Politics

A COVID rescue plan to help children in England catch up on lost lessons, costing £1.4 billion, is being unveiled by the government. But plans to add half an hour to the school day, extending it from 8am to 5pm or 6pm, are reported to have been postponed after a Whitehall row over the cost.

The full lifting of restrictions in England should be delayed by a month beyond 21 June due to the impact of the Indian variant of coronavirus, a leading scientist advising the government has told Sky News. Stage four of Boris Johnson’s roadmap for easing coronavirus rules – when the prime minister aims to remove all

Boris Johnson’s approval rating has slumped in the wake of Dominic Cummings’ explosive evidence about the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, an opinion poll suggests. According to the Opinium study, the prime minister’s approval rating now stands at -6% -compared with +6% two weeks ago. But it seems that Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer

Carrie Symonds is now married to the prime minister – but her influence inside Number 10 has already been under scrutiny. The former Tory Party communications chief – who is taking her husband’s surname – was first romantically linked to Boris Johnson in media reports in early 2019, before he became Tory leader. The couple

The UK’s coronavirus failures have revealed the need for a “revolution in the way we run this country”, a former head of the civil service has said. Whitehall needs to be “more agile” and “we crucially need to be more prepared”, Lord Kerslake told Sky News. While stressing that he was not attacking Whitehall, which

Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds have released a photograph of their wedding day after the couple tied the knot in a surprise ceremony. The prime minister, 56, married Ms Symonds, 33, in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday. The image shows the couple in the Downing Street garden after the wedding. The ceremony

Boris Johnson has reportedly married fiancée Carrie Symonds in a surprise ceremony. The prime minister, 56, is said to have tied the knot with Ms Symonds, 33, in a small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral earlier on Saturday. Downing Street would not comment on reports in the Mail On Sunday and The Sun. “I have been

The government’s refusal to implement an insurance scheme for mass events this year means the festival industry is looking at a “lost summer”, according to a Commons report. Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage has previously ruled out the introduction of such a scheme, claiming it could “pull the rug out from underneath” organisers. Boomtown Festival, which

Matt Hancock committed a “minor breach” of the ministerial code when a coronavirus contract was awarded to his sister’s company in which he had share holdings, an independent report has found. Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministers’ interests, found that the health secretary made a “technical” breach of the ministerial code of conduct by

More than 1.5 million people flew into the UK between January and April while the UK’s borders were supposed to be heavily restricted, new figures reveal. Home Office data shows that about two-thirds of arrivals in 2021 were non-UK nationals. Labour says the figures demonstrate that the government’s border policy is “weak and dangerous”. Shadow

Matt Hancock has insisted the government “worked as hard as we could to protect care homes” following scathing criticism from Dominic Cummings. The health secretary has defended himself for the second time in a day in the wake of the attacks from Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser. One of the key claims made by Mr

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has denied claims that he lied about the COVID pandemic after a scathing attack by Dominic Cummings, saying “we have been straight with people”. Mr Hancock said: “Allegations that were put yesterday… are serious allegations and I welcome the opportunity to come to the house to put formally on the record

Health Secretary Matt Hancock says he did not watch all of Dominic Cummings’ testimony to MPs today because he was dealing with the vaccination rollout and “saving lives”. Mr Hancock came in for repeated attacks by the prime minister’s former adviser during a seven-hour-long committee hearing. Analysis: Hancock fighting for his political life after brutal

Dominic Cummings has said Boris Johnson initially considered COVID a “scare story” like swine flu. Boris Johnson’s former adviser kicked off a morning of questioning by MPs over the lessons learnt from the pandemic by saying the government did not do as much as it could in the early months of 2020. Explaining why Mr

Local authorities worst affected by the Indian variant have insisted no further COVID-19 travel restrictions apply to their areas after meeting government officials. The eight councils affected have said people are still allowed to travel in and out of the areas listed on the government website which were interpreted as having stricter measures placed on

Anti-Muslim sentiment “remains a problem” within the Conservative Party, an independent report has found. Professor Swaran Singh, a former equality and human rights commissioner, analysed 1,418 complaints relating to 727 separate incidents as recorded in the Tories’ complaints database between 2015 and 2020. In a 44,000-word report on his findings, he said: “Judging by the