Tag Archives: Politics

Covid Vaccine Passports: Boris Johnson Facing Tory Rebellion Over Certification Scheme

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More than 70 MPs as well as peers from the House of Lords have launched a campaign claiming coronavirus vaccine passports would be “divisive and discriminatory”.

The cross-party opposition includes 40 Tories and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

A pledge has been signed by Conservative former leader Sir Iain Duncan-Smith, Labour former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and ex-Lib Dem leader Tim Farron.

It has also been backed by a string of Tory former ministers including Esther McVey, Nus Ghani, Mark Harper and Harriett Baldwin.

Former shadow attorney general Baroness Shami Chakrabarti said the scheme would be “dangerous, discriminatory and counter-productive”.

The government has insisted no final decisions have been taken on whether Covid-status certification could play a role in reopening the economy.

It comes as a report in The Daily Telegraph suggested a series of pilot tests for certificates were being planned, which could include the FA Cup final and other sporting events in May.

Boris Johnson has defended the idea and suggested a certificate could give “maximum confidence” to businesses and customers as society reopens.

Any scheme is likely to go beyond just showing whether someone has had a vaccine – as jabs are not mandatory – covering whether they have had Covid-19, and so are likely to have antibodies, or if they have a negative recent test.

Baroness Chakrabarti, the former director of human rights organisation Liberty, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “It’s dangerous, it’s discriminatory, it’s counter-productive.”

The Labour peer warned that using coronavirus certificates could create a “checkpoint Britain” as she urged for the country to “open up together” as restrictions ease.

“It’s one thing to have a passport to travel internationally, that is a privilege, even a luxury, but participating in local community life is a fundamental right,” she added.

The group’s pledge has been backed by Big Brother Watch, Liberty, the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) and Privacy International.

Senior Tory MP Sir Graham Brady, who is also a signatory to the pledge, which has been backed by a string of Conservative former ministers, insisted the aim should be to return to normal life.

The chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs said: “Covid-status certification would be divisive and discriminatory.

“With high levels of vaccination protecting the vulnerable and making transmission less likely, we should aim to return to normal life, not to put permanent restrictions in place.”

Earlier this week, Labour leader Keir Starmer indicated there could be opposition to the move among the public if death rates are near zero and hospital admissions are very low.

A government spokeswoman said: “The review is considering a range of issues, including the ethical, equalities, privacy, legal and operational aspects, and what limits, if any, should be placed on organisations using certification.”

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said that introducing vaccine passports could potentially “scupper things” for hospitality venues which are trying to reopen.

On the possible use of coronavirus certificates, she told BBC Breakfast: “This would be an additional burden put on to the pubs. We are desperate to get back open again. We are desperate to do that.

“We will play our part in test and trace but the additional burden of the vaccine passport could really, really scupper things.

“It is a difficult process for us to implement in venues and yet today we have not had a consultation with the government about how we would do this in pubs.”

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Far-Right Will Use Government-Backed Race Report ‘As A Cover’ For Racism, Campaigners Warn

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The controversial government-backed report which claimed institutional racism does not exist in the UK will be used as a “cover” by the far-right to “peddle their own racism”, anti-racism campaigners have warned.

Hope Not Hate said the report contains a number of views that are often echoed in far-right groups, as well as right-wing media and on the right of the Conservative Party.

But the far right in particular will use the findings to “deny racism exists” and validate their own narrative of “white people being the real victims of racism”, which could lead to a rise in political and physical attacks on those who strive for racial equality, the campaigners said.

It came as leading the Runnymede Trust, a leading race equality think-tank, said the report was “littered with racist tropes”, including references to the “optimism” of some immigrants as opposed to others, references to absent Black fathers and claims of “rising sensitivity” among ethnic minorities to racism.

The commission “repeats harmful stereotypes”, “belittles the realities of racial injustice in this country” and has “set race relations back decades”, the trust said.

The review has sparked widespread criticism, particularly over its suggestion that British schools should teach “a new story” about slavery that is not only “about profit and suffering”. 

