After Glastonbury was cancelled for the second year running, a leading industry representative pleaded with the government to intervene to help the festival season go ahead this year.

Paul Reed, chief executive of the Association of Independent Festivals, said festivals were struggling to get insurance for coronavirus-related cancellations, adding that the cut-off point for organisers to decide whether to go forward is likely the end of March.

“This is devastating news about Glastonbury, not least for the amount of staff and freelancers and companies involved in delivering the event, but a festival season is still possible for this year if government act now on insurance,” he told BBC Breakfast, “we do need the government to intervene on this issue.

The £500 payment to all people in England order to isolate is seeming less likely after government sources said the idea had not been considered by Boris Johnson.

After cabinet member George Eustice suggested the idea was under review, government sources have been quick to downplay the likelihood of it becoming policy.

One senior source said the idea was drawn up by officials but never made it near the prime minister, according to the BBC.

Cabinet minister George Eustice confirmed the government was considering paying £500 to everyone in England who tests positive for coronavirus in an effort to improve compliance with quarantine rules.

The environment secretary said the policy was being kept under review as he stressed the need for people to comply with self-isolation rules in an appearance on Sky News this morning.

Some experts welcomed the plan, with Sage sub-group member Dr Mike Tildesley suggesting the support would boost compliance. Treasury sources were however adamant the plan will not go ahead, with one telling the PA news agency bluntly: “Won’t happen.”

It is estimated the £500 proposal would cost up to £453 million per week.

The Scottish government has committed to spending an additional £250m tackling the nation’s drug deaths crisis, in a move that has ‘stunned’ campaigners.

Announcing the £50m per year for the next five years that will go to improve and expand drug treatment services, first minister Nicola Sturgeon accepted her goverment “should have done more earlier”.

Nonetheless, charities and campaigners were astounded by the announcement, which included pledges to reduce stigma, increase the number of people in treatment, extend the provision of heroin-assisted treatment and implement new standards in providing opioid substitutes, such as methadone.

More on what the “most promising Scottish drug policy announcement” in memory from Andy Gregory here:

Rachel Reeves, who shadows cabinet office secretary Michael Gove, has called on the government to make up the shortfall in customs agents to deal with “unprecedented red tape” at the borders.

Mr Gove told MPs last February he would stand by his pledge to recruit 50,000 customs agents within six months but, as Ms Reeves writes in a letter to her opposite number, only 12,000 have been trained nearly a year later.

“Can you please … inform me what the government is doing to address this shortfall as swiftly as possible, so that businesses don’t have to deal with even more disruption?” she wrote, adding that businesses are buckling under “unprecedented red tape through no fault of their own”.

The government’s decision to disband the Brexit Committee of MPs after agreeing the trade deal was “much to be regretted”, says Hillary Benn, the former committee’s chair.

The committee had been established to question key figures, including chief negotiator David Frost, about the effects of the trade deal but was disbanded before having chance after its signing, Mr Benn complained.

He told PoliticsHome: “My big frustration was I told Jacob Rees-Mogg that whether there’s a trade agreement with the EU or not, there’ll be a lot to look at, so please can we have more time?”

Mr Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House of Commons, said the government would no longer support the committee’s work, and while parliament ultimately has the say over its continuation, Boris Johnson’s large majority makes it all but impossible for the panel to survive without government backing.

The prime minister will hold a Downing Street press conference on coronavirus at 5pm, No 10 has confirmed.

The last we heard from Mr Johnson on the pandemic was that it it remained “too early to say” if lockdown restrictions will be lifted before summer.

Problems with post-Brexit goods flow to Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK were predictable and had been foreseen, says first minister Arlene Foster, adding her party had warned the government after the signign of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“The prime minister promised us that there would not be any difficulties, but given the protocol and all the difficulties we have seen on the ground it was very clear that this was going to happen – it was all foreseen,” the DUP leader told BBC Radio 4 after weeks of delays at the border.

Ms Foster puts the problems down to “a structural problem” in the Northern Ireland protocol, which leaves businesses following the EU’s customs rules and facing new declarations and checks at the border as a result.

The Conservative party has launched an investigation into allegations of antisemitism directed at a Jewish Labour Party candidate in a local election last year.

University lecturer Dan Ozarow made a complaint after local Conservatives in Hertfordshire allegedly distributed campaign material implying that he supported militant islamist group Hezbollah, which he says sparked vicious abuse on social media.

Dr Ozarow told The Independent: “The Conservatives have held Labour to account over antisemitism in recent years. This will be a litmus test for whether they are prepared to deal with allegations of antisemitism in their own ranks.”

Our Political Editor Andrew Woodcock has the exclusive story:

UK retailers are considering abandoning goods returned by EU customers, with some even thinking of burning them due to the cost and trouble of bringing them back into the country.

The introduction of post-Brexit paperwork and charges for goods crossing over the border has made it “cheaper for retailers to write off the cost of the goods than dealing with it all”, fashion industry boss Adam Mansell, adding the process includes at least four new charges and documents.

When returning goods, retailers are face with paperwork including “export clearance charge, import charge arrival, import VAT charge and, depending on the goods, a rules of origin document as well,” Mr Mansell told the BBC.