Spring 'going to be a lot better,' says Chris Whitty, but still no timeline for lockdown exit

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance stressed that it is a "suppressed peak" that would "boil over for sure" if controls are eased.

He says: "This is not the natural peak that's going to come down on its own, it's coming down because of the measures that are in place.

"Take the lid off now and it's going to boil over for sure and we're going to end up with a big problem.

"And that's a lesson about making sure it's all cooled down enough before you get to that position.

"So I don't think we should view the point as a natural turning point in the disease, it is a suppressed peak that we need to keep on top of."

Prof Whitty insists we shouldn't think "suddenly in Spring it's all over and that's the whole thing done". 

He says: "Certainly, that's a reasonable time frame but if we put a hard stop on things we will be caught out by events." 

However, he adds, "it's going to be a lot better than we are now". 

The Transport Secretary says it’s impossible for the Joint Biosecurity Centre to provide live scientific updates to predict which countries or regions will now originate new variants. As a result, the suspension had to happen:

Prof Chris Whitty cautions  that come Feb 15th, it can't be a case of lifting all restrictions. It will be in "steps", he says.

"We want to get to a stage where we are confident we've vaccinated the 1-4 cohorts," Mr Johnson says.

He says the most vulnerable groups have to be vaccinated, as he cites February 15th as the goal to vaccinate the current cohort, then adds "we will think about what steps we could take to lift the restrictions".

The PM cautions it depends also "on where the disease is".
"We can't have any false sense of security, lifting restrictions altogether and then the disease runs riot."

The new travel rules, which have been agreed with Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, will come into force from 4am on Monday.

The PM says: "If you come to the UK you must have a negative test 72 hours before travelling, filled in a passenger locator form and airline will request both before take off."

Also:

- Substantial fines if refusing to comply.

-Quarantine before leaving home for 10 days.

-Enforcement at border and in country will be stepped up. 

The PM reminds the public that catching the virus is "not just in the supermarket queue", but by handling something touched by an infected person. 
He says one in three people don't have symptoms and washing hands is as important now as it has ever been. 

Boris Johnson says the chances are "you know someone personally who has received a vaccine".

He says it would be "fatal" if the vaccination roll-out causes any kind of complacency. 

The U.S. Ambassador to the UK, Robert Wood Johnson, has given a statement before he heads back to the US next week, after four years in the role. 

He says: "It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the UK."

Mr Johnson says he "never forget" President Trump calling him into the Oval Office and pointing at the bust of Sir Winston Churchill. He says the President told him: “Woody, this is the Special Relationship.” 

It's a great speech if you have time to read it in full, which can be found here.

Students could receive their A-level and GCSE results in early July, to allow for a longer appeals process, England's exams regulator has proposed.

Ofqual has launched a two-week consultation on the options for exam alternatives in England after this summer's A-level, AS and GCSE exams were cancelled due to the pandemic.

Normally students receive results in mid to late August, but under the watchdog's plans students are "most likely" to be awarded grades in July.

Student appeals could then be submitted immediately after results are issued, Ofqual said.

Last summer the system was thrown into chaos after the Department for Education insisted an algorithm be used to avoid grade inflation.

However it was eventually disbanded in favour of teacher assessment following an outcry over the results. 

Does Britain have enough vaccine or hasn’t it? It’s really the only thing people want to know – but the government is not saying.

For more than a month now, officials have been fending off journalists’ questions about vaccine supply with dark mutterings about national security. Loose lips sink ships. Do you have an encrypted Telegram account like Michael Gove? I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you – that sort of thing.

On Wednesday, under mounting pressure, Whitehall went public with its James Bondery. It was not the stories of rogue states and criminals tracking vaccine consignments that had been whispered about only a week before but a finessing of the same theme.

“Everyone in the world wants these vaccines, and if other countries see how much we are getting they are likely to put pressure on the drug firms to give them some of our allocation,” explained one Whitehall official. 

Read our analysis of the secrecy surrounding the supply of vaccines here.

Six European Union countries have written to the European Commission on Friday expressing "severe concern" over delays to supplies of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.

