Give all workers right to work from home after Covid, says Labour
Flexible working would be the ‘default’ unless there was a good reason why it was not possible All employees should be given the right to work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic ends, Labour has said. The party's shadow employment rights secretary Angela Rayner said on Saturday that the government should introduce a "default presumption" that flexible working would be permitted in law.
PM is NOT marking five year Brexit milestone, says MACER HALL
Macer Hall On the day itself, MPs will discuss a less controversial anniversary with a Westminster Hall debate celebrating 100 years of the Tyne Bridge instead. The House of Lords, dominated by peers who opposed the withdrawal from the EU, is also ignoring the issue with debates on folic acid and electric cars scheduled on the anniversary date.
Revealed: How the UK-Australia deal was struck
The UK’s first bespoke trade deal agreed since leaving the EU was finalised with Australia over two dinners. One took place in the garden of the residence of the Australian High Commissioner to the UK, where guests were fed Australian lamb. The other in Downing Street where Welsh lamb was on the menu.
Will Boris Johnson be one of the great prime ministers?
Boris Johnson may have been unable to work his magic on the burghers of Chesham as he did on fellow G7 leaders last weekend at Carbis Bay. But as he approaches his second anniversary in power next month, it is worth asking whether he is on track to become one of the landmark prime ministers in British history.
If lockdown returns in the autumn, Hancock may find that Cummings’ words come back to haunt him
When Theresa May entered Downing Street in 2016 in the wake of the EU referendum result that prompted David Cameron to resign, her team wanted to purge the Osbornites. But rather than just sacking them, they played on their vanity. They were offered a demotion with the assumption that they would walk rather than accept the humiliation.
Brexit: 'Peace or protocol?' - Loyalist protesters say the government has a choice to make
They were beating the drums so hard in Newtownards, County Down, you could almost have heard them in Downing Street. Loyalists are taking to the streets of Northern Ireland on an almost weekly basis to demand Boris Johnson scraps the Irish Sea border. Jamie Bryson organised this rally.
Samantha Cameron: I lost my lockdown stone in time for my 50th birthday
Although she’s tried diets in the past, Cameron was not a practised calorie counter – but she eventually found a regime that works for her Although she can’t live without sourdough and lager or follow long-term diets, Samantha Cameron was determined to shed the three quarters of a stone she put on over lockdown.
Don’t let Boris Johnson render Ministerial Code redundant
IT is clear why Boris Johnson chose to maintain his lockdown tradition by not first informing Parliament of the decision to maintain restrictions and delay so-called Freedom Day by four weeks. He would have possessed even less grasp of the facts than ‘‘hopeless’’ Matt Hancock when the Health Secretary updated MPs at 8.30pm – two-and-a-half hours after the Prime Minister held his Downing Street briefing.
Why Warwick’s Covid modelling doesn’t add up
This week began with more frightening graphs from SPI-M, the government’s scientific modelling committee. A team at Warwick University calculated that, had the 21 June reopening gone ahead, hospitalisations could have peaked at over 3,000 a day in August. By contrast, the first peak in April 2020 saw 3,149 admissions in one day and the second peak in January reached 4,160 on a single day.
Matt Hancock visiting Cambs hospital to open emergency department
The health secretary will be officially opening the new emergency department this afternoon The Health Secretary Matt Hancock will later today (Friday, June 18) open the new emergency department of the Hinchingbrooke Hospital. It's understood the opening is part of Mr Hancock's previous pledge to build 40 new hospitals in the UK and to update existing ones.
Lincolnshire covid restrictions could end sooner than July 19
Restrictions could be lifted in just over a couple of weeks Coronavirus restrictions in Lincolnshire could be lifted sooner than Monday, July 19, a report has suggested. The current measures were due to be eased on June 21 as part of the UK Government's 'Road Map' out of lockdown - but this was pushed back by four weeks due to concerns over the speedy spread of the Delta variant, first identified in India.
Euros 2020 final will still be held at Wembley, says No10 after UEFA row
PLANS are still on track to host the Euros final at Wembley, Downing Street stressed today, amid a behind-the-scenes row over exempting visiting fans and footie chiefs from isolation. UEFA bosses want overseas spectators and VIPS to dodge the mandatory 10-day quarantine - and have reportedly threatened to move the match from Britain.
Does ‘Johnson’s law’ explain why people won’t work from home?
Even after the one metre rule and the limits on numbers are removed on July 19th, we will not be back to anything approaching normal life. From self-isolation to travel we will not be returning to the status quo ante. Another way in which life will be different, as I say in the Times today, is that offices will still be nowhere near as busy as they were before the pandemic.
Office workers have no legal right to work from home, says Downing Street
DOWNING Street has ruled out giving office staff a legal right to work from home. Ministers are consulting on making flexible working a default option unless employers have good reasons not to. But No.10 insisted there are "significant benefits" from staff returning to workplaces after Covid restrictions have been lifted.
Covid restrictions 'could end early on July 5'
"No-one wants these restrictions in place for a day longer than necessary." Covid - 19 restrictions could be set to lift on July 5 in England - two weeks earlier than the new July 19 date that was announced by Boris Johnson earlier this week. The current measures were due to be lifted on June 21 as part of the final stage of the Government's 'Road Map' out of lockdown but this was pushed back by four weeks due to concerns over the rapid spread of the Delta variant, first identified in India.
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Boris and Carrie are displaying certain traits associated with another famous couple.… I give you The Markles of Downing Street
There's an expression to describe what's happened to Boris's brains since he hooked up with Carrie Symonds. Unfortunately, it's not suitable for a family newspaper but I'm sure some of you can work it out for yourselves. Suffice it to say that since BoJo fell under the spell of the current Mrs Johnson he's undergone a remarkable transformation.
'I don't know a person who supports a delay to freedom day' - Readers on the week's biggest stories
From a four-week lockdown delay to the launch of GB News, catch up on the week's news with the help of Telegraph readers On Monday, Boris Johnson ordered a four-week delay to freedom day as he extended coronavirus restrictions until July 19. While the news was inevitable to some, Telegraph readers struggled to hide their frustration.
Brexit shouldn’t mean regulation and red tape
A statutory right to work from home would destructively promote a new labour aristocracy with special protections And there we all were thinking that deregulation would be one of the big economic upsides of Brexit. Instead of which we have a Government apparently so focused on going the other way that it was reportedly thinking of making remote working a legal right.
Why full-time office contracts may soon be a thing of the past
The government is seeking to quash claims that it will pass legislation to make working from home the "default" post pandemic - despite senior ministers saying there will not be a return to "the status quo". A Whitehall source has alleged that civil servants are working on policies which would give employees a "default right to flexible working".
'We have more than 400 points of light'
Hexham charity Wag and Company receives Points of Light award from Downing Street A Hexham dog charity has been presented with a Points of Light award from Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Wag and Company, which is based in Hexham and is the only dog befriending charity in the UK, was presented the award from 10 Downing Street by MP Guy Opperman and Councillor Cath Homer on Friday, after originally receiving the award in October 2020.