Priti Patel has told MPs that she is ready to withhold millions of pounds promised to the French to block migrant crossings after a record number of people were estimated to have landed yesterday.
She met Conservative MPs last night to try to quell their anger. Patel blamed the French and said she was prepared to pull the funding promised less than two months ago if they failed to stop three in four crossings by the end of this month, The Times has learnt.
Teachers lack the resources needed to "stamp out [the] root causes" of extremist views among children in classrooms in England, a study suggests.
Staff say they are concerned about the increase in pupils looking at hateful content online and developing dangerous ideas linked to racism, homophobia and conspiracy theories.
Extremism is being allowed to flourish thanks to a lack of staff support and space on the curriculum to challenge these views, according to academics from the University College London (UCL) Institute of Education.
Their report, published days before the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in the United States, suggests schools' efforts to build resilience to extremism in young people are "highly varied", and in some cases, their approach to the issue is "tokenistic".
Researchers, who spoke to 96 teachers in English schools as part of the study commissioned by education charity Since 9/11, found almost all had encountered "hateful extremism" in the form of racist views in the classroom.
Advertisement
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Kids targeted with graphic content online
The majority also said they have heard pupils express far-right extremist views in their classroom, as well as "extremist views about women" or Islamophobia.
The findings come after the boss of MI5 revealed that agents are investigating teenagers as young as 13 linked to extreme right-wing terrorism.
More on Education
In July, director-general Ken McCallum said the presence of teenagers is a "rising trend in MI5's counter-terrorist case work" and is becoming more so in extreme right-wing investigations.
Meanwhile, the report suggests that conspiracy theories and online disinformation "is an emerging area that needs consideration".
Nearly nine in 10 teachers said they have heard conspiracy theories being discussed by students - including the theory that American businessman Bill Gates "controls people via microchips in COVID vaccines".
They claim kids have been increasingly exposed to these ideas online and that the problem has been "exacerbated by the pandemic and lockdowns".
But the study found that many teachers do not confront students out of fear they will offend, "especially on matters related to race".
Dr Becky Taylor, from the UCL Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research, said: "This report shows that some schools fail to move beyond surface-level explorations of violence, extremism and radicalisation; however, it is without doubt that schools can play an important role."
She added: "Education policies must consider the fact that some schools may need more help than others to build on what they already have in place.
"Engaging well with their local communities and ensuring that schools and teachers are supported and appropriately resourced can help young people to problematise 'hateful extremism'."
The study calls for teachers to be given better training to help pupils reject, and respond to, dangerous ideologies.
The report concludes: "Much anti-extremism work is well-meaning but is stymied by overcrowded curricula, a lack of resources, a desire to perform policy for Ofsted, and a mandate to detect and report vulnerability to radicalisation rather than necessarily stamp out its root causes."
Kamal Hanif, a trustee of Since 9/11 and executive principal of Waverley Education Foundation in Birmingham, called the research "a wake-up call".
He said: "We urgently need to equip schools with the tools to teach pupils how to reject extremist views. Dangerous ideologies must never be swept under the carpet."
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "Schools have an important role to play in educating young people about the false premises and dangers posed by extremist ideologies, but they cannot do this alone and more support is needed."
A Department for Education spokesperson said: "The new Relationships, Sex and Health Education curriculum requires secondary age pupils to be aware of laws relating to terrorism and hate crime, and the Educate Against Hate website features over 150 free resources to help pupils, teachers and parents tackle radicalisation in all its forms.
"We continue to look at what further support we can provide to schools, and will shortly launch further resources specifically focused on harmful online content."
Boris Johnson is expected to raise national insurance by about 1.2% to pay for a pledge to end the "catastrophic costs" of social care, a move Tory MPs claim amounts to a £10bn tax raid.
On Tuesday, he is planning a major launch of a long-awaited shake-up which he claims will fulfil a pledge he made when he became prime minister two years ago to "fix the broken care system".
The national insurance hike will also help fund a major drive to clear the massive backlog in NHS operations and treatment caused by COVID, which has seen waiting lists soar to over five million.
Image:Chancellor Rishi Sunak made an appeal for loyalty to the PM on Monday night
The extra cash for the NHS will be targeted on boosting capacity in hospitals amid predictions that the backlog could more than double to 13 million people on waiting lists by the end of this year.