Ministers from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Sweden said in their letter that the situation was "unacceptable" and "decreases the credibility of the vaccination process".

"We are obliged to inform our public and the particular risk groups... that their vaccination will be delayed, regardless of the outstanding efforts by our governments to ensure timely delivery," the letter said.

"We request you to urgently engage with BioNTech/Pfizer to demand a public explanation of the situation and to stress the need to ensure stability and transparency of timely deliveries."

Officials in the six countries have been informed by BioNTech/Pfizer that deliveries would be "substantially reduced in the coming weeks".

A further 807 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have died, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 59,519.

Patients were aged between 32 and 101 years old. All except 51, aged 40 to 97 years old, had known underlying health conditions. The date of death ranges from 18 November to 14 January 2021.

The South East was the worst-affected region, with 190 deaths, followed by the Midlands with 157 and the East of England with 149.

There were 129 deaths in London, 90 in the North West, 52 in the North East & Yorkshire and 40 in the South West.

Ruth Davidson has been the "only effective opposition" against the SNP in the last decade, Tony Blair has said, the day after Scottish Labour's leader resigned. 

Speaking at a Chatham House even the former prime minister said: "I think... what has put Scottish independence back centre-stage again are two things.

"First of all the Labour Party lost its position in Scotland completely for, I think, reasons that were avoidable.

"And, really, the only effective opposition that has come to the SNP in the last decade was actually when Ruth Davidson was the Conservative Party leader in Scotland.

"And, the second thing was that Brexit put it back on the agenda again. The fact is it's given the nationalists a whole new lease of life."

Scottish Labour today began a search for its fifth leader in seven years after the sudden resignation of Richard Leonard from the post ahead of parliamentary elections in May.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse said the deletion of records from the Police National Computer is under investigation, adding: "We have already put a stop to the problem so it can't reoccur.

"And we are now working very quickly with policing partners and within the Home Office to try and recover the data and assess the full extent of the problem."

Mr Malthouse said he was "not entirely sure" whether it would have an operational impact "although we have put in place contingency measures to allow the police to continue with their investigations that rely on the PNC, or indeed to rerun checks when we do recover the data."

He added: "The key thing for us now is to, I guess, rectify the situation, we've got some work to do over the next two or three days to assess the full scale of the issue and then the recoverability of the data from the various linked databases that come into the Police National Computer and then we will have more of a sense of where we are and I will be able to update you later next week."

An Irish freight group has warned of huge post-Brexit disruption to supply chains in coming weeks, as the impact of Britain leaving the EU takes hold.

The Freight Transport Association of Ireland (FTAI) wrote to Ireland's premier Micheal Martin on Thursday warning him of empty supermarket shelves, job losses and rising prices unless the Government takes action to assist the industry trying to bring goods into the country.

"There is a growing backlog of goods of all hues, from mechanical parts (car parts) to electrical household goods, furniture, clothing, food supplies, sitting in depots because there are not enough agents to process the declarations correctly," the group said.

"The net result will be that companies operating on very tight margins will cease trading, creating unemployment, supply lines will disappear, and the consumer will be left with less supply and increased prices," it added. 

"The island's vulnerability in these challenging times cannot be overstated."

It is at times of maximum pressure and stress that the weakest point in any system will generally become clear.

For the NHS to have more than 36,000 Covid patients in hospital and yet still be creating extra capacity every day and not turning away anyone in immediate need of treatment is a remarkable effort.

For it to devise a genuinely world-beating vaccination programme that is on course to achieve what was initially dismissed by many commentators as an unattainable target of inoculating 15 million people by mid-February is more remarkable still. The great British public's response, flattening the curve despite the more infectious variant, is little short of astonishing.

And yet, notes Patrick O'Flynn, there are still worrying signs that the national effort against this foul plague has sprung a serious leak.

Unsurprisingly it is in the most unglamorous and under-resourced part of the system: the care sector.

The general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union has paid tribute to a Parliamentary security staff member who has died of Covid-19 (9:39am). 

Godfrey Colin Cameron was aged just 55 and leaves behind a wife and children. 

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: "We are all deeply saddened at PCS by the loss of Godfrey.