The day after its publication on Wednesday, Downing Street’s most senior Black adviser, Samuel Kasumu, quit his post, although No.10 sources insisted his departure had “absolutely nothing to do with the report”. 

Nick Lowles, director of Hope Not Hate, said the report amplified “libertarian conservative views on race” that were previously “consigned to the margins for 30 years”.

“The consequences could be very dangerous,” he told HuffPost UK.

“The far right, and racists generally, will use this report to deny racism exists and as a cover to peddle their own racism. 

“They will feel that their own narrative of white people being the real victims of racism will be validated and as a consequence we are also likely to see an increase in their political and physical attacks on those who strive for racial equality and justice.”

Lowles also highlighted January polling by Hope Not Hate which suggested 62% of ethnic minority Britons agree Black and Asian people face discrimination in their daily lives, while 40% experienced or saw racial violence in the past 12 months.

“The report is a small group of ideologically minded people telling huge swathes of ethnic minority communities that they are wrong about their own experiences,” he said.

Runnymede policy officer Alba Kapoor said the commission was “a fig leaf looking to disguise the realities of structural racism in our society, instead of taking meaningful steps to address it”.

She told HuffPost UK: “This report not only seeks to belittle the realities of racial injustice in this country, but it is also littered with concerning racist tropes.

“It repeats harmful stereotypes about ethnic minority family structures and goes so far as to claim that some experiences of racism are just imagined. 

“This rhetoric is offered without meaningful policy measures to address the injustices faced by Black and ethnic minority families that this government feigns concern for.

“However you spin it, these kinds of comments should never be seen in a government report, and set race relations back decades.”

Earlier, Boris Johnson called the review a “very interesting piece of work” but admitted more needed to be done to address racism.

“I don’t say the government is going to agree with absolutely everything in it, but it has some original and stimulating work in it that I think people need to read and to consider,” the prime minister said during a visit to Middlesbrough.

“There are very serious issues that our society faces to do with racism that we need to address.

“We’ve got to do more to fix it, we need to understand the severity of the problem, and we’re going to be looking at all the ideas that they have put forward, and we’ll be making our response.”

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Northern Independence Party Manifesto Plan Includes Referendum On Ditching The Queen

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Jonathan BradyPA

Reigning Queens screenprint by Andy Warhol

Legalisation of cannabis and referendums on ditching the Queen and scrapping the pound are among the manifesto plans of the newly formed Northern Independence Party that is fighting the Hartlepool by-election.

The draft programme of the NIP, which is a “democratic socialist” party that wants to repeat the SNP’s success in replacing Labour, calls for the public to be given a say over the currency and the monarchy alongside a raft of proposals to create a country of “Northumbria”.

The new state – which would include the north-west, north-east, Yorkshire and Humber, and Cheshire – would accept Brexit for now.

But the draft manifesto adds: “If however the people of a free North want to rejoin the EU at some point in the distant future, then that is a decision for the people.”

The NIP hopes to capitalise on discontent with Keir Starmer’s leadership by backing Thelma Walker, a former Labour MP and strong Jeremy Corbyn supporter, as a candidate in the Hartlepool by-election on May 6.

A draft “mini manifesto” for the local elections, which has been sent to members of the party for consultation but is not yet public, has been passed to HuffPost UK. A final version is expected to be ratified next week.

The mini-manifesto includes a wide range of policies including giving NHS nurses a 15% pay rise and all council workers a “real living wage” of £9.50 an hour.

Among the eclectic proposals are “an increase in the penalties for sheep worrying” to protect farmers, a lowering of the state pension age and council-run e-bike rental schemes.

Referendums of “the people of the free North” would be central to the new state, with the removal of the Queen as head of state and the creation of a new currency among the options.

“Many people in the North love the royal family, and it is not for us as a party to decide this,” the manifesto states.

“If enough people in a free North want to keep the Queen as head of state, as she is in many commonwealth countries, then she will be asked to be. If the majority of people want to be a republic, then we will be.”

