EU
Express
A EUROPEAN UNION bid to block UK based financial firms from accessing European markets may have backfired according to an industry regulator.
Britain and the EU have very similar financial regulations and after Brexit the UK granted European firms equivalence, or equal access, in a range of areas. However Brussels refused to reciprocate creating a major challenge for British banks.
However according to Nikhil Rathi, who runs the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), this decision may backfire on the EU.
He also insisted Britain will not seek equal European financial market access at any price.
Instead Mr Rathi suggested the UK will use post-Brexit freedoms to make its financial services more efficient.
During a speech to the Association of Foreign Banks he commented: “EU banks are now no longer able to offer to their clients full access to all pools of global liquidity for the trading of interest rate swaps and certain credit derivatives, as UK venues have retained material market share in various products.
Fisheries
Telegraph
French authorities have announced that Jersey fishermen will be banned from landing their catch at three ports in response to the row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
In a tit-for-tat retaliation, local leaders in La Manche, Normandy, said that boats from the Channel island would be suspended from entering the ports of Granville, Barneville-Carteret and Dielette until further notice.
It came as Jersey fishermen on Friday told The Telegraph they had been unable to land their hauls since Monday, with one fisherman actively prevented from landing in Carteret on Thursday afternoon.
Conservative Party
Mail
Ministers have predicted that Boris Johnson could rule longer than Margaret Thatcher as results showed the Tories could take 36 more Westminster seats from Labour at the next General Election.
Labour was thrashed in the Hartlepool by-election on Thursday, with Jill Mortimer securing a majority of almost 7,000 in a seat the Tories had not held since 1964.
In a second stunning Tory victory in the North East, Ben Houchen secured a second term as Tees Valley mayor. He grabbed 73 per cent of the vote – up from 39.5 per cent four years ago.
The Conservatives gained control of a series of councils, including Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Dudley, Harlow and Nuneaton and Bedworth – reversing the mid-term slump often suffered by governing parties.
Cabinet ministers believe there has been a permanent shift in the nation’s political identity and claimed Mr Johnson could outlast Margaret Thatcher’s 11 years in Downing Street, The Times reports.
They believe the Conservative Party must establish its electoral advantage by winning the ‘culture wars’ and challenging ‘woke’ views.
Sir Keir Starmer is now considering moving the party out of London to reconnect with Red Wall voters, sources told the Guardian.
Sun
BORIS Johnson is “preparing for 10 years as Prime Minister” after a stonking election triumph in Labour’s former heartlands.
After a brutal year of pandemic ups and downs, the Prime Minister is riding high with an earthquake 7,000 majority win in Hartlepool – which had been Labour-held since 1974.
The Conservative candidate Jill Mortimer gained 15,529 votes – more than half the total cast – with Labour’s Paul Williams trailing on 8,589.
It was the biggest by-election win by a party in government since the Second World War.
And cabinet ministers believe there has been a permanent shift in the nation’s political identity and claimed Johnson could outlast Margaret Thatcher’s 11 years in Downing Street, The Times reports.
They said the Conservatives must cement its electoral advantage by winning the “culture wars” and challenging “woke” views.
Labour Party
Times
As polls closed in Hartlepool on Thursday night, Sir Keir Starmer and his closest aides spoke to discuss the impending result and how to handle the fallout. They were resigned to a defeat but had not anticipated its scale.
“Our vote is holding up,” one official in the town messaged late on Thursday, in a view relayed to Starmer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington, his political director. “The problem is that the Brexit Party is folding into the Tories.”
Yet as Starmer watched the result come through from his north London home, just after seven o’clock the following morning, it was soon apparent that this was not the only problem.
Guardian
The Conservatives inflicted a historic byelection defeat on Labour and regained the Tees Valley mayoralty by a landslide as Keir Starmer conceded his party had lost the trust of working people across England.
The Labour leader, who called the local election results “bitterly disappointing”, is considering moving his party’s headquarters out of London to reflect Labour’s determination to show that it represents the whole country, party sources told the Guardian.
He is also expected to reshuffle his top team and launch an across-the-board review of the party’s policies.
Amid tensions at the top of Labour as recriminations flew on Friday, the deputy leader, Angela Rayner, was said by allies to be frustrated at the tight control exercised by the leader’s office over campaign messaging and strategy. Some party aides had sought to blame Rayner, who is Labour’s national campaign coordinator, for the poor performance.