"He was a hard-working, dedicated member of our parliamentary security branch who was devoted to his job and his colleagues across Parliament.

"It is imperative the Government resumes a remote, virtual parliament to protect staff from contracting Covid-19, which has caused over 80,000 deaths in the UK alone."

Scotland's health secretary has apologised to Matt Hancock after the vaccine deployment plan mistakenly published "sensitive" details about supplies from manufacturers.

Jeane Freeman said she regrets publishing the figures for weekly supplies, information which UK Government ministers consider to be commercially confidential.

She said: "I regret that we published information that the UK Government considers to be sensitive - I've had those conversations with them and respect their view.

"We've withdrawn that information and the plan, with that part removed, everything else there is back up on our website."

The UK Government believes manufacturers may come under pressure from other countries if the UK's allocation of "finite" supplies is made known.

Coronavirus deaths are likely to peak in the next week to 10 days, a senior statistical expert has said.

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter of the Statistical Laboratory at Cambridge University said the peak in infections had passed "a good few days ago" which would lead to a reduction in the numbers dying from the disease.

"They are likely to level off in a week - 10 days maybe - at a peak which is probably going to be bigger than the first wave peak of 1,000-a-day, but then should decline due the reductions in cases that we are seeing and, of course, the vaccine programme," he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.

However, hospital admissions would fall more slowly "in particular, in intensive care".

Only 55 per cent of those being admitted to hospital and 25 per cent of those in intensive care were over 70. 

Steve Baker's suggestion that Boris Johnson's leadership would be "on the table" if he did not set out a "clear plan" is going down badly with Tory MPs today, who feel he has "misread the room". 

Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland committee called it "hubristic, ideological clap trap" while others have accused the CRG co-head of being a "a poor man's version of Machiavelli" (see 8:24am). 

However, the reaction this morning makes it clear that there are concerns about long-term support for the Prime Minister if he does not set out a clear road map, and back away from suggestions that lockdown could be toughened. 

So is the PM's leadership really at risk, or is this just a rogue agent? Have your say in the poll below. 

Brussels has backed the idea of a vaccine passport, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has said. 

"It is a medical must to have a certificate that you have been vaccinated," von der Leyen told reporters ahead of a visit to Portuguese capital Lisbon.

But she added that "whether that gives a priority or access to certain goods, this is a political and legal decision that has to be discussed on the European level".

The World Health Organization in December trailed plans for digital vaccination certificates as countries began rolling out shots to their populations.

However Downing Street has repeatedly ruled out equivalent plans for one in the UK. 

Boris Johnson has urged people to "think twice" before leaving their home this weekend. 

In a direct appeal to the public, the Prime Minister said: "Jab by jab we will win this fight," noting that the UK was forging ahead with the vaccination programme. 

But saying that one in three Covid patients were "silent spreaders" without symptoms, he stressed that it was "safest to assume" you may have the virus. 

Experts advising the Government said the ranges for the growth rates and R number have narrowed for the UK, England and most regions, which reflects greater certainty around the estimates.

The latest estimate, for for the whole of the UK to January 11, is between 1.2 and 1.3, while for England it is between 1.1 and 1.3.  The growth rate estimate for the UK is between +2 per cent and +5 per cent.  

Sage said: "The latest figures show that we need to remain vigilant to keep this virus under control, to protect the NHS and save lives.

"We all need to play our part, and if everyone continues to follow the rules, we can expect to drive down the R number across the country."

Scottish government ministers have warned that schools are unlikely to reopen next month as planned.

Asked on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland programme whether he thought schools would fully reopen on 1 February, the education secretary, John Swinney, said: "I think that’s a tall order to be honest."

This was echoed by health secretary Jeane Freeman at the regular press briefing today, who said: "I understand why he would say it was a tall order, I would share that view."

This morning education committee chairman said the same was true of England. 

He told the Today programme: "I don't think it's very likely that they're going to open, very sadly, after half term as has been suggested. 

"I think it'll be much longer before they are open." 

Stricter rules for supermarkets are to be introduced in Wales to help prevent the spread of the new variant of coronavirus, the First Minister has announced.

