jonathan blake reports.day in france this summer, plans may have to change. from monday the country will stay on the amber list, but unlike other destinations in that category adults who are fully vaccinated will still have to isolate for ten days on their return to england and wales. i ten days on their return to england and wales.- england and wales. i was planning _ england and wales. i was planning on _ england and wales. i was planning on going to - england and wales. i was i planning on going to france england and wales. i was - planning on going to france for a short trip, as i have a family wedding there at the end ofjuly. that was the plan. wedding has been delayed, it was supposed to be last year. i had booked everything 2a hours ago and now everything is changing, so quite disappointing. changing, so quite disauointina. ., . ., disappointing. concern about cases in france _ disappointing. concern about cases in france of— disappointing. concern about cases in france of the - disappointing. concern

sir keir starmer called on mrjohnson to apologise. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blake, was keepingommons. pretty fiery exchanges once again? yes, the prime minister was challenged on those claims made by his former senior adviser dominic cummings in that bbc interview that he was resistant to reimpose national lockdown measures last autumn when covid cases were rising because those dying of coronavirus were essentially all over 80, and when he used the phrase, get covid, live longer. the prime minister didn't address the words directly, but he did refer to "language that i'm alleged to have used". he went on to say that the decisions being made at the time were difficult, the government had to balance the catastrophe of the disease with the impact on people? mental health and the loss of life chances which he said came with the imposition of a lockdown, not, he said, that that detracted from the loss and suffering that people had endured. he went on to say that what has changed since we were thinking in those ways is the roll—out of the vaccine programme in the uk. so as i say, not

jonathan blake, bbc news.it was met by a series of furious responses from different parts of the travel industry. the boss of easyjet — johan lundgren — issued a statement saying... that sentiment was echoed by willie walsh of the international air transport association, who said... a eurotunnel spokesperson said the announcement — so close to the school holidays — "will ruin summer for many people". and the ferry operator dfds said the news "came as a surprise" and that "it is disappointing that services are not opening up totally to everyone as we all would have liked." let's get more on this from our political correspondentjessica parker. we have just heard from france where the prime minister has said that france is reinforcing restrictions on travellers from a number of countries to counter an increase in cases in those countries, so from tomorrow, sunday, july 18, nontax and 80 people coming from the spain, portugal, the netherlands and greece will need to present a covid test dating from at least 2a hou

jonathan blake. leaders of the organisation behind the event to step down. saskia's uncles say the family will be �*distressed' and �*insulted' if the cambridge university academics stay in post. philjones and peterjones have been speaking to our correspondent zoe conway. people need to know what has actually happened here. the enormity of what's happened and what a devastating effect it has had on ourfamily and on a number of other people. convicted terrorist usman khan surrounded on london bridge. three men armed with a fire extinguisher and a narwhal tusk tackle him to the ground. nearby in fishmongers' hall, saskia jones and jack merritt lay dying. khan had stabbed them with knives strapped to his wrists. just two hours earlier, he was sat at a table chatting to saskia. both were guests at a prison education event. as a teenager, usman khan was convicted of plotting to set up a terrorist training camp and went to prison. shortly before his release in 2018, m15 had intelligence he was planning ano

coronavirus still, but the massive backlog of treatments that has built up during the pandemic. jonathan blakewo covid variants at the same time — after a 90—year—old woman became sick with both the alpha and beta types first identified in the uk and south africa. the woman, who died in march 2021 in belgium, had not been vaccinated. her doctors suspect she contracted the infections from two different people. researchers believe it is the first documented case of its kind and, although rare, similar dual infections may be happening. sir richard branson is preparing to fly to the edge of space today. the businessman and his virgin galactic crew will take off from new mexico — it was originally scheduled for 2pm uk time but has been delayed by an hour and a half because of the weather. it comes just nine days before another high profile entrepreneur — the amazon founderjeff bezos — is planning his own space launch. tim allman has more. billionaire entrepreneurs heading into space are a bit like buses, you wait ages and then two come along almost at once. first up, sir richard branson and his uni

