UK Covid live: Keir Starmer and Nicola Sturgeon criticise government over ‘too leaky’ borders
Labour leader says all arrivals in UK should have to face hotel quarantine as Sturgeon calls UK borders ‘too leaky’ to protect against variants
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The government is calling for councils to stop using schools as polling stations in May’s local elections to avoid further disruption to pupils’ education.
A letter from Nick Gibb, the schools minister for England, and Lord True, the Cabinet Office minister, urges returning officers to look for alternative venues if a school would be required to close while serving as a polling station. It says:
This year all children have missed vital time at school and the government is committed to minimising any further disruption to pupils’ education. We know that returning officers are acutely aware of this and are seeking to avoid using schools as polling stations.
We support this approach of avoiding schools where it is practically possible to do so; in particular, we are clear that where schools would be required to close, returning officers should look to other available venues first.
Ministers will tomorrow discuss a plan to set up a system of vaccine certificates for when international travel is allowed again, Sky’s Aubrey Allegretti reports.
Exclusive: Ministers will tomorrow discuss a proposal drawn up by the Cabinet Office to introduce vaccine and testing certification, for when international travel is allowed again.
If approved at the COVID-O meeting, responsibilities will be divvied up between government departments:
DFT to set up certification infrastructure, Cabinet Office to to lead on formal engagement with other countries and international organisations.
NHS will also be told to make sure people can access their vaccine status for outbound travel.
I’m told Dominic Raab has signed off on the proposal – something an ally of the foreign secretary did not deny.
A briefing paper prepared ahead of the COVID- O meeting tomorrow says: “We should not set even speculative timelines on when this may change border measures.”
Full story here:
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Read the original article at The Guardian