Northern Independence Party

Northern Independence Party logo

It takes a similar view on whether to keep sterling. “We don’t know what the relationship between the pound, the euro, and other currencies will look like when we gain independence.

“There are important factors to consider on all sides – while introducing a new currency has costs, and would be disruptive, it could also make it easier to invest in rebuilding our hollowed-out industries, and make our exports more competitive on international markets.”

On drugs, the NIP states: “We believe that cannabis should be legalised, as it has across much of the US and Canada, and will favour harm reduction approaches to other illegal drugs.”

The manifesto also calls for privatised energy and water companies to be brought under public control locally, for more pilots of a universal basic income system and for stronger trans rights, including the legalisation to protect trans teenagers’ access to puberty blockers.

It proposes public libraries should be brought back under council or community ownership, and vows to “support local independent newspapers and journalism by writing for them, taking out adverts, and providing grants to new organisations”.

The NIP recognises that while independence is its ultimate goal, its candidates will in the short term have to “fight the system from within” by backing policies at council and Westminster level that would shift the UK in a more socialist direction.

Since its launch last year, the party has tried to use humour in its online media presence to boost its profile, recently defending the use of a whippet on its logo as a satire on perceptions of the north.

The NIP’s membership has soared since Walker was announced as its candidate for Hartlepool earlier this week, going up from 300 to 1300.

NIP co-funder Philip Proudfoot told HuffPost UK: ”A new state, in order to have buy-in and legitimacy would require lots of referendums, that direct democracy element is foundational to the project.

“If it comes to questions like ‘do you keep the monarchy?’, there’s an ongoing debate within an NIP whether we just put it in as a policy, and then if people vote for us that’s what they’re getting – or whether or not it would be a referendum to be decided.”

Proudfoot said that the party was made up of “ordinary people” ranging from farmers – who want tougher penalties to protect their sheep –  to mental health nurses, from teachers to the unemployed worried about Universal Credit.

Members are being asked for feedback on the draft manifesto ahead of a special meeting expected next week. “We’re trying to be hyper, hyper democratic,” Proudfoot said.

Referring to the cannabis policy, he added: “Our main target is of course, young, socially liberal, left-wing people living in our towns and cities in the north. What do they want? Legalisation of cannabis. It’s pretty standard now across the world, isn’t it?

“The people of Hartlepool do deserve to have a left-wing candidate. In terms of what will be our national policies, it’s kind of inspired by 2017 Labour, because that’s when the Labour party increased its vote share in the north.”

Here is a copy of the draft mini-manifesto – known as a “minifesto” – in full:

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Boris Johnson Believes He Acted With ‘Integrity And Honesty’ Over Links To Jennifer Arcuri

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Boris Johnson has insisted he acted with “integrity and honesty” during his time as London mayor, amid fresh questions about an alleged four-year affair with Jennifer Arcuri.

The prime minister is facing a London Assembly probe into whether he broke the City Hall code of conduct and whether he gave the American businesswoman “preferential treatment” while mayor.

Arcuri received £126,000 of taxpayers’ cash in event sponsorship and grants and Johnson spoke at a series of technology events she organised.

The entrepreneur was also afforded privileged access to three foreign trade missions led by Johnson when he was mayor.

Arcuri told the Sunday Mirror last week that she had an affair with Johnson between 2012 and 2016, while he was with his then-wife Marina Wheeler, who is the mother to four of the PM’s children.

In the interview, Arcuri said she slept with Johnson at the flat where she had a pole dancer’s pole, claimed they met once a week at the height of the affair, and recalled sending him topless pictures.

The PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton on Monday insisted Johnson had acted in accordance with the Nolan principles of standards in public life, a claim that will be examined by the Assembly.

She told reporters: “He does believe in the wider principles of integrity and honesty, I’ve said that he acts with integrity and honesty, and I’ve said that he follows the Nolan principles on conducting himself in public life.”

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Boris Johnson and Jennifer Arcuri

Stratton also repeatedly highlighted a prior report from the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which cleared Johnson of any criminal investigation.

The IOPC found that Johnson did not commit the criminal offence of misconduct in public office while in his role as mayor of London.

