added: “Our main target is of course, young, socially liberal, left-wing people living in our towns and cities in the north. What do they want? Legalisation of cannabis. It’s pretty standard now across the world, isn’t it?

“The people of Hartlepool do deserve to have a left-wing candidate. In terms of what will be our national policies, it’s kind of inspired by 2017 Labour, because that’s when the Labour party increased its vote share in the north.”

Here is a copy of the draft mini-manifesto – known as a “minifesto” – in full:

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Boris Johnson Believes He Acted With ‘Integrity And Honesty’ Over Links To Jennifer Arcuri

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Boris Johnson has insisted he acted with “integrity and honesty” during his time as London mayor, amid fresh questions about an alleged four-year affair with Jennifer Arcuri.

The prime minister is facing a London Assembly probe into whether he broke the City Hall code of conduct and whether he gave the American businesswoman “preferential treatment” while mayor.

Arcuri received £126,000 of taxpayers’ cash in event sponsorship and grants and Johnson spoke at a series of technology events she organised.

The entrepreneur was also afforded privileged access to three foreign trade missions led by Johnson when he was mayor.

Arcuri told the Sunday Mirror last week that she had an affair with Johnson between 2012 and 2016, while he was with his then-wife Marina Wheeler, who is the mother to four of the PM’s children.

In the interview, Arcuri said she slept with Johnson at the flat where she had a pole dancer’s pole, claimed they met once a week at the height of the affair, and recalled sending him topless pictures.

The PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton on Monday insisted Johnson had acted in accordance with the Nolan principles of standards in public life, a claim that will be examined by the Assembly.

She told reporters: “He does believe in the wider principles of integrity and honesty, I’ve said that he acts with integrity and honesty, and I’ve said that he follows the Nolan principles on conducting himself in public life.”

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Boris Johnson and Jennifer Arcuri

Stratton also repeatedly highlighted a prior report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which cleared Johnson of any criminal investigation.

The IOPC found that Johnson did not commit the criminal offence of misconduct in public office while in his role as mayor of London.

Stratton would not say whether Johnson believed Arcuri was given preferential treatment, saying: “I’m not going to comment on the particular… This has been looked at by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. They have looked at it. They have found there was no impropriety.”

In 2019, HuffPost UK revealed that Johnson’s lawyers had written to the Assembly’s oversight committee to challenge its demands for “extensive” details of his links to Arcuri.

They also suggested that it was not in “the public interest” for an Assembly investigation to take place as it “risked becoming politicised”.

Asked whether Johnson would cooperate with the probe, Stratton said: “Of course.”

But she refused to say whether he would give evidence in person to the oversight committee or submit written evidence.

“I’m not going to get into these hypotheticals,” she said.

“Let’s cross all those bridges when they come.”

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Richard Okorogheye: Mother Appeals For Missing Son Who Was ‘Struggling’ With University

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Metropolitan Police

Richard Okorogheye

A worried mother is seeking help to try and find her son who has been missing for a week.

Student Richard Okorogheye, 19, who has sickle cell disease, said he was “struggling to cope” with university pressures and had been shielding during lockdown, according to his mother Evidence Joel.

The Metropolitan Police said officers are becoming increasingly concerned about the teenager who is believed to have left his family home in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London on March 22.

He was reported missing on March 24.

Joel told the MyLondon website: “Richard has never done anything like this.

“Something has gone wrong.”

He would only leave the house to go to hospital for regular blood transfusions for his condition.

Joel recalled him saying he was going to visit a friend, although none of them have seen him, telling her to drive safe and that he would “see me later”, she told the website.

She returned home from a nursing shift at around 9pm and assumed he was in his room.

She cooked him a meal but found he was not there when she knocked on his door and he did not answer his telephone.

The alarm was raised after a locksmith helped her gain entry to the room which was empty but Richard’s wallet, bus pass and bank card were left behind.

The teenager was last seen leaving his home and heading in the direction of Ladbroke Grove, west London, on March 22 at approximately 8.30pm, police said.

Officers added that he was known to frequent London’s Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham areas.

Chief Inspector Clare McCarthy, of the Met’s Central West Command Unit, said: “Our officers have been working tirelessly to locate Richard, using all investigative opportunities and data inquiries, speaking with witnesses and trawling CCTV.

