Boris Johnson promises £100m of vaccines for poorer countries as G7 summit in Cornwall's Carbis Bay draws to close

The summit has seen leaders including Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron descend on Cornwall’s Carbis Bay to discuss how to share vaccine supply fairly across developing countries in the first meeting of the G7 since 2019.

Speaking at a press conference to mark the end of the summit, Boris Johnson said the UK would contribute £100m to the global effort to vaccinate the world by the end of 2022.

But he refused to be drawn on his plans for if relaxing all legal restrictions in the UK will go ahead on June 21 as originally planned.

Mr Johnson is set to address the nation today on whether restrictions will continue in light of the rising number of cases propelled by the spread of the Delta variant of coronavirus.

Speaking to reporters in Carbis Bay, the Prime Minister said: “A week ago, I asked my fellow leaders to help in preparing and providing the doses, we need to vaccinate the whole world by the end of 2022.

“I’m very pleased to announce that this weekend, leaders have pledged over 1 billion doses, either directly or through funding to Covax. That includes £100 million from the UK to the world’s poorest countries.”

But the G7 leaders’ commitments to global vaccination were criticised today by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown as an “unforgiveable moral failure.”

Mr Brown said that 11 million vaccines are needed to ensure everyone is protected against the disease.

Speaking to Sky News he said: “I think this summit will also go down as an unforgivable moral failure, when the richest countries are sitting around the table with the power to do something about it.”

The Prime Minister also spoke about preventative measures leaders have discussed to ensure there is no repeat of the pandemic.

Mr Johnson said: “Our countries are committed to lead and we were clear that we all need to build back better, in a way that delivers for all our people and for the people of the world. That means preventing a pandemic like this from ever happening again."

Last month the Government announced a Global Pandemic Radar to spot emerging diseases.

The final days of the G7 summit, which saw members of the royal family mixing with leaders, were marred by reports of a disagreement between the Prime Minister and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Boris Johnson repeatedly told European Union leaders the United Kingdom was “indivisible”, as Dominic Raab claimed they had been “offensive” by suggesting Northern Ireland was not part of the country.

The comments came after Emmanuel Macron reportedly suggested Northern Ireland was not part of the UK during his talks with Mr Johnson in the margins of the G7 summit.

The PM said yesterday: “Of course we make the point continuously we are part of one great, indivisible United Kingdom.”

He added: “What I am saying is that we will do whatever it takes to protect the territorial integrity of the UK, but actually what happened at this summit was there was a colossal amount of work on subjects that have absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.”