Stratton would not say whether Johnson believed Arcuri was given preferential treatment, saying: “I’m not going to comment on the particular… This has been looked at by the Independent Office for Police Conduct. They have looked at it. They have found there was no impropriety.”

In 2019, HuffPost UK revealed that Johnson’s lawyers had written to the Assembly’s oversight committee to challenge its demands for “extensive” details of his links to Arcuri.

They also suggested that it was not in “the public interest” for an Assembly investigation to take place as it “risked becoming politicised”.

Asked whether Johnson would cooperate with the probe, Stratton said: “Of course.”

But she refused to say whether he would give evidence in person to the oversight committee or submit written evidence.

“I’m not going to get into these hypotheticals,” she said.

“Let’s cross all those bridges when they come.”

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Fresh Calls For Inquiry Into David Cameron’s Ties With Scandal-Hit Banker

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Calls have intensified for an inquiry into David Cameron’s involvement with a scandal-hit banker after allegations surfaced that Lex Greensill was given privileged access to Whitehall departments.

An investigation by the Sunday Times alleged that Greensill enriched himself through a government-backed loan scheme he designed after the then prime minister gave him access to 11 departments and agencies.

He founded Greensill Capital, the firm that went on to employ Cameron but later collapsed, causing uncertainty for thousands of jobs at Liberty Steel, having been its main financial backer.

Labour and Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, called for a full inquiry into the “scandal”.

The allegations surfaced after the former Conservative leader faced scrutiny for reportedly trying to persuade government figures to grant emergency loans to Greensill Capital, where he was an adviser.

The Sunday Times report alleged the Australian financier was given access to the departments while Cameron was in No 10 so he could promote a financial product he specialised in.

The Pharmacy Early Payment Scheme, announced in 2012, saw banks swiftly reimburse pharmacists for providing NHS prescriptions, for a fee, before recovering the money from the government.

Greensill Capital went on to provide funds for the scheme.

Geensill could not be reached for comment, but the newspaper said he was understood to deny making large returns from a pharmacy deal.

Sir Alistair said: “There clearly should be a full inquiry because it sounds like a genuine scandal in which the public purse was put at risk without proper political authority.”

Labour’s shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Rachel Reeves, said: “These reports raise very serious questions about the conduct of former Conservative prime minister David Cameron and the access he gave Lex Greensill to ministers and Whitehall departments.

“The British people deserve answers to those questions. That’s why the Conservatives should agree to an urgent inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this latest scandal.”

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden defended his long-term ally on Sunday, saying Cameron is a “man of utmost integrity and I’ve no doubt at all he would have behaved properly”.

Asked on The Andrew Marr Show if there would be an inquiry, the Cabinet minister responded: “As far as I can tell, no decision in government policy was changed as a result of any meetings that took place. They’d be properly declared.”

A government spokesman said: “Lex Greensill acted as a supply chain finance adviser from 2012 to 2015 and as a crown representative for three years from 2013.

“His appointment was approved in the normal manner and he was not paid for either role.”

The office of Cameron, who was prime minister between 2010 and 2016, has not responded to a request for comment.

He was cleared of breaking lobbying rules by a watchdog after reportedly asking Chancellor Rishi Sunak to support Greensill Capital through the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility.

The Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists concluded that Cameron was an employee of Greensill Capital so was not required to declare himself on the register of consultant lobbyists.

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Moderna Vaccine Will Arrive In April, Oliver Dowden Says

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Yui MokPA

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden takes part in an on air interview outside BBC Broadcasting House in central London before appearing on the BBC1 current affairs programme, The Andrew Marr Show. Picture date: Sunday March 28, 2021.

The Moderna vaccine will arrive in the UK by the end of April, culture secretary Oliver Dowden has said. 

Speaking on Sunday, the cabinet minister sought to reassure Brits shipments of the new jab were still on course to reach the health service, after reports last week that the UK vaccine rollout could slide. 

He also confirmed all people would get their second jab of the Covid shot within 12 weeks of their first. 

