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An eight-week interval between vaccine doses provides “much better” protection from coronavirus, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said, as he dismissed reports that the gap is due to be reduced from eight weeks to four.

Mr Zahawi also told Sky News he is “confident” that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce on Monday that COVID restrictions will be lifted on 19 July despite the surge in cases.

But he said new guidance issued by the PM will say people are “expected” to continue to wear face masks in crowded indoor settings, despite the legal requirement to do so ending from step four of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.

“I think it is important that we remain cautious and careful and the guidelines that we will set out tomorrow will demonstrate that – including guidelines that people are expected to wear masks in indoor, enclosed spaces,” Mr Zahawi said.

Earlier this week, when setting out the details of his planned unlocking for the fourth and final step of his roadmap on 19 July, the PM said from this point there will be no more legal requirement on wearing face masks in shops or on public transport.

However, Mr Zahawi’s comments on Sunday suggested more caution over lifting the policy of wearing face masks altogether.

Shadow education secretary Kate Green told Sky News the changing positions from government ministers is a “recipe for confusion” and said it could lead to “more confrontations”.

A final decision on England’s path out of restrictions is expected to be taken on Monday.

Wales has already deviated from the UK Government’s position on mask wearing, announcing that face masks will remain mandatory there in some public places until COVID-19 is no longer a public health threat.

Masks must still be worn in taxis, on trains and buses, as well as health and social care settings when coronavirus restrictions are eased, the Welsh government said.

Meanwhile, on vaccines, Mr Zahawi dismissed a story in The Sunday Times which suggested the gap between receiving the two doses of the COVID jab could be cut to four weeks.

“The real-world data, the clinical data suggests that actually the eight-week interval offers that additional fortification in terms of protection with the two doses, at much better than having the interval shortened any further,” he told Sky News.

Labour’s Ms Green said her party would support reducing the time interval between two jabs if the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) recommended it.

“The priority, of course now, is also to make sure that people who have not been vaccinated at all get the vaccine, and it is concerning that the rate of vaccinations is slowing and that some groups are still not being able to come forward and be vaccinated,” she told Sky News.

All over 18s are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccination in England.

Earlier this week, the government announced that from 16 August, double jabbed individuals and all children will no longer need to self-isolate if they are identified as a close contact of someone with COVID-19.

And Transport Secretary Grant Shapps also confirmed that fully vaccinated adults and all children will no longer have to quarantine on their return from amber list countries from 19 July.

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Labour can’t ‘turn taps on’ for struggling councils, Sir Keir Starmer warns at local election launch

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Labour can't 'turn taps on' for struggling councils, Sir Keir Starmer warns at local election launch

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that Labour “can’t pretend that we can turn the taps on” to help struggling councils if he wins the next general election.

The Labour leader was speaking in Dudley at the launch of his party’s campaign for the local elections on 2 May, which are taking place against the backdrop of a bleak financial picture for councils across the country.

One in five council bosses have said they think it’s likely or fairly likely they will go bankrupt in the next 15 months, while the Local Government Association, which represents local authorities, has said there is a £4bn funding shortfall over the next two years.

Asked by Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby whether he would “commit that money”, Sir Keir replied: “Councils of all political stripes are struggling with the lack of funding they’ve had over a prolonged period.

“And we need to turn that around – we will do that.”

Politics latest: Starmer asked if he’s a ‘Tory in disguise’

Although he did not promise additional funding, he did suggest funding settlement arrangements could be altered to help councils – suggesting one-year settlements had been detrimental to councils’ budgets.

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“I think there is scope for different kinds of funding settlements,” he said.

“Talk to any council leader and they’ll say the one-year settlements are very difficult for us because we can’t spend money effectively and as well as we should.

“So it’s hard because there isn’t enough money. It’s even harder because it’s a one-year settlement. We can change that around with a three-year settlement.”

The shadow hanging over Labour policies is the dire state of public finances


Rob Powell Political reporter

Rob Powell

Political correspondent

@robpowellnews

While Sir Keir Starmer’s local election launch contained little new in the way of policy, it was still one of the clearest outlines of what drives the Labour leader as a politician and what would propel him in government.

Put simply – it is about restoring pride in the places people live and injecting a sense of integrity back into the workforces of those areas.

