Brexit news – live: Tony Abbott given top trade job despite controversy as Sadiq Khan says Boris Johnson must ‘get a grip’ on Covid-19 crisis

Calls for Home Office to re-open resettlement scheme

Ministers are coming under mounting pressure to reopen the UK’s refugee resettlement schemes as charities warn vulnerable refugees are being left to “languish in unsafe situations” while these routes remained closed.

The programmes, which are the only safe and legal way to Britain for most refugees, were closed on 12 March because of coronavirus. No refugees have been settled since then.

The Independent understands that when resettlement was paused in March, there had been plans for more than 600 refugees to arrive who were subsequently blocked.

Louise Calvey, head of resettlement at charity Refugee Action, said “there can be no significant reason why we cannot plan for the safe arrival of refugees”.

Our social affairs correspondent May Bulman has the details:

How does Dom Cummings’ Nasa-style command centre work?

Some of No 10’s top advisers have packed up and moved to a new office at 70 Whitehall – part of senior advisor Dominic Cummings new, “NASA-style” mission control centre.

So what happens there? Downing Street historian Jack Brown has taken a closer look.

Richard Leonard should stand down in Scotland, says Labour peer

Labour peer Lord Robertson has said Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard standing down would be “a start” in helping boost the party’s chances of winning the next general election.

The former defence secretary said the party has to recover to produce a Labour government at the next election, and if Leonard were to stand down it would be “a start in recovering Labour's fortunes in Scotland”.

It comes after four of his MSPs – James Kelly, Jenny Marra, Daniel Johnson and Mark Griffin –  called on Mr Leonard to go, while Rachel Reeves, shadow Cabinet Office minister, told Sky News: “I think that Richard Leonard needs to think about his position.”

Lib Dem councillor drinks pint during council meeting

A Lib Dem councillor spotted drinking a pint of beer during a Zoom council meeting has been accused of “disrespect to his constituents”.

Newcastle City Council’s Labour leader Nick Forbes said Gareth Kane should treat the full council meetings with “respect and dignity”.

Kane said his Labour rival / colleague should stop trying to score “cheap” political pints … sorry, points – cheap political points.

Gareth Kane on left (YouTube / Newcastle City Council)

PM ‘broke social distancing rules at Tory meeting’

Boris Johnson broke his own social rules by hosting a meeting of Tory MPs packed in “cheek by jowl,” it is alleged.

The Lib Dems have demanded an investigation after at least 50 Tories were said to have crammed into a room – despite a sign on the door warning only 29 should be allowed.

“There is no end to the Tories’ hypocrisy,” said Lib Dem MP Wera Hobhouse.

The PM is said to have told the meeting that he wanted people across the country to be mixing closely together in the same way as their own meeting by Christmas, witnesses told the Bloomberg website.

Just 40 minutes after it finished, the No 10 issued a tweet warning people not to attend gatherings of more than 30 people.

Sir Ian McKellen asks No 10 not to appoint Tony Abbott

The actor Sir Ian McKellen and Doctor Who screenwriter Russell T Davies are among the celebrities and LGBT+ campaigners to have written to the government to ask that Tony Abbott is not chosen to represent the UK on the Board of Trade.

Highlighting the former Australian PM’s record of campaigning against same-sex marriage, the leading figures stated: “This man is not fit to be representing the UK as out trade envoy.”

Tory MPs rebel over quarantine

Jeremy Hunt and Chris Grayling have joined calls for airport testing to replace the 14-day quarantine rule – part of a group of backbench Tory MPs who have forced a debate on the issue in parliament next week.

Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of Tory MPs, said: “Other countries have been able to get a testing regime in place months ago and have been able to have a market for travel as a result of it. We ought to join them as quickly as possible.”

Henry Smith, Tory chair of the cross-party future of aviation group, added: “Countries like Germany and France are testing inbound passengers. That puts the UK at a competitive disadvantage in terms of economic recovery.”

HS2 ‘will last 150 years’, claims Grant Shapps

Transport secretary Grant Shapps has claimed HS2 is being built to last “150 years” as he defended its continuing need on the day construction formally begins.

The pandemic has led to many more people working from home, with demand for trains more than halved, but speaking ahead of a “shovels in the ground” event for HS2 at an undisclosed location, Shapps insisted it is wrong to think the virus has made the high-speed railway unnecessary.

“We’re not building this for what happens over the next couple of years or even the next 10 years,” he told the BBC. “We’re building this - as with the west coast and east coast mainlines – for 150 years and still going strong.

“So I think the idea that – unless we work out a way of teletransporting people - that we won't want a system to get people around the country... is wrong.”

Minister defends new quarantine measures for Wales

Wales’ health minister has defended the introduction of quarantine restrictions on travellers returning from Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and six Greek islands.

Vaughan Gething said there had been a “rising tide of infections” coming from the Greek islands and insisted the measure had been imposed to keep Wales safe.

On Thursday evening, the Welsh Government announced that travellers arriving from Portugal, Gibraltar, French Polynesia and six Greek islands from 4am on Friday would have to self-isolate for 14 days.

Gething told the BBC there had been “very clear advice” from the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC), as well as a number of cases of coronavirus being imported into Wales.

Construction of HS2 formally begins

Construction of the world’s most expensive railway ever built is now “formally underway” in the UK, as contractors working on HS2 move from preparatory works and design to begin building the controversial rail link.

Prime minister Boris Johnson, who endorsed the plan earlier this year after he said “in a hole the size of HS2, the only thing to do is keep digging”, is due to attend an as yet undisclosed site on Friday where he will stage a “shovels in the ground moment”.

The government gave the £106bn project the green light for construction in April at the height of lockdown, saying it could not be delayed any longer.