PM buoyed by relaxation of COVID travel rules ahead of White House meeting

Published

3 years ago

September 21, 2021

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US President Joe Biden will welcome Boris Johnson to the White House later.

The prime minister will travel from the UN General Assembly in New York to Washington for the Oval Office meeting which would, in all likelihood, have happened well before now had it not been for the pandemic.

It has been just three months since the Prime Minister and the President last met at the G7 in Cornwall. But what a long tricky summer it has been since then.

Trans-Atlantic relationships have been strained. The worth of NATO has been questioned by the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The pandemic endures, with global vaccination efforts faltering. And November’s high stakes Climate Change summit in Glasgow is ever closer with the risk of it falling short of the pledges made.

The prime minister will arrive in the West Wing of the White House with two unexpected boosts.

The news on Monday that the US will, in November, scrap the COVID-related travel ban for EU and UK travellers was as surprising as it was welcome.

And the hints by President Biden’s climate envoy to Sky News that America will commit to funds for developing countries, as called for by Mr Johnson, is a positive move.

“It will make a huge difference and I think it will send a massively powerful signal to the world that we in the industrialised west really do take it seriously,” Mr Johnson said.

With Mr Johnson and Mr Biden both in New York, their meeting could easily have been there too.

But holding it at the White House, in the Oval Office, carries much more weight.

The so-called special relationship looks that much more convincingly special with the Oval Office backdrop.

The optics of these monuments through the years are of course important, but it is the results that matter.

On climate, Mr Johnson may get something to take with him to the Glasgow conference he is hosting.

But on that all-important post Brexit US/UK trade deal, do not hold your breath.

Before the Oval Office meeting, there will be other key diplomatic moments to watch through the day too.

President Biden has numerous strained relationships to mend following the Afghanistan withdrawal and he is expected to hold talks with France’s President Macron amid the most extraordinary spat over the supply of nuclear powered submarines to Australia.

Politics

Meet the pro-crypto contenders who could replace SEC chief Gary Gensler

Published

2 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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Meet the pro-crypto contenders who could replace SEC chief Gary Gensler

There are several new candidates who could potentially become the next chair of the SEC.

Politics

University tuition fee rise branded ‘morally wrong’ – as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson defends increase

Published

11 hours ago

November 5, 2024

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University tuition fee rise branded 'morally wrong' - as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson defends increase

The education secretary has said no decision has been made on whether university tuition fees will increase with inflation each year.

Bridget Phillipson has announced the maximum cap on tuition fees in England will go up in line with inflation from April 2025.

The cost of tuition will increase by £285 to £9,535 next year – the first rise in eight years.

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There will also be a rise in maximum maintenance loans to increase in line with inflation, giving an increase of £414 a year to help students with living costs.

However, the education secretary did not say if the rise would continue after that.

Speaking to Sky News’ Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, Ms Phillipson admitted she did not know what would happen with tuition fees after April 2026.

“We’re going to look at this and the maintenance support and the sector overall as part of the reform that we intend to set out in the months to come,” she said.

“So no decision, no decision has been taken on what happens beyond this.”

She said the government will be looking at “what is required… to get our universities on a more sustainable footing… but also to deliver a better deal for students as a part of that”.

The minister said she also “intends to look at” uprating the threshold at which students need to start paying tuition fees back in line with inflation.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said the tuition fee rise was “economically and morally wrong”.

She said: “Taking more money from debt-ridden students and handing it to overpaid underperforming vice-chancellors is ill conceived and won’t come close to addressing the sector’s core issues.”

The National Union of Students (NUS) said students were being asked to “foot the bill” to keep the lights and heating on in their universities and to prevent their courses from closing down amid the “crisis”.

Alex Stanley, vice president for higher education of the NUS, said: “This is, and can only ever be, a sticking plaster.

“Universities cannot continue to be funded by an ever-increasing burden of debt on students.”

Universities have been making up for fees being frozen since 2017/18 by taking in international students who pay more.

However, student visa numbers have fallen after the previous government made it more difficult for them to come to the UK recently, so universities can no longer rely on the fees.