Politics

England is set to remove all legal limits on people’s social contact by 21 June, the prime minister has announced. After schools reopen on 8 March, with some outdoor restrictions lifted by 29 March, Boris Johnson said the next step will be to reopen beer gardens and hairdressers in England from 12 April at the

There are going to be lots of disappointed people when they hear Boris Johnson set out Monday’s lockdown lifting plan. Those who had pinned their hopes on near-instantaneous reopening of shops that were shut, those wanting to go to a pub garden with friends, those wanting to go away to a holiday cottage in the

The number of cases of South African and Brazilian COVID variants in the UK appears to be falling, the health secretary has told Sky News. Matt Hancock said there was evidence that enhanced contact-tracing and stricter border measures were helping to control the number of people being infected by those new variants first discovered abroad.

Boris Johnson has pledged that every adult in the UK should be offered a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of July. The accelerated vaccine rollout would help protect the most vulnerable sooner and also enable the easing of some lockdown restrictions, the prime minister said. People aged 50 and over and those with underlying health

The prime minister is still aiming to reopen all schools in England next month despite concerns from teachers and scientists. Ahead of an announcement about easing coronavirus lockdown on Monday, Downing Street refused to be drawn on specific reports that more extensive outdoor socialising could be allowed by Easter, including suggestions that two households will

Sadiq Khan has received his first dose of a coronavirus vaccine and urged members of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities to follow suit, declaring: “I wouldn’t be taking the jab if I didn’t think it was safe.” The London mayor received a COVID-19 jab on Friday morning at a vaccine centre located inside

The government unlawfully failed to publish details of coronavirus-related contracts worth billions, the High Court has ruled. The Good Law Project launched a judicial review against the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) over its “wholesale failure” to disclose details of the COVID-19-related contracts. Under law, the government has to publish a “contract award

At least 10,000 children in care were placed in potentially unsafe accommodation including caravans, tents and barges, a Sky News investigation has found.  Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that local councils used unregulated accommodation to house vulnerable children – even though these settings were not subject to inspection or regulation by Ofsted. Between January 2019 and December

Sir Keir Starmer has set out his vision for a post-coronavirus Britain, declaring: “We can’t return to business as usual.” The Labour leader said the COVID-19 crisis had exposed the UK’s “fragilities” and must prompt a bout of national soul-searching, declaring now was a “moment to think again about the country we want to be”.

Internal plans in Whitehall suggest a rapid reopening of the economy in the weeks after pupils return to classrooms on 8 March, Sky News understands. Whitehall officials have drawn up a timetable to help work out internal plans to roll out the government’s planned mass COVID testing regime. This suggests a desire to reopen rapidly

Boris Johnson has said he will be focusing on data and not dates when it comes to the easing of England’s coronavirus lockdown. The prime minister said Professor Dame Angela McLean was “absolutely right” to tell a committee of MPs earlier that the relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions should hinge upon “data, not dates”. Latest coronavirus

The government is battling a “tsunami of disinformation” when it comes to coronavirus jabs, the vaccines minister has told Sky News. Nadhim Zahawi said that while overall COVID-19 “vaccine positivity” was high, those who are “vaccine hesitant” tend to “skew heavily” towards black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. “There is a tsunami of disinformation,

A phased return of pupils to classrooms in Scotland will begin on Monday, the first minister has announced. Nicola Sturgeon revealed the news in a statement to the Scottish parliament this afternoon, as she said the country’s lockdown would continue until at least the beginning of March. “The core stay at home requirement will remain

Government scientists want to keep social distancing measures in place for the foreseeable future in a move that would hit shops, pubs, cinemas and theatres, Sky News has learnt. It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson made clear he would not allow the coronavirus to let rip through younger generations, suggesting he has embraced the

Boris Johnson has said his plan for lifting England’s coronavirus lockdown is for there to be “cautious but irreversible” progress in easing restrictions. “We’ve got to be very prudent and what we want to see is progress that is cautious but irreversible,” the prime minister said on his plan for easing COVID-19 measures. “I think

The first rule of world-beating vaccine club is you don’t talk about world-beating vaccine club. A weird one, especially when the first rule of world-beating coronavirus test and trace club seemed to be that you talk about little else. Even when the reality is clearly not living up to the description. So what’s going on?

The government will not be setting an “arbitrary target” for when lockdown can be lifted despite pressure from some MPs to scrap all restrictions by the end of April, the foreign secretary has told Sky News. Dominic Raab said the plan was to “ease the lockdown” with the return of schools, which Prime Minister Boris

Boris Johnson is to urge world leaders to unite and work together to defeat the “common foe” of the COVID-19 pandemic. His comments come as he hosts his first meeting of the G7, a virtual one, with the UK occupying the organisation’s rotating presidency this year ahead of a major summit scheduled to be held

Boris Johnson has said he is “optimistic” ahead of his “roadmap” for easing England’s lockdown – and hinted at which industries will reopen first. The prime minister said his plan, which will be unveiled on 22 February, will prioritise the reopening of schools from 8 March. He added that non-essential retail will follow, then hospitality

Over-65s will begin receiving letters inviting them to get COVID vaccines from early next week as part of the next phase of the UK’s vaccination programme, Sky News understands. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously set a deadline of Monday 15 February for offering a first dose of a vaccine to 15 million people in