COVID-19: New car sales lowest for nearly three decades as lockdowns crush demand

New car sales fell to their lowest level in nearly three decades last year as coronavirus lockdowns crushed demand, according to industry figures.

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  • British holidaymakers will be stopped at border and sent home, Priti Patel warns

    People attempting to go on holiday will be stopped at the border and sent home, Priti Patel said as she hit out at social media influencers for boasting about beating travel bans. The Home Secretary said anyone without a valid reason to leave the UK will be turned back and face fines of £200 as part of a travel crackdown to prevent the spread of new Covid strains that could undermine vaccines. People will be expected to fill out a "declaration" form explaining why they need to travel before they leave home, which will then be checked by airlines, police and border force officers. Ms Patel said that even in lockdown individuals had been flouting bans on non-essential travel, citing some turning up at St Pancras Eurostar terminal with their skis, a situation that was "clearly not acceptable". "We see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world they are in, mainly in sunny parts of the world. Going on holiday is not an exemption and it's important that people stay at home," the Home Secretary told MPs.

  • A 'cold shower for Europeans': EU press gives damning verdict of AstraZeneca row

    Europe’s press has again given wide-ranging coverage to the row between Britain and the EU over the supply of vaccines, with one paper saying that Boris Johnson’s “gamble” in getting a head-start on production had paid off. The EU has urged AstraZeneca to divert millions of doses from UK plants, but the British government has resisted those demands. Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, told the BBC on Thursday: "The supplies that have been planned, paid for and scheduled should continue." Asked whether he would allow vaccines manufactured in the UK to be diverted to the EU, he said "no", adding that there must be no interruption to the British vaccination programme. AstraZeneca says it can only deliver the EU a fraction of the doses between now and March due to production problems at plants in Europe. De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper, said the success of the Prime Minister’s move was a source of great frustration to the French, in particular, who are lagging far behind in their vaccine programme. It suggested that Brexiteers would take heart from that because Paris had regularly taken a hardline stance in the Brexit negotiations. The Flemish newspaper said that Mr Johnson liked to take risks and in this case, as opposed to in Brexit, the gambit had worked. Another Belgian paper, Het Nieuwsblad, said the unprecedented public attacks by the European Commission were designed to bring AstraZeneca "to its knees". "These doses are crucial to give a long-awaited boost to slow European vaccination campaigns," the paper said. It quoted Hendrik Vos, a professor of European politics, who said the Commission wanted to prove the shortfall was not its fault.

  • ‘These are Trump terrorists, call them by their name’: Joe Scarborough explodes at senators trying to protect ex-president

    ‘I am a conservative. You come after us, you come after our Capitol, we gonna come after you’

  • Piers Morgan confronts minister with Boris Johnson clip in awkward GMB interview

    Robert Jenrick says prime minister approached crisis ‘with huge seriousness’

  • Cases of Covid caught in hospital halve as hopes rise that vaccines cutting transmission

    Cases of Covid likely to have been caught in hospital have halved in three weeks, bringing hope that the rollout of vaccines to staff is beginning to slow transmission. NHS data shows the number of cases has fallen from a high of 635 a day at the start of this month to 367 last week. The trend came despite a rise in the total numbers of Covid sufferers in hospital from around 25,000 to 37,000 over the period. On Wednesday night, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said early findings from Israel – which has already given first jabs to almost a third of its population – suggested they could cut rates of transmission by around 60 per cent. However, Sir Patrick told a Downing Street briefing that he would be "extremely cautious" about making an assessment of the impact of the vaccines on transmission until there was "proper data" to assess. Boris Johnson said proof about the impact of vaccines should emerge by the middle of February. A study by Public Health England (PHE), tracking 40,000 health workers – including those given jabs early in the vaccination programme – is expected to report its findings next month. NHS staff were among those offered Covid jabs when the vaccination programme began in December, with a concerted push at the start of this month after the AstraZeneca jab became available.

  • Germany ‘won’t approve’ AstraZeneca vaccine for over-65s

    Committee says there is not enough data to recommend jab for older age groups

  • Raising taxes now means they can be reduced ahead of the next election, Rishi Sunak tells Tory MPs

    Rishi Sunak has told Tory MPs that implementing tax rises soon will hand the Government greater leverage to slash them ahead of the next election in 2024. The Chancellor made his pre-budget appearance at the powerful 1922 committee of backbench Conservatives on Wednesday evening to take soundings before the fiscal event on March 3. He told MPs that honesty and fairness were his guiding principles, as he signalled that difficult decisions lie ahead on raising revenue and reducing the deficit, according to several sources present on the call. Laying the groundwork for potential tax rises in the coming budget and the next one, Mr Sunak argued that the public would respect candour about what is to come. Such moves will also burnish the Conservatives’ reputation for responsible management of the public finances, and are essential to differentiate the party from the opposition, he added. One MP summarised Mr Sunak’s argument: “He basically said we can’t be Labour lite.” The budget can be the Government’s “signature moment” in the fight against coronavirus, the Chancellor is understood to have declared. After a series of piecemeal bailout packages responding to the pandemic over the past year, he signalled he wants to set out a broader, philosophical approach to the economy. MPs said they now expect him to set out a detailed roadmap on his strategy for spending, tax rises, the deficit and other economic levers at the budget. He urged his backbench colleagues to judge him over the “arc of the parliament”, not just on the coming budget alone. One MP said: “People asked, ‘Why can't you cut taxes now?’ His point was that we have to look at this over three to four years. “He [Mr Sunak] said he wants to be tax cutting towards the end of the parliament, that there will probably be some rises in the middle, and that we’re going to be frank with people about the tough choices ahead.