jonathan blake, bbc news.us— talking to us. how long have you been the? _ talking to us. how long have you been the? for— talking to us. how long have you been the? for a _ talking to us. how long have you been the? for a fortnight. - talking to us. how long have you been the? for a fortnight. and i talking to us. how long have you i been the? for a fortnight. and did ou have been the? for a fortnight. and did you have any _ been the? for a fortnight. and did you have any sense _ been the? for a fortnight. and did you have any sense at _ been the? for a fortnight. and did you have any sense at this - you have any sense at this announcement was coming? i you have any sense at this announcement was coming? i get a tri this announcement was coming? i get a trip this summer _ announcement was coming? i get a trip this summer was _ announcement was coming? i get a trip this summer was something . announcement was coming? i get a trip this summer was something of| announcement was coming? i get a l trip this summer

thank you, jonathan blake. let's go to the | jonathan blake.ow face. we look to open a discussion on these proposals urgently. at the same time, we must provide certainty and instability —— stability for businesses as we do so so those in the eu should quickly agree a standstill period as it were, including maintaining the operation of force and a freeze of legal actions and processes. this is to ensure there is room to negotiate and provide a general signal of good intent to find ways forward. my lords, the difficulties we have in operating the northern ireland protocol are now the main obstacle to building a relationship with the eu that reflects our strong common interests and values. instead of that relationship, we are seeing one punctuated with legal challenges and characterised by disagreement and mistrust. we do not want that pattern to be set, not least because it does not support stability in northern ireland. we need to work to establish a new balance which both uk and eu can invest in, to provide a platform for peace and prosperity

with more details, here's our political correspondent jonathan blake.ccinated will still have to isolate for ten days on their return to england and wales. i was planning on going to france for a short trip, as i have a family wedding there, coming at the end ofjuly. that was the plan. i'v e. the wedding had been delayed, it was supposed to be last year. and i've booked everything 21; hours ago and now everything is changing, so quite disappointing. concern about cases in france of the beta variant of coronavirus, first discovered in south africa, have prompted the move. ministers stopped short of adding france to the red list, which requires enforced hotel quarantine. but the health secretary, sajid javid, said the government had always been clear it would not hesitate to take rapid action at the borders to stop the spread of covid—19. travel industry bodies accuse the government of a confused approach to international travel, though, and labour also criticised the change. really, the government has created chaos here. they made an announcement that do

jonathan blake, thank you.action over pay. consultants are angry about a proposed 1% rise. ministers say they're committed to increasing salaries for nhs staff, but that pay for other public sector workers has been frozen. here's our health correspondentjim reed. it's been an extraordinary yearfor the nhs. now, after 18 months of covid, attention is turning once again to the issue of staff pay. the government has already offered most of those working in the health service in england a 1% rise this year. senior doctors say they will ballot for industrial action if that figure is not at least 4%. everybody who has worked incredibly hard during the pandemic needs to be supported. when inflation is 4%, these are massive pay cuts that people are doing, despite having gone through a really, really difficult time, and we shouldn't be levelling down across groups, everybody deserves a decent, fair pay uplift. consultants say industrial action could mean stopping both paid and unpaid overtime. that could damage attempts

as my colleague jonathan blake notes in his analysis on the bbc news website, any suggest that is optionaljudgment call risks undermining the government's entire approach and that risk becomes greater now england has lifted almost all covid restrictions. as some holiday arrive, that will increase the number of covid cas and will see an increase in the number of people being pinged. they will then have a decision to make. well, steven is professor of psychology at the university of st. andrews, he papers in a subcommittee that the u.k. government sage group and tweeted the government is getting into an even deeper hole of its own making over self-isolation. we spoke to him earlier and i asked him why. >> first of all, the reason we have all of these problems with people self-isolating, so many people are being infected, 50,000 infections a day. the health minister admitted that would go up to 100,0 and some estimates have suggested it would go as high as 200,000. that's the reason why people are having to self-isolate. if the government gives the message that it's n concerned about that lev