Dowden cast doubt over whether people could begin booking summer holidays abroad, however, as a third wave of the pandemic appeared to be taking hold in mainland Europe. 

Ministers have insisted they will meet the target of giving a jab to all adults by July, but supplies have been affected by issues in India and a row with the European Union over exports has raised concerns.

Dowden insisted that the vaccination programme remains “on course”, telling BBC One’s Andrew Marr: “We expect that in April Moderna will come.”

The US vaccine has been approved for use in the UK and would be the third to be rolled out after Oxford/AstraZeneca and Pfizer.

The culture secretary said he could guarantee that everyone will get a second dose of a coronavirus vaccine within 12 weeks of their first after doubts were raised by French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.

“Yes, of course, we’ve been planning that all the way through. It’s one of the most important considerations as we’ve rolled out the vaccine,” Dowden told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.

Ian WestPA

Prime Minister Boris Johnson leaves 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament, London. Picture date: Wednesday March 17, 2021.

He said that “we clearly don’t currently have a surplus of vaccines” when asked about suggestions the UK was planning to offer 3.7 million jabs to Ireland.

Professor Mark Woolhouse, who advises the government on the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Modelling (Spi-M), said he was “a little bit nervous about a full relaxation” planned for June 21.

He told the BBC the road map to easing restrictions in England must be “guided by the data” particularly on vaccines, adding: “The idea that we can suddenly emerge from this in one great bound, I think, is a little over-optimistic.”

Dowden said another lockdown “is the last thing in the world we would want to do” but acknowledged dates in the road map may slip if things worsen.

“Of course they could be delayed if the situation deteriorates but at the moment we’re on track,” he told Marr.

Travel abroad is currently illegal other than for a few reasons but a government taskforce will on April 12 detail a review on whether foreign holidays can return.

Dowden said “all options” are being considered when asked about a possible system that could allow shorter quarantine periods with greater testing for countries deemed less risky.

But he told Ridge there are “challenges around international travel”, pointing towards rising infection rates in Europe.

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Whitehall Set To Run Liverpool Council As Corruption Probe Continues

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Andrew ParsonsPA

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick

Whitehall commissioners look set to take over running parts of Liverpool City Council as a corruption probe into the town hall continues.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick announced the proposal after a report by local government inspector Max Caller uncovered a “serious breakdown of governance” at the authority. 

The report, published on Wednesday, followed five arrests, including that of elected mayor Joe Anderson on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery and witness intimidation.

Jenrick told MPs the council was “failing to comply” with its commitment to taxpayers and inspectors had uncovered “a worrying lack of record-keeping” and the “awarding of dubious contracts”. 

The minister said the report was “not a verdict” on the authority’s staff, but that evidence of an “overall atmosphere of intimidation” had been found. 

Jenrick said he was writing to the council to outline an intervention package “centred on putting in place commissioners who I will appoint” to run aspects of the council for three years. 

He told the Commons: “I am also proposing that the council will, under the oversight of the commissioners, prepare and implement an improvement plan.”

Outlining a “deeply concerning picture of mismanagement, breakdown of scrutiny and accountability” at the council, he said: “As a whole, the report is unequivocal – that Liverpool City Council has failed in numerous respects to comply with its best value duty.

“It concludes that the council consistently failed to meet its statutory and managerial responsibilities and that the pervasive culture appeared to be rule avoidance.

“It further concludes that changes need to be radical, delivered at pace, and there was no confidence that the council itself would be able to implement these to any sensible timescale.

“There may also be further issues of which we are not yet aware, and the report is careful not to speak to matters that might compromise the ongoing police investigation.”

Peter ByrnePA

The Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has been suspended from the Labour Party

The council’s director of regeneration, Nick Kavanagh, was also arrested as part of the police probe into building and development contracts in the city, and this week it was confirmed he had been dismissed from his role at the authority.

In a statement to the Liverpool Echo, he said he intended to clear his name at a tribunal.

Anderson, 63, has also denied any wrongdoing.

Merseyside Police said all suspects remain under investigation but bail has not been extended.