The party had expected to lose in Hartlepool, but the Tories took the seat – for the first time since it was created – by a much larger than expected majority of almost 7,000. That represented a dramatic swing of 16% towards the Conservatives. The shadow communities secretary, Steve Reed, called the result “shattering”.
Covid
Telegraph
Covid will no longer be circulating in Britain by August, one of the UK’s top vaccine experts has predicted, as cases of the virus continue to plunge.
In an interview with The Telegraph a week after stepping down as interim head of the vaccine taskforce, Clive Dix said the population would be safe from the disease in a matter of months. “Sometime in August, we will have no circulating virus in the UK,” he said.
The UK remained on track to meet its target of giving all adults at least one Covid jab by the end of July, he said.
Mr Dix said this should give adequate protection against both the original Covid strain and all known variants of the disease, meaning booster vaccinations could be delayed from autumn until next year.
He also urged Britain to lead the crusade against vaccine nationalism by sharing millions of spare doses with countries most in need.
It was Mr Dix’s “personal prediction” that “we will have probably protected the population” in three months’ time, adding: “All the variants that are known; I think we’ll be safe against over the coming winter.”
ITV News
The number of Covid-19 infections in England and Wales has dropped to its lowest level for eight months, new figures suggest.
Around one in 1,180 people in private households in England had Covid-19 in the week to May 2, down from one in 1,010 the previous week, according to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
It is the lowest figure since the week to September 5 2020, when the estimate stood at one in 1,400.
The percentage of people testing positive for coronavirus is estimated to have decreased in all regions of England except in Yorkshire and the Humber, eastern England and London where the trend is uncertain, the ONS said.
Yorkshire and the Humber had the highest proportion of people of any region in England likely to test positive for coronavirus in the week to May 2: around one in 470.
South-west England had the lowest estimate: around one in 6,410.
In Wales, around one in 2,070 people in private households is estimated to have had Covid-19 in the week to May 2 – down from one in 1,570 in the previous week, and the lowest since the week to September 5.
Mail
England’s coronavirus cases have halved in a month, the R rate is still below one, and the number of people in hospital has dropped below 1,000 for the first time since September, promising data revealed today.
Just 46,000 people had coronavirus in England on any given day last week, or one in 1,180 people, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figure was around 112,000 towards the start of April – and is down 15 per cent last Friday’s estimate.
No10’s top scientists said the reproduction rate – which tracks the spread of the virus – was between 0.8 and 1.0, meaning the outbreak is still shrinking. This was down from 0.8 to 1.1 in the previous seven-day period.
Meanwhile, NHS figures show the number of infected patients in hospitals across England has dropped into three figures for the first time since the second wave spiralled out of control nine months ago. Daily admissions are now below 100.
The data follows on from promising statistics from Public Health England and a symptom-tracking app yesterday, which showed the easing of restrictions on April 12 has not triggered any spike in the disease.
Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to speed up his roadmap out of lockdown, with businesses and MPs warning that they risk suffering another lost summer if there are further delays. But the Prime Minister has refused to budge from plans to re-allow holidays and indoor hospitality from May 17, despite promising he would be led by ‘data not dates’.
Celebrating the Tories delivering a hammer blow to the Labour’s Red Wall in the local elections, Mr Johnson said he ‘can’t see any reason’ to delay the remaining steps along the road map out of Covid restrictions.
Telegraph
The NHS app will be ready to be used as a digital vaccine passport in time for passengers to go on their summer holidays from May 17, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, announced Friday night.
NHSX, the digital arm of the service, is racing to enable the app to be used by holidaymakers to prove that they are fully vaccinated when they arrive at their destination once the ban on travel is lifted from May 17.
There have been fears of delays as sources have reported difficulties over verifying the identity of the app’s user and the need to create a separate secure database of people’s vaccination data.
Its operation is vital because it means British holidaymakers will be able to sidestep expensive PCR tests on arrival in most countries.
At least 20 countries including green-listed Portugal have already indicated that they will accept vaccination certificates as an alternative to PCR tests for holidaymakers to prove their Covid status.
Mr Shapps said: “If needed, people in England who have both vaccine doses will be able to demonstrate their Covid vaccination status via the NHS app from May 17.
“Those without access to the app can request a letter from the NHS proving their vaccination status by calling 119, from 17 May.”
