Connect with us

Published

on

Boris Johnson has said there is “absolutely nothing to indicate” the country will enter a new lockdown this winter, although he added the government would “do whatever we have to do to protect the public”.

On a visit to a vaccination centre in west London on Friday, the prime minister repeated his call for those who are eligible to come forward to get the “fantastic” COVID-19 booster jabs.

Mr Johnson admitted there were currently “high levels” of infection in the UK, with more than 52,000 new coronavirus cases recorded on Thursday.

But the prime minister maintained he was not yet ready to reintroduce COVID measures in England – under the government’s “Plan B” – in an attempt to dampen the rising number of infections.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Will boosters be five months soon?

He insisted the current rate of infections was “fully in line” with predictions made earlier this year.

Asked whether he was ignoring the advice of scientists by not yet reintroducing the command for people to work from home where they can, Mr Johnson said: “We keep all measures under constant review – we’ll do whatever we have to do to protect the public.

“But the numbers that we’re seeing at the moment are fully in line with what we expected in the autumn and winter plan.

More on Boris Johnson

“What we want people to do is to come forward and get their jabs.

“We also want young people, we want kids at school to be getting their jabs with complete confidence and there will be booking systems opening from tomorrow in addition to the vaccination programme in schools.

“The message is that the boosters are fantastic, the levels of protection are really very high.”

Pressed on whether a full national lockdown was out of the question, Mr Johnson replied: “I’ve got to tell you at the moment that we see absolutely nothing to indicate that that is on the cards at all.”

The prime minister also confirmed that “a lot of people are looking at” whether the time between a second vaccine dose and a third booster jab should be shortened from six months to five months for most people, as has been suggested by former health secretary Jeremy Hunt.

“That’s a very good question and it’s an important question. I think a lot of people are looking at that issue,” Mr Johnson said.

“I heard with great interest what Anthony Harnden of the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation)… had to say this morning about that.

“I think that people should be coming forward with the same spirit of determination to get their boosters as we saw earlier on this year. It’s a very good thing to do, it gives you a huge amount of protection.

“We always expected that we would see numbers rise right about now – that is happening. And you’ve also got into account the waning effectiveness of the first two jabs, so get your booster now.”

Follow the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Earlier on Friday, Prof Harnden, the deputy chair of the JCVI, said the independent committee would look at cutting the timeframe between second doses and boosters.

He said six months had been shown to be the “sweet spot” for having a booster, adding the main issues in the programme were accessibility to the vaccine and persuading people to have one.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid on Friday hailed how five million booster vaccines and third doses have now been administered across the UK.

“Hitting over five million booster jabs across the UK is a fantastic achievement as we keep ahead in the race between the vaccine and the virus,” he said.

PM refuses to say whether he’ll ‘lead by example’ by wearing mask in Commons

By Greg Heffer, political reporter

Boris Johnson has refused to say whether he will wear a mask in parliament in future despite government guidance being for people to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed spaces.

Amid rising COVID infection levels across the UK, some have questioned why many MPs have not been donning masks in the House of Commons – or at their political party conferences over the past month.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Why are Tory MPs not wearing face masks?

Cabinet ministers are also at odds on the issue of mask-wearing, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid urging his fellow Conservative MPs to wear masks in the crowded Commons chamber.

But Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has suggested Tory MPs do not need to wear masks in parliament because they “know each other”.

Asked on a visit to a vaccination centre in west London on Friday whether MPs should be leading by example on the issue – and whether he himself would wear a mask in parliament – the prime minister refused to say whether he would don a face covering in the Commons in future.

“I think there are lots of steps that we need to take to continue to follow the guidance,” he replied.

“So commonsensical things like washing your hands, wearing a mask in confined spaces… where you’re meeting people that you don’t normally meet. That’s sensible.

“But the key message for today is for all people over 50 to think about getting your booster jabs. When you get the call, get the jab.”

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson – like many Conservative MPs – was see entering the Commons chamber without wearing a mask.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Rees-Mogg jokes about mask wearing

Dr Kit Yates, a senior lecturer in mathematical biology at Bath University and a member of the Independent SAGE group of scientists on COVID matters, claimed the prime minister’s stance on mask-wearing was “absolute nonsense”.

“This idea that you should only wear a mask when you’re meeting people you don’t know is absolute nonsense,” he told Sky News.

“Because the vast majority of people get infected by people they do know.

“The public health messaging surrounding the government at the moment is absolutely appalling.

“And the irony is we could do really small things like wearing masks, like working from home… that would help us bring down the high levels of cases that we’re seeing at the moment.”

Continue Reading

UK

Southport stabbing victim reveals how she survived attack – and fears ‘it could happen again’

Published

on

By

Southport stabbing victim reveals how she survived attack - and fears 'it could happen again'

A girl who was stabbed in the Southport attack has told Sky News how she thought she was going to die that day.

Warning: Some readers may find this content distressing

It is exactly a year since Axel Rudakubana killed three girls and attempted to murder eight others at a summer holiday Taylor Swift-themed dance event in the seaside town.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was stabbed in the back and the arm after going to the class with her younger sister.