Jenrick said a programme of “cultural change” is expected to ensure members and officers “understand their roles”, adding he hopes Liverpool City Council will “take the lead in the path to improvement”.

He said: “Given the gravity of the inspection findings, I must consider what would happen if the council fails to deliver the necessary changes at the necessary speed.

“I’m consequently proposing to direct the transfer of all executive functions associated with regeneration, highways and property management at the authority to the commissioners. These are for use should the council not satisfy the commissioners in their improvement processes.

“I hope it won’t be necessary for the commissioners to use these powers, but they must be – in my view – empowered to do so to deliver the reforms that are required.”

Jenrick said he is proposing Liverpool City Council will move to “whole council” elections from 2023, along with a proposal for a reduced number of councillors elected on single member wards.

He said he expects to receive representations in response to the report by May 24 and the forthcoming elections will proceed as planned in May.

Responding to Jenrick, shadow communities secretary Steve Reed said it was wrong to characterise the move as a “Tory takeover” of Liverpool.

He told the Commons: “This report raises grave and serious concerns about decision-making in key functions of Liverpool City Council. All councils are under an obligation to meet their best-value duty to ensure value for money at all times. In these respects, Liverpool City Council has been found severely wanting. Labour, both here and our leadership at the city council, accept this report in full.

“The council will respond to (Jenrick’s) letter in detail but we support his intention to appoint commissioners, not at this stage to run the council, as he says, but to advise and support elected representatives in strengthening the council’s systems. This is a measured and appropriate approach.

“I want to reassure people in Liverpool that this does not mean Government ministers are coming in to run their city directly. This is not, as some would put it, a Tory takeover.

Liverpool has become a by­word for anti­-Tory sentiment – the city last had a Conservative MP 38 years ago and its last Conservative councillor lost his seat 23 years ago.

Derek Hatton, who was a member of Labour’s Militant faction and deputy mayor of the city council in the 1980s, said on Twitter: “Today could see the most outrageous and politically corrupt front to local democracy any of [us] have ever witnessed.

“Even in the ’80s Thatcher stopped short of imposing commissioners […] after she threw 47 of us out, local elections allowed 47 new Labour councillors to be then elected.”

Tom Crone, leader of the city’s Green Party group, said on Twitter: “If the government takes over Liverpool Council, that would be a disaster for the city. That we are even talking about it is a shocking indictment of this Labour administration.”

The focus of Caller’s investigation is on property management, regeneration, highways, contracts and planning at the council over the past five years.

Local elections, including a vote to elect Anderson’s successor, are due to take place in May.

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Senior Tory Warns Against Forcing Care Home Staff To Have Vaccines

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A Tory former cabinet minister has warned the government against forcing care home staff to have coronavirus vaccinations. 

David Davis claimed mandating jabs for healthcare workers would be “illegal” and in breach of international law.

But Downing Street pointed out that some NHS staff are already required to get the hepatitis B vaccine, providing a “clear precedent” for mandatory Covid vaccines.

The clash came as health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed the government was considering legally requiring care home workers in England to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Hancock insisted “no final decision” had been made amid a review into so-called vaccine passports, but confirmed that ministers were looking at jabs being made compulsory for care workers in England.

The plans have emerged amid concerns of low uptake from staff in care homes looking after those who are among the most vulnerable of death the disease, with around 24% of care workers remaining unvaccinated.

However, Davis’s comments highlighted the potential for the proposals to run into strong opposition from civil liberties Tories, who are already preparing to vote against the extension of Covid restrictions on Thursday.

It came after the Telegraph reported leaked details of a paper submitted to the “Covid O” sub-committee of Cabinet which said that prime minister Boris Johnson and Hancock had agreed to the proposal.

Hancock told LBC: “Because people who are looking after elderly residents in care homes, who we know to be the most vulnerable to Covid, they have a duty of care not to pass on the disease and it is a reasonable question.”

He said “many” care homes had asked for this to happen, adding: “There’s a legal change that’s required and, as you can see, I’m open to that, but no final decision has been taken.”

