Politics

The coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa could reduce the efficacy of vaccines by half, the health secretary has said. Matt Hancock made the remark during a webinar with business leaders and travel agents on Tuesday. First reported by Mail Online, a recording of the meeting has also been passed to Sky News. Please

There are “no plans” to give everyone who tests positive for coronavirus a one-off payment of £500, Downing Street has said. The dramatic proposal, which would cost the government a massive £453m a week or £2bn a month, was revealed in a leaked 16-page policy document drawn up by Matt Hancock’s Department of Health and

The government has “considered” the full closure of the UK’s borders amid concerns about new COVID variants being imported from abroad, a cabinet minister has revealed. This week, the government closed all UK travel corridors – which had allowed arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine – until at least 15 February. People

Almost two-thirds of elderly care home residents have had a COVID-19 vaccine – with vaccinations among all groups occurring at 200 jabs per minute, Health Secretary Matt Hancock has told MPs. “I’m delighted to say 63% of residents in elderly care homes have now received a vaccination, that is a really significant increase over the

Boris Johnson has been accused of “overruling” Home Secretary Priti Patel – after she claimed she argued for the shutting of the UK’s borders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In video footage of her comments to Tory supporters, Ms Patel suggested she privately pushed for tougher border measures during the UK’s first national

An online system for booking COVID vaccine appointments has been criticised after claims ineligible people have been using it to “queue-jump” and receive the jab. The Swiftqueue website is being used by numerous NHS trusts to allow health and social care workers and over-70s to sign up for coronavirus vaccinations. Live COVID news from UK

The UK will need to look “very carefully” at the protection provided by the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the government’s chief scientific adviser has told Sky News, amid concerns its effectiveness is significantly lower than had been found in trials. Sir Patrick Vallance said the government would “just need to keep measuring the numbers” as the vaccine

A media enquiry by Sky News has led to questions over what Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon knew of bullying concerns surrounding the office of her predecessor Alex Salmond. When we asked the Scottish Government for copies of its grievance procedure, officials mistakenly sent out their internal emails which detailed their handling of the request.

Four million people have now received a coronavirus jab, the prime minister has revealed, as he warned the public there will be no “open sesame” of lockdown easing. Speaking during a visit to the manufacturing facility for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, Boris Johnson said the UK was rolling out COVID-19 vaccines “as fast as we can”.

The health secretary has said there are “brighter times ahead” as the coronavirus vaccine rollout continues, but warned the public: “Don’t blow it now.” “We are on the route out. We are protecting the most vulnerable. We are getting the virus under control,” Matt Hancock told a Downing Street news conference. Live COVID news from

Replacing the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit with a one-off payment of £500 is a “terrible” idea, Labour has said. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is reported to be considering giving almost six million benefit claimants the cash payment instead of keeping the £1,000 yearly uplift in Universal Credit. The Universal Credit increase was introduced last year

All UK adults will be offered the first dose of a COVID vaccine by September, Dominic Raab has told Sky News. Speaking on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, the foreign secretary said: “Our target is that by September to have offered all the adult population a first dose, if we can do it faster than that

Boris Johnson will host this year’s G7 summit in the tiny seaside resort of Carbis Bay in Cornwall, where he will urge world leaders to unite in “building back better” from the pandemic. Joe Biden, who will be US president by then, is expected to attend the event starting on 11 June, alongside the other

More than 400,000 police records have accidentally been deleted from a national database, prompting warnings that criminal investigations could be compromised, Sky News understands. The fingerprint, DNA and arrest history records were wiped due to “human error” and “defective code”, policing minister Kit Malthouse said yesterday. It was initially reported by The Times that 150,000

Home Secretary Priti Patel must “take responsibility” for the wiping of 150,000 arrest records from police databases, the Labour Party says. The records were accidentally wiped last week and they included fingerprint, DNA and arrest histories, according to The Times. The newspaper says the technological blunder could allow offenders to go free, as evidence from

All travel corridors will close from Monday, meaning everyone arriving in the UK will have to self-isolate. The tighter border restrictions announced by Boris Johnson are aimed at protecting the progress made with the rollout of vaccines in the face of new coronavirus variants being found around the world. It had already been announced everyone

The UK economy returned to a reverse gear in November as tightened coronavirus restrictions took their toll on the fightback from the steepest recession on record, according to official figures. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 2.6% slump in output during the month – building on a loss of momentum that began late

Senior ministers will consider a ban on travel to the UK from Brazil following concern over a new coronavirus strain in the South American country. The government’s COVID-19 operations committee is due to meet on Thursday to discuss the issue, amid reports any travel ban could also be extended to countries neighbouring Brazil. Live COVID

The prime minister has acknowledged there are “teething problems” with trade between Britain and Northern Ireland in the wake of the Brexit transition period coming to an end. Britain’s new trading relationship with Brussels came into effect at 11pm on December 31, following an 11-month Brexit transition period. There have been empty shelves on some

Boris Johnson has told MPs that recent coronavirus restrictions “are starting to show signs of some effect” – but he refused to rule out even tougher measures. The prime minister came under fresh pressure from Labour on Wednesday to tighten COVID rules in order to drive down infections. Live COVID updates from UK and around