NHS was ‘within hours’ of running out of gowns during pandemic, Hancock tells Covid inquiry – UK politics live | Politics

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Hancock tells Covid inquiry he doesn’t settle for NHS was ‘overwhelmed’ throughout pandemic

Throughout proof this morning Hancock was challenged when he claimed that the NHS was not overwhelmed through the pandemic.

Jacqueline Carey KC , counsel for the inquiry, put it to Hancock:

The truth that the nurses are being stretched to the ratios that we’ve checked out and the potential hostile penalties for many who are in ICU doesn’t actually reveal the NHS was, actually, overwhelmed.

And Hancock replied:

No, as a result of individuals may get therapy. The therapy was inferior to in the identical means that the ready instances for a knee operation was inferior to pre-pandemic.

I’m not saying that the NHS was good within the pandemic, and I’m not saying that it wasn’t severely pressured in lots of areas and that that stress had penalties. The purpose of claiming that it will be overwhelmed is that the system as a complete, withstood the stress.

As Martin Bagot stories in a narrative for the Mirror, Carey pushed again at this level, saying that if individuals weren’t getting the therapy they might usually get, they might assume the system was overwhelmed. Bagot says the exchanges obtained testy, and that some family members of people that died who had been attending the listening to appeared to get distressed by what they had been listening to.

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Hancock tells the inquiry that some hospitals refused to check their workers for Covid as a result of they didn’t wish to lose too many individuals off sick.

He says that’s an instance of a “cultural drawback within the NHS” in that not sufficient is finished to sort out “nosocomial an infection” (an infection picked up throughout a medical process).

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Well being service was ‘inside 6 to 7 hours’ of operating out of robes at one level throughout pandemic, Hancock tells inquiry

Again on the Covid inquiry, Matt Hancock, the previous well being secretary, is being requested about PPE. He has simply mentioned that at one level the nation was “inside six or seven hours” of operating out of robes.

Hancock was being requested about this chart, exhibiting how lengthy shares of varied varieties of PPE had been anticipated to final earlier than they ran out.

Earlier in his proof this afternoon Hancock mentioned that, though particular person hospitals might have run out of PPE, the nation as a complete by no means ran out.

Jacqueline Carey KC, counsel for the inquiry, put it to him that that was not any comfort to well being workers who went with out PPE.

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Up to date at 09.30 EST

The flag on the Guildhall in Hull is flying at half-mast to mark the demise of John Prescott, who was an MP for town for 40 years. The town council has posted this on social media.

Tributes from the council are right here. And there’s a good round-up of tributes to Prescott on the LabourList web site too.

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Abroad territories proceed to delay establishing public registers of helpful possession

Patrick Wintour

David Lammy’s announcement of sanctions in opposition to kleptocrats (see 1.19pm) got here as crown dependencies and abroad territories (OTs) wrapped up a joint ministerial council in London at which resistance to the decade-old UK demand to arrange public registers of helpful possession was as soon as once more raised. Public registers, by ending the secrecy surrounding the switch of belongings to tax havens, make it simpler for campaigners to show cash laundering, in addition to deter it going down within the first place. The final missed deadline was for the top of 2023.

The important thing OTs have discovered a collection of causes to not implement the measure together with citing a 2022 European Court docket of Justice ruling saying the registers breach European privateness legal guidelines. Not one of the OTs are contained in the EU however they argue they can’t afford to have stricter declaration legal guidelines than different international locations or else funds will go away their jurisdiction.. As prime minister forward of the G8 in Northern Eire in 2016 David Cameron first set out the UK objective of establishing registers, however a succession of deadlines have been allowed to be missed with no motion taken by the federal government to impose registers.

The dearth of the registers, in addition to the presence in London of cash laundering enablers, is the Achilles heel of the UK’s efforts to grow to be a global chief within the combat in opposition to corruption.

Stephen Doughty the International Workplace minister, has written to the OTs setting out his expectation that the registers shall be arrange, and has visited a number of the territories to hunt their cooperation.

A spokesperson for the Cayman Islands authorities mentioned it was persevering with to work in the direction of an “enhanced helpful possession framework” by the top of 2024,.

A cross-party coalition of 40 MPs in a letter earlier this week known as for ugent motion in opposition to the abroad territories.

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Lammy claims ‘golden age of cash laundering’ in UK coming to finish as sanctions introduced in opposition to kleptocrats

Patrick Wintour

David Lammy, the overseas secretary, claimed he was bringing the golden age of cash laundering to an finish when he introduced sanctions in opposition to three high-profile kleptocrats and their key enablers.

Lammy mentioned the tide was being turned on corruption after a protracted interval when the earlier authorities allowed the position of London as a cash laundering capital to proceed.

When Labour was in opposition Lammy harassed how a lot injury Britain’s position in laundering corrupt cash was inflicting the nation’s status within the international south, in addition to the injury achieved to the worldwide monetary system,.

The three primary designations introduced at this time cowl: Dmitry Firtash who is understood to have extracted a whole lot of thousands and thousands of kilos from Ukraine, hiding thousands and thousands within the UK property market; Isabel Dos Santos, the daughter of Angola’s former president who’s accused abused her positions at state-run firms to embezzle not less than £350m; and Aivars Lembergs, considered one of Latvia’s richest individuals, who abused his political place to commit bribery and launder cash.