plans to change the quarantine rules for other amber list countries. 0ur political correspondent, jonathan blaken westminster. what's prompted this? it's concerning government about the beta variant of coronavirus, also known as the south african variant, and the government is tonight describing a persistent presence of the beta variant in france is the reason behind this change, not enough for france to go onto the red list and the enforced hotel quarantine involved for people coming from those countries, but it will be an exception to the amber list. from monday, fully vaccinated travellers arriving from other countries on the ableist won't need to isolate but those coming from france will still need to isolate for ten days. it's another tweak to the traffic light system, which isn't quite as simple as the green, amber, red it started as. it will be disruption for people who planned holidays in france, and travel industry leaders tonight accusing the government of a confused approach to international travel. at this point, it shows there is still a good deal of caution in government and uncert

our political correspondent jonathan blake is here. jonathan, this is pretty alarming, isn�*t it?iting list for longer. we knew is bad, but it looks _ waiting list for longer. we knew is bad, but it looks like _ waiting list for longer. we knew is bad, but it looks like it _ waiting list for longer. we knew is bad, but it looks like it will- waiting list for longer. we knew is bad, but it looks like it will be i bad, but it looks like it will be worse. sajid javid says he is shocked and conversations with officials recently when they describe the already worryingly high waiting list figures, nearly 5.5 million at the moment in england, focus to become perhaps in the region of 13 million later on this year, and the reasons for that of course are partly due to the pandemic, people stayed away from hospitals, the health secretary says it is either through fear of catching coronavirus, or because they didn�*t want to overwhelm the health service, but that is potentially counter—productive, of course, because it is created this huge backlog of operations and other procedures and treatm

politicians have been touring the tv studios ahead of the announcement. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blakeve those remaining covid restrictions on the 19? bill remaining covid restrictions on the 19? �* , . ., ., , remaining covid restrictions on the 19? , ., ., 19? all expectations are that the prime minister _ 19? all expectations are that the prime minister will _ 19? all expectations are that the prime minister will tomorrow i 19? all expectations are that the - prime minister will tomorrow confirm that all remaining legal restrictions will be lifted in england onjuly restrictions will be lifted in england on july the 19th. restrictions will be lifted in england onjuly the 19th. that represents a step four in the route out of lockdown in england and it was delayed from the original date ofjuly the 21st, but the government says the progress of the vaccination programme now means that it is safe and the right time to lift those remaining restrictions, but not without some debate about the way they are going about it and the guidance that will be issued in place of those legal curbs on pe

jim reed, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster. to when the 3pp well, if you think back to when the app was introduced, it was at a time when the government needed to limit the spread of coronavirus, get people to isolate if they had come into contact with someone who tested positive, to stop the nhs being overwhelmed and limit the number of people who could die. things are different now, with more people being vaccinated, the restrictions will be lifted in england and cases have been rising and will rise further. so it is no surprise that large numbers are being pinged, but the rules around isolation are not yet changing. until mid—august when adults who have had both jabs won't need to isolate if they are a close contact with a covid case. we are told in the meantime there could be tweaks to make the app less sensitive, but there are warnings that that could undermine the entire system. downing street is stressing that people are still encouraged to follow the rules and isolate when told to do so, describing the app as a crucial

jonathan blake, our political correspondent.tial staff working in critical areas, who are close contacts for covid cases, will no longer be required to self—isolate. people working in a range of sectors including health and social care, transport and the provision of food supplies, can apply for an exemption. they will only be granted for employees who agree not to self—isolate. they must be double vaccinated and have had their second dose at least two weeks previously. a negative pcr test and daily lateral flow tests will also be required. as we were just discussing. daily lateral flow tests for pupils may be just as effective as class bubbles to control transmission of covid in schools — according to a study by oxford university. more than a million children in england were forced to stay away from school last week for covid—related reasons. 0ur health correspondent, naomi grimley has more. the isolating of bubbles in schools has caused no end of frustration in this pandemic. last thursday, for example, more than a million sta

our political correspondent jonathan blake is here.es, they've been signalling pretty clearly that there is no doubt in their minds that england is in a position to lift all legal restrictions, or remaining exo restrictions, or remaining exo restrictions have been in place since the beginning of the year, step four on the government's road map, onjuly the 19th. it was delayed from june the 21st, but now the vaccine roll—out programme is going, and many adults have had theirfirst of twojobs, going, and many adults have had their first of two jobs, they can proceed, but that's not without a degree of caution, as we heard from the vaccine minister, nadeem zahawi. the fortification of the vaccination programme has allowed us to cautiously move to step four, and the pm _ cautiously move to step four, and the pm will say more about this. weti— the pm will say more about this. we'll be — the pm will say more about this. we'll be very clear on things like mask_ we'll be very clear on things like mask wearing, there's an expectation of people _

