‘No Doubt’ There Will Be Further Wave Of Covid-19, Warns Statistics Chief

The UK’s national statistician said he has “no doubt” that there will be a further wave of Covid-19 infections in the autumn.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond, head of the Office for National Statistics (ONS), also said there is a lot of regional variation in terms of how many people have antibodies.

His comments come after England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said there were still risks to reopening society and the UK will experience another surge of cases at some point, potentially in late summer or through the autumn and winter.

Sir Ian said people need to understand how the data is moving forward and look at the impact of the “wonderful” vaccine rollout.

“But having said that, we need also to recognise that this is a virus that isn’t going to go away,” he told The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One.

“And I have no doubt that in the autumn there will be a further wave of infections.”

Asked if it is too early to know how much of the fall in infections across the UK is down to the vaccine rollout, he said there are a number of moving parts such as vaccines and restrictions.

Sir Ian told the programme: “I mean I would say though that this has been an incredibly impressive vaccine rollout, and we’ve been looking at antibodies in the population, and we’ve been scaling up our survey in order to be able to take many more blood tests so that we can look at the impact.

“And what we’re seeing is quite remarkable increases in the level of antibodies in the over-80s, and increasingly in the over-70s. So I’m very, very confident that the vaccine rollout is really starting to provide some real protection.

“At the other side we see very relatively high levels amongst young people which just shows how much of young people have been affected by the virus.

“I’d finally just say on this that there is a lot of regional variation, so we find 30% of London have antibodies whereas only 16% in the South West, so we need to recognise that as well.”

During the week, Prof Whitty said he would “strongly advise” against any move to shorten the timetable for easing lockdown restrictions.

Speaking to the Commons Science and Technology Committee, Prof Whitty said the measures pencilled in for May 17, when indoor mixing of up to six people could be allowed, involved “significant risks”.

Modelling considered by the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has suggested that even under the most optimistic set of assumptions, at least a further 30,000 Covid-19 deaths could occur.

Prof Whitty said: “What we are going to see is, as things are opening up, what all the modelling suggests is that at some point we will get a surge in virus.

“We hope it doesn’t happen soon, it might for example happen later in the summer if we open up gradually or because of the seasonal effect it might happen over the next autumn and winter.

“All the modelling suggests there is going to be a further surge and that will find the people who either have not been vaccinated or where the vaccine has not worked.

“Some of them will end up in hospital and sadly some of them will go on to die.”

Elsewhere, charities have written an open letter to encourage people with underlying health conditions to come forward for a coronavirus vaccine.

Cancer Research UK, Mencap and the Terrence Higgins Trust are among 18 signatories to the letter aimed at people in vaccine cohort six.

The group includes carers as well as people with a range of underlying health conditions that put them at greater risk from coronavirus.

They include chronic respiratory, heart, kidney and liver disease and neurological conditions, immunosuppression, asplenia, diabetes, morbid obesity and severe mental illness.

People with sickle cell disease, lupus and those on a GP learning disability register, as well as people who have vascular disease or have had a stroke are also included in group six.

More than 23.6 million people have received their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine in the UK, according to the latest government figures.

There were a further 5,534 lab-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the last 24 hour period, while 121 deaths were recorded in the UK of people who tested positive for coronavirus in the last 28 days.

Meanwhile, the NHS is to text millions of vulnerable people with underlying health conditions asking them to take the vaccine.

People with conditions such as diabetes and certain forms of cancer will receive a link to reserve an appointment for a jab at a vaccination centre or pharmacy across England.

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Human Remains Found In Kent Woodland Confirmed As Sarah Everard

Human remains found in an area of Kent woodland have been identified as belonging to Sarah Everard, Scotland Yard has said.

The 33-year-old vanished while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on Wednesday March 3.

The marketing executive is thought to have walked through Clapham Common towards her house in Brixton – a journey which should have taken around 50 minutes.

She was last captured on a doorbell camera walking along the A205 Poynders Road towards Tulse Hill at around 9.30pm on March 3.

A serving police officer in the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command had earlier been arrested on suspicion of Everard’s kidnap and murder.

Met Commissioner Cressida Dick sought to reassure the public in the wake of Wednesday’s developments, saying “it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets”.

She added: “But I completely understand that despite this, women in London and the wider public – particularly those in the area where Sarah went missing – will be worried and may well be feeling scared.”

The Met said the arrested officer’s main job was uniformed patrol of diplomatic premises, but would not specify where he had worked. He was not on duty at the time of Everard’s disappearance.