She is now campaigning for children to have mandatory first aid training at school in response to the growth of knife crime.

She said she clearly remembers what happened that day.

Flowers and tributes near the scene of the attack a year ago. Pic: PA
Image:
Flowers and tributes near the scene of the attack a year ago. Pic: PA

“Some of the girls were sat down in a circle making bracelets with the teachers, and a couple of them were getting up to get beads. I was standing between two tables and he came through the doors.

“He stabbed a little girl in front of me and then came for me and stabbed my arm. I turned and then he stabbed my back, even though I didn’t feel it at the time.

“There was a bunch of girls huddled around so I just started pushing them down the stairs, telling them to get out and run.

“I was thinking ‘Where’s my sister?’ and ‘We need to get out’.”

She and many of the other victims ran to the house of a neighbour for shelter. “I just thought that I was going to die,” she said.

Killer ‘looked possessed’

The girl said she can clearly picture Rudakubana that day.

“What I remember most about him is his eyes. They just didn’t look human, they looked possessed. It was kind of like a dream and you’re on a movie set and watching yourself go through it and make these decisions.

“It’s just kind of like adrenaline. People like to think they know what they’d do in that situation but, in reality, you don’t until you’re in it.”

Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were murdered in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed class.
Image:
Alice da Silva Aguiar, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Bebe King were murdered in the attack

Six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, who was seven, and nine-year-old Alice da Silva Aguiar died in the attack. It is something she finds difficult to talk about.

“I don’t think I can express how I feel about it,” the girl said. “A lot of anger and sadness.”

In January, Rudakubana was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 52 years before he can be considered for release.

The chairman of the public inquiry into the atrocity called the attack “one of the most egregious crimes in our country’s history”.

Carrying knives ‘disgusting’

The girl who survived has now launched a campaign, supported by a clothing range called “Go Anywhere, Be Anything” to raise funds, to improve the ability of schoolchildren to help in the event of knife attacks.

“Everyone that’s going out and carrying knives is getting younger and younger,” she said. “And to think that it’s people my age is like disgusting.

“I just want to try and do the best I can to let people know that it’s not okay to do that and that they need to think about what they’re doing and the risks and how they’re harming themselves and other people.”

Her sister, who was also there that day, helped design “Go Anywhere, Be Anything”.

Read more:
Missed chances to stop Rudakubana

‘Terrorism has changed’, says PM

A three-minute silence will be held in Southport at 3pm to mark one year on from the attack. In an open letter to the community, Sefton Council wrote: “This period is incredibly hard for the families of Alice, Bebe and Elsie and all of those children and adults injured or who suffered lifelong psychological impact of witnessing the attack, and we acknowledge the huge impact on their lives, too.

“We must not forget the local people who rushed to support and to our emergency responders. They all remain always in our thoughts.”

It is a sentiment shared by the survivor.

“You live in fear every day that it could happen again,” she said.

“Physically I’m getting better every day and healing. Obviously, my scars stay as a reminder but everyone from that day is going to have mental scars forever.”

Continue Reading

UK

Revealed: The scale of cheap Chinese imports flown into UK without paying any tariffs

Published

on

By

Revealed: The scale of cheap Chinese imports flown into UK without paying any tariffs

The scale of cheap Chinese e-commerce imports flown into Britain without paying any tariffs has become clearer following a Sky News investigation into this new multi-billion pound phenomenon.

We have uncovered the first official estimate of the value of so-called “de minimis” imports into Britain, ahead of an official inquiry into whether this legal clause – which excludes packages worth less than £135 from paying customs duties – should be allowed to continue.

Companies like Shein and Temu have become big players in British retail, not to mention elsewhere around the world, by manufacturing cheap products in China and then posting them directly to consumers, benefiting from the de minimis rules.

Inside the cargo plane

Clothing manufacturers in the UK claim that de minimis makes it nearly impossible to compete with these Chinese competitors, raising questions about the viability of domestic textile and apparel production.

However, economists argue that the main beneficiaries of the policy to exclude cheap imports from customs are lower-income households, since it allows them to spend less on their shopping. Removing it, they say, would disproportionately affect poorer families.

The government has committed to an inquiry into the rules, which are also being changed in the EU and the US, but up until now there has been no official estimate of its scale.

According to HM Revenue and Customs data released to Sky News following a Freedom of Information request, the total declared trade value of de minimis imports into the UK in the last fiscal year (2024-25) was £5.9bn.

That was a 53% increase on the previous year (£3.9bn), underlining the scale of growth of e-commerce imports into the UK.

While it is hard to gauge how much revenue this means the Treasury has forgone, an illustrative 20% tariff on flows of that order could raise more than £1bn.

De minimis trade is growing

While that sum alone would not fill the fiscal black hole faced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the coming budget, it would nonetheless be nearly enough to pay for the government’s recent U-turn on winter fuel allowances.