After driving his plan through his potentially mutinous cabinet at its first meeting in Number 10 for more than a year, Mr Johnson will confront Tory critics and opposition MPs in a House of Commons statement.
Advertisement
He will then attempt to portray a united cabinet front as he unveils the government's proposals at a Downing Street news conference, flanked by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
The prime minister claims the social care package is a "fair, reasonable and necessary plan" to ensure the NHS has the long-term funding it needs.
More on Boris Johnson
But he is facing a furious backlash from ministers and backbench MPs who are incensed that the PM is poised to break a promise in the Tories' 2019 election manifesto not to raise national insurance.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
July 2019 - Boris Johnson's first speech as PM in full
Other Tory MPs claim the proposals will hit workers on low and modest incomes while protecting better off couples who are currently forced to sell their home to pay for care in later life.
But speaking ahead of the launch, a defiant Mr Johnson declared: "The NHS is the pride of our United Kingdom, but it has been put under enormous strain by the pandemic. We cannot expect it to recover alone.
Image:The 2019 Conservative manifesto included a personal 'guarantee' from Boris Johnson that there wouldn't be tax rises
"We must act now to ensure the health and care system has the long-term funding it needs to continue fighting COVID and start tackling the backlogs, and end the injustice of catastrophic costs for social care.
"My government will not duck the tough decisions needed to get NHS patients the treatment they need and to fix our broken social care system."
But while the Conservative manifesto promised a "long-term solution" on social care, it also pledged: "We promise not to raise the rates of income tax, national insurance or VAT.
"This is a tax guarantee that will protect the incomes of hard-working families across the next parliament."
Labour's shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth hit back at the PM ahead of the unveiling of his social care plans.
"A Tory decade of neglect left us unprepared for the pandemic and means waiting lists are at record levels with patients waiting longer in pain, A&Es regularly in crisis, cancer survival rates at risk of going backwards and millions struggling to access adequate mental health support," Mr Ashworth said.
"In social care, swingeing cuts have left the service at breaking points and left over a million of the most vulnerable without help.
"A long-term plan on social care and a rescue plan to address the crisis the NHS has been in for years are both long overdue.
"The NHS is in desperate need, but the prime minister - along with every Conservative MP - was elected on a manifesto that promised to fix social care on a plan that had been developed and promised no rise in national insurance.
"His broken promises on tax rises cannot be followed by more broken promises for the NHS."
Image:The PM made a pledge two years ago to 'fix the broken care system'
In an 11th-hour attempt to win over angry Tory MPs, Mr Sunak made an appeal for loyalty to the PM in a speech to the backbench 1922 Committee on Monday night.
"It's fair to say that we've got a tough autumn ahead," the chancellor said.
"That doesn't mean there won't be disagreements. There always are. But we should never lose sight of the central fact that we are a team, leading with our values and presenting a united front to the country.
"I, like all of you, take our lead from the prime minister, the leader of our party and the country. We owe him our support and loyalty."
Foreshadowing the PM's funding plans, a government source said: "The NHS cared for us during the worst pandemic in a century.
"Over half a million COVID patients have been admitted to hospital since March 2020, and on one day alone in January 2021, over 34,000 patients were in hospital.
"During national restrictions, the NHS remained open for anyone who needed it. Urgent treatment, including cancer care and A&E services, continued.
"NHS staff and beds were redirected from non-urgent care to help the influx of COVID patients. An entire vaccination system was set up from scratch, administering 88 million vaccines so far and saving countless lives.
"Less urgent treatment was temporarily paused and as a result, the number of people waiting for treatment has quickly multiplied."
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
NHS to get extra £5.4bn, says Javid
The government says a new plan is now needed to put the necessary resources in place to provide care and treatment for all and to protect the NHS's ability to deliver the core function it was set up for.
Ministers admit that the number of patients now waiting for elective surgery and routine treatment in England is at a record high of over five million and - left unchecked - could reach 13 million by the end of the year.
Before the pandemic, nine out of 10 people were treated within 26 weeks. Despite huge efforts by NHS staff, that is now 44 weeks, and more than 300,000 people have been waiting over a year for non-urgent care.
This includes hip replacements, knee surgery, and cataract treatment, all of which can severely limit someone's quality of life.
On social care, the government says that under the current system anyone with assets over £23,350 pays for their care in full. This can lead to spiralling costs and the complete liquidation of someone's assets.
