Boris Johnson will host this year’s G7 summit in the tiny seaside resort of Carbis Bay in Cornwall, where he will urge world leaders to unite in “building back better” from the pandemic. Joe Biden, who will be US president by then, is expected to attend the event starting on 11 June, alongside the other
Politics
More than 400,000 police records have accidentally been deleted from a national database, prompting warnings that criminal investigations could be compromised, Sky News understands. The fingerprint, DNA and arrest history records were wiped due to “human error” and “defective code”, policing minister Kit Malthouse said yesterday. It was initially reported by The Times that 150,000
All travel corridors will close from Monday, meaning everyone arriving in the UK will have to self-isolate. The tighter border restrictions announced by Boris Johnson are aimed at protecting the progress made with the rollout of vaccines in the face of new coronavirus variants being found around the world. It had already been announced everyone
Home Secretary Priti Patel must “take responsibility” for the wiping of 150,000 arrest records from police databases, the Labour Party says. The records were accidentally wiped last week and they included fingerprint, DNA and arrest histories, according to The Times. The newspaper says the technological blunder could allow offenders to go free, as evidence from
The prime minister has a “sort of language which he’s quite rightly nervous using in front of women”, according to one of his former ministers. Amber Rudd, who briefly served as work and pensions secretary under Boris Johnson after he came to power in July 2019, accused him of going “backwards” on promoting women. She
Senior ministers will consider a ban on travel to the UK from Brazil following concern over a new coronavirus strain in the South American country. The government’s COVID-19 operations committee is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the issue, amid reports any travel ban could also be extended to countries neighbouring Brazil. Live COVID
The prime minister has acknowledged there are “teething problems” with trade between Britain and Northern Ireland in the wake of the Brexit transition period coming to an end. Britain’s new trading relationship with Brussels came into effect at 11pm on December 31, following an 11-month Brexit transition period. There have been empty shelves on some
Boris Johnson has told MPs that recent coronavirus restrictions “are starting to show signs of some effect” – but he refused to rule out even tougher measures. The prime minister came under fresh pressure from Labour on Wednesday to tighten COVID rules in order to drive down infections. Live COVID updates from UK and around
Pressure on the NHS will not start to reduce until March, ministers have been warned – amid fears that new infections could be running at more than 250,000 a day. Downing Street has been told by government scientists that the rollout of the vaccines is unlikely to cause the mortality rate to decline until later
Peak demand on hospitals might not be reached until “early to mid-February” leading to a “more extended period of pressure” on the NHS than had initially been hoped, MPs have been told. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers – which represents all NHS trusts, said it was now “pretty clear” the COVID infection
The health secretary has suggested the prime minister was operating within the rules when he went cycling seven miles from Downing Street during lockdown. Boris Johnson was spotted at the Olympic Park in east London with members of his security detail on Sunday, according to the Evening Standard. Live COVID updates from UK and around
Lockdown rules are “not boundaries to be pushed against”, a government minister has warned – as he admitted there was concern at non-compliance with social distancing measures in supermarkets. As the second week of England’s third national lockdown begins, ministers are considering how to achieve greater enforcement of social distancing and mask-wearing in supermarkets. Vaccines
Demand for hospital services caused by the rampant coronavirus has put ambulance staff under “unprecedented pressure”, with handover delays on a scale not seen before, a paramedic boss has told Sky News. Speaking on the Sophy Ridge On Sunday programme, Tracy Nicholls, chief executive of the College of Paramedics, said some crews had reported waiting
More than 200,000 people are getting a COVID-19 jab every day and the government is on course to reach its target of 13 million people vaccinated by mid-February, Matt Hancock has told Sky News. But speaking on Sophy Ridge On Sunday, the health secretary said the pressure on the NHS was “very bad” and repeated
More than nine in 10 headteachers say they don’t have confidence in the Department for Education’s decision-making, after schools were closed and exams cancelled due to the pandemic. Millions of children are being taught remotely and students will no longer sit their 2021 exams because of sharp rises in COVID-19 cases. Now a survey of
Wales its continuing its lockdown and will be toughening up some restrictions as the nation struggles to manage the spread of the new highly infectious coronavirus variant. People in Wales are already being told to stay at home and not mix with other households, but the lockdown measures had been due for a review. After