Barnaby Fournier, a student at the University of Manchester, told Zoe Tidman:

“I’m personally very angry at the decision to send us home early. We’re already missing out so much on the traditional uni experience so sending us home early is another blow. I doubt we will get accommodation refunds for the time we’re sent home.

“Our tuition fee also pays for things like access to library study spaces which we don’t have at home. Some flatmates live in France and Belfast. They have already booked flights home for when term ends, on the 19th.”

Spain to cut sales tax on health masks

The Spanish government will cut the value-added tax on health masks from 21 per cent to 4 per cent to reduce their retail price, the country’s budget minister has announced.

Maria Jesus Montero said the government made the decision after being informed by the European Commission that the sales tax reduction was acceptable.

“The government will ensure that VAT reduction translates into a lower price for the consumer and not into higher margins for business,” she said.

The wearing of masks has been mandatory for several months in most of Spain for people over the age of six.

MPs to examine future of music festivals after virus saw record cancellations

Government officials are set to examine the future of music festivals in the UK after the outbreak of coronavirus, and subsequent Covid restrictions, led to record cancellations of major events this year. 

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee will asses how government policy could support festivals due to take place in 2021. Cancellations of Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, TRNSMT and smaller grassroots events led to the sector’s revenue falling by 90 per cent.

Festivals can currently take place if they are Covid-secure and comply with all relevant legislation. But social distancing remains an issue as many events will be unable to break even with substantially reduced ticket sales. The inquiry will also consider the potential impact of festivals collapsing on local communities, ticket holders and suppliers, as well as the freelance workforce.

DCMS chairman Julian Knight said: “We have so many legendary festivals that have given the UK a worldwide reputation – it would be devastating if they were unable to come back with a bang, or if smaller festivals that underpin the talent pipeline disappear entirely.”

The inquiry comes as the Music Venue Trust launched a “traffic light” system to highlight venues at risk as part of its ongoing Save Our Venues campaign. The trust, which represents hundreds of UK music venues, has designated spaces as either green, amber or red based on their financial risk levels.

There are currently 30 venues designated red and therefore at imminent risk of permanent closure.

Mark Davyd, chief exec of the Music Venue Trust, said: “If people want these local venues to still be there when this is over, there is a very clear call to action: choose a venue, get donating, get writing, get calling, get organised. Save them all. Reopen every venue safely.”

Additional reporting by PA

Heathrow in ‘catastrophic decline’ as business slumps by 82% 

Britain’s leading airport has reported an 82 per cent decline in traffic in October – describing it as “the eighth consecutive month of catastrophic decline”.

Heathrow’s latest traffic report says: “With the current travel ban, November is likely to be even worse.” Leisure travel has been banned between 5 November and 2 December.

Simon Calder, The Independent’s travel correspondent, has more:

Scotland spends £80m on hiring teachers to combat Covid interruptions

More than 1,400 teachers and support staff have been recruited across Scotland to help schools cope with the challenges of coronavirus.

The Scottish government has spent £80m on recruiting over 1,250 teachers so far, with another 200 expected to join them in the coming weeks plus over 250 support workers – as it emerged almost 4,000 pupils in the Lanarkshire area have had to self-isolate in the last month.

Scotland’s education secretary, John Swinney, said schools are facing a “challenging situation”, but he insisted it is safe for youngsters to be in class.

Mr Swinney told a BBC Scotland radio programme: “There is a challenging situation in our schools. But our teaching staff have done an incredible job in making sure that full-time education has been available for young people in Scotland since August 11.

“We’re generally seeing attendance by pupils at just about 90 per cent, now the average in Scotland last year was 93 per cent over the whole of the year. Obviously there is a degree of reduction because of Covid.

“In terms of staff attendance, generally we are seeing staff attendance at a very high level, of the order of perhaps 2 per cent to 3 per cent staff absences, it obviously varies in different parts of the country.”

He added: “This additional staffing resource will bring much needed resilience to the education system and compensates for any loss of learning suffered by children and young people during lockdown.”

The Independent’s political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has more on the JVT presser:

JVT: ‘Test of confidence for coronavirus vaccine is the Mum test’

‘Public safety always comes first’, says MHRA chief exec

Dr June Raine, chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, told a Sky News press conference: “The safety of the public will always come first.

“A Covid-19 vaccine will only be approved once it has met robust standards of effectiveness, safety and quality.”

No timeframe for ‘normality’ or ‘shortcut to future’, warns deputy chief medical officer

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam has said he does not know if the UK will be “back to normal” by Easter, stressing that we will still need to push second wave down by social distancing and other restrictions.

“There’s no shortcut to the future,” he stressed. During a press conference, Prof Van-Tam also responded to a question about private routes to vaccination. Vaccines need to be “prioritised for those who need them not those who can pay for them privately”, he said.

Tory MPs form backbench group to fight further lockdowns

Around 50 Conservative MPs have formed a backbench group to fight further lockdowns, arguing they “risk being worse than the disease”.

The Covid Recovery Group demands that Boris Johnson publish a cost-benefit analysis of the economic and wider health costs of restrictions continuing beyond the 2 December expiry date.

The PM is also being urged to end the “monopoly” of advice given by the government’s scientists, while a third demand is to improve the measures already in place to tackle the virus such as revamping the heavily critiqued test-and-trace system.

The Independent’s deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, reports: