Boris Johnson to announce merger of the foreign and international development departments

The Department for International Development is to be scrapped and the Foreign Office handed direct control of the £14billion aid budget, Boris Johnson is expected to announce today.

The Prime Minister is expected to tell MPs that the plans will give the UK a single voice on the world stage after Brexit when he makes a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon.

The Telegraph understands that Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, will take direct control of the aid budget and be instructed to ensure that its spending is in line with UK foreign policy.

The merger comes after Mr Johnson’s reshuffle four months ago which left seven out of the eight Dfid ministers which paralell jobs in the Foreign Office. The Telegraph first reported the likely merger in February.

International Development secretary Anne Marie Trevelyan is being lined up for a new role Minister of State in the Foreign Office after a merger.

The merger is understood to be backed by both permanent secretaries in the departments with DfID’s Matthew Rycroft said to be “forward leaning on this”.

An all staff meeting is understood to have been called in the Foreign Office tomorrow.

Follow the latest updates below.

10:58 AM

Former aid secretary says merger would be ‘extraordinary mistake’

Senior Conservative Andrew Mitchell has expressed concern over reports that Boris Johnson is due to announce the merger of the Foreign Office and the Department for International Development. 

Mr Mitchell, a former international development secretary, told the BBC it would be a “quite extraordinary mistake” and would “at a stroke destroy a key aspect of Global Britain”. 

Story continues

10:39 AM

Air bridges ready by the end of the month

Air bridges enabling holidaymakers to travel overseas without entering self-isolation when they return will be announced by the end of June, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has indicated.

He told LBC Radio that the Government is “actively working” on introducing travel corridors amid concerns the quarantine policy is damaging the travel and tourism industry.

Mr Shapps said: “We won’t be in a position to announce which countries – where reciprocal arrangements go in place – until the 29th.

“So don’t expect anything this week, I think I’m right in saying it’s only the end of next week.”

June 29 is the date for the Government’s first review of its controversial quarantine policy, which came into force last week.

Most international arrivals into the UK are required to go into self-isolation for 14 days.

All passengers – bar a handful of exemptions – have to fill out an online locator form giving their contact and travel details, as well as the address of where they will isolate.

10:20 AM

Closure of dental practices has been ‘catastrophic’ 

Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association, said the effects of the pandemic on oral health have been “catastrophic”.

Appearing before the Commons health committee, Mr Armstrong told MPs: “Dentistry was not in a great place when we started…with widening inequalities, rock-bottom morale and retention problems, so the pandemic has just made that that much worse.

“The effects on general practice, NHS and private, has been devastating and is probably existential. The effect on oral health has been catastrophic.”

“We’ve cancelled eight million courses of treatment nationally. Our practice alone has cancelled 6,000 appointments and we will be cancelling another 3,000 until September just to deal with the urgent case backlog.

“So 12,000 dentist practices in the country have been effectively replaced by 500 urgent care centres, they’ve done a sterling job in treating the most urgent, but it’s clearly no replacement.”

09:59 AM

Pandemic has been ‘catastrophic’ for oral health, MPs told

Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association, says the effects of the pandemic on oral health have been “catastrophic”.

“Dentistry was not in a great place when we started. We’ve got access problems which have been raised in both Houses, and also in the previous Health Select Committee, with widening inequalities, rock-bottom morale and retention problems, so the pandemic has just made that that much worse,” he said.

“The effects on general practice, NHS and private, has been devastating and is probably existential. The effect on oral health has been catastrophic.”

Mr Armstrong, who works as a frontline clinician in West Yorkshire, told MPs: “We’ve cancelled eight million courses of treatment nationally.”

09:44 AM

Coronavirus responsible for 80% of excess deaths, ONS say

Today’s ONS figures show Covid-19 was responsible for 80 per cent of the excess deaths registered in England and Wales between March 21 and June 5 2020.

There were 58,693 excess deaths in total, which is the number of deaths above the five-year average for this period.

Some 46,996 were deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.

The overall number of excess deaths registered per week has fallen from a peak of 11,854 in the week ending April 17 to 732 in the week ending June 5.

