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Brexit Briefing: The end of the transition period
Meanwhile, the home secretary, Priti Patel, has said she is prepared to give policing and security agencies “tougher powers” after the UK‘s exit from the EU, claiming after Brexit the country would be safer.
However, under the newly signed trade agreement the UK will not enjoy the same level of “facilities” on policing and security issues as before and will lose “direct, real-time access” to sensitive databases.
Burnham warns of school chaos
Andy Burnham has warned that the government’s schools policy could bring “chaos” next week.
The mayor of Manchester said: “It will be quite a chaotic situation tomorrow I think given all of the anxieties that people have.”
He added: “I think there are two options in front of the government. One is to give the decision making to councils working with local schools so that decisions can be made on the reality of what’s happening in different communities.
“The other would be to put primary schools and special schools on the same path as secondaries and that would be a slightly delayed opening.
“What I would say to the prime minister … is it has to be one of those options.
“Local flexibility or a delay to the opening because I think just to plough ahead would cause quite a lot of anxiety amongst people today.”
Tom Batchelor3 January 2021 09:16
Williamson vows to ‘move heaven and earth to get children back into classroom’
Pressure is mounting on the government to keep all school children in England learning from home when the new term starts next week amid fears over the spread of the new strain of Covid-19.
The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said he would “move heaven and earth to get children back into the classroom”.
On Saturday evening, the Department for Education said remote learning was “a last resort” and classrooms should reopen “wherever possible” with appropriate safety measures to help mitigate the risk of transmission.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised “a chaotic last minute U-turn on schools”, adding: “Confusion reigns among parents, teachers and pupils over who will be back in school tomorrow and who won’t.”
General secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), Mary Bousted, said schools should stay closed for two weeks to “break the chain” of transmission and prevent the NHS becoming overwhelmed.
Tom Batchelor3 January 2021 09:08
Marr to quiz PM
Andrew Marr has four guests this morning: Prime Minister Boris Johnson, First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster, SAGE scientist Sir Mark Walport and Dr Alison Pittard, Dean of the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine.
Sky’s Sophy Ridge political show is not running this morning.
Tom Batchelor3 January 2021 09:00
Patel claims UK safer outside EU
The Home Secretary has written in The Sunday Telegraph that she believes the UK is safer now it has left the EU, despite losing access to “direct, real-time access” to key European information databases.
Priti Patel claimed policing and security agencies could get “even tougher powers to keep this country safe”.
She said: “Having left the EU means we can give these agencies stronger powers to keep this country safe.
“That includes banning foreign criminals who have served more than a year in jail from entering the UK.
“We will refuse to accept insecure national identity cards and we will be able to crack down on illegal imports of goods through the introduction of prearrival data on goods being imported from the EU.”
However that view is not shared by everyone, including experts in the security field.
A former national security adviser warned last week that the sharing of vital crime-fighting data will be “slower and more clunky” under Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.
Tom Batchelor3 January 2021 08:55
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the latest political developments, which kicks off with Boris Johnson’s interview on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.
Tom Batchelor3 January 2021 08:44
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