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Opinion: ‘The Russia report deserves a far better response from the UK government’

The government’s response to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s report on Russia has been “uninformative and defensive”, according to a foreign policy expert.

Duncan Allan, an associate fellow for Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia programme, has written for The Independent on why ministers need to take the report, which gave warnings over Russian influence in the UK, more seriously.  

Mr Allan writes:

“The Russia report deserves better. As the committee points out, 'our democracy is intrinsic to our country’s success and wellbeing.' A feature of a healthy, confident democracy is the readiness of those in power to be held properly to account, to engage in forthright discussion and to be open to constructive criticism. The government’s response to the ISC report does precious little to strengthen the resilience of the very democratic system that Russia seeks to undermine.”

You can find his full piece below:

Vast majority do not believe life will go back to normal by Christmas, poll finds

The vast majority of the British public do not believe life will go back to normal by Christmas amid the coronavirus pandemic, a poll has suggested.

Just over one in 10 (11 per cent) of respondents in the poll said they expected life to have returned to normal by Christmas, despite Boris Johnson setting out a plan earlier this month for a “significant return to normality” by the end of the year.

Our reporter, Samuel Osborne, has the full story below:

Airport testing not ‘surefire and safe route’ for protecting UK travellers

Airport testing and temperature checks may not be an effective way to allow people to take summer holidays safely during the coronavirus pandemic, a health minister has warned.

Lord Bethell said there was still scepticism over the effectiveness of temperature checks, while it was a “frustrating but unavoidable truth” that a negative Covid-19 test does not necessarily mean a person is virus-free and will not show symptoms in the days ahead.

Testing at airports “cannot be a surefire and safe route” to protect the UK and isolation remained the preferred approach, he told peers on Monday.

“In terms of the arrangements for travel, it is true that current medical advice is that we are sceptical of whether temperature testing is effective and therefore we have not imposed those,” Lord Bethell said.

“In terms of testing it is a frustrating but unavoidable truth that a test today does not necessarily mean you haven't got Covid, and that you may not display both the symptoms and contagiousness of Covid in the days ahead.

“That is why snap testing at airports cannot be a surefire and safe route for protecting the country and that is why we have to look at isolation as a way of protecting the country.”

Baroness Thornton, Labour’s shadow health spokesperson, said a “sense of panic” had been created for travellers by the government’s short-notice rule changes for Spain.

“There should be in place proper contingency plans to support people coming home where there's no guarantee that their employers will allow them 14 days of work flexibility,” she said.

However, Lord Bethell argued that the situation in Spain changed quickly and the fast turnaround in decision-making was “not a sign of panic or weakness” and showed the system was “working well”.

Peers urged to back plans to keep 650 MPs in Commons

Peers have been urged to back plans to keep the number of MPs in the House of Commons at 650 following proposals to cut the elected chamber to 600 members.

Lord True, a Cabinet Office minister, said the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill would deliver “updated and equal” parliamentary constituencies by keeping the number at 650.

He said the updating of constituency boundaries was long overdue as they currently reflected how the UK was almost two decades ago.

The decision to cut the number of MPs to 600 was taken by the coalition government a decade ago but since then the UK's electorate has grown and MPs have found themselves representing more constituents than ever before.

Lord True said MPs were also overseeing aspects of policy previously the preserve of the European Parliament, prior to Brexit, so it was right to retain 650 constituencies.

Nicola Sturgeon faces questions over when she knew of allegations against Alex Salmond

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon is facing questions over when she knew of allegations of sexual misconduct against her predecessor Alex Salmond.

Ms Surgeon told the Scottish parliament she became aware of complaints against Mr Salmond on 2 April 2018, but new claims reported by Sky News have suggested she was informed during a meeting four days earlier.

Our Whitehall editor, Kate Devlin, has the full story below:

Anonymous briefings against civil servants have ‘risen in last few years’, Sir Mark Sedwill says

Sir Mark Sedwill, the UK’s most senior civil servant, has said “demoralising” anonymous briefings against officials have “risen in the last few years” in a speech at Oxford University this afternoon.

“I think it's damaging to the process of governance because if you want people to take risks, be held accountable, then they have to know they have the support of their leadership,” Sir Mark told the Blavatnik School of Government.

“So any kind of anonymous briefings and sniping is demoralising for people.

“It's not completely unique but it has definitely risen in the last few years.”

He added: “There's nothing more destabilising for a senior cabinet minister to read a whole load of stuff in one of the newspapers about whether or not the skids are under them because of something that's happened.”

However, Sir Mark said he did not think the recent string of major departures from the civil service could necessarily be linked to the issue.

“I don't think you should read into the fact that several of us are leaving within the first year of a new parliament, I don't think you should read too much of a connection between the two,” he said.

Grant Shapps ‘to return to UK early’ from holiday in Spain

Transport secretary Grant Shapps is going to return to the UK early from his holiday in Spain following the introduction of a 14-day quarantine for travellers coming back from the country, according to The Sun’s Jonathan Reilly.

Mr Shapps is reportedly leaving his family in Spain so he can return to the UK on Wednesday to deal with the fallout from the policy change.

Opinion: ‘Grant Shapps has set the record straight on his trip to Spain and it's even worse than we thought’

Our political sketch writer, Tom Peck, has said that Grant Shapps’ explanation for how he ended up in Spain just as new quarantine rules were being introduced for the country is even funnier than it first appeared.

It is understood that Mr Shapps knew it was likely the 14-day self-isolation policy would be introduced during his holiday abroad but he chose not to cancel the trip as it would have been “wrong to act on privileged information”.

Tom writes:

“Does he feel in any way, you know, victimised, that he has to abide by the rules and quarantine his whole family to stop the government looking bad, when his only other memorable contribution to five months of coronavirus crisis was to spend a full, agonising weekend on every politics show there is, trying to explain that, actually, yes, it’s fine to drive to Barnard Castle when you can’t see but only if your name’s Dominic Cummings.”

You can read the full piece below:

Jet2 says it is suspending flights to mainland Spain over UK quarantine rules

Tour operator Jet2 has said it will be suspending flights from the UK to Almeria, Alicante, Malaga and Murcia from Tuesday up to and including 16 August following the introduction of quarantine rules on mainland Spain.

“For customers who are due to travel to mainland Spain from 17 August onwards, we will provide an additional update once we receive further information from the government,” Jet2 said in a statement. 

“We urge the government to provide the industry with clarity, so that we can keep our all-important customers up-to-date and informed.”

It added that flights were continuing to the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands as scheduled as those destinations have not received new travel advice.

Former Labour minister warns of constituencies bill harming local democracy

A former Labour cabinet minister has warned a bill to update constituency boundaries risks “sweeping away local democracy”.

During a second reading debate on the Parliamentary Constituencies Bill in the House of Lords, Lord Hain said: “For generations constituency boundaries have been reviewed and adjusted by local agreements, not by central diktat.

“Local people have had the opportunity to object if community identities were threatened or unsuitable mergers with nearby towns or villages proposed.”

“But this Bill has unilaterally dumped this for a rigid formula with Wales most punitively hit.”

He added: “Equalisation should not be applied in such a dogmatic, rigid and politically discriminatory fashion.

“Then we could have a fair and democratic boundaries bill, not this unfair one which rides roughshod over local community views, especially in Wales.”