  • Teacher found guilty of having sex with boy, 15

    A teacher has been found guilty of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Married Kandice Barber, of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, was tried for a second time over allegations that she had sex with a 15-year-old pupil in a field while working as a school cover supervisor.

  • UK begins bulk manufacturing of new Covid vaccine Valneva with 60m doses planned in summer

    The move indicates high confidence on both sides that the jab is in line for approval in time for its planned distribution in early summer

  • Tory MP accused of spreading ‘dangerous misinformation’ on coronavirus

    Former minister reportedly suggested official Covid figures have been ‘manipulated’

  • Grandmother ‘overjoyed’ to be outside after receiving Covid-19 vaccine killed in Portland vehicle attack

    Police have not released a motive in the attack

  • Jill Biden spent her first week as First Lady reshaping the role. Melania Trump spent hers isolated in a tower

    New first lady signals she will be an active and constant presence in the White House - drawing stark contrasts to her predecessor

  • Latest weekly Covid-19 rates for local authority areas in England

    Around one in 16 local areas are currently recording a week-on-week rise.

  • How the UK's vaccine gamble paid off – and the EU left itself without a leg to stand on

    Back in March, the University of Oxford was on the brink of signing a deal with the German drugs giant Merck to research and develop a coronavirus vaccine. The Government stepped in and helped steer Oxford towards a partnership with British-based AstraZeneca instead, taking a huge gamble by helping to fund the research and development of a vaccine that might have proved useless. Instead, the Oxford vaccine became only the second in the Western world to be approved for use, and both the UK and AstraZeneca are now reaping the benefits of the deal that was struck last April. AstraZeneca has, so far, remained fiercely loyal to the Government, resolutely refusing to give in to EU demands that it should redirect supplies of its UK-made vaccine to the bloc. But that close relationship has come under unprecedented strain as the company found itself under huge pressure from Brussels.

  • Downing Street refuses to rule out sending Covid vaccines to EU

    Coronavirus vaccines produced in the UK could be sent to the EU before the domestic immunisation programme is completed, Downing Street has indicated. The development came after cabinet minister Michael Gove said that the UK wants to engage in “dialogue” with EU nations to ensure that as many of their populations as possible get a jab. The European Commission is pushing AstraZeneca to reroute supplies from its plants in Oxford and Keele, after the pharmaceutical giant announced its deliveries to the EU will be cut from 80m to 31m doses because of production problems in a factory in Belgium.

  • Another officer confirmed dead as senators say it was ‘dumb luck’ more weren’t killed in Capitol riot

    Police chiefs admit they failed to act on intelligence, as another office confirmed to have died

  • Boris Johnson tells Scots tempted by independence pandemic shows 'great benefits' of UK cooperation

    Boris Johnson has told Scots tempted by independence the pandemic has demonstrated "the great benefits of cooperation" across the UK - after Nicola Sturgeon urged him to cancel his trip north of the Border. Speaking ahead of a visit to Scotland, the Prime Minister highlighted how the home nations have "pulled together to defeat the virus" and argued the benefits of cooperation had "never been clearer." He said the UK Government was helping Scotland prepare for the "strongest possible recovery from the virus" by providing furlough, huge supplies of vaccines and support from the Armed Forces. In a coded criticism of Nicola Sturgeon's continued demands for an independence referendum, Mr Johnson said that "mutual cooperation across the UK throughout this pandemic is exactly what the people of Scotland expect and it is what I have been focussed on." But his call for cross-Border unity came only hours after Ms Sturgeon urged him to reconsider his visit, saying the journey was not "essential" and could encourage people to break Covid travel restrictions. She insisted the Prime Minister was "not unwelcome" and she was not telling him to "stay away", before arguing his visit could be justified within coronavirus travel rules. While she said she was sure he would not break any laws, she said "Boris Johnson travelling from London to wherever in Scotland" did not meet the "essential" benchmark needed to carry out such a journey.

  • Nurse who gave birth while ill with Covid-19 meets her daughter for first time

    Eva Gicain had an emergency Caesarean section at 35 weeks pregnant.

  • EU could block millions of Covid vaccine doses from entering UK

    EU could block millions of Covid vaccine doses from entering UK. European commission says new mechanism will give national regulators power to refuse exports

  • Jennifer Aniston shows off blonder hair on set of The Morning Show

    "Aaand we're back."