Brexit

Express
UNELECTED peers inflicted a string of defeats on the government last night over Brexit immigration changes. The House of Lords went against the government repeatedly over legislation ending freedom of movement. It means the flagship bill faces a legislative tussle, known as parliamentary ping pong, where it bounces between MPs and peers. The immigration bill sets out the new system that will come into force on January 1 after Brexit transition rules end. It puts an end to the EU’s freedom of movement policy and introduces a points-based system instead. Peers backed a Labour-led demand for an independent review into the impact of rules changes on social care amid warnings it could fuel staff shortages.

BBC News
The government has faced a string of defeats in the House of Lords over its post-Brexit immigration bill. The proposed legislation has passed its initial stages in the Commons – where Boris Johnson has a majority of 80. But peers have now approved five amendments while scrutinising the bill. They include keeping the current rules for unaccompanied child refugees after the end of the transition period, which sees them reunited with close relatives in the UK.

EU

Independent
EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has met German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin for talks on the Brexit crisis, as Germany urges the UK to agree a compromise trade deal. Goldman Sachs said a deal was still “likely” in early November – but warned a breakdown in negotiations could not be ruled out. It comes as chancellor Rishi Sunak defended his Eat Out to Help Out scheme – despite Mr Johnson’s suggestion it may have helped spread the coronavirus.

Express
MICHEL Barnier will hold crunch talks with European coastal states after Boris Johnson warned EU vessels would be locked out of British waters without a Brexit pact. The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator will beg ministers from the bloc’s most influential fishing states for more wriggle room to break the deadlock in talks with the UK over a trade deal. He is understood to be ready to make concessions in an attempt to stop talks about a future EU-UK trade deal collapsing this month. A source said: “He will be in contact with fisheries ministers this week.”

Sun
GERMANY needs a Brexit deal more than ever due to the economic havoc wrought by the Coronavirus pandemic, its foreign minister has admitted. Heiko Maas said there is “more at stake today than a year ago” as the trade negotiations enter a decisive fortnight. His remarks came amid signs Angela Merkel is set to press other leaders – especially Emmanuel Macron – to back down from their hardline stance. The German chancellor met Michel Barnier in Berlin today to thrash out how the pair can save the Brexit talks after nine-months of stalemate. Mr Maas, who also saw the EU’s chief negotiator, warned both sides would be “totally irresponsible” to let No Deal happen.

Express
GERMANY needs a Brexit deal more than ever as Angela Merkel prepares for economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, Berlin’s foreign minister warned. The German Chancellor is expected to push hardliners, like Emmanuel Macron, to drop controversial demands that could scupper talks about a future EU-UK trade deal this month. Foreign minister Heiko Maas urged European capitals to support a Brexit compromise because “more is at stake” than during last year’s bitter wrangling over the divorce treaty. He was speaking after holding discussions with Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator.

Curfew revolt

Telegraph
Boris Johnson’s 10pm coronavirus curfew for pubs, restaurants and bars could be thrown out after it emerged that dozens of Tory MPs are prepared to vote against the measure on Wednesday night. The rebel Conservatives, due to meet at lunchtime on Tuesday to plot their next steps, have been emboldened by comments from the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, questioning the measure. Tory backbenchers have also been encouraged by Labour’s refusal to say whether it will support the curfew until it has seen the scientific evidence that underlies it.  A Labour decision on how to whip the vote is not expected until Wednesday.

Times
Boris Johnson is facing two potential revolts from Tory MPs in the space of 48 hours over coronavirus restrictions. Senior Conservative MPs are considering lodging a protest vote in the Commons today over the “rule of six”. They believe that it should be expanded to eight people and that children should not be included in the tally. The revolt is likely to be symbolic as Labour will back continuing the legislation.

Evening Standard
Boris Johnson faces a sizeable Tory rebellion over his Government’s coronavirus response as MPs prepare to vote on restrictions. Conservative critics are calling for significant Government movement on the 10pm pub curfew and the inclusion of children in “rule of six” regulations for gatherings. Leading rebel Steve Baker said he does not expect to defeat the Government, but instead get ministers to shift ground. Mr Baker has organised a meeting with like-minded Tory MPs on Tuesday lunchtime to discuss tactics. MPs will also vote on Tuesday, the day the Prime Minister addresses the virtual Tory conference, on the regulations which enforce the rule of six in England in order to allow them to continue.

Deaths

Mail
Britain today recorded another 12,594 Covid-19 cases as official statistics show the number of daily infections has more than tripled in a week. Department of Health bosses also posted 19 more coronavirus deaths across the UK — but none were recorded in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. For comparison, just 4,044 infections and 13 laboratory-confirmed fatalities were added to the government’s toll last Monday.   But the number of new daily cases and deaths is still nowhere near the levels seen during the darkest days of the pandemic in the spring. Top scientists estimate at least 100,000 Brits were catching the illness each day in March but No10’s lacklustre testing programme meant millions of cases were never spotted.