Davis, who is a staunch civil liberties campaigner, conceded there were “precedents” for mandatory vaccines, including hepatitis B vaccines. 

But the former Brexit secretary suggested the comparison with hepatitis B vaccines was unfair, insisting these have been in use since the 1980s and have a long-term safety record.

Davis argued that the best way to protect care home residents was to ensure that they themselves are vaccinated and are therefore at far less risk of death or serious illness.

Barcroft Media via Barcroft Media via Getty Images

Tory former cabinet minister David Davis

He told the Commons public administration committee (PACAC): “It’s illegal to require vaccination at the moment.

“We are bound ourselves by both UN and European international agreements to the use of medical treatment.

“Medical treatment as it stands must only be for the benefit of the person it’s administered to.

“Medical treatment must not be administered for, as it were, communal purposes – otherwise we’ll all be giving mandatory blood transfusions and so on.

“I give blood anyway, but you’d have requirements like that.

“So that’s against both international and national laws.

“The answer… is to solve the problem by the method which is legal and acceptable, which is to vaccinate the people who are at risk.

“Look, if I were running a care home, and I am very pro-vaccines, I would say to all my workers – I would like you to vaccinate in the interests of our clients.

“But I couldn’t force it, and I don’t foresee a way which we can force it.

“And if you tried to say it’s now a requirement of your job, I don’t think the courts would uphold it – apart from anything else because you are costing someone their job for a requirement which can’t be enforced in law.” 

Responding, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “This is something that happens already, for example doctors are required to have the hepatitis B vaccine. 

“So there is a clear precedent for this proposition, elderly people in care homes are the most vulnerable to this disease. 

“And this is something that care homes have actually called for.”

It came as the Independent Care Group, which represents providers in York and North Yorkshire, said making the vaccine mandatory for care workers could put people off from joining the sector.

WPA Pool via Getty Images

A member of staff receives the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Abercorn House care home in Scotland on December 14

Chair Mike Padgham said it is vital care workers get vaccinated but it should be voluntary, adding: “I think rather than force it through legislation, the government has more work to do in terms of persuading everyone, not just care workers, about how important it is that the whole country has the vaccine so that we are all protected.”

Davis also cautioned the government against introducing so-called vaccine passports to allow immunised people to do certain activities, for example visiting a pub or attending a football match.

He said introducing Covid status certificates, which are currently being reviewed by the government, could be discriminatory against communities reluctant to take up the vaccine.

Davis told MPs: “The impact of this would be discriminatory. Under the law, it would be indirectly discriminatory and that is illegal. 

“You may well find, it has been said, that Black and ethnic minority communities are less inclined to get vaccinated, well that would be indirect discrimination.”

Younger people were also less likely to have the jab and “some people have ethical or religious objections”, he said.

“There are a variety of good reasons for people not to take a vaccine. I’ve had a vaccine and I think most of the reasons are not ones I would subscribe to.

“But people have that freedom. What this proposal does is, in effect, coerce those people.”

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Europe’s Third Wave Of Covid Will ‘Wash Up On Our Shores As Well’, Warns Boris Johnson

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Boris Johnson has warned the third wave of coronavirus that has hit Europe will “wash up on our shores as well”.

Speaking on Monday afternoon, the prime minister said the UK “will feel those effects in due course”.

But he said the government would “bash on with the roadmap” it set out to gradually lift lockdown restrictions over the next few months.

It comes as EU leaders are set to meet on Thursday to decide whether to ban the export of Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines to the UK.

There is frustration in the EU, which is lagging behind the UK in the rollout of its vaccination programme, over whether member states will get the supplies they expected.

Johnson is expected to ask European leaders this week to avoid triggering a vaccine supply war between the UK and EU.

The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is manufactured in several different factories, including two in the UK and two in the EU.

Downing Street said it remained “confident” in the UK’s vaccine supplies and repeated that the NHS was “on track” to offer first doses to all over-50s by April 15, and all other adults by the end of July. 