Mark Drakeford said regulations would be strengthened to make sure retailers offer sanitisers for hands and trolleys, limit the numbers of people inside stores, and ensure people keep their distance from others.

Specific Covid-19 risk assessments, such as ensuring adequate ventilation, making sure people are physically distancing and using PPE, and to consider whether their employees can work from home, are also being introduced.

Mr Drakeford said: "Ministers have also met this week with key retailers to discuss their vital role during the pandemic... 

"We will strengthen regulations to ensure retailers take these steps so that their premises are as safe as possible for shoppers and their employees alike. Many are already operating high standards and we need to raise the bar for those who could and should improve.

Downing Street has conceded officials are looking at a post-Brexit overhaul of labour laws, but insisted it will not come "at the expense of workers' rights". 

The Financial Times reported that the 48-hour working week could be scrapped as part of the shake-up, prompting Labour to brand the move a "disgrace" and warned it would fight any such moves "tooth and nail".

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said labour market policy was kept under "regular review" to ensure businesses had the "appropriate freedoms and flexibility to innovate and grow" while safeguarding protections for workers.

This afternoon the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We will continue to look at policies to help stimulate business growth, innovation and job creation but those policies would never be at the expense of workers' rights."

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a Downing Street press conference alongside England's chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific officer Sir Patrick Vallance at 5pm, No 10 said.

Downing Street has defended its action against the Brazil variant, saying the Government acted "as quickly as possible" to impose the ban on travellers from South America.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "It's obviously right that we continue to look at different variants and take action accordingly.

"As soon as we identified this variant our teams were quickly working on this and, given that we know this could pose a significant risk to the UK, we acted as quickly as possible, which is why you've seen this travel ban from those countries enacted quickly."

Evidence currently suggests that the concerning new Brazilian variant of coronavirus may be more transmissible but does not affect vaccines, Downing Street has said.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said that scientists at the Government's Porton Down research facility are investigating the new strain.

"As with some of the other variants we've seen, the Kent variant and the South Africa variant, evidence does suggest that it may be more transmissible," he added.

"More research is required to confirm this and Porton Down will conduct that research but current evidence does not suggest that the strain causes any higher mortality rate or that it affects the vaccines or treatments."

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government resigned on Friday over a scandal in which thousands of parents were wrongly accused of child benefit fraud, leaving many facing financial ruin, local media has reported.

Rutte's cabinet decided to quit with just two months to go until elections, and he was set to make an announcement at 2:15pm (1315 GMT), according to reports by Dutch news outlets.

The head of the EU medicines regulator has said that she is "hopeful" that the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine will be given European approval at the end of the month.

The UK regulator the MHRA approved the jab at the end of last year, helping pave the way for more than three million people to be vaccinated as of yesterday. 

But Emer Cooke, executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), said the health body had a "tentative" plan in place to make a decision on the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab on January 29. 

"There are two big trials ongoing," she said. "We know with one of them we won't have all the information by the end of January. But we do hope we'll have sufficient (data) to be able to come to a scientific conclusion by then.

"At the same time things can go wrong. These dates depend on everything going right.

"It's challenging but I'm hopeful."

The chair of the Treasury select committee has hailed today's Supreme Court ruling on business interruption insurance (10:48am), and urged the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to ensure claims are paid out at speed. 

Mel Stride, a former Treasury minister, said: "This ruling will be welcomed by many businesses who are struggling through the pandemic; it may provide a lifeline for many of them.

“As the Treasury committee has been urging, it’s right that the FCA will now ensure that valid claims are paid by insurers as quickly as possible.”

Science may be about to score its biggest victory against Covid since it emerged in Wuhan at the end of 2019.

Trial data published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week indicated that Johnson & Johnson’s single-injection vaccine candidate is safe – and appears to generate an immune response in both the young and old. The results of its final phase 3 trial are expected to be released before the end of January, with approval possible before March.

The three vaccines approved by UK authorities all require two injections to generate the full immune response – making the logistics of distribution of the J&J vaccine much, much simpler.