The diplomatic protection squad is responsible for guarding the Parliamentary estate including Downing Street and the Palace of Westminster, as well as embassies in London.

The officer, in his 40s, was also arrested over a separate allegation of indecent exposure, the Met said.

A woman in her 30s has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

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Boris Johnson Lies About Labour Voting Against Nurses’ Pay Rise

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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Charlene White Quits As Host Of Press Awards Over Society Of Editors’ Racism Statement

Ian West/PA Photos

Charlene White, pictured here attending the ITV Palooza held at the Royal Festival Hall in 2018. 

Award-winning journalist and Loose Women panellist Charlene White has pulled out of hosting the Society of Editors’ National Press Awards following the Society’s widely ridiculed claim that the UK media is “not racist”.

In a statement sent to the SoE’s executive director Ian Murray, seen by HuffPost UK, White cited the much-criticised statement, released on Monday in the wake of Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey. 

“Perhaps it’s best for you to look elsewhere for a host for your awards this year,” she said. 

“Perhaps someone whose views align with yours: that the UK press is the one institution in the entire country who has a perfect record on race.”

The first Black woman to present the ITV News At Ten, White worked in several senior broadcasting roles at the BBC before joining ITN in 2008. 

In 2020 she made her debut appearance as a guest presenter on Loose Women, and it was announced in January that she would become a regular in the wake of Andrea McLean’s exit from the show.

The National Press Awards, organised by the SoE, are set to take place on March 31, recognising outstanding coverage by journalists in the UK across 2020. Among the shortlisted candidates is HuffPost UK’s own Aasma Day, for her work on “reporting diversity”.

White, who has been involved in the awards as a judge for several years, called out the SoE’s inconsistent approach to racism and representation in the media, writing: “Your organisation approached me to become a judge for its awards and to work alongside you because at that time it was hugely lacking in terms [of] being a fair reflection of the UK population. In other words, the nominations and winners list involved very few non-white journalists.

“This is not an unusual scenario, unfortunately. Over the years several organisations have been held to account for eradicating and ignoring the work of ethnic minority professionals – and women.

“So, you told me you wanted that to change. In fact, we spoke at length about it.

“But here’s the thing. I only work with organisations who practise what they preach. My time is precious, so I’d rather not waste it.”

Murray, in a statement published on Monday, sparked a backlash against the organisation when he claimed: “The UK media has never shied away from holding a spotlight up to those in positions of power, celebrity or influence.

“If sometimes the questions asked are awkward and embarrassing, then so be it, but the press is most certainly not racist.”

His assertion, which he went on to defend in a heated interview with Victoria Derbyshire on Tuesday, was fiercely criticised – not least by members of the SoE’s own board, who said they were “deeply angry” about the way they had been represented. 

The SoE represents almost 400 members in senior positions across the UK media, several of whom have now publicly declared their opposition to Murray’s statement.

More than 168 journalists, writers and broadcasters from Black and Asian backgrounds across the media on Tuesday signed an open letter describing the SoE’s position as “laughable” proof of “an institution and an industry in denial”.

In her statement, White said: “Since the Black Lives Matter movement really took hold in the UK last year, every single institution in this country has had to finally look at its failings and its position in terms of how they treat ethnic minorities both inside and outside of its walls.

“But for some unknown reason, you feel as though the UK press is exempt in that discussion. I could list the many many studies that have been done on this, or I could quote facts and figures regarding the correlation between the lack of diversity in newsrooms and the way stories are covered.

“But I’m not your personal Google.

“What I am is a Black woman who has consistently stood up for what she believes in, irrespective of the impact it would have on my career.” 

The SoE has since added a clarification to its original statement, rowing back only slightly on Murray’s claim that the UK press is “not bigoted”. 

The addition reads: “The Society of Editors has a proud history of campaigning for freedom of speech and the vital work that journalists do in a democracy to hold power to account.

“Our statement on Meghan and Harry was made in that spirit but did not reflect what we all know: that there is a lot of work to be done in the media to improve diversity and inclusion.

“We will reflect on the reaction our statement prompted and work towards being part of the solution.”

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

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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Racist Archie Comments Didn’t Come From Queen Or Prince Philip, Oprah Reveals

Appearing on CBS This Morning on Monday to discuss the interview, Oprah said: “He did not share the identity with me but he wanted to make sure that I knew, and if I had an opportunity to share it, that it was not his grandmother nor his grandfather [who] were a part of those conversations.