Two thirds of the adult population in Britain has so far been vaccinated. The app, which links directly to people’s medical records and can be used to book appointments, is updated automatically with your vaccination data by your GP.
TV licence
Express
A FORMER Labour MP and Brexit supporter has called for the licence fee to be abolished as a result of the BBC’s “derisory nasty tone” ahead of the election.
Baroness Hoey made the claim as Labour suffered electoral disaster losing the Hartlepool by-election to the Tories and a swath of council seats. More results from Scotland, Wales, London and other English councils are expected throughout Friday and over the weekend.
Baroness Hoey tweeted: “Expect there is quite a lot of misery [at] BBC News today and amongst so many journalists that all their biased attacks and insinuations on Boris Johnson did not work.
“Criticism is one thing but their derisory nasty tone has been rejected by the public.
“Time to end the licence fee!”
It is a legal requirement in the UK to pay the licence fee, which funds the BBC, if you want to watch any live television.
This costs £159 for a colour licence or £53.50 for the black and white option.
The BBC strongly refutes claims its output is politically partisan.
The corporation’s guidelines state: “The BBC is committed to achieving due impartiality in all its output.
“This commitment is fundamental to our reputation, our values and the trust of audiences.”
Holidays
Telegraph
Green. A compelling, persuasive colour. Symbolic of so much. Of rebirth and renewal. Of growth. Of advancement and forward motion. Of that basic instruction to go, and go now. Certainly, all these connotations ring true today, now the government has finally announced its “green list” of countries that are officially sanctioned as safe destinations for British tourists in the coming months. The announcement had been much promised – but had been notably light on detail – for several weeks. Now, at last, we have it; a tally of places that we can consider for holidays from May 17 onwards. Let summer commence.
Naturally, there is plenty of disappointment to go with the excitement. For now, the list is short; more a takeaway lunch menu than a decadent feast. And of the countries included on it, two are only theoretical possibilities – in practice, New Zealand and Australia have both been clear that their borders will probably remain shut for the remainder of this year.
This though, is just a beginning. Obvious omissions and popular places – such as France, Spain and Italy are likely to appear on the “green list” in June or July, as more of mainland Europe becomes vaccinated. The choice will broaden as the weather improves.
Mirror
The Government has revealed the 12 countries or territories that will be on a travel ‘green list’ when overseas holidays are allowed again from May 17.
Portugal, including Madeira and the Azores, Israel, Iceland, Gibraltar, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Singapore, Faroe Islands and the Falkland Islands are on the green list, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed at a Downing Street press conference.
Travellers to these countries will not have to quarantine on their return to the UK.
But anyone who travels to “red list” countries such as India, South Africa and, from May 12, Turkey, Maldives and Nepal, will be forced to stay in a hotel at their own expense.
Mr Shapps also asked Chelsea and Manchester City fans not to travel to Istanbul for the Champions League final on May 29, and said the government were open to hosting the match in this country.
Most of Europe, including Spain, France, Greece and Italy, is designated “amber”, so people who travel there will be expected to quarantine at home when they return.
Express
THE GREEN list has been eagerly anticipated by Britons wanting to get away for a holiday this summer – and the wait is finally over. Here is the full list of green countries you can travel to from the UK.
Travel restrictions for international holidays will be lifted on May 17 as part of the Government’s next steps to ease lockdown. Countries have been split into three categories: green, amber and red. These colours are assigned based on each destination’s rate of Covid infections, rate of vaccination, and the prevalence of any virus variants or strains of concern. The lowest risk countries have been designated ‘green’ and will have the most relaxed restrictions – making these countries ideal holiday hotspots for those who can’t wait to get away.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has hosted a press conference this afternoon in regards to which countries will be on the green list.
Mr Shapps, addressing the nation from Downing Street, said the Government wants a summer in which people can be reunited with family members through vaccines and a good testing programme.
The Secretary of State confirmed the Government will be going ahead with the traffic light system.
He said countries on the red list shouldn’t be visited except in the most exceptional circumstances.
Telegraph
The NHS app will be ready to be used as a digital vaccine passport in time for passengers to go on their summer holidays from May 17, Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, announced Friday night.
NHSX, the digital arm of the service, is racing to enable the app to be used by holidaymakers to prove that they are fully vaccinated when they arrive at their destination once the ban on travel is lifted from May 17.
