NEWS BRIEFING
Williamson to
focus on bad
pupil behaviour
Gavin Williamson, the
Education Secretary, is to
launch a review into teacher
training that will focus on
implementing stricter
behaviour strategies.
“Persistent disruptive
behaviour” accounts for the
highest proportion of pupil
expulsions, according the
latest official figures.
Page 2newsHS2 could be
abandoned as
review launched
HS2 could be abandoned,
the Government suggested
yesterday, as it launched an
independent review into the
future of the £56 billion
railway project. The review
comes just days after senior
Downing Street aides
discussed mothballing the
project before a potential
snap election.
Page 7newsSpitting at
police officer
case dropped
The first prosecution for
spitting at a police officer
under new laws has been
dropped after the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS)
ruled it was not in the public
interest. The CPS made its
ruling because psychiatric
reports suggested the
attacker, a habitual drug
user, was unfit to stand trial.
Page 9newsTrump snubs
Denmark over
Greenland ‘no’
Donald Trump, the US
president, has cancelled a
state visit to Denmark over
its refusal to consider selling
Greenland, an autonomous
country which is part of the
Danish kingdom. Mette
Frederiksen, the Danish
prime minister, said she was
“disappointed” by the
decision.
Page 13worldPuzzles 18
Obituaries 25
TV listings 35
Weather 36
‘We’ve found a way to pay
for it. Boris will sell the Isle
of Wight to Donald Trump’By Anna Mikhailova
Deputy political eDitor
and Justin Huggler in BerlinBORIS JOHNSON was last night given
30 days to come up with a solution to
the Northern Irish backstop and forge
a new Brexit deal with the European
Union.
Angela Merkel suggested she would
be willing to ditch the controversial
backstop if the UK could agree a
suitable alternative by September 20.
Mr Johnson said he was “more than
happy” with the German chancellor’s
suggestion and said Brexit talks “can fi-
nally begin”.
Mrs Merkel’s comments were seen
as a victory for Mr Johnson on his first
trip abroad as Prime Minister, ahead of
a meeting with Emmanuel Macron
today and the G7 summit this weekend.
The prospect of reaching a deal
could also help Mr Johnson to fend off
Tory rebels who are against no deal
should Jeremy Corbyn call a confi-
dence vote in early September.
Mr Johnson described Mrs Merkel’s
timetable for reaching a solution to the
backstop as “blistering” but welcomed
the proposal and said the “onus is onus” to produce a fix for the Irish border.
He said that he was confident of being
able to come up with a new way of re-
solving the problem and that, under
the previous government led by The-
resa May, solutions had not been “very
actively proposed”.
He said: “Clearly we cannot accept
the current Withdrawal Agreement,
arrangements that either divide the UK
or lock us into the regulatory and trad-
ing arrangements of the EU, the legal
order of the EU, without the UK having
any say on those matters. So we do
need that backstop removed. But if we
can do that then I am absolutely certain
that we can move forward together.”
In a letter this week to Donald Tusk,
the European Council president, Mr
Johnson said he was prepared to leave
the EU without a deal unless the “anti-
democratic” backstop was removed
from the Withdrawal Agreement.
Speaking at a press conference in
Berlin, Mrs Merkel said the backstop
had always been a “fallback position”
and would only come into effect if no
other solution could be agreed that
would protect the “integrity of the sin-
gle market”. The German chancellor
said: “If one is able to solve this conun-Fears for 2m pensioners taking multiple drugs
By Laura Donnelly
HealtH eDitorTWO million pensioners are
taking at least seven
prescription medications –
putting them at risk of lethal
side effects, a report has
warned.
Age UK said three quar-
ters of older patients were
likely to suffer adverse reac-
tions because of what it
called “polypharmacy”.
The number of emer-
gency hospital admissions
linked to such side-effects
has risen by 53 per cent in
seven years.
Ministers have ordered a
review of overprescribing,
amid warnings that thedrugs bill has risen from
£13 billion to more than
£18 billion in seven years.
One in five of the 1.97 mil-
lion people over retirement
age were on at least seven
types of drug. And a quarter
of those over 85 were on at
least eight.
Experts said GPs were too
busy to consider complex
health problems properly,
including the risk of side-ef-
fects and drug interactions.
Caroline Abrahams, direc-
tor at Age UK, said: “There
are so many effective drugs
available to treat older peo-
ple’s health conditions, but
it’s a big potential problem if
singly or in combination
these drugs produce side ef-fects that ultimately do more
harm than good.”
The charity said all older
people taking long-term
medicines should be subject
to medicine reviews, with
“zero tolerance of inappro-
priate polypharmacy”.
Ms Abrahams urged pen-
sioners on multiple medica-
tions to talk to their GP.