“He did not tell me who were a part of those conversations – as you can see, I tried to get that answer, on camera and off.”

Meghan previously told Oprah that the conversations about Archie were relayed to Prince Harry.

“I think that would be very damaging to them,” she said.

Prince Harry also said he would not reveal what transpired in the conversation, saying: “That conversation I’m never going to share. At the time, it was awkward. I was a little bit shocked.”

Meghan went on to talk about the importance of representation and how the disparaging remarks about Archie’s skin colour were hard for her to understand.

She explained: “I could never understand how it wouldn’t be seen as an added benefit and a reflection of the world today, especially right now, to go how inclusive is that that you can see someone who looks like you in this family, much less someone who was born into it.”

Buckingham Palace is under pressure to investigate the claims, with shadow education secretary Kate Green telling Sky News: “If there are allegations of racism, I would expect them to be treated by the palace with the utmost seriousness and fully investigated.”

The interview also saw Meghan candidly opening up about feeling suicidal during her time as part of the Royal Family, while Harry also revealed that his father, Prince Charlesstopped taking calls from him following the couple’s decision to step down from their roles as senior royals.

CBS Presents Oprah with Meghan and Harry airs on ITV at 9pm tonight and on ITV Hub

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe Has Been Released After Being Detained In Iran For 5 Years

British-Iranian dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has been released after serving a five-year sentence, her lawyer has said.

Speaking to Iranian website Emtedad on Sunday, Hojjat Kermani said: “She was pardoned by Iran’s Supreme Leader last year, but spent the last year of her term under house arrest with electronic shackles tied to her feet. Now they’re cast off.

“She has been freed.” Kermani said a hearing for Nazanin’s second case has been scheduled for Monday March 8.

The mother-of-one is “genuinely happy” after having her ankle tag removed, her husband Richard Ratcliffe said, but he added: “We very clearly remain in the middle of this government game of chess.”

Change.org

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with husband Richard and Gabriella as a baby

Of the upcoming court date, Kermani said: “In this case, she is accused of propaganda against the Islamic Republic’s system for participating in a rally in front of the Iranian Embassy in London in 2009 and giving interview to the BBC Persian TV channel at the same time.”

But he hoped that “this case will be closed at this stage, considering the previous investigation”.

However, Labour MP Tulip Siddiq later said although she was no longer under house arrest, Nazanin “has been summoned once again to court next Sunday”. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy with the dates.

Nor is it clear whether Nazanin is allowed to leave Iran, though Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said she should be allowed to return to the UK as soon as possible and described Iran’s treatment of her as “intolerable.” 

Iran’s judiciary was not immediately available to comment on the release. 

Jeremy Hunt, foreign secretary between July 2018 and July 2019, said on Twitter: “Beyond cruel to toy with an innocent mother & six year old child in this way.”

He tagged the Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif saying: “Let her come home.”

Nazanin’s sister-in-law Rebecca Ratcliffe said she and Nazanin’s husband Richard had a video call with her on Sunday morning and she was “lit up with joy about having the ankle tag taken off”.

She told Sky News: “It was lovely seeing her face this morning. She’s very relieved to be able to leave the flat finally … but there’s still this threat of the second court case hanging over her, so we wait to see what’s going to happen.

“We don’t really know how to interpret what’s going to happen later this week.

“Is it they’re going to just finish off the paperwork and release her and give her her passport back, or is it that they are going to whack her with that second sentence?

“We don’t know and I think there’s a few more sleepless nights ahead.

“Until we know that the second court case has been quashed and she’s on that plane back home, we can’t celebrate.”

She said her brother Richard was “OK” and that “today is a day for processing and having a bit of a rest with his family”.

The news could be a significant development in the ordeal for Richard and the couple’s daughter Gabriella, who is now six. Richard has campaigned passionately for his wife’s release since she was jailed in Tehran in 2016.

Nazanin, a charity worker, was arrested at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport while travelling to introduce her then baby daughter to her parents.

The 42-year-old has been detained in Tehran since 2016, when she was sentenced over allegations, which she has steadfastly denied, of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.

She has been out of prison since last spring due to the coronavirus crisis, and has been under house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran.

Reuters

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe with her daughter Gabriella

While the mother-of-one’s original sentence ended on Sunday, there had been fears her detention would continue after she appeared in court in November on charges of spreading propaganda against the regime. Her husband termed the charges “spurious”, saying the case presented the same evidence used when she was convicted in 2016.

