New economic support for the hospitality sector “borders on insulting” and amounts to “far too little”, the Treasury has been told. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced an additional £1bn in financial support for the hospitality and leisure sectors, with every business able to claim a cash grant of £6,000 to help them survive the winter.
UK
A primary school teacher has been sacked in connection with a video of a woman punching and kicking a horse that was shared online. Sarah Moulds, 37, has lost her job at the Mowbray Education Trust in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. The video, posted on Twitter in November by Hertfordshire Hunt Saboteurs, shows a woman, believed
The Queen will be spending Christmas at Windsor Castle and will not be travelling to Sandringham, as is traditional. Buckingham Palace has confirmed the decision, which Sky News understands is a personal one and taken after careful consideration. Family members will be visiting Windsor over the festive period and sensible precautions will be taken. The
Retired teachers and career-switchers are being urged to come forward to help with COVID staff shortages in the new year. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi is asking them to temporarily help plug gaps in order to maintain face-to-face teaching. The rapid spread of the Omicron variant is expected to force an increasing number of teachers to
Sajid Javid has not ruled out plans for a two-week circuit breaker after Christmas, as he accused those unwilling to have the vaccine of having a “damaging impact” on society. When pushed on reports that ministers are drawing up plans to introduce more restrictions after Christmas, the health secretary told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips on
Extra restrictions are needed within days to prevent hospitals from being overwhelmed by Omicron, according to senior government scientists. Sky News understands experts who produce advice for ministers believe there are now “hundreds of thousands” of infections every day, many more than the number of official cases recorded on the daily dashboard. Even if transmission
Thousands of protesters have marched through London to voice their anger over the latest COVID restrictions. Amid reports that further measures could be on the way, crowds assembled in Parliament Square as part of a “Freedom Rally” against vaccine passports and other virus rules. Demonstrators shouted “shame on you” as they clashed with police –
Officials are drawing up plans for a two-week circuit breaker lockdown after Christmas which would include a ban on indoor mixing, according to reports. Draft regulations are being prepared which would ban meeting others indoors except for work purposes, and that pubs and restaurants would be limited to outdoor service only, according to The Times.
The UK has reported 93,045 cases of coronavirus in the latest 24-hour period – a record high for daily infections as the Omicron variant surges across the country. It comes after the UK recorded another 3,201 new cases of Omicron. It takes the total number of confirmed cases of the strain to 14,909 as it
Four children who are believed to be related have died in a house fire in south London. The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters were sent to Collingwood Road, Sutton, just before 7pm on Thursday. Crews faced an “intense blaze” throughout the whole of the ground floor of the
“Each six months will be better than the last six months”, England’s chief medical officer has said, as he predicted it could be “possibly 18 months” until a wide range of vaccines covers all variants of the coronavirus. Professor Chris Whitty said it is likely that COVID vaccines and anti-viral drugs will do “almost all of
Hundreds of thousands of people who have tested positive for COVID-19 are not using the NHS contact tracing apps to alert their close contacts, despite the outbreak of the Omicron variant, new figures reveal. In Scotland less than 20% of people who have downloaded the contact tracing app are using it to inform people that
Large numbers of COVID patients ending up in hospital is a “nailed on prospect” as the Omicron variant spreads at an “absolutely phenomenal pace” across the country, England’s chief medical officer has warned. Professor Chris Whitty, speaking at a Downing Street news conference, warned the UK was facing “a really serious threat” from the new
A woman who killed 16-month-old Star Hobson after inflicting ‘utterly catastrophic’ injuries on the toddler will be sentenced today as questions surround the response of social services following concerns raised over her safety. Bouncer and security guard Savannah Brockhill, 28, was found guilty on Tuesday of murdering Star and has been branded as “pure evil”
More than 500,000 people received their boosters on Monday – just a day after the prime minister announced plans to offer third jabs to all adults before the end of the year. A total of 513,722 booster jabs were given, compared with 397,532 administered on Sunday, meaning 24,075,451 people in the UK have now had
Planned changes to the Human Rights Act have been condemned as a “blatant, unashamed power grab from a government that wants to put themselves above the law”. Campaigners are warning that the rights of ordinary people could be weakened by proposals that will be announced by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab on Tuesday. Mr Raab argues
The health secretary has said the Omicron variant now represents more than 20% of COVID cases in England. Sajid Javid said the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) estimates that the current number of daily infections is around 200,000. He also said Omicron, which is thought to be much more transmissible than previous variants, represents more
Nursing leaders have expressed fears about the “scale and pace” of the booster programme given that the NHS is “already beyond full stretch”. To meet the target of giving every adult in England a third COVID-19 jab by the end of December, the prime minister said the NHS will have to postpone some appointments into
The UK has reported 1,239 additional confirmed cases of the Omicron variant – the highest daily rise and nearly double the previous high recorded on Saturday. That takes the total numbers of cases of the variant to 3,137 in the UK. Of those, 1,196 new cases were reported across England with 2,953 overall recorded. In
People aged 30 and over in England are invited to book their COVID boosters from Monday, amid concerns Omicron cases will rise significantly over the next few months. There are around 7.5 million people aged 30 to 39, and 3.5 million of those are eligible for boosters from Monday, NHS England said. All eligible adults