09:28 AM

Government working on air bridges ‘behind the scenes’

The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has hinted we can expect an announcement on ‘air bridges’ next week, saying: “Behind the scenes we are working on it.

“Working and looking at and starting to work with countries with whom air bridges, or international travel corridors as they will rightly be known – because it could be sea, ferries or trains – we’re working with those countries to do that.

“We won’t be in a position to announce which countries – where reciprocal arrangements go in place – until the 29th.

“So don’t expect anything this week, I think I’m right in saying it’s only the end of next week.”

09:13 AM

Therese Coffey says she ‘welcomes’ Marcus Rashford’s passion

The Work and Pensions Secretary has responded to the free school meals row, after her earlier tweets drew criticism (see 09.48 post).

She said that she welcomed the footballer’s “passion for supporting children and the most vulnerable in society”.

Ms Coffey added: “We are working to the same aim. I & this Govt will continue to actively help and support families and businesses through this emergency and beyond.”

09:07 AM

More Tory support for Marcus Rashford campaign

Conservative MP George Freeman has also offered his support to Mr Rashford’s campaign to extend free school meals over the summer.

He wrote said that free school meals are a “lifeline” for low income families.

“Let’s do the right thing,” he said.

08:48 AM

Therese Coffey faces criticism over ‘snarky’ comment on free school meals

Ms Coffey has been urged to “put rivalries aside” by Marcus Rashford, after she weighed in with a “snarky comment” on the debate over free school meals.

In a series of tweets the Manchester United striker said: “When you wake up this morning and run your shower, take a second to think about parents who have had their water turned off during lockdown.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary replied to the England forward, saying: “Water cannot be disconnected though.”

Mr Rashford said he was “concerned” that it was the only “tweet of mine you acknowledged” and pleaded with her to “put rivalries aside for a second”.

Labour criticised the Cabinet minister, with shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds accusing her of making a “snarky” response to a “powerful campaign”.

07:58 AM

Marcus Rashford receives Tory backing for free school meals campaign

Education Select Committee chairman Robert Halfon has thrown his support behind the footballer’s campaign to extend free schools meals over the summer holidays.

Mr Halfon said he supported that plan because “so many people up and down the country are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and to feed their families”.

The Tory MP commended the Government for helping vulnerable families by raising the living wage, cutting taxes for lower earners, and keeping fuel duty frozen.

However, he added: “The Prime Minister said that when we come out of this, we will not be in austerity again.

“If that is the case, I think an important example of this would be to keep the school meal programme over the summer, because it is not a lot of extra money if you add up all the different Government food programmes, but it’s simple, it works, and the public understand it.

“I think that’s why Marcus Rashford has so much support.”

07:54 AM

What’s on the agenda today?

Here’s what you have to look forward in politics today:

11.30am: Alok Sharma has an hour-long Q&A session with shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds, who has secured an urgent question on the impact of coronavirus on the UK economy

1.15pm: Boris Johnson will make a statement to the House of Commons about “Global Britain”, in which he is expected to give an upbeat assessment of the UK’s future as an independent trading nation outside the EU.

2.30pm: Michael Gove will update MPs on the current progress in the post-Brexit trade talks with Brussels.

5pm: Daily Downing Street briefing, Politics Live will update you on who will be fielding questions when we hear.

07:48 AM

Today’s front page

Today’s Daily Telegraph leads on warnings from former Conservative leader Lord Hague described the lockdown as a “disaster for our society” that will cause economic “catastrophe” for hundreds of thousands of people.

You can read his piece here:

07:36 AM

Good morning

We’re kicking off the day with new data from the ONS, which reveals that the number of people on British company payrolls fell by more than 600,000 in April.

The jobless rate unexpectedly held steady at 3.9 per cent over the three months to April but this morning Grant Shapps conceded that there is an “awful lot going” below the surface – pointing out that 9 million people are still on the furlough scheme.

The Transport Secretary said that “problems and dangers” lie ahead.

It puts the Government under renewed pressure to reduce the two metre rule. We’ll bring you the latest here.