Around one in seven people now pay over £100,000 and there is an unfair discrepancy between someone who has dementia paying for their care in full, while someone cared for by the NHS receives care for free.
The vaccination of children against Covid-19 is already too late to blunt an autumn wave of infection, a leading scientist has said amid concerns about parental confidence in jabs for teenagers.
Professor John Edmunds’s comments come as the deputy head of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) acknowledged that it would be uncomfortable if ministers pressed ahead with immunising teenagers after his committee refused to back it. A senior MP said that parents would not trust the vaccination campaign unless it was explained better.
Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, and his counterparts for the other home nations are due to make a decision this week on whether the wider benefits to children make it worth vaccinating millions of them after
Some children as young as 12 should be allowed to overrule their parents on whether they have the COVID vaccine, a senior doctor has said.
Dr David Strain, a clinical lead for COVID services, told Sky News he believed there were 12-year-olds "mature enough" to decide to have the coronavirus jab without the consent of their legal guardians.
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi has said parental consent will be required if the government decides that all 12 to 15-year-olds should be offered the jab.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
COVID-19 and kids: Should we be worried?
However Dr Strain, who is senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, says a school nurse or GP could assess whether a child is capable of consenting to having the vaccine, even if their parents were opposed to it.
"Some children at the age of 12 are mature enough to make that call," he said.
Advertisement
"It will be dependent on people with training - the school nurse, the GP - people who have sufficient training to identify that."
Dr Strain said a similar assessment could be carried out to that given to girls under the age of 16 who want the contraceptive pill.
More on Covid-19
He added: "I would argue if we have children who are legally permitted to make decisions about whether they're going to partake in underage sex, then a similar sort of competence procedure could apply to whether they have competence to take the vaccine or not."
Dr Strain said he did not endorse forcibly giving the COVID vaccine to children who refuse it.
"With this particular vaccine, we are vaccinating children predominantly for the greater good, rather than for their individual good," he said.
"If a child themselves refuses consent, and was said to be competent, then it would be almost impossible to give that jab.
"I would in no way endorse holding someone down and giving them a jab... when they're not getting the massive medical benefits that the older adults are getting. They are getting marginal benefits."
The UK's chief medical officers are currently reviewing the wider benefits of the move, such as reducing school absences, and they are expected to present their findings within days.
Asked whether the JCVI's recommendation would result in fewer parents allowing their children to have the jab, Dr Strain replied: "That's going to be very dependent on the messaging that comes out from the chief medical officers.
"If the messaging from the chief medical officers is they are very much in favour and it's very clear why they're in favour, then I think most parents will go along with it.
"There's huge trust for Chris Whitty and Jonathan Van-Tam and their respective colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"If it is a woolly statement or if it comes from a politician, rather than a chief medical officer, then I think the JCVI decision will have a massive impact."
Campaigning footballer Marcus Rashford has said child food poverty is getting "devastatingly" worse.
The England forward, 23, has called on people to write to their MP in a bid to end a "child hunger pandemic".
He has spoken out as a Food Foundation survey found 15% of 6,490 households have experienced insecurity about food in the past six months.
Data showed this was 27% higher than before the coronavirus pandemic, when Rashford began his hunger campaign.
The government has been asked to comment.
The Manchester United striker said: "While we've come a long way in the last 20 months, placing the issue of child food poverty at the forefront, devastatingly, the issue is getting worse not better.
"The entire nation got behind the national team this summer so let's put these figures in football terms: You can fill 27 Wembley stadiums with the 2.5 million children that are struggling to know where their next meal might be coming from today.
"What is it going to take for these children to be prioritised?
"Instead of removing support through social security, we should be focusing efforts on developing a sustainable long-term road map out of this child hunger pandemic."
Rashford is supporting three recommendations as part of businessman Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy, which aims to guarantee that every child at risk of going hungry gets some good food every day:
Expand free school meal eligibility to all children aged 7-18 in all households earning £20,000 or less after benefits, and to children who are undocumented or living in immigrant households with "no recourse to public funds"
Provide long-term funding for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme
Expand Healthy Start eligibility to all households with pregnant women or children under five earning £20,000
Last year he waged a high-profile campaign to persuade ministers to provide free meals to vulnerable children throughout the school holidays during the pandemic, forcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson into a U-turn.
Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: "This will only get worse if left unaddressed and entrench inequalities deeper."