In a theme we’ll likely see returned to throughout the general election campaign, Sir Keir used the language of football to sketch this out – referring to the Potters of Stoke, the Glassboys of Stourbridge and the Hatters of Stockport.

Pride of place linked with the integrity of work given form through the plain-speaking language of football.

None of these identified problems are new.

This is the well of angst that lay behind the Brexit vote. This is the concept of ‘left behind’ communities Theresa May vowed to address. This is the problem to be solved through Boris Johnson’s ‘levelling up’ agenda.

So why should voters believe that this leader will prevail when so many others have failed? On this, there is still a considerable blank space. The answer being given today is devolution.

If local people are given more power over how to spend their money, this argument goes, they will spend it better and waste less.

The shadow hanging over all this is the dire state of the public finances. Or to put it another way, what many places need is cold hard cash.

The fiscal constraints Labour appears to be wrapping around itself means that money is not there though.  Squaring that circle will be the central tension within both this local election campaign and the coming race for Downing Street.

He added: “I can’t pretend that we can turn the taps on, pretend the damage hasn’t been done to the economy. It has. The way out of that is to grow our economy.”

At the end of last year, councils told residents they should be prepared for reduced services and tax rises due to increasing cost and demand pressures.

In Birmingham, where the Labour-run local authority declared bankruptcy after being hit with a £760m bill to settle equal pay claims, council tax will rise by 21% over the next two years while £300m in cuts will be brought in over the same period.

Read more:
Labour will not bail out bankrupt councils, Rachel Reeves says
Why are councils going bankrupt?

At the campaign launch, Sir Keir said it was “unforgivable” the Tories did not follow through on their pledge to level up left-behind areas of the UK and said he had hoped to launch “a different election campaign here today” but could not because the “prime minister bottled it”.

The Labour leader said Rishi Sunak wanted “one last drawn-out summer tour with his beloved helicopter” and added: “We need to send him another message, show his party once again that their time is up, the dithering must stop, the date must be set.”

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt claimed Labour’s local election launch was a “smokescreen” and that when it was in office the party “devolved no powers to local authorities”.

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Sir Keir Starmer speaks of ‘frustration’ at Boris Johnson’s ‘unforgiveable failure’ to level up – but says idea was ‘right’

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Sir Keir Starmer speaks of 'frustration' at Boris Johnson's 'unforgiveable failure' to level up - but says idea was 'right'

Sir Keir Starmer has admitted Boris Johnson was “right” to propose levelling up but said he was “frustrated” by the former prime minister’s “unforgivable” failure to deliver.

The Labour leader also claimed the policy, which defined Mr Johnson’s premiership, was “strangled at birth” by his successor, Rishi Sunak.

Speaking to Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby at the launch of Labour’s local election campaign in Dudley, Sir Keir said “the idea” of levelling up that was put before the electorate in 2019 by Mr Johnson was “right”.

But he added: “What that requires – and this is where I get frustrated – is if you really believe that… I’m afraid you’ve got to roll your sleeves up, you’ve got to put a plan on the table, you go the hard yards.

“And so what is unforgivable about Boris Johnson is, having made that the focus, he didn’t do the hard yards of delivery and that’s why people feel even more let down.”

Politics latest: Starmer asked if he’s a ‘Tory in disguise’ – as he accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘bottling’ election

The Labour leader was equally critical of Mr Sunak, whom he said had “strangled levelling up at birth because he wouldn’t put the funding behind it – and we know what the consequences are.”

However, despite criticising the Conservatives for their failure to put money behind the policy, Sir Keir refused to commit any new funding to local councils, which are straddling an estimated funding gap of £4bn over the next two years.

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Starmer pushed on council funding crisis

He told Rigby his party “can’t turn on the spending taps” for cash-strapped local authorities but that funding settlements could be made longer to provide more stability.

“If we stabilise the economy, that will reduce inflation,” he said. “That’s been a big drag for councils.”

Another change Sir Keir put forward was a ban on no-fault evictions, which he said added to the “strain” on councils which then have to find alternative accommodation.

The ban on no-fault evictions is one of a number of measures that have been held up in the long-delayed Renters Reform Bill, which Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has been accused of watering down to appease sceptical backbenchers.

