jessica parker at westminster, thank you.st of countries which will no longer be subject to coronavirus quarantine restrictions is expected to be confirmed by the government this week. it's likely to include spain, which is the number one destination for uk holiday makers. but travellers are being warned they will have to observe some coronavirus rules, as damian grammaticus reports now from the costa del sol. 0n the costa del sol, the sardines are sizzling, ready on the barbecue. but there are no people packed into the sunbeds. not until travel restrictions go. rosio gonzalez is a nurse. now spain's covid—i9 cases have declined, she is helping in the family restaurant for the summer, hoping british tourists will be back soon. translation: the costa del sol is all about tourism, everybody knows that. it's what we live off. we want them to come, we are really, really keen. the opening of air corridors will allow those in the uk who really want a holiday to have one, and resorts here, which are so dependent on tourism, to salva

jessica parker, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news...mark sedwill, is to step down as the government's most senior civil servant. tougher lockdown restrictions could be reintroduced in leicester because of a spike in new coronavirus infections there. uk prime minister borisjohnson sets out his plans to build his way to economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. the full list of countries which will no longer be subject to coronavirus quarantine restrictions is expected to be confirmed by the government this week. it's set to include spain, which is the number one destination for uk holiday—makers. damian grammaticus reports now from the costa del sol. on the costa del sol, the sardines are sizzling, ready on the barbecue, but there are no people packed into the sunbeds, not until travel restrictions are lifted. rosia gonzalez is a nurse. now spain's covid—i9 cases have declined, she's running the family restaurant for the summer, hoping british tourists will be back soon. translation: the costa del sol is all about tourism. everybo

jessica parker, bbc news.ernment's most senior civil servant, sir mark sedwill, is to leave his post as cabinet secretary. his departure will be seen as a victory for the prime minister's chief adviser, dominic cummings. the civil service union, the fda, said number ten had undermined sir mark with cowardly anonymous briefings and that the government would be weakened by his departure. lord o'donnell was cabinet secretary and head of the civil service from 2005 to 2011. he gave me his reaction to the news. i asked if sir mark relationships with boris johnson should have been closer. i think it's very sad that mark is going, he's a great public servant, came in a very difficult time when my successof was very tragically, very seriously ill and later died. mark brought things together, he's lived through brexit and covid—19, it's not been easy for him, and i know he's going to move on now to think about having a global security role, which i think plays to his enormous strengths in the security field. we owe him

with me is our political correspondent, jessica parker.uge pressure to drop the two metre rule. the two metre rule is regarded by those in hospitality as a real problem because if you have a two metre distance ruin your then you are in your beer garden you can have fewer customers. hospitality has been shut for weeks and weeks, not opening until the earliest in july. nonessential retail shops set are open from tomorrow, but for them and iam sure open from tomorrow, but for them and i am sure it would be welcome to go down to one or one i am sure it would be welcome to go down to one 01’ one 01’ i am sure it would be welcome to go down to one or one or 1.5 metres. scientists say the further apart you are, the less likely to transmit the virus so a balance of risk. something for the government to bear in mind is the hit to the economy. the chancellor has been speaking to andrew marr, making it clear that in terms of the economy and jobs hardship as a head. he was asked about his views on whether the two metres rule is to be relaxed. that rev

with me is our political correspondent, jessica parker. been saying on this? they are under real pressure, not least from their own mps, to drop this role. yes, there seems to have been a shift from what borisjohnson was talking about earlier in the week, putting the rule under constant, active review, to what now seems to be a formal review. what is the difference, you might ask? as you mentioned before, there is a date by which they are aiming to have a result, the 11th of july, when you could see hospitality beginning to open up in england, and they are going to talk to economists as well as scientists, because, as you were alluding to, the economy is a great concern in this particular issue. it is something that rishi sunak, the chancellor, has been speaking about on the andrew marr programme. that review will be a comprehensive review, conducted soon, starting now. we have done the preliminary work, done with scientists and economists. i talk to business all the time, it has an enormous impact on their ability to operate profitably an

jessica parker speaking to me earlier. i have also been speaking to doctor bharat pankhania.o has more than 20 years experience in communicable disease control and infectious disease management. he explained that it's important to take extra precautions like wearing a face mask. i always feel the greater the distance the better. there is nothing we can do. the government has decided it wants to make it one metre. nothing we can do. and my advice to our viewers, listeners and anyone is be careful. if you are in an at—risk group, be very careful. 0therwise, if you are going to be closer to people, wear a face mask, a face covering, or something like that. the closer you get the greater the risk and you be careful. and so the chances are the number, the r number, will increase, more people will unfortunately get coronavirus, even with a face covering? unfortunately, with respect to lifting the lockdown, which i also feel is premature, i am so sorry to be disagreeing with prime ministerjohnson, i'm not here to disagree but the evidence is there, it is too early to lift the lockdo

