Thursday February 3 2022 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73697ing into whether legal changes were
needed “to ensure no one is harmed”.
The investigation found:
6 Beauticians openly used social media
to advertise facial injections using
Botulax, Innotox and ReNTox,
products from South Korea that are not
licensed in Britain.
6 A practitioner who said he was a doc-
tor but is not registered as one in Britain
admitted using Botulax because it was
“cheaper” and allowed him to offer
competitive deals in a northern town.
6 Suppliers offered to sell unlicensed
versions of Botox to reporters with no
questions about their medical training
or how the product would be used.
6 Women said they had been “scarred
for life” due to complications after
Continued on page 2, col 3Millions of people will be given rebates
on their council tax bills worth
hundreds of pounds to limit the impact
of soaring energy prices on poorer
households.
The regulator Ofgem is expected to
announce today that the energy price
cap will rise by 50 per cent to as much as
£2,000 because of surging wholesale
gas prices.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is
subsequently expected to say that
people in council tax bands A to C will
receive rebates funded by government
grants.
More than 15 million households
could benefit from the additional
support, with the poorest households
enjoying the biggest rebates.
The chancellor is also expected to
confirm plans for billions of pounds in
state-backed loans to give all house-
holds a discount on their energy bills of
£200.
The “rebate and clawback” scheme
will mean taxpayers underwriting loans
to energy suppliers. The companies will
pass the money on to households in the
form of a rebate on bills, limiting the
impact of price rises in April. They will
recoup the money from consumers in
subsequent years to pay back the loans
as energy prices fall.
The chancellor is expected to say
that energy bills will still rise signifi-
cantly for most people despite his
package of measures, although the
Steven Swinford Political Editor
Emily Gosden Energy Editor
The US is deploying an extra 3,
troops to Germany, Poland and
Romania amid fears about President
Putin’s intentions as he continues to
amass Russian forces around Ukraine.
The Pentagon said that France would
also send more soldiers to Romania,
Rare steak
How to cook
a tomahawk
My Winter Olympics adventure like Nigella
Strange times in Beijing
INSIDE
TIMES
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
H
a
li
DES 2
£2.20 £1.45 to subscribers
(based on 7 Day Print Pack)US sends extra 3,000 troops to eastern Europe to deter Putin
David Charter Washington
Chris Smyth
adding that Britain, Denmark, the
Netherlands and Spain were consider-
ing extra forces for eastern Nato states.
Pushed on whether this meant there
was evidence that Russian forces could
move into Nato countries, John Kirby, a
Pentagon spokesman, said: “It’s
important that we send a strong signal
to Mr Putin and, frankly, to the world...
An attack on one is an attack on all.”Putin is still adding to more than
100,000 troops sent to regions of
Belarus and Russia around Ukraine,
US officials said, as diplomatic efforts to
reduce the tension appeared to be fail-
ing. In their delayed phone call yester-
day, Boris Johnson urged Putin to stop
the “current hostile activity on the
Ukrainian border”. He warned that any
Russian incursion would be a “tragicmiscalculation”, adding that Ukraine
— like all European democracies — has
the right to “aspire to Nato member-
ship”, according to a Downing Street
spokesman. “The leaders agreed that
aggravation was in no one’s interest.”
The US troops are in addition to
8,500 put on standby last week. The
Pentagon said they were requested by
Poland and Romania, both ofwhich have long borders with Ukraine.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, RAF jets
intercepted four Russian military air-
craft approaching the UK. Typhoon
jets scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth
in Moray were aided by a Voyager re-
fuelling tanker from RAF Brize Norton
in Oxfordshire. The RAF said the Rus-
sian aircraft did not enter UK airspace.
Putin and Xi form alliance, page 30Samantha Bennett and Vilnis Karklins are among those injecting cheap versions of Botox that have not passed safety checksCharlotte Wace
Paul Morgan-Bentley
Head of InvestigationsBeauticians are injecting young women
with “black market” versions of Botox,
putting them at risk of being disfigured
for life, an investigation by The Times
has found.
Practitioners with no professional
medical qualifications are targeting
women and girls on social media,
suggesting the treatments are safe and
would enhance their looks.
But many of them use products that
have not gone through safety checks in
Britain. Undercover reporters con-
firmed that at least three practitionersBeauticians offering ‘black market’ Botox
advertising facial injections on social
media sites were using cheap versions
of Botox that are not licensed in the UK.
The medicines regulator began an
investigation last night.
At one clinic in Wakefield, West York-
shire, a man who represented himself as
a doctor but is not registered with the
General Medical Council urged a re-
porter to have 22 injections of an un-
licensed product in her forehead.
Campaigners warned of increasing
reports of disfigurements such as per-
manent facial scarring and large sores
caused by injections with unlicensed
versions of Botox, often carried out in
people’s homes and at beauty salons.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, said
the practices uncovered were “totally
unacceptable” and officials were look-Millions of
families to
get cuts in
council tax
poorest households will receive the
most protection.
Boris Johnson has been warned by
Conservative MPs that he must address
cost-of-living issues if he is survive as
prime minister. Thirteen have now
publicly called for him to go. They come
from all wings of the party and from
different generations, including five in
24 hours in a series of apparently
co-ordinated interventions. Five more
are expected to add their voices in
coming days.
Sunak will announce the plans this
morning in the Commons before
holding a televised Downing Street
press conference this evening.
Moments after Sunak’s address to the
Commons, the Bank of England is
expected to announce that interest
rates will rise by 0.25 points to 0.5 per
cent, the first back-to-back rise since- The Bank is also expected to
revise up its forecasts for inflation.
Ministers have acknowledged that
both of their main interventions to limit
rises in energy bills are not perfect.
Council tax bands were set in 1991,
meaning that many of the people who
will benefit — particularly in London
and the South East — will be relatively
wealthy because property prices have
increased significantly since then.
The plans for state-backed loans to
give people rebates on their energy bills
also carry significant risks. Companies
are expected to recoup the money from
households as energy bills fall, but
analysts have warned that the price of
Continued on page 2, col 3
Rebates for those struggling to pay energy bills
times investigation