Read more:
Rayner will not publish ‘personal tax advice’ over council house sale
How Tory MPs could oust PM – and who could replace him

But Mr Gove said the Labour leader “couldn’t be more wrong” with his assessment of the government’s record.

“We are the party that’s been leading on levelling up for years now,” he said.

“The areas of the country in the Midlands and the North that Labour neglected for decades have had an infusion of cash and a power surge thanks to this Conservative government.

“We’re the people who’ve given power to mayors in the Tees Valley and in the West Midlands, who’ve had a decisive impact on raising wages, levering in investment, empowering local communities.

“Labour are late to this game and also they come with nothing new to say. No new money, no new powers, no plan at all.”

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Angela Rayner will not publish ‘personal tax advice’ over council house sale – unless Tories do the same

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Angela Rayner will not publish 'personal tax advice' over council house sale - unless Tories do the same

Angela Rayner has said she will not publish the “personal tax advice” she received on the sale of her council house despite a police development over her living arrangements.

Labour’s deputy leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was “confident” she had done “absolutely nothing wrong” with regards to the sale of her council house and whether she should have paid capital gains tax on it.

Ms Rayner said she had been “very clear on my advice that I’ve received” – but asked why she would not put that legal advice into the public domain, she said: “Because that’s my personal tax advice. But I’m happy to comply with the necessary authorities that want to see that.”

Sir Keir Starmer later threw his support behind his deputy at the launch of Labour’s local election campaign in Dudley, telling the audience that she had not broken any rules and was right not to publish the legal advice.

Asked if his deputy should resign if found to have done wrong, Sir Keir said: “Angela has answered I don’t know how many questions about this. She has not broken any rules, she has in fact taken legal and tax advice which has satisfied her, and us, and me about the position.”

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Although Ms Rayner has resisted putting her tax advice in the public domain, she has committed to hand over the information to the police and HMRC – something Sir Keir agreed with.

When pressed further on why she would not publish the advice – and whether she would accept the same reasoning from a Conservative politician – Ms Rayner suggested she would be willing to do if her Tory critics did the same.

“If we’re all going to have a level playing field and we suddenly decide that Conservative ministers need to hand over their tax affairs, if you show me yours, then I’ll show you mine,” she said.

The Labour leader made comparisons with Ms Rayner’s situation to “beergate”, when he and Ms Rayner were investigated, and later cleared, over allegations of breaching COVID lockdown rules ahead of the Hartlepool by-election in May 2021.

And he said: “Where does this end? Are you going to be calling for Tory ministers to publish their legal and tax advice going back over the last 15 years? That is where this ends.”

The defence of Ms Rayner came after Greater Manchester Police confirmed it was “reassessing” its initial decision not to investigate allegations made about her living arrangements after receiving a complaint.

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Labour shadow minister defends Rayner

The Labour MP has come under the spotlight in recent weeks over the sale of an ex-council house she previously owned in Stockport, having been accused of avoiding capital gains tax – something she has denied.

But she has also faced scrutiny over claims that in 2010, she may have lived primarily at her then husband’s address, despite registering to vote under her own – which could be a breach of electoral rules.

Ms Rayner has said she paid bills and council tax and was registered to vote at the home she brought through Margaret Thatcher’s “right-to-buy” scheme. If it was her primary address, as she has claimed, she would not have had to pay capital gains tax on it when she sold it in 2015 for £127,500 – making a £48,500 profit

However, there have been claims that despite registering at Vicarage Road, she was primarily living at Lowndes Lane, Mr Rayner’s address.

Greater Manchester Police looked into the claims and initially said there was no evidence of an offence being committed.

However, James Daly, the Tory MP for Bury North who filed the original complaint about Ms Rayner, followed up with the force and said they had failed to properly investigate the allegations – prompting them to reassess their initial decision.

Read more:
Angela Rayner pleads for ‘privacy’ after row over house sale

How Tory MPs can oust PM – and who could replace him

In a fresh statement released on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the force said: “We have received a complaint regarding our decision not to investigate an allegation and are in the process of reassessing this decision.

“The complainant will be updated with the outcome of the reassessment in due course.”

The claims first surfaced in a book about Ms Rayner by former Conservative Party deputy chairman and Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, which has been serialised in the Mail On Sunday.

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