There have been fears of delays as sources have reported difficulties over verifying the identity of the app’s user and the need to create a separate secure database of people’s vaccination data.
Its operation is vital because it means British holidaymakers will be able to sidestep expensive PCR tests on arrival in most countries.
At least 20 countries including green-listed Portugal have already indicated that they will accept vaccination certificates as an alternative to PCR tests for holidaymakers to prove their Covid status.
Mr Shapps said: “If needed, people in England who have both vaccine doses will be able to demonstrate their Covid vaccination status via the NHS app from May 17.
“Those without access to the app can request a letter from the NHS proving their vaccination status by calling 119, from 17 May.”
Football
Evening Standard
Istanbul’s status as the host city for this month’s Champions League Final between Manchester City and Chelsea is in major doubt after Turkey was added to the Government’s list of coronavirus “red list” countries for travel, with the UK ready to step in and host the game instead.
Uefa have been adamant that the final of European football’s premier club competition will be held as planned at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium on Saturday, May 29, despite questions over the suitability of fans travelling from England and growing calls for the match to be moved to the UK.
However, Turkey has now been officially added to the UK’s “red list”, with transport secretary Grant Shapps reiterating on Friday that such nations “should not be visited except in the most extreme of circumstances, where repeated testing and isolation in designated Government hotels on return is compulsory”.
He said: “Non-UK residents who have been in a red country in the last 10 days will still be barred from entering the UK.
“I must tell you that now due to concerns about Covid rates and variants of concern, Turkey, the Maldives, Nepal must regrettably be added to the red list.”
Guardian
The Football Association is in talks with Uefa over relocating the Champions League final to England after Turkey was placed on the UK government’s travel red list.
Uefa had been expected to confirm details on Friday for the final on 29 May, with Manchester City and Chelsea fans expected to be allocated at least 4,000 tickets each for the match in Istanbul. That decision has been postponed pending negotiations, however, with English supporters told to stay at home by the UK government.
The chances of the game staying in Turkey are remote unless the players are granted an exemption from having to quarantine for 10 days in a government-approved hotel on their return to the UK.
Good summary here.
https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/the-real-question-labour-cant-answer-48d?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoxNDc4NzA4OCwicG9zdF9pZCI6MzYxNTI4OTYsIl8iOiJMbitSNyIsImlhdCI6MTYyMDQ2NjQwOSwiZXhwIjoxNjIwNDcwMDA5LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNzc2NTUiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.qbWAYElLVWNIx2rinLCDEuoEJ3_RUOIfI9m-pgOHYlM
“a permanent shift in the nation’s political identity”
Are we seeing at long last a rejection of Labour with its cast-iron belief that it alone has the right to working class votes? If so it has been a long time coming. Blair and smooth metropolitans like him have been the public face of Labour for decades, and the allegedly false tale of Mandleson’s mistaking mushy peas for guacamole has resonance because it fits so neatly with the reality – posh southerners demanding the right to represent real people.
“an earthquake 7,000 majority win in Hartlepool – which had been Labour-held since 1974.”
There’s a point when it becomes imperative to change political allegiance. When the party you have given your loyalty to no longer cares about you – putting up a Remainer/Rejoiner in Hartlepool made it clear to the voters that they were just cannon-fodder – eventually enough is enough. No-one likes being cannon fodder.
“The problem is that the Brexit Party is folding into the Tories.”
There’s a surprise – people came from all parties to fight and win Brexit, looked at the parties on offer and saw no chance of influence other than the Tories: they held their noses and voted Blue.
“Keir Starmer conceded his party had lost the trust of working people across England.” Antisemitic while calling everyone else racist. Tolerant of vote rigging when it gives them political advantage. Prepared to sacrifice the bodies and lives of young white and Sikh girls to avoid losing votes. Fanatical about energy policies that will lose the UK huge opportunities to exploit the switch of Germany and the US to unreliable and astronomically expensive ‘renewable’ energy. Working people like to work.
I have personal experience of watching the Labour Party losing a lifelong supporter. My old Mum was brought up in a mediaeval level of poverty, saw the Depression and the uncaring face of ConLib politics. She hated, literally hated the Tories.
Then one day reading the Express she asked me “is it true that that Labour is against the grammar schools?”
“Yes. Shirley Williams etc etc.”
“Why?”
