Emmanuel Macron could soften demands the UK must follow EU rules in a new deal – to stop it potentially backfiring on France, it has been revealed. The French president is thought to have releaxed his stance, especially on state aid, after Boris Johnson cancelled trade talks last week. The UK could sue France over … Read more
Blackpool Tower lights up with urgent ‘SOS’ message as tourism bosses say Tier 3 Covid lockdown leaves seaside resort facing ‘catastrophic’ economic collapse Business leaders in Blackpool have warned they face collapse due to Covid-19 The popular northern resort has been placed in a Tier 3 lockdown by Number 10 In an open letter, traders … Read more
Nicola Sturgeon raised the spectre of the whole of Scotland being placed into the toughest level of a new five-tier lockdown system today as she pledged to keep schools open. The Scottish First Minister outlined Scotland’s new approach today as she said there were signs that the increase in new coronavirus cases in the country was … Read more
George Osborne attacked Boris Johnson‘s ‘optimism bias’ today, urging the Prime Minister to emulate his political hero Winston Churchill and be ‘realistic’ about coronavirus. The former chancellor criticised Mr Johnson’s attempts to tell the British people that they faced a short battle against the pandemic, saying ‘real leadership is about being realistic’. Mr Osborne, now … Read more
Throughout the pandemic the nation has been forced to grapple with a blizzard of restrictions that are being constantly added, removed and tweaked. Boris Johnson‘s latest strategy to suppress the virus has carved up England into three alert level tiers which forces millions to obey differing rules. The wide-ranging measures, which divide loved-ones, have left … Read more
Boris Johnson admits his government failed on Test and Trace and the system ‘needs improvement’ with just one-in-seven getting results in a day and fewer than 60% of contacts found Boris Johnson said Test and Trace ‘needs improvement’ after performance slump Fewer than six-in-ten contacts are now tracked down, well below the 80% target And … Read more
BIOGRAPHY BORIS JOHNSON: THE GAMBLER by Tom Bower (WH Allen £20, 592pp) Tom Bower is a compulsive chronicler of chicanery, or — as his many biographical victims would see it — a prolific perpetrator of hatchet jobs. Critics and enemies of Boris Johnson (of which there has never been a shortage) will therefore be disappointed … Read more
Nicola Sturgeon was forced to make a bizarre promise to Scottish children that Santa would still deliver their Christmas presents – after her top medical advisor said hopes of a traditional festive gathering were a ‘fiction’. The First Minister joked that her national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch would be portrayed as the Grinch on … Read more
Andy Burnham today invited Boris Johnson to Manchester for face-to-face talks to ‘clear the air’ as he said he does not want a ‘lingering political argument’ with the Government. The Labour Mayor has suffered a bruising week after talks with ministers over moving Greater Manchester into Tier Three coronavirus restrictions collapsed, prompting Mr Johnson to … Read more
New hope for Brexit trade deal ‘within weeks’ as talks resume after EU climbdown on Boris’s demands – but Brussels officials sneer that they are just ‘making it look like he’s won’ Post-Brexit trade talks between the UK and the EU will resume in London today Talks restarting after the UK accepted an olive branch … Read more