As Garry White points out, rapid deployment of this vaccine will be the shot in the arm the UK economy needs.

Panic over - at least on one front. 

Professor Wendy Barclay, G2P-UK lead and head of department of infectious disease and chairwoman in influenza virology at Imperial College London, has issued a new statement confirming the Brazilian variant detected in the UK is not the one causing the concern.

The scientist had earlier (11:26am) said one of the two variants had been found in the UK. 

In a subsequent statement, she explained: "The new Brazilian variant of concern, that was picked up in travellers going to Japan, has not been detected in the UK.

"Other variants that may have originated from Brazil have been previously found."

Labour's shadow chancellor has said there is an "enormous fear" that the UK economy is on track for a double-dip recession as she calls for more targeted measures. 

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said UK gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 2.6 per cent month-on-month in November.

GDP at the end of the month was 8.5% below its pre-pandemic peak but is expected to fall further after a third lockdown took hold this month.

Speaking to Sky News, Anneliese Dodds sad: "We really need to see action now. We need much more clarity around business support... the business rates holiday, furlough."

Small firms should not have to wait until the Budget in March to find out about next steps, she added. 

Ms Dodds also called for the Government to "shift position on family finances" such as rowing back the planned council tax hike and reduction in Universal Credit, saying this could come "at precisely the wrong time". 

Schools are unlikely to open after the February half term and could be closed for "much longer", the chair of the Education Select Committee has warned. 

Robert Halfon, Conservative MP for Harlow, told the BBC's Today programme: "The schools are closed and I don't think it's very likely that they're going to open, very sadly, after half term as has been suggested. 

"I think it'll be much longer before they are open." 

It comes as England and Manchester United striker Rashford joined TV chefs Jamie Oliver, Tom Kerridge, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the actress Dame Emma Thompson to press ministers to develop a strategy which could help end child food poverty.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, backed by more than 40 NGOs, charities and education leaders, they welcomed the "robustness" of his response to the "inadequate" meal parcels being provided by some private companies, but said it was the right time to "step back and review the policy in more depth". 

Dramatic language could be used in hard-hitting new anti-coronavirus adverts, warning that going for a coffee could kill.

A national campaign is to be unveiled within days as the Government eyes tougher restrictions amid a surge in infections.

One of the slogans being considered is "Don't let a coffee cost a life", it is believed.

Another message in the campaign is "Covid takes the train too".

The move is aimed at presenting a stark message to the public to try to ensure compliance with tough lockdown measures as Britain battles mutant strains of the disease.

One of the Brazilian variants has been detected in the UK, a leading scientist has said.

Professor Wendy Barclay, head of G2P-UK National Virology Consortium, a new project set up to study the effects of emerging coronavirus mutations, said one Brazilian variant of coronavirus has been detected in the UK.

She said: "There are two different types of Brazilian variants and one of them has been detected and one of them has not."

She added: "In the databases, if you search the sequences, you will see that there is some some evidence for variants from around the world, and I believe including the Brazilian one, which probably was introduced some time ago. And that will be being traced very carefully."

This morning Grant Shapps defended the delay in imposing a travel ban from South America, saying there had been no direct flights from Brazil this week. 

Asked if the Brazilian strain was currently in the country, the Transport Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Not as far as we are aware, I think, at this stage.

Former Brexit secretary David Davis has said the man earmarked to become the new BBC chairman is the " wrong appointment", following Richard Sharp's appearance before MPs yesterday.

Mr Sharp, a former Goldman Sachs banker and multi-millionaire Tory party donor, told the DCMS committee that he didn't think the BBC's Brexit coverage was biased overall, but "there were some occasions when the Brexit representation was unbalanced".

He also described the licence fee as "terrific value", saying he was "not in favour of decriminalisation".

All this has prompted the MP for Haltemprice and Howden to question his credentials. 

As problems mount for UK businesses, both in dealing with mainland Europe and regarding Northern Ireland, don’t be surprised if Brexit and Brexiteers get the blame for what is a failure of Government, as the possibility of reintegration via the backdoor looms.

Many businesses are reporting difficulties adapting to the post- Brexit trading landscape, with the Federation of Small Businesses claiming many small firms have not had the time, money or clarity to prepare.