“We are following every lead possible and are appealing for the public to help us in our work.

“If you may have seen Richard, please contact police.

“If Richard is safe and well, we ask him to contact us as a matter of urgency so that we can put his family’s minds at ease.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 quoting 21MIS008134, or to call 999 in an emergency. There is also a facility online to pass any information on to the charity Missing People.

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Fresh Calls For Inquiry Into David Cameron’s Ties With Scandal-Hit Banker

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Calls have intensified for an inquiry into David Cameron’s involvement with a scandal-hit banker after allegations surfaced that Lex Greensill was given privileged access to Whitehall departments.

An investigation by the Sunday Times alleged that Greensill enriched himself through a government-backed loan scheme he designed after the then prime minister gave him access to 11 departments and agencies.

He founded Greensill Capital, the firm that went on to employ Cameron but later collapsed, causing uncertainty for thousands of jobs at Liberty Steel, having been its main financial backer.

Labour and Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, called for a full inquiry into the “scandal”.

The allegations surfaced after the former Conservative leader faced scrutiny for reportedly trying to persuade government figures to grant emergency loans to Greensill Capital, where he was an adviser.

The Sunday Times report alleged the Australian financier was given access to the departments while Cameron was in No 10 so he could promote a financial product he specialised in.

The Pharmacy Early Payment Scheme, announced in 2012, saw banks swiftly reimburse pharmacists for providing NHS prescriptions, for a fee, before recovering the money from the government.

Greensill Capital went on to provide funds for the scheme.

Geensill could not be reached for comment, but the newspaper said he was understood to deny making large returns from a pharmacy deal.

Sir Alistair said: “There clearly should be a full inquiry because it sounds like a genuine scandal in which the public purse was put at risk without proper political authority.”

Labour’s shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves, said: “These reports raise very serious questions about the conduct of former Conservative prime minister David Cameron and the access he gave Lex Greensill to ministers and Whitehall departments.

“The British people deserve answers to those questions. That’s why the Conservatives should agree to an urgent inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this latest scandal.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden defended his long-term ally on Sunday, saying Cameron is a “man of utmost integrity and I’ve no doubt at all he would have behaved properly”.

Asked on The Andrew Marr Show if there would be an inquiry, the Cabinet minister responded: “As far as I can tell, no decision in government policy was changed as a result of any meetings that took place. They’d be properly declared.”

A government spokesman said: “Lex Greensill acted as a supply chain finance adviser from 2012 to 2015 and as a crown representative for three years from 2013.

“His appointment was approved in the normal manner and he was not paid for either role.”

The office of Cameron, who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016, has not responded to a request for comment.

He was cleared of breaking lobbying rules by a watchdog after reportedly asking Chancellor Rishi Sunak to support Greensill Capital through the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.

The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists concluded that Cameron was an employee of Greensill Capital so was not required to declare himself on the register of consultant lobbyists.

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More Than 2.5 Million People Get Second Dose Of Covid-19 Vaccine In England

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More than 2.5 million people have now received their second dose of a coronavirus vaccine, with more than one in three of those taking place in the last week, NHS England said.

More than 25 million people in England have been vaccinated with their first dose, with the number of people receiving their second dose reaching a new weekly high.

Some 900,000 people received their second jab in the last week, NHS England said, around twice as many as the week before.

Focus is now on ensuring those in the most at-risk cohorts have had the chance to be vaccinated, ahead of the target of offering all priority groups their first vaccine by April 15.

With a tighter supply of available doses next month, NHS England is urging those aged 50 and older or those with an underlying health condition to get their first jab.

It said three in four people aged 50-54 have been jabbed so far, up from half in the last week.

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and NHS medical director for primary care, said: “The NHS in England has now vaccinated 25 million people which is an unbelievable achievement by NHS staff across the country, who have continued to work at speed.

“At the same time as increasing second doses week on week, the NHS is reaching out to those 50-69 year-olds who haven’t yet taken up the offer to be vaccinated.

“If you are one of those people yet to book a first dose, please come forward and get your life-saving Covid-19 vaccine which will not only protect you but those around you.”

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