Boris Johnson news – live: Race report experts ‘never consulted’ as Doreen Lawrence says findings fuel racism

A group of British nationals living in Spain were turned away when they arrived at Alicante, and had to fly back to the UK in a dispute over post-Brexit paperwork at the airport. Adam Forrest reports:

A cross-party group of more than 50 MPs and peers are calling on the government to instigate a review of the UK’s assisted dying laws.

A joint letter to Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, coordinated by Humanists UK and campaign group My Death, My Decision, argues the UK is “falling behind the rest of the world” and that “our laws on assisted dying are letting down our citizens”.

It adds: “It has now been half a decade since Parliament examined legislation on assisted dying, and 15 years since it formally scrutinised the issue via Lord Joffe’s Select Committee.

“In these years, the evidence has materially changed, and that new evidence necessitates a fresh review.”

The letter, signed by members of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Green Party and crossbenchers, claims there has been “a significant shift in professional medical opinion and within the disability community”.

It says Canada, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and parts of the United States and Australia have changed or are due to change their law since 2015, while “several other nations, including Ireland, are actively considering similar proposals, reflecting that such changes can be achieved in a safe and compassionate way”.

Conservative MP Crispin Blunt, co-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group, who has signed the letter, said: “MPs owe their constituents a duty of compassion not to let the suffering of those who are terminally ill or incurably suffering go unnoticed.”

Alex Salmond has said he believes women voters will still vote for the Alba Party, despite sexual misconduct allegations made against him in the past.

“I think the candidates list demonstrates already that many formidable women campaigners are rallying to the Alba standard,” Mr Salmond said, speaking about the Alba Party’s participation in Holyrood TV debates, according to PA.

“I expect we will see exactly the same thing as the campaign proceeds with the general voting public,” he said.

In August 2018, it came to light that the Scottish government had investigated two allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr Salmond while he was first minister.

Despite his past controversies, Mr Salmond said he believes his party would overtake the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ in membership numbers.

Earlier, he had said thousands had already signed up to the party.

Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford has said there are “many practical and ethical issues” around the potential introduction of vaccine passports to help open up UK economies.

“I discussed this yesterday with Michael Gove, the minister in charge of the Cabinet Office, and the first ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland,” Mr Drakeford said at the Welsh Government briefing.

“We continue to work together on the issue of vaccine certification. There are positive prizes to be won from having a successful vaccine certification scheme but there are many practical and ethical issues that will need to be addressed and resolved successfully if those positive opportunities can be won from it,” he said, according to PA.

“They are complex, but we are engaged on it together,” the first minister said. “We do have independent powers on all four nations on this matter but the fact we are discussing it regularly together, I think, improves the opportunity for us all to address those complex issues in a way that reaches some common solutions.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has defended the idea of using vaccine passports to help enable travel and potentially help open up the British economy.

Speaking after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested that the British instinct could be against the notion of vaccine passports, which would serve as proof of coronavirus vaccination, Mr Johnson said such certificates would “definitely play a role in opening up travel.

The passports “will be useful for us as we go forward,” he maintained, addressing reporters in Middlesbrough.

The Government is currently reviewing the possibility of using such certificates to open up the British economy and give “maximum confidence” to companies and customers.

It is possible that the passports would also show whether someone has Covid-19 antibodies or if they have had a recent negative test.

Already, some countries are working on similar certificates that would help enable travel, with the EU seeking to provide digital green certificates showing whether someone has been vaccinated, has a negative test or has recently recovered from a case of Covid-19.

“There’s definitely going to be a world in which international travel will use vaccine passports,” Mr Johnson said, according to PA.

“You can see already that other countries, the aviation industry, are interested in those and there’s a logic to that,” he said.

“I think when it comes to trying to make sure that we give maximum confidence to business and to customers here in the UK, there are three things - there’s your immunity, whether you have had it before, so you have got natural antibodies; whether you have been vaccinated; and then, of course, whether you have had a test.

“Those three things working together will be useful for us as we go forward.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to avoid answering a question on the timing of his most senior Black adviser’s resignation, with reports of Samuel Kasumu’s plans to depart No 10 coming to light amid outrage over the findings of a landmark report on race disparities in Britain.