Sky has also obtained the first television access deep into the supply chain, helping bring those goods into the UK, as it boarded a flight that had just travelled from Chongqing to Bournemouth Airport.

We filmed inside the belly of a plane belonging to European Cargo, one of a number of air cargo firms booming as a result of these trade flows.

Read more:
The rarely examined trade clause about to become a very big deal
UK city’s clothing industry in crisis

The untold story about de minimis is that it hasn’t just had an impact on shopping habits in the UK, or for that matter, the textiles manufacturing sector – it has also changed patterns of distribution.

Struggling regional airports that never saw their passenger numbers recover after the pandemic are now re-establishing themselves as hubs for cargo.

European Cargo is now the single biggest airline at Bournemouth Airport, despite not carrying a single passenger.

Other regional airports like East Midlands Airport and Prestwick in Scotland are seeing rapid growth in flows of trade.

All of which raises the stakes for the government’s inquiry into the de minimis system.

At present, there is no timeline for its decision, but removing the clause would have far-reaching effects across the economy.

Continue Reading

UK

Lionesses parade: The route and key timings as thousands of England fans to descend on central London

Published

on

By

Lionesses parade: The route and key timings as thousands of England fans to descend on central London

The Lionesses will celebrate with thousands of England fans in central London today as the players take part in an open-top bus procession.

The bus will carry the team through central London, allowing supporters to celebrate the team’s defence of their Women’s Euros title alongside the likes of Leah Williamson and Chloe Kelly and catch a glimpse of the silverware.

Here is all you need to know.

Where will the parade go and when?

The team’s open-top bus will travel along The Mall from 12.10pm.

It will end with a staged ceremony at the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace, which is expected to start at roughly 12.30pm and end at 1pm, the Football Association (FA) announced.

The Royal Marines Portsmouth band and the Central Band of the Royal Air Force will perform on the stage and highlights from the tournament will be shown on big screens.

England manager Sarina Wiegman will then lead her triumphant team out on stage to lift the trophy.

The event will be hosted by former Lioness and football pundit Alex Scott.

Fans will be able to attend the event for free, but the FA have warned that the capital is going to be “very busy”.

“People should plan their visits carefully, both coming into central London and travelling home,” the association said.

England players celebrate with the trophy after winning the UEFA Women's Euro 2025. Pic: Reuters
Image:
England players celebrate with the trophy after winning the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025. Pic: Reuters

How to watch

You can watch coverage of the entire event live on Sky News from 10am and follow all the action with our live blog.

Fans can also follow coverage of the event on the BBC, ITV and across England’s social media channels.

Celebrations with the deputy PM

The Lionesses landed back in the UK from Basel, Switzerland, on Monday, where celebrations continued with a reception at Downing Street.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and sports minister Stephanie Peacock hosted the team ahead of today’s bus parade.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

‘It’s very, very special’

Sir Keir Starmer said: “The Lionesses have once again captured the hearts of the nation.

“Their victory is not only a remarkable sporting achievement, but an inspiration for young people across the country.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Chloe Kelly saves England again

An extra bank holiday?

As the team have become the first senior England side to win a major tournament on foreign soil, some have called for an extra bank holiday to mark the occasion.

Liberal Democrats leader Ed Davey was one of those who asked the prime minister if it was “time for that bank holiday”.

He was referring to comments made by Sir Keir in 2023. When, as leader of the opposition, he wrote on X that there “should be a celebratory bank holiday if the Lionesses bring it home”.

But with estimates suggesting an extra bank holiday would cost the economy £2.4bn, it’s understood such a move isn’t being planned by Downing Street.

‘There is no stopping them now’

The impact of the Lionesses second consecutive Euros title is already being felt across the UK.

At Bearsted Football Club in Maidstone, Kent, a mural of Alessia Russo, who levelled Sunday’s final with a goal in the 56th minute, has been unveiled.

Soccer Football - UEFA Women's Euro 2025 - Final - England v Spain - St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland - July 27, 2025 England's Alessia Ru
Image:
Alessia Russo scoring the levelling goal. Pic: Reuters

The club is where Russo first started playing, and chairman Jamie Houston told Sky News the Lionesses have helped transform the women’s game.

“Five years ago we never had a girl’s football team,” he told Sky correspondent Mollie Malone. “Now we have five separate teams for girls, and boys are accepting of more girls in the game.

“There is no stopping them now.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What’s next for the Lionesses?

Read more:
In pictures: The story of the Euros final
Fans celebrate at club where Lioness began journey
Analysis: England showed resolve and relentlessness

Lynda Hale, who played in the England squad in the first ever international women’s match against Scotland in 1972, reiterated that women’s football has changed drastically since she played.

“When I first started playing there was hardly anyone that would watch,” she told Sky News Breakfast.

“To put on the England shirt and think what we started has grown to this magnitude, and it is still going to grow, is absolutely fantastic. I think the sky’s the limit in women’s football.”

Asked what advice she would have for the current England squad after their win, Ms Hale said: “The girls need to make as many memories as they can and take everything in their stride.”

Continue Reading

Trending