our political correspondent jessica parker reports.ohnson doing press—ups as he also tries to get the economy into shape. speaking to the mail on sunday about coronavirus, he said, this has been a huge, huge shock to the country, but we are going to bounce back very well. we want to build our way back to health. and to do it, some familiar themes. we are going to unite and level up. new schools, hospitals and transport schemes. ministers are trying to motor the economy along. hospitality opening up next weekend in england. there has been a great deal of work across government in terms of investing in the hospitality sector, so pubs, restaurants, bars, to get them reopened, it is all part of the roadmap that the government has outlined. as lockdown has eased, it seems borisjohnson is trying to get his political agenda back on track. a big speech this week, a new task force called project speed to deliver on infrastructure projects, a bid to revitalise the economy and, after a challenging few months, where downing street has at times bee

jessica parker speaking to me a little earlier.g overdose, and three others were stabbed, as thousand of people attended two raves in manchester on saturday night. the 20—year—old attended a gathering of around 4,000 in droylsden. in carrington there were reports of three separate stabbings at another party with 2,000 people. one 18 year—old—man is said to have life threatening injuries. a man has been arrested after a photograph emerged of a man urinating next to the memorial of a policeman killed in the 2017 westminster attack. a 28—year—old man handed himself in to police following the incident at the site where pc keith palmer was murdered. the home secretary priti patel called the act utterly shameful. there were more than 100 arrests in the westminster area yesterday following violent protests. police in glasgow have averted a clash between people calling for the removal of a statue of the founder of the metropolitan police, robert peel, and others who want it to stay. hundreds of people gathered around the statue and began r

jessica parker reports. (vt next) jessica parker reports.‘s approach as inconsistent. he can't have it both ways, mr speaker. it's one brief one day, another brief the next. i understand how the legal profession works. but what the public want to have is some consistency, mr speaker. and what i hope he will agree with me is that it's a good thing that we have now got 37% of kids in year six, in our primary schools, coming back, that is increasing the whole time. the scrapping of plans for all primary school children to return for a month before summer in england has caused deep concern. i think we need to see the government now bringing forward a proper strategy for how children and young people‘s education is going to get started again. they have now been out of school for months, and this simply cannot continue without a plan to make sure they can kick—start their education. but a move to open up nonessential shops is set to go ahead on monday, and zoos could start taking visitors next week as well. "careful", "cautious" — ministers‘ watch

well, we can go now to our political correspondent, jessica parker, at westminster.gions. that's right. earlier today, we learnt that the r rate, and worth bearing in mind there is a time lag in terms of the r rate, but the latest figures were that it was for the country between 0.7 and 0.9, matt hancock repeatedly pressed on some slight different statistics there are around this issue he said he was taking the evidence in the rout but he said it was closer to one in the south—west of england and the north—west of england. so some important regional variations, and i suppose this plays into the idea, and the government has talked about this before, that, as the uk and devolved nations will ta ke as the uk and devolved nations will take their own steps and their own decisions when they think the time is right, but as the country eases itself out of lockdown, you could see this potentially for localised lockdowns. whether that is for a region or much more localised to a school or a workplace, i think that will become clearer as time goes on and this is put into practic

jessica parker there.gures show there've been a further 2115 deaths from coronavirus across the uk. the total number of people known to have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community now stands at 41,128. president trump has said he won't strip the names of pro—slavery generals from us military bases, despite growing pressure to do so. it comes amid continued anti—racism protests following the death of george floyd. north american correspondent david willis joins us from los angeles. so, david, tell us a little more about a lot of these issues focusing 110w about a lot of these issues focusing now around flags and statues? absolutely, charlie, and it seems that memorials or statues memorialising those who were confederate leaders back in the time of the civil war here are the new rallying point for protesters, for people seeking to demonstrate against racism and police brutality in this country. there our reports a statue ofjefferson in this country. there our reports a statue of jefferson davi

with me now is our political correspondent, jessica parker. arguments over whether to relax the two metre rule are clearly delicately balanced. on decisions like this will is balance of risk, there is the risk to the economy, there is the risk to the virus spreading, scientists have been clear the closer people are together, the greater the risk of the virus, you have the wider risk to public health, if will is huang unemployment down the line, the government's moved from the two metre rule being under constant review to formal review, the difference is economists will be consulted as well as scientists and it comes as borisjohnson has been under pressure on this issue from businesses and his own mps, labour says the prime minister should follow the science but also accused ministers of a broader pattern of dither and delay when it comes to dealing with coronavirus, but it seems like a decision on this could loom, there is a clear desire in government to relax the rules if possible, it will be interesting to see whether this is a vehicle to al

