Matthew Taylor

Gavin Williamson – 1 per cent NHS pay rise is result of ‘difficult economic challenges’ The Education Secretary was tasked with the government’s media duties this morning, on the day before schools are due to reopen for the vast majority of England’s children. However, with the Budget having taken place last week, another issue dominated the agenda. The government is offering a pay rise of 1 per cent for NHS staff, which is regarded by many in the profession as too low. Since inflation has been forecast as reaching 1.5 per cent later this year, unions have argued that the pay rise is in effect, a pay cut.

Rishi Sunak – Government will do ‘whatever it takes’ to protect people and businesses Ahead of the Budget this Wednesday, both Andrew Marr and Sophy Ridge were joined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak. With the government’s roadmap for ending the lockdown having been published last week, all eyes are now on Sunak and the economic levers that he will be pulling as the pandemic hopefully begins its journey out of the news and into history. Sophy Ridge asked the Chancellor if the government’s furlough scheme would be extended beyond the current deadline of April. Without going as far as to say ‘yes’, Sunak suggested that an extension was on the cards: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1365947358668816385?

The national vaccine rollout is continuing unabated, with over 17 million adults now having received a first dose. The government has even brought forward its target date for all adults to be offered a jab from September to the end of July. Hancock said that, although it was still early days, the success of the rollout did seem to be having a visible effect on the rate of re-infection: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1363436442958127105?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw MH: We have seen early data [showing] that there’s a reduction in transmission from those who get the jab… There are signs that the numbers in hospital are falling much more sharply than they were in the first wave. There’s further analysis to be done on that.

With the vaccine rollout exceeding expectations, the government now faces pressure from its own side of the House to lift the current lockdown as fast as possible. The Covid Recovery Group, chaired by the former chief whip Mark Harper, has sent a letter to the PM which has been endorsed by 63 MPs calling for all restrictions to be lifted after the nine designated vulnerable groups have received their vaccines - which is forecast for the end of April. Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sunday, foreign secretary Dominic Raab set out the government's position: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1360875916268892162?

Nadhim Zahawi – ‘I’m confident’ all over 50s will get jab by May Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi was sent out to bat for the government this morning, at a time when over 11 million people have received a first dose of an approved Covid vaccine. Zahawi told Sophy Ridge that he was certain that, despite any possible disruption caused by the European Commission’s aborted jab grab, the government was still on course to meet its targets. The first four priority groups are forecast to be vaccinated by mid-February; and groups five-nine are estimated to be offered a jab at some point in the spring:  https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1358346263822012418?

Liz Truss – We can guarantee UK’s vaccine supply The European Union’s attempt at vaccine procurement has not been its finest hour. Concerns about lack of supply across Europe prompted the EU Commission to consider how it might override Pfizer and AstraZeneca’s prior commitments and commandeer the output of their Belgian factories for the bloc’s own internal use. Signalling that the EU might block the export of the jabs, many of which had been intended for use in the UK, triggered an immediate backlash, and the EU eventually climbed down. The International Trade Secretary Liz Truss spoke to Andrew Marr, who asked her if she could be certain that the UK would be receiving its expected doses in full: https://www.youtube.com/watch?

Nicola Sturgeon - ‘False conspiracy theories’ being spread in Salmond assault inquiry Continuing his series of interviews with the UK’s major party leaders, Andrew Marr this morning spoke to Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland. A major feature of the interview was the continuing row between Sturgeon and her predecessor and former mentor Alex Salmond. Salmond was famously put on trial for multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment in early 2020, and was acquitted of all charges. A Holyrood inquiry is being conducted into the handling of the complaints made against Salmond, who has accused Sturgeon of misleading the Scottish Parliament over what was known when and by who.

If there is one area that the government can point to as having had a successful pandemic, it would be the speed at which the UK has been able to rollout the vaccines for Covid-19. The Telegraph has even reported that their Whitehall sources believe that every adult will be able to receive their first jab by the end of June. Andrew Marr put this scenario to the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who despite sticking to the government script, suggested that this target was not completely unfeasible: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1350735780461867009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw DR: We’re making good progress… The entire adult population, we want to have been offered a first jab by September… That’s the roadmap.

Keir Starmer – Covid restrictions 'may not be tough enough' Sir Keir Starmer was in the hot seat this morning as the latest of Andrew Marr's series of interviews with the major party leaders. Marr's first question to Starmer was about the government's heightened Tier 5 restrictions. The conversation comes at a time when the UK's official Covid-19 death toll has passed 80,000, and with the Office for National Statistics reporting figures showing that as many as one in 50 people have had the virus over the last week of 2020. Marr asked if the restrictions were tough enough to slow the spread: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1348214400197525505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw KS: They are tough, and they're necessary...

Boris Johnson - Restrictions 'probably about to get tougher' The Andrew Marr Show returned this morning, and with it came an in-depth interview with the Prime Minister. It will surprise no one to hear that the bulk of the interview focused on the coronavirus, and Boris Johnson signalled throughout that the new year could see fresh restrictions being brought into place. He did not go into any detail about what measures could be introduced under a potential 'Tier 5', but it was clear enough that his 5pm Downing Street press conferences were not yet a thing of the past: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1345670653463191552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw BJ: It may be that we need to do things in the next few weeks that will be tougher in many parts of the country.