Speaking to HuffPost UK in the days ahead of her release, Richard said he had hardly dared believe she would be released after a number of “false dawns”, including the invocation of rarely-used diplomatic protection for his wife in 2019 – to no avail.

He said: “Nazanin just wants to come home and have a cup of tea on the sofa. But I don’t think I will feel safe to imagine a reunion at the airport or the beginning of a new life until she’s out of Iranian airspace.”

Speaking after her release on Sunday, Kate Allen, director at Amnesty International UK, said: “This is such bittersweet news.

“After all Nazanin’s been through this feels like yet another example of the calculated cruelty of the Iranian authorities.

“The Iranian authorities have an appalling record of playing cruel games – not just with Nazanin, but also with other UK nationals and numerous people held in the country on politically-motivated grounds.

“Nazanin was convicted after a deeply unfair trial the first time around and this spurious new charge and possible trial is clearly designed to delay her release and exert yet more pressure on Nazanin and her family.

“This won’t be over until Nazanin has her passport and is on a flight heading home to the UK.

“The UK government must not take this lying down. All the past talk of not leaving any stone unturned to secure Nazanin’s release must now be translated into very serious diplomatic action.”

It has been claimed Nazanin was being held to force the UK into settling a multi-million-pound dispute with Iran. The debt dates back to the 1970s when the then-Shah of Iran paid the UK £400m for 1,500 Chieftain tanks.

After he was toppled in 1979, Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic and kept the money, despite British courts accepting it should be repaid.

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The Coronavirus R Rate Has Risen This Week

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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NHS Medics Slam 1% Pay Rise: ‘It’s A Real Insult, I’m Absolutely Fuming’

A staff nurse who held a phone to the ear of a dying patient on a Covid ward so he could say goodbye to his family has blasted the government for its “pitiful” 1% pay increase.

Alex Oldham told HuffPost UK that the NHS has had the “year from hell” and that he backed proposals for strike action in response to the gesture.

Oldham, who works in Bristol, said: “We’ve been working through a year-long pandemic where at times we’ve had nurses wearing binbags for PPE, there’s been 850 NHS workers who have died of Covid.

“Yes, we’ve had nice things like Clap for Carers on Thursdays, and when ministers have given praise and kind words, but we now know those words are hollow and not worth anything.”

The main nurses’ union is to set up a £35m industrial action fund in response to the government’s recommendation.

The council of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) made the decision amid growing anger over the pay of health staff who have been under unprecedented pressure during the coronavirus crisis.

Dozens of healthcare workers have also been tweeting their disgust at the proposal.

Unite, which represents tens of thousands of NHS workers, is also warning of industrial action. Some of the hardships endured by NHS workers have seen using foodbanks, moving out of family homes to live closer to the hospitals and cover staff sick leave and living in complete isolation in order to protect their families.

A survey of RCN members last year revealed that more than one in three were thinking of leaving the profession, with many citing pay as the main reason.

Oldham said: “Strike action, in whatever form that may be might have to be the only option, obviously with patient safety carefully considered.”

When asked if he was tempted to leave, Oldham replied: “It does make me consider. There are other avenues to earning more money – like being an agency nurse, but that just doesn’t sing with my values. I like the ethos of the NHS, I like how it all works and the goodwill of it. But we can’t keep running on empty.”

Downing Street has defended the figure, saying it was what was “affordable” and Health Minister Nadine Dorries has said she was “pleasantly surprised” at the proposal.

Oldham said he was reminded of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s vow to lead a government of substance, not gestures, adding: “Here we are, really not seeing any substance. Even as a gesture it’s pretty pitiful.

“The government also have a pledge for wanting to put an extra 50,000 nurses on the wards by the end of their term in government, but how are they going to achieve that when they are offering, in terms of retention and appealing to people, a £3.50 a week pay rise?

“That’s an extra cup of coffee. That’s what that equates to, that’s the reality. And we also have to think about the human cost of the nurses on the frontline. I’ve held a phone to the ear of a dying patient, to their relatives who are crying on the phone because they can’t come in and see them.

“This pandemic will ripple for years to come because of the PTSD that nurses and many other NHS workers will suffer. It’s a real insult, I’m absolutely fuming.

 “This request for a pay rise is not driven by greed. This is driven by the fact we are exhausted. We are on our knees and we are fed up of being treated like this. We want a substantial pay rise to put food on the table, pay the mortgage and pay for childcare.”

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Rishi Sunak’s Budget Explained In Two Minutes

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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