Dua Lipa demanded a pay rise for NHS workers as she won two major awards at the Brits – the UK’s first major in-person ceremony of the Covid era.

And Little Mix called out sexism in the music industry after becoming the first all-female outfit to win best British group.

The other big winners on the night were J Hus, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift.

The test event at London’s O2 Arena took place with a 4,000-strong audience and no social distancing or face masks.

Rappers Headie One and AJ Tracey used several verses of their performance to call out the demonization of drill music and criticize the government, while highlighting the work done by footballer and free school meals campaigner Marcus Rashford.

While the 2021 Brits were not on a leap year it was very much a Lipa year, as the singer won two of the three awards for which she was nominated.

Future Nostalgia, the best-selling album released last year in the UK, predictably won best album.

But it was after winning the best British female award, her first of the night, that the star called on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to give nurses and NHS workers pay rise, as opposed to mere applause.

This year, each of the Brit award trophies came in two parts and Dua dedicated hers to British nurse Dame Elizabeth Anionwu – who she noted has spent “a stellar nursing career fighting racial injustice” and “protecting frontline workers”.

“She has also said that there’s a massive disparity between gratitude and respect for frontline workers,” said the singer. “Because it’s very good to clap for them, but we need to pay them.

“So I think what we should do, is we should all give a massive, massive round of applause and give Boris a message that we all support a fair pay rise is for our frontline.”

The audience, which was packed with key workers, gave her a standing ovation.

Before her double win, Lipa had performed a medley of hits from her latest floor-filling record.

It was a visual love letter to her home city of London, complete with a Tube platform string quartet and a union jack skirt which evoked memories of Spice Girl Geri Halliwell’s famous patriotic dress.

‘Misogyny and sexism’
The night’s big winner also shared her delight at seeing more women on both the stage and the winners’ podium – several years after she called out the Brits for overlooking female artists.

This year, by contrast, women won four of the five mixed categories.

One such example, Little Mix dedicated their award to some of the great all-female bands who could and should have won in previous years.

Before the event, US pop star Taylor Swift – who best international group-winners Haim described as “the most incredible human being” – was announced as the first female winner of the global icon award.

Swift, who normally resides in Los Angeles, was there in-person to accept it and also praised the “help and support we got from the NHS” over the past year.

In the only other award announced beforehand, young singer Griff was named as the winner of the rising star prize, and she demonstrated why with a career-making performance.

Previous winners of the award include Adele, who went on to win a host of more senior Brit Awards in the years that followed.

Another star in bloom, Arlo Parks, said it was “a dream come true” to win the breakthrough award and she sang – in front of a garden centre’s worth of sunflowers – like she had been doing it forever.

The event finished with a collaboration between Rag ‘n’ Bone Man, a virtual Pink, and the Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust Choir.

Before teeing them up, comedian Jack Whitehall, hosting the awards for a fourth time, gave “a massive big up to the key workers here tonight, and across the country”.

“We will never be able to thank you guys enough,” he said.

The 2021 Brit Awards winners in full:
Breakthrough Artist: Arlo Parks
Best British Single: Harry Styles, Watermelon Sugar
Female Solo Artist: Dua Lipa
Male Solo Artist: J Hus
International Female: Billie Eilish
International Male: The Weeknd
International Group: Haim
British Group : Little Mix
Best Album: Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia
Rising Star: Griff
Global Icon: Taylor Swift