our political correspondent jessica parker explained more about the government review.ing to have a result, the 4th ofjuly, when you could see hospitality beginning to open up in england, and they are going to talk to economists as well as scientists, because, as you were alluding to, the economy is a great concern in this particular issue. it is something that rishi sunak, the chancellor, has been speaking about on the andrew marr programme. that review will be a comprehensive review, conducted soon, starting now. we have done the preliminary work, done with scientists and economists. i talk to business all the time, it has an enormous impact on their ability to operate profitably and maintain employment. it impacts public transport, schools and many other things. as much as everyone and i would like to see it reduced from an economic perspective, we can only do that if it is safe and responsible to do so. the chancellor outlining what a difficult balancing act it is. what are labour saying? labour saying the science needs to be followed, but they are, more broadly on

jessica parker, our political correspondent there with the latest from westminster. the latest forecast. another bone dry and sunny day today but there is some good news on the horizon for gardens and growers, we are expecting a little bit of rainfall but an awful lot —— not an awful lot. no rain clouds across the uk by changes taking place in the very far north. watch what happens but warm air is replaced by a northerly wind. thursday and friday those temperatures will be a lot lower and talking about between 12 and 17 degrees. how much rainfall are we going to get? the truth is it will be very hit and miss and initially there will be some rain across scotla nd there will be some rain across scotland and on tuesday, after that it will be very hit and miss across the rest of the case so no widespread rainfall predicted at this stage. as i said it is quiet on the weather front moment and clear skies by early on tuesday morning and temperatures will be 7—14d so relatively mild but there is to say‘s weather map. high—pressure across the atlantic air and stretching into

with me is our political correspondent, jessica parker with all that in mind,, this has been a difficultome pressure on borisjohnson and his cabinet to reduce the two metre rule. you probably heard this week borisjohnson has talked about keeping this two metre rule under co nsta nt keeping this two metre rule under constant review as he has come under pressure on the issue. he seems to have moved now to a formal review, the differences there is this date by which the review needs to report back to, july four, when hospitality begins to reopen. scientists as we have heard have been clear in england the further apart you are, the less likely you are to catch the virus. we will also hearfrom economists as the hospitality industry have made it clear that restau ra nts, industry have made it clear that restaurants, bars are concerned about the two metre rule. why? if you are two metres apart, you can fit fewer people into your venues, make less money and this industry has been hard hit by lockdown because business has had to shut for many weeks. this morning on sky, the home secretary was ask

jessica parker, bbc news. our assistant political editor norman smith is at westminster.sure in the distance might change? it is a huge call. at the moment, it seems boris johnson finds himself pretty much caught between his mps and his scientists. his mps increasingly demanding they ease the rule for four years of crashing the economy, and they think they have the backing of the chancellor, rishi sunak, large sections of the media also pressing for easing, and of course the hospitality industry too, because they say they simply cannot open otherwise. against that, mr johnson's scientists are saying no, no, no, it is far too early. the r—fa ctor no, no, it is far too early. the r—factor is only just no, no, it is far too early. the r—factor is onlyjust below one. infections are coming down, but terribly slowly. at the moment, it seems mrjohnson is throwing his lot in with the scientists. why? because the big fear in the downing street is ofa the big fear in the downing street is of a resurgence in the virus, a second wave. also, i think the calculation of mrjohnson is tha

jessica parker reports.ays looked difficult, but decisions have to be made and explained. we come two questions to the prime minister. in prime minister's questions labour claimed the government's plans for getting schools back lie in tatters. it is no good the prime minister flailing around trying to blame others. a month ago today he made the announcement about schools without consulting the relevant parties, without warning about the dates and without any scientific backing for his proposal. it is time he took responsibility for his own failures. the prime minister labelling labour‘s approach is inconsistent. he cannot have it both ways, mr speaker. it is one brief one day, won the next. what the public want to have is some consistency, and what i hope you will agree with me is that it is a good thing we have got 37% of kids in yearsix in good thing we have got 37% of kids in year six in our primary schools coming back and that is increasing the whole time. the scrapping of plans for a primary school chil