jonathan blake, bbc news.s broke just before 8:30pm last night and it was met by a series of furious responses from different parts of the travel industry. the boss of easyjet, johan lundgren, issued a statement saying: that sentiment was echoed by willie walsh of the international air transport association, who said: a eurotunnel spokesperson said the announcement so close to the school holidays "will ruin summer for many people". and the ferry operator dfds said the news came as a surprise and that it is disappointing that services are not opening up totally to everyone as we all would have liked. bulgaria has banned people from the uk travelling there because of the rising number of covid infections. the ban will come into effect on monday, the same day the country joins the british government's green travel list. hundreds of people are still missing following floods across large parts of western europe. at least 128 people have died after heavy rainfall caused severe flooding in germany, belgium and the ne

thank you very much indeed, jonathan blake, i very much indeed, jonathan blake, our political correspondent crisis, but since quitting his job last november, dominic cummings has been scornful of his former friend. speaking to the bbc, he claimed the prime minister had resisted a second lockdown, as covid crept back last autumn. his attitude at that point was a weird mix of partly, "it is all nonsense, lockdowns don't work anyway, " and partly, "well, this is terrible, but the people who are dying "are essentially all over 80, and we can't kill the economyjust "because of people dying over 80." that's a very serious claim to make, what evidence do you have of that? lots of people heard the prime minister say that, the prime minister texted that to me and other people. in a series of whatsapps to aides shared with the bbc from the 15th october, borisjohnson appears to say... going on to say... mr cummings also claimed at the start of march last year the prime minister was slow to take the virus seriously and considered visiting the queen. ijust said, "if you go and you give her coronavirus a

we can speak to our political correspondent, jonathan blake. busy raft of announcements but pretty much in line of what we were getting in terms of the steer from the prime minister yesterday.— minister yesterday. nothing hugely unexected minister yesterday. nothing hugely unexpected from _ minister yesterday. nothing hugely unexpected from what _ minister yesterday. nothing hugely unexpected from what they - minister yesterday. nothing hugely unexpected from what they have i minister yesterday. nothing hugely i unexpected from what they have had to say in the house of commons today. heavily hinted at by the premise yesterday, those changes both to the school system in england with an end to the bubble arrangement, which has seen whole classes or whole year groups in some instances, sent home and told to isolate if one pupil developed coronavirus. that system will go. along with some other changes announced by gavin williamson and from the health secretary sajid javid, more details on the system of isolation in england. if you have come into con

our political correspondent jonathan blake explained that despite pressure on the prime minister to change, saying that businesses and families need certainty, and therefore, in his view, it would be right to bring that date forward from the 16th of august, which the government has identified as the point at which double vaccinated adults will not need to isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive to the 7th of august. why then? well, it happens to be the date that the welsh government is due to confirm will be the end of isolation requirements for double jabbed adults there, and sir kier stamer was asked earlier more about his reasoning for specifying that date. we have been talking to scientists throughout the 18 months of this pandemic on a very regular basis. it's not that date that is driving it, it's the principle of the double vaccination, and the idea, as welsh labour have put forward, if you are double vaccinated, you don't have to isolate if you have been in contact with someone, as is automatically the _ rule at the moment. at the moment, we've got hu

we can speak to our political correspondent, jonathan blake. morning to you.terday one of the continued significant risk from this virus, so do you think that is going to lead to any tweaks of this idea of removing all restrictions on the 19th ofjuly? the of removing all restrictions on the 19th ofjuly?— 19th ofjuly? the short answer to that is no- _ 19th ofjuly? the short answer to that is no. the _ 19th ofjuly? the short answer to that is no. the government - 19th ofjuly? the short answer to that is no. the government has i 19th ofjuly? the short answer to - that is no. the government has been quite clear in taking what is effectively a political decision, really, at this point in its reaction to the pandemic. as we heard, the prime minister emphasised yesterday moving to a phase where people are encouraged to take their own decisions, take responsibility for their own actions. and we have seen ministers asked in pretty much every interview over the last couple of weeks whether they will be wearing a facemask in various situations after the 19th ofjuly went

