London – Today, the International Trade Secretary Liz Truss and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced the formal launch of trade agreement negotiations between the UK and the U.S.

In light of the ongoing global pandemic caused by Covid-19, the first round of negotiations will be conducted virtually, with UK and U.S. negotiators engaging in discussions over the next two weeks in nearly 30 different negotiating groups covering all aspects of a comprehensive trade agreement.

Both parties agree that a Free Trade Agreement would contribute to the long-term health of our economies, which is vitally important as we recover from the challenges posed by Covid-19.

An FTA is a priority for both countries and we share a commitment to secure an ambitious agreement that significantly boosts trade and investment. We will undertake negotiations at an accelerated pace and have committed the resources necessary to progress at a fast pace.

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said:

The US is our largest trading partner and increasing transatlantic trade can help our economies bounce back from the economic challenge posed by Coronavirus. We want to strike an ambitious deal that opens up new opportunities for our businesses, brings in more investment and creates better jobs for people across the whole of the country. As the Prime Minister has said, the UK is a champion of free trade and this deal will make it even easier to do business with our friends across the pond.

United States Trade Representative Lighthizer said:

Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States will negotiate an ambitious and high-standard trade agreement with the UK that will strengthen our economies, support good-paying jobs and substantially improve opportunities for trade and investment between our two countries. This will be an historic agreement that is consistent with U.S. priorities and the negotiating objectives established by Congress in U.S. law.

The UK negotiating team will be led by Oliver Griffiths, Director for US Negotiations at the Department for International Trade; and the US negotiating team will be led by Dan Mullaney, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Europe and the Middle East. Over 200 staff from UK and U.S. government agencies and departments are expected to take part in the negotiations.

An opening plenary today will kick off the detailed discussions, followed by multiple virtual meetings from Wednesday 6 May to Friday 15 May. The negotiations build on the work conducted through the UK-U.S. Trade and Investment Working Group, which was established in July 2017, partly to lay the ground work for these negotiations.

A comprehensive UK-U.S. trade agreement will further deepen the already very strong trade and investment ties between the UK and United States by creating new opportunities for UK and American families, workers, businesses and farmers through increased access to the other’s market.

The United States and the United Kingdom are the first and fifth largest economies in the world, respectively. Total two-way trade between the two countries is already worth £230 billion a year. Each country is the other’s largest source of foreign direct investment, with over £700 billion invested in each other’s economies. Every day, over one million Americans go to work for UK firms, while over one million Britons go to work for American firms.

The UK-U.S. trade agreement will be a modern agreement designed for the highly advanced and sophisticated UK and U.S. economies. Both governments are committed to maintaining high levels of health, safety, and environmental protection that will serve as a model free trade agreement for the world.

Coronavirus press conference: 4 May 2020

Good afternoon and welcome to Downing Street for the daily coronavirus briefing.

I’m joined by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Jonathan Van Tam, and our national testing coordinator, Professor John Newton.

Today, I want to update you with the latest plans for our programme of test, track and trace and how we are going to use this massive testing capability that we’ve built to get R down and keep R down.

Before I do, I just want to remind you of what we are trying to achieve.

Our plan is to slow the spread and protect the NHS, so the NHS is always there for you and your family whenever you need it, whether for coronavirus or anything else as we lead the nation through this crisis.

Our goal is working.

The number of spare critical care beds in the NHS is 3,413.

On the latest figures:

• there have been 1,291,000 tests for coronavirus, including 85,186 tests on Sunday, yesterday
• 190,584 people have now tested positive for coronavirus, an increase of 3,985
• 13,258 people are in hospital with coronavirus
• and 28,734 people have died, an increase of 288

That figure is lower than at any point since the end of March. But, as with testing, these reported figures tend to be lower over the weekend so we do expect that number to rise.

And remember, this is not just a number but it is a constant, insistent reminder that we must go further and faster in our national effort in dealing with this virus.

Over the last month we have built a national testing infrastructure capable of over 100,000 tests a day. Today, the capacity stands at 108,000.

This means we are now in a position to start implementing the next part of our plan: track and trace.

The aim of test, track and trace is to hunt down and isolate the virus so it’s unable to reproduce. And, crucially, test, track and trace allows us to take a more targeted approach to lockdown while still safely containing the disease.