German logistics group DB Schenker became the latest parcels operator to suspend cross-border delivery, following a similar move by DPD.

Jonathan Saxty asks how the Government did not anticipate what many Brexiteers saw coming as it rushed through an eleventh-hour deal?

Amber Rudd has once again called into question Boris Johnson’s treatment of the opposite sex, suggesting that he has “a sort of language which he is – quite rightly – nervous of using in front of women”.

The former home secretary, who resigned from the Department for Work and Pensions over Mr Johnson’s hard Brexit stance, criticised his leadership in an interview with the Institute for Government (IfG).

Decrying the “kind of boys’ club-type behaviour in Parliament”, the former women and equalities minister said: “It is still more like a public school or a university club than anywhere else you’ll ever go, I fear that it’s going backwards a bit at the moment."

Read the full story here.

The new Business Secretary has said the Supreme Court ruling on Covid insurance is "very welcome". 

Judges this morning "substantially allowed" an appeal brought by the Financial Conduct Authority in a landmark £1.2 billion legal battle over businesses' ability to claim on insurance for coronavirus-related disruption.

The case could  affect around 370,000 businesses which insurers including Arch, Argenta, Hiscox, MS Amlin, QBE and RSA  argued were not covered for the Covid-19 pandemic.  

Kwasi Kwarteng said: "This will be a lifeline for tens of thousands of hairdressers, bars, restaurants and other small businesses that did the right thing and closed their doors to protect the health of the nation."

Richard Leedham, a partner at law firm Mishcon de Reya who represented the Hiscox Action Group (HAG), said: "This is a landmark victory for a small group of businesses who took on a huge insurance player and have been fully vindicated.

"What is important now is that Hiscox accepts the Supreme Court's verdict and starts paying out to its policy holders, many of whom are in danger of going under."

As a man will plenty of things to worry about the Director General of the BBC, Tim Davie, can this evening cross at least one thing off his list; he’s not going to have any problems with the Corporation’s likely new Chairman.

Richard Sharp, the chairman-designate, was up in front of the Digital, Media Culture and Sports select committee yesterday, but if you think that sounds like a daunting prospect, it wasn’t.

Because, as it turns out, Mr Sharp is going to be very much a  "continuity chairman" – a man who really isn’t going to rock the boat.

Which put him very much in sync with the committee – but, points out Roger Aitken, not most of the BBC’s critics.

Reports that the government is drawing up post-Brexit plans to change the 48-hour working week have been attacked as "a huge mistake" by the union Unite. 

General secretary Len McCluskey said: "No decent government would pick this moment to launch an attack on the rights of its citizens. The people who have kept this country fed, safe and supported under unimaginable pressures deserve so much better than to be threatened with the loss of their basic rights.  

"In our time of need it has been working people who have stepped up and kept this country safe and supported. The vulnerable and low waged have paid the highest price in this pandemic. Respect these workers - do not take away their basic rights."

However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng last night stressed the Government was "ot going to lower the standards of workers’ rights".

Grant Shapps said he is "not aware" of any cases of the Brazilian coronavirus variant in the UK as travellers from across South America were banned from entry.

The ban, which also covers the Central American state of Panama and Portugal - due to its strong travel links with Brazil - and the former Portuguese colony of Cape Verde, came into force at 4am on Friday.

Mr Shapps described the ban as a "precautionary" measure to ensure the vaccination programme rolling out across the UK was not disrupted by new variants of the virus.

Asked if the Brazilian strain was currently in the country, the Transport Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Not as far as we are aware, I think, at this stage.

"There haven't been any flights that I can see from the last week from Brazil, for example."

After almost a year of watching the seemingly unstoppable onslaught of Covid-19, the speed of progress now is hard to take in.

Just a few months ago, Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, was telling colleagues he didn’t believe a vaccine would come in time.

Now we have several of them, highly effective, already delivered to millions worldwide. The logistics, the safety: it’s all going as well as can be expected – in Britain, especially.

The big question, says Fraser Nelson, is what happens next.