“Most older people would
agree that the fewer pills
they have to pop, the better,”
she said.
Side-effects such as con-
fusion, dizziness and delir-
ium can result in elderly
people being rushed to hos-
pital or worse.
A 2015 study in Spain
found those taking six medi-cines or more a day were
nearly three times as likely
to die prematurely than
those on no drugs at all.
A review of overprescrib-
ing is expected to be re-ported on next year. Next
month Public Health Eng-
land will publish findings
from an investigation of pre-
scription drug addiction,
amid concern about the ris-ing number of people
hooked on opiate painkill-
ers, anti-anxiety drugs and
antidepressants.
NHS figures show that
one in 11 adults have been
prescribed potentially
addictive drugs in the past
year – with a 50 per cent rise
in prescribing levels over 15
years.
Ministers said decisive ac-
tion was needed to stop the
problem becoming as seri-
ous as in the US.
Two thirds of those on
“dependence-forming medi-
cines” are female, typically
in their 50s and 60s, accord-
ing to national research.
Dr Keith Ridge, England’s
chief pharmaceutical officer,said: “We know many
patients are prescribed med-
icines they may no longer
need or which should be ad-
justed.”
For that reason, the NHS
Long Term Plan was already
funding “expert pharmacy
teams across the country”,
he said. People with long-
term illnesses were “often
taking multiple medicines
for several conditions”, Dr
Ridge added.
The teams would supply
support to staff, he said.
“The NHS is investing in
thousands of new clinical
pharmacists to work with
GPs and care homes to carry
out medication reviews with
vulnerable patients.”drum, if one finds this solution, we said
we would probably find it in the next
two years to come but we can also
maybe find it in the next 30 days to
come. Then we are one step further in
the right direction and we have to obvi-
ously put our all into this.”
Mrs Merkel said she expected the UK
to present its ideas for a new Brexit deal.
“Britain should tell us what sort of
ideas it has, because it is not the core
task of a German chancellor to under-
stand the relationship between North-
ern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
so well,” she said. “As you will know
much better about all the ramifications
of the Good Friday Agreement.
“We would like to hear first propos-
als put on the table by Britain. We have
shown imagination and creativity in
the past as the EU, I think here too we
can find ways and means.”
Mrs Merkel also suggested that
changes to the political declaration
could provide a solution and could of-
fer “possibilities” to break any dead-
lock in negotiations.
She added that Germany was also
“prepared for a no-deal” Brexit, adding:
“Should this happen, this will or can
happen, we are prepared for it”. MrJohnson responded: “I must say I am
very glad listening to you tonight, An-
gela, to hear that at least the conversa-
tions that matter can now properly
begin. You have set a very blistering
timetable of 30 days – if I understood
you correctly, I am more than happy
with that.”
He said the backstop would need to
be removed “whole and entire” before
any new deal could be reached.
The two leaders then held talks over
a dinner of venison and tuna tartare.
The meeting will put pressure on Mr
Macron to open the door to negotia-
tion. Yesterday a source in the French
president’s office said a no-deal Brexit
was being treated as the most likely
scenario. Last night Mr Macron told re-
porters that renegotiating the UK’s exit
was “not an option”. He also warned a
post-Brexit trade deal with the US
would represent a “historic vassalisa-
tion” for the UK.
Mr Johnson is due to travel to France
today to meet Mr Macron in Paris.
The Prime Minister has said he
wants to replace the Northern Ireland
backstop with new alternative arrange-
ments including mobile examinations
on livestock and crops, trusted traderschemes and electronic customs clear-
ance checks.
He said ahead of the talks with Mrs
Merkel that he was looking at measures
proposed in a detailed 270-page report
drawn up by Greg Hands, a former
Tory minister, and Nicky Morgan, the
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Sec-
retary. Mr Johnson said: “The onus is
on us to produce those solutions, those
ideas to show how we can address the
issue of the Northern Irish border – and
that is what we want to do.”
The Prime Minister also said “Wir
schaffen das”, or “We can do it”, in ref-
erence to renegotiating a deal. The ex-
pression was a catchphrase used by
Mrs Merkel in 2015 in reference to let-
ting migrants into Germany.INSIDE
Search for
solutions
Pages 4-Allister
Heath
Page 16Editorial
comment
Page 17BRITAIN’S BEST QUALITY NEWSPAPER30 days to ditch the backstop
Merkel holds out prospect of new Brexit deal if Johnson can find an alternative solution to Irish border
Boris Johnson and
Angela Merkel at
their press
conference in
Berlin. Mr Johnson
said Mrs Merkel’s
timetable was
‘blistering’ but
welcomed her
proposal on the
Irish borderREUTERS/FABRIZIO BENSCH
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