Creating this system is a huge national undertaking of unprecedented scale and complexity. We’ve already taken Britain’s small but brilliant diagnostics industry and taken it to global scale. We’re building an army of human contact tracers who can man the phones, and find the contacts and support people. And, of course, we’re developing the contact tracing app, which can help us deliver test, track and trace on the mass scale that we need across the country.

The app, which takes full consideration of privacy and security, has already been tested in closed conditions at an RAF base. And, today, I can announce the next steps.

From tomorrow, we will begin to pilot test, track and trace on the Isle of Wight, starting with health professionals and rolling out this week to all citizens. I am grateful to the huge enthusiasm shown by islanders, who know that by participating in this pilot they are at the forefront of helping get Britain back on her feet.

Where the Isle of Wight goes, Britain follows.

The island has a single NHS Trust, one local authority with the responsibility for public health, a relatively low number of COVID cases and, because it’s an island, we can run this trial in proper scientifically controlled conditions, comparing the effect with what’s going on in the mainland before we roll it out to the rest of the country.

So here’s how it will work.

Last week, we put in place the testing capability on the island. From tonight, the contact tracing capability will go live. And then, tomorrow, NHS staff on the island will be able to download the app.

And, from Thursday, each one of the 80,000 households on the island will get a letter from the Chief Nurse with comprehensive information about the trial. Islanders will then be asked to install the app. Once you’ve installed the app, it will start logging the distance between your phone and other phones with an app nearby.

It’s been designed with a form of Bluetooth that conserves power so the app won’t drain your battery.

This log of proximity information will then be securely stored on your phone.

If you become unwell with COVID symptoms, you inform the NHS via the app. Other app users who you’ve had significant contact with in the last few days will then be sent an alert by the NHS, along with advice about what to do.

A test-ordering function will then be built in.

If you’re watching this and you live on the Isle of Wight, I have a simple message: please, download the app to protect the NHS and save lives. By downloading the app, you’re protecting your own health, the health of your loved ones and the health of your community.

I know the people of the Isle of Wight will embrace this with enthusiasm, because, by embracing test, track and trace, you will be saving lives.

The pilot is important to help make sure this app works as well as it possibly can alongside the contact tracing system. And with your help we will learn a lot, we will use it to make things better and we want to hear from you.

I want to stress – and this is really important – that this trial does not mean the end of social distancing on the Isle of Wight, or anywhere else for that matter. We will only change the social distancing rules once our 5 tests are met.

So, I’ll end with the instruction that we all know: please, stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.

Or, if you live on the Isle of Wight: stay at home, install the app, protect the NHS and save lives.

The upgraded road was originally planned to open to traffic by December 2020, but now the last of the 24/7 roadworks have been removed and the new lanes are available for traffic, eight months ahead of schedule.

The £1.5 billion A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon scheme will transform journeys on the A14 in Cambridgeshire, shaving up to 20 minutes off journeys and strengthen links between the Midlands and the East of England – vastly improving access to and from the UK’s largest container port at Felixstowe.

Highways England chief executive Jim O’Sullivan said:

This upgrade is a key addition to our national infrastructure, better linking the North of England and the Midlands to the East of England and to the Haven ports. It also brings economic benefits to the wider region and local towns and communities.

Being able to open it more than six months early and on budget shows what the UK construction industry can achieve with an integrated client team, common goals and targets, and a shared vision of success.

I would like to thank everyone across Highways England and our supply chain for their contribution to this project as well as road users, residents and stakeholders for their patience and support during the work.

Roads Minister Baroness Vere said:

Our roads are more important than ever as we work to keep Britain moving, and I’m delighted that this key stretch of road will benefit drivers even sooner than planned.

The upgrade will deliver faster, easier journeys for those travelling between Cambridge and Huntingdon, and will also improve links to the UK’s largest container port at Felixstowe – further bolstering our efforts to move goods around the UK at this critical time.

Today Highways England confirmed the work to upgrade the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon has largely been completed, which means the permanent roadworks have been removed and the national 70mph speed limit has been restored.

Further work in the road verges, including completing landscaping as well as cycle, horse riding and pedestrian paths, will continue. To carry out the remaining work safely, some temporary overnight closures or off-peak daytime lane closures will be needed.

