The comments made by James Duddridge, the Minister for Africa, on 7 June 2021.
I am concerned that the Government of Nigeria has suspended Twitter. We hope that all Nigerians are able to enjoy their full rights to freedom of expression, and do so responsibly.
The comments made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Vaccines Minister, on 7 June 2021.
I am thrilled that we are partnering up with dating apps to boost vaccine uptake across the country. This is another incredible asset to our vaccination programme – the biggest and most successful in our history.
The vaccine is our way out of this pandemic and we have made incredible progress so far with over three-quarters of adults receiving at least one dose.
I encourage everyone who is eligible to roll up their sleeves and get the jab – it could save your life and protect your loved ones.
The comments made by Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister, on 7 June 2021.
It’s a life-and-death issue, we’re actually deciding who lives and who dies, particularly at this point where if we withdraw the money for vaccination it’s the equivalent of pulling away the needle from a kid or from an adult who is sick who needs the vaccination, a 90% cut, for example, in support for polio vaccination.
There has been an all-party consensus, all parties, for 25 years that we need 0.7%, we need to play our role in the world by being one of the leaders in aid and, really, this is not the right time to pull things away because basically this is when the poorest countries need help most.
The comments made by Ben Wallace, the Secretary of State for Defence, on 6 June 2021.
The Armed Forces continue to show their incredible versatility and flexibility, deploying wherever and whenever they are needed in support of this national vaccination effort.
I am delighted to see that across all corners of the UK, military personnel are working side by side with their NHS counterparts to help get the British public vaccinated as quickly as possible.
The comments made by Nadhim Zahawi, the Vaccines Minister, on 5 June 2021.
Our vaccination programme, the biggest and most successful in NHS history, has now delivered over 40 million first doses into arms – a fantastic achievement.
I am incredibly proud of everyone involved who have worked tirelessly to help us reach milestone after milestone. It is time to redouble our efforts on the second dose, to ensure everyone has maximum protection.
The offer is open to everyone over the age of 30, so when you get the call, get the jab. It could save your life and protect your loved ones.
The comments made by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on 5 June 2021.
It is an astonishing achievement to deliver over 40 million first doses in just 6 months. In all 4 corners of the UK, people are stepping up when their time comes to protect themselves and the people around them.
It seems with every day we pass another major milestone on the road back to recovery. Over three-quarters of adults have received a first dose and over half of adults have now been vaccinated with the life-saving second dose.
I pay tribute to the tireless work of the NHS and armed forces in building this momentum – but our work is not yet done. I encourage everyone who is eligible to join the millions who have the fullest possible protection from this virus by getting their jab when the time comes.
The comments made by Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 5 June 2021.
It’s encouraging to see these first moves towards a global pact on tax avoidance.
But this government has spent the last few weeks actively watering down what was initially intended to be an ambitious 21% rate of global minimum corporate tax.
That would have brought £131 million extra a week to Britain for our NHS and other public services, while also stopping our high streets being aggressively undercut.
This government must now show leadership, push for a 21% rate in negotiations, and use the money to fund our schools and our NHS.
The comments made by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, on 20 May 2021.
I broadly welcome these reforms and believe they could bring some much-needed sense and stability to what has felt in recent times like a chaotic railway. Rail privatisation as we have known is over and there won’t be many tears shed in Greater Manchester about that. But we do have concerns that this move back to a centrally-controlled railway could weaken the powers of the North over our railway and we are seeking reassurances from the Transport Secretary that this will not be the case.
It is important to remember that Northern Mayors and Leaders led calls for change following the timetable chaos in May 2018. We said enough was enough, demanded a better rail service here and this is a significant response to that call. While these changes are clearly a sizeable step in the right direction, they do appear to fall short of what the Prime Minister promised at the Convention of the North in 2019 – notably devolved control of services and stations. In Greater Manchester, we want that local control so we can deliver a London-style public transport system by the end of the decade. We hope that these proposals will not cut across that vision and want to work with the Transport Secretary and the new Great British Railways to deliver it.
The comments made by Jane Hutt, the Minister for Social Justice in Wales, on 4 June 2021.
Volunteers and the projects they support have always been an integral part of our local communities across Wales. As the last year has shown, volunteers are the glue which hold our communities together.
This amazing volunteering attitude has never been more evident than it has over the past 12 months, where we have seen people of all ages and backgrounds rise up to the enormous challenges Covid-19 has presented.
This year’s Volunteers’ Week and our latest commitment to funding 12 fantastic community projects across Wales are especially poignant and it has never felt more fitting to take the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to each and every person and organisation who has given their time to help.
The statement made by Mark Drakeford, the Welsh First Minister, on 4 June 2021.
I want to thank everyone in Wales for everything they have done to control the spread of coronavirus and keep rates low. The emergence of the delta variant shows the pandemic is not over yet and we all need to continue to take steps to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
The risk of infection is significantly less outdoors than it is indoors. This is why we are phasing in the changes in this three-week cycle. This will allow more people to enjoy events outdoors and take advantage of the Welsh summer, while we continue to roll out the vaccination programme to all adults.
We will review the public health situation again in a couple of weeks to see whether we can continue to relax the restrictions and restart indoor events.