Coronavirus latest updates: EU boosts vaccine supply; Norway halts Astrazeneca jab; London R rate rises March 26, 2021 EU boosts production of Covid vaccines The European Medicines Agency announced this afternoon that it has approved the use of two European factories to scale up the EU’s vaccine supply. The Halix factory in the Netherlands has been cleared to produce doses of the Astrazeneca vaccine for the EU, while another in Marburg in Germany [...]
Kwasi Kwarteng shouldn’t be ashamed of his free market principles January 22, 2021 New business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng MP is on paper one of the most pro-free enterprise ministers to run the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) in years. He takes over the role at a time when businesses, of all shapes and sizes, are struggling. Many risk closure and collapse. So, he must use [...]
Government to roll out free flu vaccinations for over-50s November 19, 2020 Over-50s will be eligible for free flu vaccines from 1 December in a bid to stop the NHS being overloaded from the “twin threats” of flu and coronavirus during the winter. In the largest ever flu vaccination programme in England, individuals aged between 50 and 64 will now be able to get flu vaccines from [...]
Scotland warns against all travel to north of England after lockdown reimposed July 31, 2020 The Scottish government has warned against all non-essential travel to Greater Manchester and other parts of northern England after ministers imposed lockdown restrictions on the area. First minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “I strongly advise anyone planning to travel to areas affected in the north of England, or anyone planning to travel to Scotland from those same areas, [...]
Third of Wales to enter lockdown following spike in infections September 21, 2020 Around a third of the Welsh population will enter lockdown from 6pm tomorrow after fresh data showed a sharp hike in the rate of infections in the country. The Welsh counties of Merthyr Tydfil, Bridgend, Blaenau Gwent and Newport will join Rhondda Cynon Taf with local lockdowns, Welsh health minister Vaughan Gething announced today. People [...]
CBI predicts fourth-quarter contraction and urges long-term thinking November 5, 2020 The UK economy is likely to contract in the final three months of the year as the government’s new England-wide lockdown – put in place to slow coronavirus cases – hits businesses hard, the CBI has said. Britain’s economy faces a “bleak midwinter,” CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith told journalists. It came as the leading [...]
Build back better? London won’t be building at all if construction can’t recruit the workers it needs November 26, 2020 “Build back better” has become the government’s mantra as it seeks to lift the country out of its Covid slump. Ever since Boris Johnson announced an “infrastructure revolution” back in the summer, with a raft of commitments on building hospitals, schools and transport projects, the construction industry has been held up as central to the [...]
Boris Johnson says time for national lockdowns is over June 19, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that the time for using national lockdowns to control the coronavirus pandemic had passed, adding that local measures could now be used instead. “We are now moving into a different phase”, he said, “”rather than going back to the national lockdown”. However, he warned that the economic cost of [...]
Labour slams Hancock’s claim there was no PPE shortage ‘an insult’ February 23, 2021 Labour has hit back at claims by the health secretary that there has been no shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic as “an insult”. Speaking to BBC’s Today programme this morning, Matt Hancock said the UK never had a national shortage of PPE last year. “It’s easy to ask questions, but what [...]
UK lockdown: No pubs or restaurants to reopen until July ‘at very earliest’ May 11, 2020 Pubs, hair salons and restaurants will not open until 4 July at the “very earliest”, Dominic Raab said today in a warning the UK lockdown is far from over. While manufacturing and construction workers will begin returning to work today the picture is very different for retailers, the foreign secretary said today. Raab insisted the [...]