Work to transform the old A14 for local journeys in and around Huntingdon, including taking down the 45-year-old Huntingdon viaduct, is also continuing as planned and should be completed by 2022. Work began to dismantle the 16,400 tonne A14 Huntingdon Railway Viaduct following the opening of the Huntingdon southern bypass, and more than half a mile of new link roads are being built into the town.

A stretch of the 21-mile scheme – a new 12-mile bypass south of Huntingdon – was opened in December 2019, a whole year early. Already, the bypass has been used to make almost 12 million journeys.

Essential work on the upgrade has continued throughout the Coronavirus outbreak, with new sections of road opened as quickly as possible, to ensure vital goods were able to travel through. A number of measures were also put in place to ensure work was completed safely and in line with Public Health England’s advice. Government advice to only make essential journeys to prevent the spread of Coronavirus remains in place.

Work on the project began in November 2016, and has employed over 14,000 people in total, with up to 2,500 working on site during the project’s peak. Building the new road took 14 million construction hours – the equivalent of almost 1,600 years.

Besides the Huntingdon southern bypass, the project includes an upgrade to the A14 between Swavesey and Milton, and a new road for local communities, the A1307, which runs parallel to it between Cambridge and Godmanchester. Approximately 24 miles of new routes for cyclists, walkers and horse riders are also included in the scheme.

The A1307 east of Huntingdon and along the Alconbury spur, and part of the A141 west of Huntingdon, both of which use the path of the old A14, will be handed over to Cambridgeshire County Council once the project is completed.

For the latest information about the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon improvement scheme, including advance notification of road closures, visit our web page, follow @A14C2H on Twitter or like the scheme Facebook page at www.facebook.com/A14C2H/.

General enquiries

Members of the public should contact the Highways England customer contact centre on 0300 123 5000.

Media enquiries

Journalists should contact the Highways England press office on 0844 693 1448 and use the menu to speak to the most appropriate press officer.

The government has today published guidance for local authorities on how they can safely re-open their Household Waste and Recycling Centres (HWRCs).

Councils are being encouraged to open sites to avoid the build-up of waste in homes and businesses and reduce the opportunity for fly-tipping – but only where social distancing can be maintained and the public and staff can be kept safe.

Under the terms of the lockdown, householders can travel to a centre if the waste in their home presents a risk of injury or a risk to public health or the local environment.

The guidance sets out how local authorities could manage access and the number of people who are able to be on site at any one time.

If possible, waste should continue to be stored safely and disposed of using regular council collections.

Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said:

Maintaining crucial waste services while protecting public health remains a top priority during these unprecedented times, and I commend our councils on the superbly efficient job they are doing in keeping waste collection services running.

We are publishing this guidance to help local authorities re-open their recycling centres over the coming days and weeks. This will ensure that more waste can be properly disposed of and we avoid the likelihood of fly-tipping.

The new guidance recognises the importance of councils making independent assessments of which centres can be re-opened based on how much capacity they have and the practicalities of adhering to social distancing requirements at any one site.

Householders should check with their council to see if their local site is open.

Local Government Minister Simon Clarke said:

Councils have been working tirelessly to keep rubbish and recycling collections open during this national emergency, while bin crews are also playing a vital role in keeping the country going.

Many residents have not been able to dispose of all of their excess or bulky waste. That is why we are helping councils to reopen these sites, where safe to do so, in a planned and organised way over the next few weeks.

Cllr David Renard, Environment spokesman for the Local Government Association, said:

Councils are keen to open household waste and recycling centres as soon as practicable. The decision to re-open sites will be taken by individual councils based on risk assessments in their area.

This will be a gradual process over the next few weeks and based on whether they have enough staff, social distancing measures are in place to protect workers and members of the public and waste staff are given personal protective equipment to reduce the risk of infection and provide reassurance.

Councils will introduce measures to keep staff and customers safe, for example by managing visits through pre-booked time slots.

People should only travel to re-opened HWRCs if it is essential – if their waste is posing a risk to their health, the local environment, or a risk of injury. They should always check with their local council that their waste and recycling centre has reopened before driving there.

In April, Defra published waste collection prioritisation guidance for local authorities, with recommendations on how they could prioritise and adapt their collection services and mitigate any impacts being felt by coronavirus. The government says councils’ top priority should be the collection of residual ‘black bag’ waste to avoid the build-up of waste and protect public health.