Prime minister to end all restrictions in England despite concern from scientists, health experts and Labour
- Boris Johnson to say ending restrictions in England is ‘moment of pride’
- England’s employers will have to pay for Covid testing as rules relaxed
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Ministers will reject making misogyny a hate crime in England and Wales and urge MPs to get behind controversial legislation that has been criticised for curbing the right to protest as the government seeks to push through major changes to the criminal justice system.
In a move which will set up a clash with conservative backbenchers and opposition MPs when the police, crime, sentencing and courts bill returns to parliament next week, the home secretary, Priti Patel, will write to members on Monday saying the government will oppose a Lords amendment that would extend hate crimes to cover misogyny.
It is shameful that the home secretary is still refusing to make violence against women and girls a strategic policing requirement so it has the same prominence as tackling organised crime.
She is also still refusing to establish specialist rape units in every police force area or minimum sentence for rape and stalking, and shockingly is still resisting Labour’s proposals for action against landlords who pressurise tenants into sex for rent.
I would say that it’s like any illness, frankly, any transmissible illness that you would say stay at home.
This is why we need to make sure that we’ve got really good guidance for employers.
But as I say, there will come a time when the pandemic moves to more of an endemic approach to Covid, in the same way that flu and other viruses are treated, and that’s what we’ve got to get back to.