Asked about the optics of Mr Kasumu resigning following the release of the report, which concluded that structural racism is not an issue in the UK, Mr Johnson: “I worked very closely with Samuel in the last year or so and he’s done some great stuff.”

“I thank him very much, particularly on helping to encourage vaccine take-up amongst more hesitant groups and communities. And, actually, we’re seeing some real success there,” he said, according to PA.

“It is true that different groups have been coming forward at different paces, everybody is increasing their take-ups, so I thank him very much for that,” he said, while addressing reporters in Middlesbrough.

The PM did not comment on whether Mr Kasumu’s reported decision had anything to do with the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ findings.

Mr Johnson did acknowledge the backlash over the report itself, however, asserting: “Look, this is a very interesting piece of work. I don’t say the Government is going to agree with absolutely everything in it, but it has some original and stimulating work in it that I think people need to read and to consider.

“There are very serious issues that our society faces to do with racism that we need to address.

“We’ve got to do more to fix it, we need to understand the severity of the problem, and we’re going to be looking at all the ideas that they have put forward, and we’ll be making our response.”

Asked to respond to accusations that the report was rigged by choosing commissioners who had already dismissed institutional racism, Mr Johnson said: “If you look at it, they have come forward with about 24 interesting ideas to promote equality and to promote equality of opportunity, to give people of all communities, all races, all backgrounds in this country, more opportunity. But also to understand the true nature of the barriers and the discrimination that they unquestionably feel.”

“There are some interesting things in it, I’m not going to say we agree with every word, but we’re going to be responding in due course,” he said.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said he is “very worried” about the potential imapcts of long Covid after figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested that almost one in seven people who test positive for coronavirus are dealing with symptoms three months on.

“We can see the impact in these new statistics shown today and I understand the impact it has had on hundreds of thousands of people,” Mr Hancock said in an interview with Sky News.

“It’s one of the many damaging problems of this virus,” he said.

Mr Hancock said the government is “putting more research money into tackling and understanding long Covid because it appears to be several different syndromes”.

“This is a very strange, very dangerous virus and it’s yet another reason for everybody to be cautious,” he said. “Enjoy the sunshine, by all means, but nobody is safe from this virus until we can make everybody safe.”

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities’ controversial race report gives “racists the green light”, Doreen Lawrence, a mother who has dedicated nearly two decades to demanding justice after her son Stephen was murdered in a racist attack, has said.

“My son was murdered because of racism and you cannot forget that. Once you start covering it up it is giving the green light to racists,” Lady Lawrence told The guardian.

Stephen was killed at a bus stop in 1993, with his death leading to a report that deemed Scotland Yard institutionally racist.

“ You imagine what’s going to happen come tomorrow. What’s going to happen on our streets with our young people? You are giving racists the green light,” she said.

Lady Lawrence said that when she first heard about the findings of the report, which concluded that structural racism is not an issue in the UK, her “first thought was that it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more”.

““I think if you were to speak to somebody whose employer speaks to them in a certain way, where do you go with that now? If a person is up for promotion and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?” she said.

“You know, all these things we’ve been working for and showing that structural racism exists – we talk about the pandemic when you look at how many of our people have died, all the nurses, the doctors, the frontline staff, of Covid, and to have this report denying that those people have suffered?”

“They are denying that the likes of my son was murdered through racism and the fact that it took 18 years to get justice for him. The report is denying all those issues,” she said.

The government is facing the threat of legal action over links between personal protective equipment used in the UK and alleged modern slavery in Malaysian factories.

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Incumbent Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has accused his Conservative election rival of using the “Trump handbook” after his campaign reported Laura Evans to the Electoral Commission.

Mr Burnham’s office have accused Ms Evans of making a “false statement” on plans for a clear air zone on the region’s roads, with her Facebook page branding the effort “Andy Burnham’s congestion tax” and “The Mayor’s crippling Congestion Tax plan”.

“We are not prepared to allow candidates in this election to play the Trump handbook and say whatever they like without being held to account,” Mr Burnham said, according to PA.

A spokesperson for the Electoral Commission told the agency its remit does not cover the content of candidates’ claims over each other, however. Therefore it is unlikely action will be taken.

PA said Ms Evans could not be contacted for a response.