theo leggett, bbc news. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster.to be, are enough workers exempted by the government?— enough workers exempted by the covernment? , ., , ., ., ., government? yes, does far as a lot ofthe government? yes, does far as a lot of the food — government? yes, does far as a lot of the food industry _ government? yes, does far as a lot of the food industry and _ government? yes, does far as a lot of the food industry and other- of the food industry and other sectors of the economy are concerned, the answer to that is no. but the government seems to be adamant that the test and trace app is doing itsjob and adamant that the test and trace app is doing its job and they need to keep that system in place for the most part in order to keep cases of coronavirus down to an acceptable level while more people, they hope, come forward for their vaccinations. the environment secretary george eustice has been out and about this morning talking about these two schemes the government now has in place to exempt people from isolation. firstl

let's get the latest on that from our political correspondent, jonathan blake, whojoins us in downing are lucky enough to be enjoying a sunday line, you might have missed what is probably the quickest government u—turn in history. —— sunday lie in. the chancellor is isolating, the prime minister isolating at his country residence in chequers, and the health secretary sajid javid isolating after testing positive for covid. the are doing so only after an initial decision to allow these ministers to take part in a pilot scheme, which would enable them to continue working, even though they have been close contacts of somebody has tested positive. but after a backlash yesterday morning, that decision was reversed, and those three ministers will be isolating for the next few days as you say. it is important, though, because at this point in the pandemic, government guidance to continue following the rules of your contacted by test and trace as key to keeping cases at a manageable level. a change has been announced for nhs staff, who will, in exceptional circumstances, be allowed to continue

our political correspondent jonathan blake is at westminster early 2020, the prime minister went on holidaya i holiday the prime minister took after the landslide election victory by the conservatives at the end of 2019. he and his partner went to the caribbean island and there has been an investigation ongoing firstly by the parliamentary commissioner for standards, independently appointed commissioner, who has has been looking at how the trip was declared around who provided and paid for the accommodation that they stayed in during that trip just after christmas into the new year of 2020. subsequently an investigation by the parliamentary committee for standards made up of mps and other members, and they have found that the pin the prime minister did not break the rules in paragraph iii break the rules in paragraph 1a which deals with how gifts and financial donations and the light are declared by mps, but they have criticised the prime minister for how he handled this. to read you what the committee said in their report, they find that boris johnson's registry in the members interests, t

our political correspondent, jonathan blake, is at westminster. ainty, there for in his view it would be right to bring the date forward from august 16, the date identified by the government at which point the bow vaccinated adults will not need to isolate if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive, two august 7. that happens to be the day that the welsh government is due to confirm will be the end of isolation requirements for double—jabbed adults there. sir keir starmer was asked earlier more about his reasoning for specifying that date. we've been talking to scientists throughout the 18 months of this pandemic on a very regular basis. it's not the date that is driving it, it's the principle of double vaccination. the idea, as welsh labour have put forward, that if you are double vaccinated, you don't have to isolate if you have been in contact with someone, as is automatically the rule at the moment. at the moment, we've got hundreds of thousands of people a week isolating, and you can see the chaos that that's causing. so, w

let's talk more about this with our political correspondent, jonathan blake. morning, jonathan. more detail and idea of he will be exempt from isolation. as you had in that report, it will cover 10,000 workers at 500 sites across the uk. not supermarkets, it will be depots distribution centres and manufacturing sites. workers will not need to isolate and will take place in a daily testing programme. only if they test positive will they need to stay away from work. that is in response to empty shelves, some chains having to close shops and real concerns that things would grind to a halt. then a separate scheme for critical workers. this will only apply to named individuals in certainjobs and certain will only apply to named individuals in certain jobs and certain sectors. they will have to contact the relevant government department to get permission for individuals to be exempt from isolation and that will only be if they are fully vaccinated. we are talking about roles, looking at the guidance from the government, if they were not able to do theirjobs would significantly impact