The Health Secretary joined Andrew Marr the day after Boris Johnson outlined a new fourth tier of restrictions. Tier 4 is designed to clamp down on a new mutation of the coronavirus that has been surging across the south east of England, and the news has wrought havoc on many families' Christmas plans. Hancock told Marr that people should assume they were carrying the virus as a default: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1340597050451369985?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw MH: The new variant is out of control... and this news about the new variant has been an incredibly difficult end to frankly, an awful year. It's important for everybody to essentially act like they might have the virus. That's the way that we can control it together.

Dominic Raab: The ‘bar is quite high’ for EU trade talks to continue Today had been marked out as the critical deadline date by which a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU must be substantially agreed, or else there would be no deal. A discussion between Boris Johnson and the EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was scheduled for this lunchtime to try to thrash out the last minute disagreements. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab joined Andrew Marr, and told him that trade talks could continue beyond the end of the day, but only if the political discussion was fruitful: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1338072421463678976?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw AM: If we don't get an agreement by the end of today... are we out without a deal? DR: It depends...

Sophy Ridge was joined this morning by the Environment Secretary George Eustice. The first item on the agenda was the reconvening of post-Brexit trade talks after negotiators failed to reach an agreement last week. Eustice confirmed that EU demands on access to British coastal waters and on state aid were still the key barriers to a deal: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1335504050553565185?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw GE: These [talks] are... in a very difficult position, there's no point denying that... There was some hope early last week... at one point it looked like there might be a breakthrough... We're going to continue to work on these negotiations until there's no point in doing so any further.

Dominic Raab - 'We want to come out' and 'stay out' of lockdown This week, the government will put its tiered system of coronavirus restrictions to a vote in the Commons. A sizeable rebellion is anticipated from the government's own MPs, who have raised concerns about the effect on the economy, as well as personal liberty and mental health. The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab sought to ease some of their fears: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1332967040903208962?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw DR: We want to come out of national lockdown and stay out of it. There is hope... We are starting with a more restrictive approach than previously... but that allows us to ease up when we are confident that the virus is going down... There [will also be] a review every two weeks.

Rishi Sunak - There is more economic stress to come The Chancellor of the Exchequer will deliver the 2020 spending review this Wednesday, and it will shock no one to hear that the public finances are not in good health. Joining Andrew Marr in the studio, Rishi Sunak said that the economy was not out of the woods yet, and may not be for a long time: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1330449174450606080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw RS: The economy is experiencing significant stress. We've seen that particularly in the labour market... [There is] more stress to come, and that is very sad to see... and it's something that we're going to grapple with for a while to come sadly.

Simon Coveney - Internal Market Bill could mean no trade deal Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney returned to Sophy Ridge's show this week to make clear his objections to the government's Internal Market Bill. The bill, which famously threatened to break the EU Withdrawal Agreement in 'a specific and limited way', has recently been watered down by the House of Lords. However, it is expected that the government will reinsert the offending clauses, which would keep Northern Ireland's market aligned with Britain in the event of no trade deal. Coveney warned that this move could derail the prospective trade deal altogether: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1327899546903588864?

Dominic Raab – ‘I'm excited' about working with President Biden On the morning after Joe Biden was declared President-elect, the Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab offered his congratulations to Mr Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris. Raab told Sophy Ridge that the Biden administration would find plenty of common ground with Boris Johnson's government: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1325384057602117633?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw DR: The things that President-elect Biden wants to achieve internationally... not just security and counter-terrorism in the Middle East, but coronavirus and returning to the Paris Climate Agreement – these are all things which... we'll have a huge amount to co-operate on and I'm excited about working with the new administration.

Michael Gove - New lockdown 'could be extended' Yesterday Boris Johnson announced that England would be entering another lockdown as of this Thursday, which will last for, at the very least, the entirety of November. Sophy Ridge's first guest of the day was the Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove, who told her that the envisioned end-date of Wednesday 2nd December was subject to change if the rates of Covid infection could not be reduced: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1322825323625484288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw SR: If the data on the whole is not looking as you are hoping, then the national lockdown could be extended? MG: We will always take a decision in the national interest, based on evidence... SR: Is that 'yes'? MG: Yes.

Brandon Lewis - Our position on free school meals 'is the right one' Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford's campaign to extend the provision of free school meals over the school holidays has seen the government facing considerable criticism, with Labour forcing a vote on the issue in the House of Commons last Wednesday, which was defeated by 61 votes. A rift has even developed within the Conservative party itself, with Robert Halfon, chair of the Education Select Committee, writing in the Spectator on the conservative case for the extension. Sophy Ridge asked the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis why the government was holding out against the campaign: https://twitter.com/RidgeOnSunday/status/1320299437730746370?

Andy Burnham – Trapping us in tier three will 'cause real harm' The government's standoff with regional leaders in the north west was played out on television this morning. Andrew Marr spoke to Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, who has been the most prominent voice in resisting the highest level of coronavirus restrictions being imposed on the county. Citing Greater Manchester's adherence to local lockdown measures for just under three months, Burnham argued that adopting the tier three controls was unrealistic without added economic support for his constituents: https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1317745529376411650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw AB: Protecting health is about more than controlling the virus... Peoples' mental health is pretty low...