The delay in airport testing being introduced until Monday is to avoid making 'criminals out of people' who have taken the wrong test, Grant Shapps has said.

The Transport Secretary told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "Knowing that Brits returning, for example, would want to be able to see which version they could legally use, up to the correct specification, it turns out there are so many different ones, we didn't want to make criminals out of people just because they weren't able to guess which one had the right, what's called sensitivity and specificity.

"So, we have just given a small grace period until Monday morning to let people safely return, and not create some sort of repatriation crisis."

A member of Parliament's security staff, Godfrey Colin Cameron, has died after contracting Covid-19, aged just 55. 

MPs of all parties have put their names to a motion expressing "sincere condolences to his devoted wife Hyacinth, children Leon and Renee, his sisters Arlene and Cynthia, his brother, Carlton".

Mr Cameron "was a private man who showed selfless care for the others", they added, sending "our deepest sympathies to all those who knew and worked with Godfrey, and our heartfelt thanks for the contribution of all those workers who have continued to serve the public during this public health crisis".

The motion also called on House authorities to work with trade union representatives "to undertake an updated risk assessment in relation to health and safety on the Parliamentary estate, and take all appropriate measures to help keep staff safe".

Steve Baker's suggestion that Boris Johnson's leadership would be "on the table" if he did not set out a "clear plan" is going down badly with Tory MPs this morning, who feel he has misread the room. 

Simon Hoare, chairman of the Northern Ireland committee called it "hubristic, ideological clap trap" while others have accused the CRG co-head of being a "a poor man's version of Machiavelli" (see 8:24am). 

However, the reaction this morning makes it clear that there are concerns about long-term support for the Prime Minister if he does not set out a clear road map, and back away from suggestions that lockdown could be toughened. 

So is the PM's leadership really at risk, or is this just a rogue agent? Have your say in the poll below. 

The UK population may have fallen by as much as 1.3m - the biggest decline since the Second World War - in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, academics have said.

A study by the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence highlighted an “unprecedented exodus” of foreign-born workers following the outbreak of the virus as well as shortcomings in official surveys inflating the number of UK workers.

Labour data - more reliable than migration statistics - suggest a drop of more than half a million in the number of foreign born residents in the year to last September, authors Michael O’Connor and Jonathan Portes said.

Read the full story here.

It's not just the latest row over free school meals that is putting pressure on Gavin Williamson this morning (see 8:27am). 

This morning The Guardian reports that the Education Secretary's plans for mass testing in schools are in disarray, with regulatory MHRA not having authorised the daily use of 30-minute tests "due to concerns that they give people false reassurance if they test negative."

The lateral flow tests, which have been used for mass testing in Liverpool, have been shown to miss 30 per cent of people with a high viral load, The Guardian says.

The Government has spent £1.5bn on its lateral flow tests rollout so far. 

The Transport Secretary has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he is "the last person you should take travel advice on this from".

Grant Shapps reminded listeners that he booked a holiday to Spain with his family, after it was opened up through the summer's travel corridors. 

"And, within an hour of getting there, I, myself, put Spain... took them out of the travel corridor, meaning that I needed to come home and start my quarantine, leaving my family there," he said. 

"So, don't take any travel advice from me."

Officials are "working at pace to recover" the 150,000 arrest records accidentally wiped from the police databases, the policing minister has said, as he vowed the problem has been corrected "so it cannot happen again".

Kit Malthouse said: "Earlier this week, a standard housekeeping process that runs on the Police National Computer deleted a number of records in error. A fast time review has identified the problem and corrected the process so it cannot happen again.

"The Home Office, NPCC and other law enforcement partners are working at pace to recover the data.

"While the loss relates to individuals who were arrested and then released with no further action, I have asked officials and the police to confirm their initial assessment that there is no threat to public safety.

"I will provide further updates as we conclude our work."

Travel bans are "always a little bit behind the curve", but the latest one should "hopefully" reduce the risk of the Brazilian variant entering the UK, an epidemiologist has said. 

Dr Mike Tildesley suggested the South America travel ban, which came into force at 4am on Friday, was late but will still "minimise the risk".