, send me a message on twitter or instagram or you can e—mail me. 0ur political correspondent jonathan blakeessage from downing street on this day? it is what is the message from downing street on this day?— street on this day? it is one of caution and — street on this day? it is one of caution and if _ street on this day? it is one of caution and if i _ street on this day? it is one of caution and if i remind - street on this day? it is one of caution and if i remind we - street on this day? it is one of. caution and if i remind we needed that the lifting of legal restrictions in england does not mark a return to normal and an opportunity to put the pandemic behind us, there is the very obvious case of the prime minister isolating at chequers, the chancellor isolating, as well, after they were in contact with the health secretary sajid javid who tested positive for coronavirus and they are doing so only after the initial decision yesterday morning to allow them to take part in a pilot scheme which would have enabled them to carry on working was reversed after criticism came their way. it wa

let's talk more about this with our political correspondent, jonathan blake, who's in our london newsroomtions in england but also containing the virus enough so that the nhs does not become overwhelmed and unacceptable numbers of people in the eyes of the government die from covid—19. we are hearing about possible changes and we know that from mid—august all adults won't have to isolate if they come into contact with a covid positive case, if they had had both vaccinations and the argument is being made by those working in the nhs, certainly nhs providers, hospital staff, nhs, certainly nhs providers, hospitalstaff, nhs nhs, certainly nhs providers, hospital staff, nhs staff, should be exempt from that sooner rather than later so under consideration in the government now is to allow nhs staff to carry on working if they get pinged by the app or told isolate by test and trace and that is before it comes into play for all adults in august. no final decision taken yet and ministers want to see that proof would be able to be provided by those staff that they have been double jabbed but also

our poitical correspondent jonathan blake has more.ely lifted, as you would imagine most people want them to be eventually, of the options available, now is the best option to go for and that is what the vaccines minister nadhim zahawi has been arguing this morning. i think it's the right thing to do. $5 arguing this morning. i think it's the right thing to do.— arguing this morning. i think it's the right thing to do. as chris was he has said. _ the right thing to do. as chris was he has said, there _ the right thing to do. as chris was he has said, there is _ the right thing to do. as chris was he has said, there is no _ the right thing to do. as chris was he has said, there is no perfect i he has said, there is no perfect time, _ he has said, there is no perfect time, but — he has said, there is no perfect time, but a _ he has said, there is no perfect time, but a time when schools are on summer— time, but a time when schools are on summer holidays and that brings down most pressure on the r number and the rate _ most pressure on th

our political correspondent jonathan blake is in westminster.ll of this, do you think? it is. i the government has been under pressure for days to give details on exemptions to the isolation system, ever since the prime minister said at his news conference on tuesday there would be exemptions to some critical workers. there would be exemptions to some criticalworkers. now there would be exemptions to some critical workers. now we have at least some of that. i think it's clear from weather in the food industry, where10,000 workers will be tested on a daily basis or in those other critical sectors where individuals will have to be designated by name did not have to isolate, the government is really doing the minimum that it needs to doing the minimum that it needs to do frankly keep the lights on, keep the trains running, keep the borders are secure. already, warnings that that system for critical industries will be on pressure from the food industry to get the system of exemptions up and running more quickly because it seems like a lot of the sit

our political correspondent jonathan blake can tell us more. good morning, jonathan.comments in an interview with the sunday telegraph, and it is clear that the high waiting lists for the nhs in england, which are forecast to get much higher in the coming months, are going to be a personal priority for sajid javid. he describes being shocked when officials told him that the total waiting lists, already over 5 million, could rise by many millions more, perhaps up to 13 million in the coming months. so he has said that he is resolving to, as i say, make that a priority for his time in thejob. and as make that a priority for his time in the job. and as for what he can do about it, well, there are limited means at his disposal, but he can continue to have nhs patients treated in private hospitals, paying for that out of the health service budget, and also continuing, perhaps, with virtual appointments where possible also. i think we are likely to see a push from the government to get people to come forward and have the treatment they might have missed during the pandemic.