Johnson said: “I’ve talked to our (European) friends repeatedly over the period — we’re all facing the same pandemic, we all have the same problems.

“If there is one thing that is worth stressing is that on the continent right now you can see sadly there is a third wave under way.

“People in this country should be under no illusions that previous experience has taught us that when a wave hits our friends, it washes up on our shores as well.

“I expect that we will feel those effects in due course.

“That’s why we’re getting on with our vaccination programme as fast as we can but a vaccination campaign and developing vaccines, rolling them out— these are international projects and they require international co-operation.”

Tuesday marks a year since the first lockdown was imposed in the UK. MPs will this week be asked to grant a six-month extension to the government’s lockdown powers.

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Tory MPs Demand Boris Johnson Justify Extending ‘Authoritarian’ Lockdown Laws

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Boris Johnson has been told to justify seeking a six-month extension to “authoritarian” lockdown powers in England, amid a Commons rebellion from Conservative MPs.

The government is expected to receive approval from MPs to extend measures within the Coronavirus Act until October.

But senior Tories from the Covid Recovery Group (CRG) have raised concerns over how such a move is consistent with the prime minister’s pledge to restore the country’s freedoms as the vaccine programme rolls out.

Former minister Steve Baker, the CRG’s deputy chairman, said he expects to vote against the measures on Thursday.

Asked about the size of the Conservative rebellion, Baker told Sophy Ridge On Sunday on Sky News: “It’s very difficult to say until we’ve seen the exact detail of what the government is tabling and how the votes will come.

“Let’s be absolutely clear, because it seems Labour and the SNP will vote for any old authoritarianism these days, it looks like the Government will get their business with an enormous majority.

“But I do think it’s important that some of us do seek to hold the government to account with these extraordinary powers.”

Baker, in a separate statement, also said: “With so many vulnerable people now vaccinated, people may ask why the restrictions the government is bringing in this coming week are tougher than they were last summer when we didn’t have a vaccine.

“The detention powers in the Coronavirus Act are disproportionate, extreme, and wholly unnecessary.

“Renewing them would not be reconcilable with the Prime Minister’s guarantee that we are on a ‘one-way road to freedom’ by June 21.”

CRG chairman Mark Harper, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, also challenged the Government’s thinking on its road map to recovery.

He said “reasonable people” would wonder if the Government had struck the right balance in continuing present guidelines curbing family gatherings through Easter.

Harper wrote: “Staying with your family won’t just be illegal for Easter weekend, it will be unlawful until May 17 at the earliest – whatever the data say. The road map is ‘dates, not data’.”

He questioned “draconian” powers in the legislation, adding the police response in the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard last weekend had been partly the result of “poorly drafted” emergency pandemic laws.

But defence secretary Ben Wallace defended the government’s plans, telling Sky News: “The final mile is the most important thing for us all, make sure we buckle down, get through the different stages the prime minister set out.

“At each stage we will be taking assessments from the science, from where we are in the pandemic, and take the steps required.

“It is not a one-way street. Just because we are seeking to extend the powers doesn’t mean we are deaf to how facts change on the ground.”

For Labour, shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy said there are powers within the Act which need to be debated to assess if they are necessary.

She told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “What the vote is this week is about the road map, about easing the road map, it’s about statutory sick pay, it’s about the ban on evictions, all measures that we’ve pushed for, we certainly won’t be standing in the way of the government in getting this legislation passed.”

Shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth expressed frustration at MPs not being allowed to table amendments and offered to work with senior Conservatives to find a way to do this.

Elsewhere, Professor Jeremy Brown, a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), warned a “very large number” of at-risk people could develop a “serious” Covid-19 infection if restrictions are lifted now.

He said between 90% and 95% of people who are at high risk have been vaccinated, but mostly with one dose, which does not provide full protection.

He told Sky News: “If you lift restrictions, even though most people who are at risk have been vaccinated, the proportion who have not still represent a very large number of people who could end up with serious infection.”

Dr Mary Ramsay, Public Health England’s head of immunisation, also told the BBC: “I think it’s very important that we don’t relax too quickly.”

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