“Damned if I know. Maybe they can’t take the competition,”
The one thing she understood was that the way out of poverty is education, and the grammar schools allowed bright working class children like her sons to compete on equal terms against those with the advantages in life which she couldn’t offer them. Once lost, never regained.
Unless the minor parties unite around a manifesto that gives the UK economic advantage, rejects positive racism and abandons obvious nonsense like the Climate Change Act and Eddy Izzard then they will get nowhere. Otherwise there will have to be a cataclysmic crisis before the political world can change.
JF
JF your Mum was dead right. It worked for me (PB will know of Rutlish School) and I get the impression Grammar School worked for you too. I left the area at 18, done well and have never / shall never go back.
Someone told me that the Tories closed just as many grammar schools as Labour.
Why was it that Mrs Thatcher with a thumping majority in the 80s never rescinded Labours 1965 edict introduction comprehensive eductation?
I remember reading at the time that the Tories quietly felt very uneasy at poor young bright kids in poor Labour constituencies passing their 11 + and going to gain better qualifications and jobs at the expense of Middle England Tory kids that failed the 11 plus.
This video of Doug Billings interviewing Maria Zack and General Tom McInerny talks about some shocking stuff that has been going on in the US and I have no reason to doubt. Disturbing stuff about Barack Obama, election fraud, Covid-19 and government corruption generally.
“Doug Billings Interviews Maria Zack & General Tom McInerny”
https://dougbillings.us/video/breaking-news-from-maria-zack-general-tom-mcinerny/
The video is an hour long but if you fast forward through the commercial breaks it isn’t too bad.
10 more years of New Labour it is then. No escape. Dooomed!
10 yrs – I thought it refered to the PM. I’ll re-read.
BJ PM for ten plus years – not likelly is it?
As to the current seat warmer, the Brexit ‘surrender treaty’ unravels more each day.
Hopefully the people of this country will eventually wake up to this state of affairs asking how did we get here?
Then, we might ditch BJ PM along with large tranches of the EC document his govmt signed off. It will of course mean ditching the many sell out mps.
I’ve been working against my remain mp, who lost some eight pct of his previous vote at the last election. (No not that conceited to think it was just me!).
One can start by asking all and sundry inconvenient questions such as:
– have you ever met our mp?
– have you ever seen him except on tv?
– at the last fete / games / exhibition did he turn up to say good things about the organisation, shake hands,talk to (real people) the electorate and so on?
– have you seen the statistics of car suspension damage due to potholes, and all that fuel tax, vat on insurance?
– school buses only over two miles; have you ever walked a five year old to school in Winter along narrow overgrown verges (no pavement), in darkness and rain, yes with cars coming towards you at 60 mph?
– rural area, do you remember the mp who introduced vat on heating fuel as the common market told him to?
Previously heating fuel was (luxury tax, now) vat exempt. What is that costing you, and now Brexit has happened when will it be repealed? That mp had the coldest place in Britain in his constituency until the following election (yes!). Turkeys and Chritmas comes to mind.
Queries do not have to be party political. It is seed sowing as has been used against us by other ascending parties / organisations. Its a start.
The Medical profession needs a make over. NO. Sorry. All professions need protection against power, not just too much power, any power. They also need protection against political sicknesses, such a s Union rot, membership obesity, Political cancers, Rationale dysfunction, wall-eyed wall collision, Implacable modelling syndrome. And many other symptoms of power glory pronunciations. I include my personal weakness :- Pontification proclivity.
Seriously +!?*
The prophets of Covid ( Flu )
Many professions need a makeover before giving them protection. I am beyond disgusted with the way that the one I am a member of has swallowed the Green Crap completely and even appointed a president with Greta inspired views. I’m not sure just how much of the membership is equally infected but I guess the younger ones have been indoctrinated through their recent education.
Of course many more welcome the potential works and consequent opportunities for profit; maybe they need to consider the damage being done and opportunities lost for our descendants.
Never mind the green stuff, yes my profession has suffered that too, but stern resistance at kum-by-ya meetings
(that’s cobblers and here is why . . .style of comments. No not me, but good fun watching the wriggling).
I’d like to see the judiciary work more than four hours a day; hospital ‘specialists’ only seeing your ailment on a Wednesday; lawyers extortionate charging by the six minutes – includes their ‘toilet breaks’ and bankers, well, and on and on. Apart from golf what do these people do all day for their money?