British Prime Minister, Mr Boris Johnson, has confirmed plans to tear up social distancing and face mask rules on 19 July in spite of forecasts of 50,000 daily Coronavirus cases by that date, warning that failure to reopen society now could force England to keep restrictions in place until 2022.
The Independent of London also reports that the prime minister said he believed that high vaccination levels will provide a summer “firebreak” to hold numbers of deaths down as the third wave of Covid-19 peaks.
But Johnson admitted that he might have to reimpose curbs in the winter if new jab-resistant variants emerge.
Mr Johnson’s “now or never” announcement that he intends to allow all businesses – including nightclubs – to reopen and scrap limits on social gatherings and attendance at cultural and sporting events in two weeks’ time was welcomed by trade bodies.
But the prime minister was branded “reckless” by the Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer, while unions and mayors, including those of London and Greater Manchester, made clear they want face masks to remain mandatory on public transport.
Members of Parliament (MPs) have voted for “draconian” protest laws in spite of mounting warnings over human rights and questions over whether police want or need the powers.
A bill backed by the House of Commons would allow police to impose restrictions on protests based on noise and ban demonstrations by a single person. It would also create a criminal offence of “public nuisance”, lower the bar for prosecuting people who violate conditions and increase maximum prison sentences to a year.
Incidentally, the Liberal Democrats failed in a bid to cut the controversial clauses out of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill on Monday after their amendments were voted down.
One of the United Kingdom (UK’s) biggest holiday companies has apologised after wrongly turning away holiday makers from Leeds Bradford airport.
Jet2 has revised its post-Brexit passport procedures after mistakenly acting on incorrect UK government advice.
The European Union (EU) has strict rules on passport validity for travellers visiting from outside the bloc. Passports issued by non-member countries are regarded as expired once they have been valid for 10 years, even though a UK passport might show a longer expiry date.
The EU requires at least three months of validity on passports to remain after the intended date of returning, but the UK government falsely asserts on its gov.uk Brexit guide that travellers need at least six months left on their passport to travel to Europe.