jessica parker, bbc news.s ham, who is a health policy academic. he is, among many things, the non executive chair of the coventry and warwirckshire health and care partnership. good afternoon. do you have some sympathy with the iain duncan smith's view that this is crippling the economy and needs to be reduced? i have sympathy with the view that we need to be restarting the economy are seen as we need to be restarting the economy are seen as it is safe to do so, and the scientist will argue alongside their politicians about what the effect of distances, but much more important is having a system of testing in tracing and isolating people who have been in contact with those who are infected because if we don't do that, then easing the lockdown risks bringing back covid—19 after all the amazing work that we have seen going on particularly in the nhs to deal with the first wave and my concern at the moment is that we do not yet have a fully effective system of testing and tracing in place and that is far more im

let's speak now to our political correspondent, jessica parker. morning. ices. there are a backlog of cases, there are exhausted staff, there are funding concerns in the longer term as well. what the nhs confederation is calling for is a robust rationale, they say, from the government as to the easing of lockdown restrictions and a kind of honest assessment as to what it is all going to mean for the nhs and for the public going forward. speaking to bbc breakfast in the last hour has been neil dickson, the chief executive of the nhs confederation. we need to have a grown—up conversation with the public about what the health service and indeed social care can do over the months and years ahead, because it will be restricted and we will be desperately trying to make good some of the damage that has been done over the months of the pandemic. of course the nhs carers, they have been widely praised, applauded for their work on the coronavirus crisis. politically it would be tricky if the government were to be seen not to be providing the support of that nhs leade

as our political correspondent, jessica parker, explained, mrjohnson is trying to find a balance betweene of the virus. there is this balance still to be struck between trying to ensure that this move to bear down on the virus, cut and transmission rates, isn't undone by moving too quickly. but clearly there is a timings issue here. you have nonessential retail, as it is called, clothes shops and that kind of thing, opening from tomorrow and this hope that hospitality, pubs, restaurants, cafes can open from earlyjuly. and for those businesses there is clearly a huge benefit if they can cut it to one metre, they can fit more customers in their venues. it is about economic survival, isn't it? it is notjust about how much money we can make, a lot of them are saying businesses will not survive if they can't really start to open up and ramp up the number of people they can get through the door. there are warnings that millions ofjobs could be at risk in the hospitality sector. but it doesn't appear that science is behind it, the government's whole mantra all the way through has been we are fo

let's speak to our political correspondent, jessica parker. good morning, jessica.n with the economy. we have seen in the last couple of days how much damage coronavirus has to the economy. so a lot of conservative mps, a lot of businesses, really want this to me to rule to be relaxed. and it is different in different countries, in terms of whether it is two metres, whether it is 1.5 metres, whether it is one metre. the advice coming from sage, the scientific advisory committee that gives key advice to ministers, there was a new tranche of documents published yesterday, and it talks a lot about this two metre rule. it says the risk for people face—to—face is lowered at two metres than one metre, however, positioning is really important. so if people are side by side or back to back that would dramatically cut their risk of catching the virus. it also talks about when the number of people carrying the virus falls to low enough levels, and these kinds of measures can be relaxed considerably. boris johnson has previously talked about how when the conditions are right h

jessica parker, bbc news. let's speak now to our chief political correspondent vicki young.le? how much pressure as the government under over the two—metre rule ?|j think they are under pressure from business, but in a sense, they want to do this themselves, it is not just about being under pressure, borisjohnson, for a few weeks now, has made it clear that it is under review, rishi sunak, the chancellor, not surprisingly, given he is the one looking at the numbers every day and looking at some pretty stark, horrific numbers when it comes to the economy, made it very clear to conservative mps last night that he would like it to change. but the key thing is the timing of all of this. they still do feel that the number of cases are still too high. we have heard a lot from ministers talking about the incidence rate of the virus itself. so i think they would wa nt virus itself. so i think they would want that to come down quite a lot more before they introduce it. but it isa more before they introduce it. but it is a huge problem, and it is that balancing act which we've seen fo

let's get more now from our political correspondent jessica parker in westminster.ichel barnier that we have heard this afternoon, he sounds frustrated, is that the word? i think there is certainly frustration on the progress or perhaps a lack there of these talks. what has been going on is that it is the fourth round of negotiations on what a future relationship between the eu and the uk could look like, as you say not particularly positive assessments coming from michel barnier, saying no significant progress on the uk's side of things, david frost, the head negotiator saying that progress was limited. these talks have been taking place via zoom, but michel barnier was saying it wasn't the method in which the talks are being carried out that was the problem, it was the substance of negotiations that is an issue. they are continual sticking points over things like how the arrangement will be governed, this issue of fishing as well, and access to british fishing waters going forward. there is disagreement about the transition period as well, we are in the transition