UK live coronavirus: Nicola Sturgeon says Boris Johnson closure changes not safe for Scotland | Politics

The impending return of jury trials has been widely accepted as necessary. (See 11.39am.) David Lammy, Labor Shadow Secretary of Justice, welcomed the move and called for distance justice hearings to be accessible to the public. He said:

Security is rightly the priority during this pandemic, but the justice system must still be able to do its job.

There is still more that the government can do.

Many public buildings, including university lecture halls, school buildings, and leisure centers are currently empty. Labor is asking the Ministry of Justice to co-opt these buildings to conduct more socially distanced jury trials according to public health advice.

Amanda Pinto QC, President of the Bar of England and Wales, said:

It is very encouraging to see that the jury trials will start again from mid-May. Jury trials are essential to our criminal justice system and to the rule of law.

It is reassuring that efforts to restart jury trials have involved a careful and careful approach, prioritizing practical measures to ensure the safety of all involved in the delivery of criminal justice.

The stark contrast between the death rates of homeworkers and their NHS counterparts, revealed today by the Office of National Statistics, has triggered an angry reaction from the care sector.

The ONS found that 45 men and 86 women who worked in welfare died from Covid-19 in England and Wales, according to death records until April 20. (See 12.16pm.) This was roughly double the death rate from the virus experienced among NHS workers whose probability of being killed by the virus was in line with the general population.

Care England, which represents many of the largest home care providers, said it was a mistake to blame its members for not providing enough personal protective equipment because their ability to purchase the kit was hampered at the start of the pandemic by the central government. which was moved to the supplies of commanders for the NHS.

“The government completely stopped our supply chain,” said Martin Green, executive director of Care England.

Everything was sent to the NHS. Our normal supply chains were being disrupted by the government. They focused every bit of power on the NHS. Why did care staff not receive the same protection as NHS staff?

As of April 24, there were 5,890 Covid-19 deaths in nursing homes in England and Wales, according to ONS figures based on what is written on death certificates. On Sunday, HC-One, the largest provider of private residences, said it had only lost 829 residents to confirmed or suspected cases of the disease. Boris Johnson admitted in his television speech on Sunday night that there were “terrible epidemics in nursing homes.”

Home care staff have also struggled to get tested, and testing for residents with suspected cases has been limited, operators say, with tests not being conducted after an outbreak was confirmed in a home.

Nearly 400,000 people have signed a petition demanding that parents have the option of whether or not to send their children to school once they start opening more students next month.

The petition was launched after Boris Johnson’s announcement on Sunday that the government plans to go ahead with the opening of primary schools in England from June 1, beginning with the reception and years 1 and 6, followed by the rest of the primary year groups.

Currently, schools are only open to a small minority of students, who are the children of key workers or students classified as vulnerable, and many parents and principals are concerned about the security implications of opening up to more students, especially younger struggling students. for observing the rules of social distancing.

The Change.org petition, which was initiated by London mother Lucy Browne, says:

I am asking the UK government to give parents and guardians the option of not sending their children to school if they reopen in June, as Boris Johnson has suggested that this could happen in England.

As a mother, I don’t want to face serious repercussions for making a decision that I feel affects my daughter’s safety during a global pandemic. The UK now has the highest death toll in Europe and the second highest in the world.

Many of us have lost confidence in the government’s handling of this crisis and feel that it is too early to return children to schools. It appears that it could present risks not only for children but also for teachers and those with whom they live: grandparents, parents and the underlying health conditions.

Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford has expressed concern that Boris Johnson’s announcement of the blockade changes could lead to more cases of coronavirus in Wales.

Drakeford said he was concerned that the prime minister was not as clear as he should have been on what the changes across the UK meant.

He warned people not to travel from England to Wales for exercise and said there was an increase in traffic in Wales over the weekend.

Speaking at the daily press conference in Cardiff, Drakeford said he still believed that all parts of the UK were moving in the same direction, making minor adjustments to the blockade.

But he said:

There are some differences in messages between England and Wales that I am concerned about can cause confusion.

Drakeford said the four Welsh police forces reported a “notable increase” in activity over the holiday weekend and suggested that this was after many UK national newspapers reported that a major reduction in the blockade was on the horizon. There was also an increase in traffic and alcohol-related violence associated with VE Day celebrations.

While Johnson has said that people will be able to travel for exercise, the message in Wales is that people should exercise locally.

Drakeford said:

We are concerned that the flow of traffic to Wales may continue to increase as a result of the Prime Minister’s announcement that he will be allowed to travel to England for exercise.

I want to make it clear in Wales that Welsh law applies. Traveling to Wales for exercise is not exercising locally.

He said the signs would inform motorists of this on major routes in Wales, but said there were no plans to close the border.

Drakeford said he was sympathetic to people who would not understand the differences between what was allowed in England and Wales. “I sympathize with people who have not heard that message clearly enough because of the way it was announced yesterday,” he said.

He added:

I would like the UK government to be clearer when they speak for England and when they speak for the United Kingdom. I didn’t think that was as clear as it could have been all the time yesterday.

Once again, he called more regular meetings between the four nations of the United Kingdom.

When asked if he was concerned that the tone of Johnson’s announcement could impact the number of Covid-19 cases in Wales, he said, “I have to worry about that.” He added that he did not want to see the “wiggle room” that Wales currently has to deal with the eroded crisis “because people are exercising the freedoms they have elsewhere, but not in Wales.”