Lockdown

Times
Lockdown was eased on a timetable with London in mind, leaving the north of England struggling to get cases down, according to northern leaders. Industrial areas, where most people do not have the option to work from home, and pockets of deprivation in which residents cannot afford to self-isolate have also played a role, health experts said. According to Public Health England figures published late last week, the five areas with more than 200 cases per 100,000 population were in the north, where Covid-19 rates have remained stubbornly high despite local lockdowns.

Sun
A SCOTLAND-wide mini-lockdown will start at 7pm on Friday, docs were told last night. The “circuit breaker” lockdown centred on a stay-at-home order for a fortnight or more is said to be on the cards after a surge in Covid-19 cases. In Scotland, a further 697 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Tuesday. No further deaths of anyone who’d previously tested positive for the bug were logged, but the number of hospital cases rose by eight to 218 – including 22 in intensive care. It comes as Nicola Sturgeon denied a decision had already been made amid fears over the impact on society including business.

Yahoo News
A “circuit breaker” shutdown of parts of the Scottish economy is set to be announced as early as Tuesday, after Nicola Sturgeon warned that a failure to adopt tough new measures to counter a surge in Covid-19 cases would cost lives. The First Minister was on Monday night preparing to announce a series of new curbs which is likely to include new restrictions on the already struggling hospitality industry, which could include a temporary shutdown of pubs and restaurants.  The reintroduction of limits on leisure travel was also under consideration.

Face masks

Times
Rain can limit the effectiveness of protective masks, according to the World Health Organisation and Public Health England, which say they must be replaced if they become damp. After heavy rain in much of the country Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, said: “It would now be useful if clear advice were issued to the public. Masks need to be changed regularly and this is particularly important to understand in damp and wet weather.”

Guardian
Ministers have been accused of putting the high street above public health after the business department warned council leaders against enforcing mask-wearing in supermarkets. Four retailers – Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Morrisons and B&M homeware stores – were issued with warning notices by Barking and Dagenham council in east London after their staff were seen failing to enforce mask-wearing and social distancing by customers. After the enforcement notices were issued under antisocial behaviour legislation, stores are understood to have complained to the Department for Business, Enterprise and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Air travel

Sun
MINISTERS are poised to slash travel quarantine measures to just four days — by finally introducing airport testing. But winter sun-seekers will only be able to jet off on tropical holidays if ministers can convince Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty to give the move the green light. The Sun understands Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and other government officials are desperate to start trials to kick-start the travel industry. But Prof Whitty is holding back, along with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, as others rally round to give it a frantic last-minute push. Transport officials are understood to favour the German model of testing to cut 14-day self-isolation by making travellers arriving in the UK have a negative Covid certificate taken from a test 72 hours before they travel.

Test & trace

Telegraph
Ministers have blamed technical blunders after almost 16,000 confirmed coronavirus cases became lost in their various aged computer systems. The fiasco occurred when an Excel spreadsheet, used in outdated software being employed by Public Health England (PHE), was unable to cope with high numbers of cases. As a result – and as infection numbers soared – thousands of positive cases were automatically thrown off the database when they should have been passed to the Test and Trace system.  Labour said as many as 48,000 contacts of positive cases may not have been traced, with “thousands blissfully unaware” that they had been exposed to Covid-19 and could now be spreading it.

Times
Contact tracers’ phone lines crashed as they scrambled to reach tens of thousands of potentially infectious people missed because of an IT blunder. A computing malfunction caused phones to fail yesterday as tracers tried to clear the backlog of an estimated 40,000 contacts of coronavirus cases, only half of whom had been identified by yesterday morning. Almost 16,000 infectious people were missed because of an error caused by systems reliant on a 13-year-old version of Microsoft Excel and Matt Hancock, the health secretary, could not say when their contacts would be reached. He blamed a “legacy computer system, which we’d already identified needed replacing” for the problem, although the new software is not expected to be installed for months.

Mail
An Excel bungle that led to thousands of cases being lost in government systems masked daily cases in the UK hitting 11,000. A clearer picture of the country’s outbreak has emerged after some 16,000 confirmed infections had to be added to the daily totals running back more than a week. Counted by the date specimens were collected, rather than the date the government published them, the UK had 11,404 cases on September 30, almost as many as were reported in the next two days combined.  The daily number has not been below 6,000 since September 21 on the alternative measure – although the government has reported lower figures on several days in that period.

XR

Sun
PROSECUTORS let two Extinction Rebellion protesters off with a slap on the wrist — despite a print blockade costing millions. Will Farbrother, 39, and project manager Eleanor McAree, 26, were said earn a total of £80,000 but CPS lawyers chose not to pursue them for compo. Their protest cost small businesses, supermarkets and the printing company millions. More than 100 protesters blocked print works at Broxbourne, Herts, and Knowsley, near Liverpool, on September 4. Both sites are run by Newsprinters, owned by The Sun’s parent company.

