Boris Johnson news – live: PM given fresh no-deal Brexit warnings, as No 10 puts ‘full confidence’ in under-pressure minister

Lockdown increasing UK’s wealth divide, think tank warns

Lower-income households are more likely to have been forced into debt during the crisis while wealthier families have been able to fall back on or even boost their savings, a new study suggests.

The Resolution think tank said the crisis was exposing Britain’s widening wealth gaps and the ability of low-wealth households to weather the economic storm.

A typical worker in a shut-down sector of the economy had average savings of just £1,900. This compares to average savings £4,700 of someone who has been able to work from home during the crisis.

With less of a buffer to fall back on, poorer households have increased their use of consumer credit – usually credit cards which carry high interest rates.

In contrast, just one in eight high-income households have increased their use of consumer credit. And one in three of these wealthier households (34 per cent) have seen their savings increase significantly during the crisis, as their day-to-day spending has fallen.

Second Reading attack victim named as American living in UK

One of the three victims of the Reading stabbing attack is an American citizen named locally as Joe Ritchie-Bennett.

Mr Ritchie-Bennett’s Facebook page lists him as originally from Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, but he had been living in Reading.

He was a friend of James Furlong, the only other victim named so far, according to tributes posted on social media.

Mr Ritchie-Bennett’s brother, Robert Ritchie, told the Philadelphia Inquirer the family had been left “heartbroken and beside ourselves” after hearing of his death.

‘Lone individual’ believed to have carried out Reading attack, says Patel

Home secretary Priti Patel said the stabbing attack in Reading is believed to have been the work of a “lone individual”.

“This is a tragic, tragic event,” Patel said. “We have to look at all aspects of what happened on Saturday, the individual that’s in custody as well to ensure, yes, justice is served – but also we learn the lessons from what has happened over the weekend to prevent anything like this from happening again.”

She did not comment on whether the man arrested in connection with the attack was Libyan, although she did not say that it was incorrect.

“What we saw here on Saturday evening in Reading was the actions of one lone individual,” she said.

The home secretary will update MPs on the Reading attack later on Monday. 

One-metre rule would ‘effectively end’ social distancing, independent SAGE warns

Boris Johnson is due to discuss proposed changes to the two-metre social distancing rule with the Covid-19 strategy committee on Monday afternoon, attended by chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance and chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty.

The prime minister is widely expected to cut the guidelines to one metre.

But the independent group of SAGE scientists – who have been highly critical of the government’s handling of the crisis – have warned it is not safe to relax social distancing to one metre indoors.

They said a one-metre rule will “effectively end” social distancing in Britain.

Sir David King, the former chief scientific adviser to the government, said: “The rate of infection is still far too high to consider this even with mitigating measures. There are more 1,000 new cases a day and still no functioning tracing system. It is vital that the government releases the evidence it has used to make this decision.”

Attacks on 5G masts linked to anger and paranoia

Psychologists have discovered that people who believe in the debunked conspiracy theories linking coronavirus to 5G are more likely to feel justified to have a violent response towards the technology, amid a series of attacks on 5G phone masts.

Their findings, published in the British Journal of Psychology, psychologists from Northumbria University in Newcastle found a correlation between those believing in the theories and their level of “state anger” – temporary, short-lasting outbursts of anger.

In turn, this anger was associated with a greater justification of violence in response to any supposed link between 5G mobile technology and coronavirus.

All of these associations were strongest for those who reported higher levels of paranoia – defined as a participant’s belief there was hostile intent towards them personally, as opposed to a conspiracy that powerful organisations were harming society at large.

PM urged deliver fresh package for tourist industry

Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to deliver a fresh multi-million pound package of support for the tourism industry – with the PM warned the sector is set to suffer “three winters in a row” because of the pandemic.

A cross-party group of MPs are joining with industry bodies in calling for an extension of chancellor Rishi Sunak’s support schemes – such as grants, loans and furlough payments – for as much as six months to the spring of 2021, when they can expect revenues from bookings to start flowing again.

“The tourism industry has specific problems because it operates on a feast and famine basis, with businesses making enough during the spring and summer to see them through the winter,” said Lib Dem MP Tim Farron.

“Covid-19 came just at the end of the famine, and it closed everything down just as the feast should have been beginning … when we get to November when the support schemes have all run out, they are knackered, because the usual summer feast has just been a picnic and you are really in a three-winters-in-a-row scenario.”

No recourse to public funds rule must be scrapped, say MPs

The government must suspend an immigration rule that forces migrant workers to choose between “financial ruin” or risking their lives to work, a group of cross-party MPs has said.

The Work and Pensions Committee said the Home Office’s no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy – which prevents tens of thousands of migrants who live and work in the UK legally from claiming benefits – was forcing people to make “invidious” choices.

The committee’s report argues that during a pandemic it cannot be in the public interest to expect people – some of whom are key workers – to comply fully with public health guidance while denying them full access to the safety net.

Labour MP Stephen Timms, warned some were at risk of “destitution and homelessness”, said: The government must suspend these rules for the duration of the pandemic.”

Priti Patel on 'tragic' Reading terror attack which left three dead

'Babies are dying as women in prison are refused care'

Eight months ago, a baby girl was born and died in a cell at Bronzefield prison. Unforgivably, her mother was unattended when she gave birth. The resulting trauma will last that woman's entire lifetime, writes Louise Tickle.

Now another baby has been born pre-term and dead at Styal prison, after a woman complained for days of severe pain and was reportedly refused medical care until it was beyond question she was about to deliver. Instead, she was told to take paracetamol. This woman was not known to be pregnant, but the question remains: why was someone in agony, frightened and begging for a doctor not taken straight to the prison infirmary to be checked over?

'Khan admitting he struggled during lockdown is a sign of strength, not weakness'

Before launching an attack on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, no really, and promoting/cheering on her fave right-wing shock jocks, Susan Hall, the leader of the Conservative Group on the Greater London Assembly, decided she was going to start the week classy by weaponising mental health, writes James Moore. Specifically the London mayor’s.