Scotland to ditch face masks in schools
Students and teachers in Scotland’s secondary schools will no longer need to wear face masks in the classroom from the end of this month, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced.
She said the change – from February 28 when all schools have returned from the half-term break – is a “further step in allowing children and young people a return to a more normal experience in school after many, many months of sacrifice”.
Face coverings will still be required in other communal, indoor areas within high schools, the First Minister added, but this will be kept under “regular review”.
The announcement came 24 hours after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the last domestic restrictions in England – including the legal requirement to self-isolate if you test positive – are likely to be lifted later this month, “a full month early”.
Downing St wishes Prince Charles ‘swift recovery’ from Covid
Downing Street said Boris Johnson hopes the Prince of Wales will make a swift recovery after he tested positive for Covid-19.
A No 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister would like to wish the Prince of Wales a speedy recovery.”
UK ‘won’t intervene militarily if Ukraine is attacked’, says PM
Boris Johnson has said Britain is sending military support to Ukraine but made clear it could not intervene militarily if it was attacked.
“Both Poland and the UK are offering direct military support to our Ukrainian friends. We both believe in a sovereign independent Ukraine,” he said in a pooled clip for broadcasters.
“The UK has been supplying some defensive weaponry in the form of anti-tank missiles, we have been training Ukrainian troops. That is as far as we can go at the moment,” he said.
“Ukraine is not part of Nato. What we are sticking up for is the right of Ukraine like any other sovereign independent country to aspire to that.”
PM: ‘Demonstrably untrue’ partygate has damaged UK’s reputation
Boris Johnson said it was “demonstrably untrue” that partygate had damaged the UK’s reputation on the international stage, following criticism levelled by former prime minister Sir John Major.
Ben Wallace: Defensive equipment being sent to Ukraine
Body armour, helmets and combat boots are among the latest equipment Britain has sent to Ukraine, the Defence Secretary has said.
Ben Wallace, in a written statement to MPs, said: “I can today announce that, in response to a request from the Ukrainian government, we are providing additional defensive equipment including body armour, helmets and combat boots.
“The first shipments arrived in Kyiv this week. They are a purely defensive capability and pose no threat to Russia.
“This package, requested by the Ukrainians, complements the training and capabilities that Ukraine already has and those that are also being provided by the UK and other allies in Europe and the United States.”
PM: ‘We won’t accept a world in which a powerful neighbour can bully or attack their neighbours’
Prime minister Boris Johnson is speaking in Warsw with his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki.
He told a news conference that the UK won’t accept a world in which a “powerful neighbour can bully or attack” their neighbours, in reference to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia crisis.
He said: “We need to work together now to achieve de-escalation, to persuade Vladimir Putin to de-escalate and to disengage.
“We won’t accept, Poland and the UK, won’t accept a world in which a powerful neighbour can bully or attack their neighbours.”
It comes as 30,000 Russian troops have been undertaking military exercises with Belarus.
British politicans are stepping up diplomacy efforts as Liz Truss met with her Russian counterpart in Moscow.
Wales’s First Minister Mark Drakeford tests positive for Covid-19
Wales’s First Minister Mark Drakeford has tested positive for Covid-19, a spokesperson has confirmed.
A statement issued on Thursday said: “The First Minister of Wales has tested positive for coronavirus after taking a PCR test.
“He is self-isolating and working remotely”.
The country’s economy minister Vaughan Gething will host the three-weekly coronavirus regulations review due to take place at midday on Friday in Mr Drakeford’s place.
House of Lords committee to probe BBC future funding
A House of Lords committee will explore how the BBC should be funded after the Government suggested a shift away from the licence fee from 2027.
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry will explore how new technologies and consumer habits has affected the BBC, said Baroness Stowell of Beeston, chair of the committee.
The BBC licence fee is being frozen for the next two years and the Government has said it wants to find a new funding model for the broadcaster after the current licence fee funding deal expires in 2027.
BBC bosses have warned that the licence fee freeze will leave them with an annual £285 million shortfall by 2027-28.
“Our inquiry will look at this changing media landscape and examine how the BBC should be funded in the future to deliver what is needed from a national public service broadcaster,” said Baroness Beeston.
Law for tougher sanctions against Russia ‘in force this afternoon’ – minister
Powers which will allow the Government to toughen sanctions on Russia will come into force this afternoon, a minister has said.
Foreign Office minister James Cleverly told the Commons that the new law would be in place by the end of Thursday as Foreign Secretary Liz Truss visits Moscow.
Ms Truss had promised MPs that a new sanctions law would be in place by Thursday, but Labour questioned why MPs had not been given a chance to scrutinise the proposals as the deadline rolled around.
Foreign Office minister, James Cleverly, told the Commons: “We are toughening and expanding our sanctions regime in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
“This legislation will significantly broaden the range of people, businesses and other entities that we can sanction in response to any further Russian aggression.”
John Major: Ministers not telling Boris Johnson he can’t behave like he does
Sir John Major said previous prime ministers would not have been allowed by their senior ministers and officials to behave in the way Boris Johnson does.
Speaking during a question and answer session at the Institute for Government, the former prime minister said the apparent unwillingness to confront Mr Johnson was a “weakness” in No 10.
“If Mrs Thatcher in her time had been seen to behave in the way the present Prime Minister has, I can tell you what would have happened,” he said.
“The cabinet secretary would have been around straight away to tell her she couldn’t do it and so would Mr (William) Whitelaw, Lord Carrington, Sir Geoffrey Howe and many other senior and weighty member of the cabinet.
“If I had done it I would have had Douglas Hurd, Ken Clarke, Michael Heseltine, never mind others in No 10, telling me, ‘You just cannot do that’.
“Nobody in Cabinet, nor indeed the Cabinet Secretary, seems to be saying that to the present Prime Minister and that is a weakness in No 10.”
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