Police

Telegraph
Priti Patel has ordered an investigation into the police’s “failure” to use counter protest powers effectively in the wake of Extinction Rebellion’s blockade of newspaper printing plants. The Home Secretary has asked the chief inspector of constabulary to report on whether officers are using all the powers they already have to crackdown on law-breaking by Extinction Rebellion (XR) and other militant protest groups. She has left open the door to giving police extra powers to take tougher action against protests but remains to be convinced whether more draconian measures are needed if the available powers are not being used effectively, say sources.

Breitbart
Home Secretary Priti Patel has condemned the “hooliganism and thuggery” of Black Lives Matter supporters who have assaulted police officers and attacked statues and war memorials in recent months. “This Government will always defend the right to protest,” said the Conservative MP, who heads the Home Office — the government department which is responsible, broadly speaking, for border control, law enforcement, and national security — at the Conservative Party conference. “There is no excuse for pelting flares at brave police officers, for throwing bikes at police horses, for disrespecting the Cenotaph or vandalising the statue of Sir Winston Churchill, one of the greatest protectors of our freedoms who has ever lived,” she said.

Mail
The tactics used by police dealing with protesters face a major review amid frustration that Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter demonstrators have been allowed to run amok. Priti Patel wants a police watchdog to closely examine whether forces have wrongly allowed hugely disruptive rallies to be mounted – even though they interfere with other people’s daily lives. One aspect of the review will seek to ensure protesters who cause extreme disruption are punished to the full limits of the law. It could ultimately mean the ringleaders face jail time rather than a slap on the wrist such as a fine, Government sources said.

Guardian
The accuracy of convictions stored on the Police National Computer (PNC) has been questioned after the courts service apologised when two offences were wrongly recorded against a defendant. The error led to a woman who had not at that stage been tried gaining a criminal record for offences relating to a violent crime she denied, and took three months for her lawyers to correct. It was dismissed by HM Courts and Tribunal Service as a “slip”. The case, which recently came to trial, highlights the fact that mistakes can occur in the system that is supposed to be the ultimate authority on criminal records in England and Wales.

Education

Telegraph
The curriculum of GCSEs and A-levels could be cut back to help the post-Covid generation prepare for exams, it has emerged. Exam boards may be asked to draw up papers which have a greater degree of optional questions, under plans being considered by ministers. Whitehall officials are adamant that exams should go ahead in 2021 to avoid a repeat of this summer’s chaos which saw a controversial algorithm ditched in favour of teachers’ predicted grades following a national outcry. As well as potentially delaying exams by a few weeks, ministers are also looking at ways to cut down the syllabus to allow more teaching time.

Independent
“Time is running out” to organise exams next year, unions have warned, following suggestions A-levels and GCSEs could be pushed back several weeks next year to fit in more teaching time.  Geoff Barton from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) told The Independent the government “needs to show a greater sense of urgency” on the matter.  On Monday, five education organisations put forward a series of proposals over next year’s exams, including having contingency plans if pupils cannot take exams or their preparation was badly disrupted, and giving students more choice over what questions to answer. The group – which includes the ASCL and the school leaders’ union NAHT – also suggested students due to take GCSEs and A-level exams in 2021 should be prioritised for Covid-19 testing to reduce “ongoing disruption” to their learning.

eScooters

Mail
New electric scooters that automatically turn off once they mount the pavement have been approved for use in Britain. The American-designed e-scooters use sensors to cut power when entering prohibited zones such as footpaths and shopping centres. They are disabled within a second of leaving a road, cycle lane or private land where the devices are legally allowed. This is thanks to mapping data that is downloaded directly on to the scooter, meaning it doesn’t have to use GPS. Current e-scooters in the UK take as long as 30 seconds to deactivate when entering prohibited territory.

Wind power

Mail
Boris Johnson will on Tuesday pledge to power every home in Britain with offshore wind inside a decade. He will use his speech to the Conservative Party’s ‘virtual’ conference to set out a radical green energy plan to build thousands of coastal turbines. Pledging to move at ‘gale force speed’, the Prime Minister wants to make Britain the world leader in offshore wind technology and create up to 60,000 jobs. He will say of his ten-year plan: ‘You heard me right. Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle – the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands.’

Telegraph
Every home in Britain will be powered by wind farms within a decade, Boris Johnson is to pledge on Tuesday. The Prime Minister will promise to make the UK the world leader in low cost clean power generation by harnessing the country’s “limitless resource” offshore. It will be part of a “green industrial revolution” that Mr Johnson believes could create millions of jobs over the next 10 years, replacing many of those lost because of the coronavirus pandemic. In his speech to the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, he will say the Covid crisis can be a catalyst for change, providing an opportunity to reshape the economy for Britain’s future needs.

Times
Boris Johnson is to announce £160 million of investment in ports and factories as he pledges that offshore wind will produce enough electricity to power every home in a decade. Promising to make Britain the “Saudi Arabia of wind”, the prime minister will vow to upgrade facilities along the east coast of England as well as Scotland and Wales to ensure that the next generation of wind turbines are made in the UK.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email