Firtash has already been sanctioned in different jurisdictions. The UK additionally sanctioned his spouse, Lada Firtash, who has profited from his corruption and holds UK belongings on his behalf, together with the positioning of the previous Brompton Street tube station, in addition to Denis Gorbunenko, a UK-based monetary ‘fixer’ who enabled and facilitated Firtash’s corruption.

Dos Santos was as soon as dubbed ‘Africa’s richest girl’. She has been topic to an Interpol Pink Discover since November 2022 and simply final month misplaced a case on the courtroom of attraction concerning her worldwide asset freeze. The UK additionally mentioned it was sanctioning her enterprise accomplice Paula Oliveira, and her chief monetary officer Sarju Raikundalia. The International Workplace mentioned each had helped Dos Santos funnel Angola’s nationwide wealth for her personal profit. It’s not recognized what number of belongings they nonetheless have within the UK.

Lammy mentioned:

These unscrupulous people selfishly deprive their fellow residents of much-needed funding for schooling, healthcare and infrastructure – for their very own enrichment.

I dedicated to taking up kleptocrats and the soiled cash that empowers them after I grew to become International Secretary and these sanctions mark step one in delivering this ambition. The tide is popping. The golden age of cash laundering is over.

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Scottish authorities’s funds will contain ‘trustworthy dialog’ with voters, says John Swinney

Libby Brooks

At FMQs at this time the Scottish Conservative chief Russell Findlay attacked John Swinney over at this time’s Audit Scotland report which was damning in its criticism of the Scottish authorities’s lack of long-term technique over public funds.

The report additionally criticised the SNP’s short-term fixes, lack of transparency and warned that elementary adjustments had been wanted to maintain public companies inexpensive.

Swinney insisted that monetary constraints on his funds had been the results of UK Tory austerity, trotting out his favorite jibe about Findlay’s future earlier assist for Liz Truss, and mentioned subsequent month’s funds would contain “an trustworthy dialog with the individuals of Scotland”.

In the meantime the Scottish Greens’ co-leader Lorna Slater pressed Swinney on whether or not the funds would introduce a public well being levy on alcohol and tobacco, as well being campaigners foyer his authorities to introduce one.

Swinney mentioned he couldn’t pre-empt funds choices, arguing the finance secretary was going through stress from all sides with a funds beneath extreme constraints due to inflation and hefty public sector pay offers.

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Downing Road has described unconfirmed stories that Russia might have fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into Ukraine as “deeply regarding”.

Requested about this on the morning foyer briefing, the PM’s spokesperson mentioned:

As you’ll perceive it’s a quickly growing state of affairs and I don’t wish to get forward of our intelligence companies who’re these stories urgently, but when true, clearly this could be one other instance of grave, reckless and escalatory behaviour from Russia and solely serves to strengthen our resolve.

Martin Belam had extra protection of this story on at this time’s Ukraine struggle dwell weblog

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Up to date at 08.12 EST

Keir Starmer has defended the federal government’s determination to register 470 delegates to attend the Cop29 local weather convention in Baku in Azerbaijan.

Throughout his Commons assertion he was requested in regards to the massive variety of individuals attending by the impartial MP Shockat Adam who requested if the associated fee was justified, significantly given the reduce to winter gas funds.

Starmer mentioned the British contingent was small than it was eventually 12 months’s Cop, and that there was “lots of negotiation” to be carried on the market. “It’s completely important that we’re doing that vital work,” he mentioned.

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Up to date at 07.44 EST

John Healey, the defence secretary, has been giving proof to the Commons defence committee this morning. However he wouldn’t affirm that Ukraine has began firing Storm Shadow missiles supplied by Britain at Russia. Requested to verify these stories, Healey mentioned:

I received’t be drawn on the operational particulars of the battle. It dangers each operational safety and in the long run the one one which advantages from such a public debate is President Putin.

Healey additionally mentioned this was a “severe second” for Ukraine and he mentioned battle strains had been now “much less secure than at any time for the reason that early days of the complete scale Russian invasion”.

UPDATE: Healey mentioned:

This can be a severe second that I come earlier than the committee. Defence intelligence will reveal at this time that the entrance line is now much less secure than at any time for the reason that early days of the complete scale Russian invasion in 2022.

We have now seen in latest weeks a really clear escalation from Putin and his forces. They’ve stepped up assaults on the vitality system in Ukraine forward of winter, they’ve stepped up assaults on civilian centres killing kids, they’ve deployed not less than 10,000 North Korean troops to the battle entrance line.

And there are unconfirmed however media stories at this time of Russia firing a brand new ballistic missile into Ukraine which we all know they’ve been getting ready for months.

Whereas the Ukrainian actions on the battlefield communicate for themselves, be in little question that UK authorities is stepping up our assist for Ukraine, decided to proceed doubling down our assist for Ukraine.

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Up to date at 07.50 EST

The Guardian columnist Martin Kettle has despatched me this anecdote, which he describes as his favorite reminiscence of the late John Prescott. Martin says:

I used to be at a Labour convention in Blackpool within the 90s and I ran into him again stage within the press room and he mentioned: “Is your fella Steve Bell right here?” I mentioned, sure, Steve was. “Effectively are you able to introduce me? He all the time attracts me as Tony’s canine, and I’m not a fuckin’ canine.” Steve was sitting fairly close by, so I nervously made the introductions as the 2 large guys met up. Inside just a few seconds, Prescott’s threatening method vanished and he and Steve had been in stitches about some joke or different. Then, as Prescott was leaving he turned and squared as much as Steve and mentioned. “No canines, OK?”

In fact it made completely no distinction no matter, and Steve saved on drawing him as a canine.

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