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Dr Tildesley said: "We always have this issue with travel bans of course, that we're always a little bit behind the curve.

"With Covid we need to remember that when you develop symptoms you could have been infected up to a couple of weeks ago, so it's really important that these travel bans come in quickly so that we can prevent any risk. 

"My understanding is that there haven't really been any flights coming from Brazil for about the past week, so hopefully the immediate travel ban should really minimise the risk."

He added that scientists will know "in the next few days" whether the ban has had "a significant effect".

The Government should give parents struggling to feed their children extra cash rather than food boxes or vouchers, Labour's shadow education secretary has said.

Kate Green told ITV's Good Morning Britain that "research going back many decades" showed that parents would spend money on food and other essentials if they receive it. 

"We know that when families haven't got enough money to feed their children properly, it's parents, particularly mums who go without," she added. 

 "Of course we need children to be properly fed with nourishing foods, but we need mums and dads to be properly fed with nourishing food so they can look after their families properly.

"Everything we know is that if you give parents money to spend on their children, that's what they do, that's what they prioritise - as any parent would."

Shadow education secretary Kate Green has called on Gavin Williamson to resign following the latest row over food parcels provided to families in need of support during the pandemic.

Images of parcels containing just £4 or £5 worth of food instead of the promised £30 were shared online earlier this week, sparking a public outcry and a renewed campaign from Marcus Rashford. 

Ms Green told Good Morning Britain: Patience has completely run out with Gavin Williamson and I do think it is time for him to go.

"Our children's future, our children's education, our children's well being, is too important to be left in the hands of someone who plainly isn't up to the job and I think it's time for him to go."

Conservative MPs have rounded on Steve Baker, after the co-head of the Covid Recovery Group warned Boris Johnson that his leadership would be "on the table" if he did not set out a "clear plan". 

But the Wycombe MP's warning that "debate will become about the PM's leadership if the government does not set out a clear plan for when our full freedoms will be restored" was not entirely wrong, they noted. 

One senior Tory said: "Baker overrates how important he is - but BJ has pissed off his base within the party, so he could have more issues."

Another likened it to Grant Shapp's failed bid to oust Theresa May in 2017, adding: "But it doesn't come out of nowhere. There are a lot of unhappy people."

A third was more damning of Mr Baker, saying: "By all means have a debate about lockdown, but to start going on about challenging Boris is bonkers, He won us a majority of 80 last year for goodness sake. Steve's ego needs some sanitiser. He needs to get some self-control and stop being a poor man's version of Machiavelli."

Outbreaks of Covid-19 in care homes have more than trebled in a month, with levels of infections now similar to the peak of the first wave, figures show.

The latest surveillance data from Public Health England (PHE) reveals that, in the week to January 14, there was the second highest weekly total since records began in April.

On Thursday night, senior figures said the numbers were "shocking" and warned: "Care homes cannot be neglected again."

Read the full story here. 

Grant Shapps has defended the delay in imposing a new travel ban on travellers from South America and Portugal several days after the Brazil variant was first identified, saying it is needed to avoid "tripping up at this last moment".

The travel ban came in at 4am this morning, five days after it was identified and two days after Boris Johnson said he was "concerned" about it. 

The Transport Secretary told Sky News: "We are at this late stage now, we have got so far - we have got jabs into the arms of three million Brits now - that's more than France, Spain, Germany, Italy put together, and we do not want to be tripping up at this last moment.

"Which is why I took the decision, as an extra precaution, to ban those flights entirely."

Mr Shapps added: "Everybody coming from anywhere not on a travel corridor must, by law, quarantine.

"And there are not exceptions to that and you can end up with a criminal record if you don't."

Boris Johnson is considering a post-Brexit overhaul of labour laws to free businesses from regulations originally imposed by the EU.

The 48-hour working week is one of the regulations being targeted by the Government, it was reported on Thursday night, in a move that is likely to meet with resistance from trade unions.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has asked business leaders for their views on the ideas, which are understood to be at an early stage.

Ministers believe the current laws, imported from EU law as part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, can be tweaked to benefit both businesses and workers.

Read the full story here.