Inside Politics: Fears of mass flu deaths and levelling up could take 10 years

The government is urging people to get the flu jab this winter amid fears up to 60,000 people could die from the virus over the coming months. Elsewhere, cabinet ministers have admitted ‘levelling up’ could take a decade and a Covid PPE contract handed to a Tory Party donor has cost the taxpayer an estimated £11 million.

Parliament is in recess until 18 October. Keir Starmer appeared on BBC Breakfast early this morning as Labour seeks to capitalise on business bashing the PM following his poorly received conference speech.

Coming up:

– Transport secretary Grant Shapps on talkRADIO at 9.35am

FLU FEARS: The government is renewing calls for people to get vaccinated against influenza amid fears the virus could kill 60,000 people this winter. Flu has been suppressed by Covid during the pandemic, leading to lower levels of natural immunity. “Not many people got flu last year because of Covid-19 restrictions, so there isn’t as much natural immunity in our communities as usual,” said Prof Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer. “We will see flu circulate this winter; it might be higher than usual and that makes it a significant public health concern.” Some 35 million people in England are set to be offered the flu jab. Elsewhere, private hospitals treated just eight Covid patients a day during the pandemic, it has emerged – despite a multi-billion pound deal with the government to treat those needing treatment.

ENERGY SQUEEZE: Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will later today meet with businesses leaders whose sites consume high levels of energy, such as those in the chemical industry. They want support amid soaring gas and electricity prices and. The talks come after the closure of two fertiliser factories last month which set off a crisis in the food industry due to depleted supplies of carbon dioxide. In related news, the National Grid warned yesterday that supplies will be squeezed in the coming months but said it was “confident” Britain will have enough supplies of gas and electricity to “keep the lights on” this Christmas. It comes as the energy regulator Ofgem warns of further price rises and more company failures in the light of the price hikes. Speaking at the Energy UK conference on Thursday, Ofgem CEO Jonathan Brearley said that customers will face “an extremely difficult time” as rising costs “are ultimately passed through to bills”.

‘IT WILL TAKE 10 YEARS’: Senior members of the government believe it will take 10 years to complete his “levelling up” project, and admit there will be pain for voters along the way. “It will take 10 years and there will be some pain along the way, particularly in the early part,” one cabinet minister told The Independent. “A lot of it depends on building infrastructure – roads and railways and so on – and it takes time to complete and time for people to feel the benefit.” Sweeteners in the form of tax cuts will be needed before the next election as a “thank you” to voters for the years of rising prices and squeezed incomes that lie ahead, a minister said.

‘SECRET PPE CONTRACT’: Johnson’s government has been urged to end “secrecy” after it emerged that a Covid contract handed to a Conservative Party donor’s firm is still under wraps after 18 months. Clipper Logistics – whose boss has donated £730,000 to the Tories – secured a deal to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) last year without facing any rival bids. Government figures show the deal for the firm’s services was renewed at £650,000 a month – which means the contract has cost the taxpayer an estimated £11m. Labour is demanding details of the contract be published.

OUT OF TOUCH?: Cabinet minister Nadine Dorries has been accused of being detached from “the real world” after she claimed the universal credit cut will not push anyone into poverty. The £20-a-week cut to millions of incomes risks 500,000 people in the UK falling into poverty, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has estimated. And the Legatum Institute – a right-wing think tank led by Tory peer Baroness Stroud – has warned that more than 800,000 people are at risk of falling below the poverty line. But Ms Dorries claimed “nobody” in Britain would be made poor by the government’s decision to axe the £86-a-month uplift.

“Ministers must publish this contract, and all other secret pandemic contracts, immediately. The Tories have spent billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on dodgy contracts for their mates. We have paid the bill for over two billion pieces of useless equipment and nearly a million pounds a day just for storing it.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner on PPE contract.

“So even if the plan worked - which it won’t, because it doesn’t exist - it would take 15 years after the Brexit vote for it to improve people’s lives.”

i columnist Ian Dunt on ministers’ admissions that ‘levelling up’ could take more than a decade.

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