Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has challenged Boris Johnson over his handling of the coronavirus crisis at PMQs, asking the prime minister: “Who’s been in direct control up until now?”
Mr Johnson was challenged on why he had promised a “world-beating” test and trace programme when it wasn’t yet fully operational. It follows leaked figures suggesting only four in 10 coronavirus patients identified by the scheme have provided information about their recent contacts.
The scheme’s chief executive Baroness Dido Harding was asked by MPs at the health and social care committee to send “reams of letters” with data on how the programme is working to account her lack of answers, citing concerns the testing and tracing figures were not yet “validated”.
Home secretary Priti Patel confirmed to MPs the government is going ahead with a 14-day quarantine plan for arrivals to the UK from 8 June. Elsewhere, transport minister Kelly Tolhurst confirmed the government is still considering establishing “air bridges” with other countries.
Speaking at the Downing Street, Mr Johnson urged the public not to meet indoors in light of the rain, as he warned “there could be a second wave, a kind of kinetic pulse of disease sweeping across the world”, in a view echoed by Professor Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance.
It came as new Office for National Statistics figures showed there have been more than 50,000 fatalities in the UK with Covid-19 on the death certificate – at least 10,000 more than the government’s official toll, which only includes those who had been tested.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.
Government ‘winging it’, says Keir Starmer
The Labour leader has accused the government of “winging it” in its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and told the prime minister to “get a grip”.
All eyes will be on the House of Commons at midday to see how Boris Johnson performs opposite Starmer, with the PM likely to be grilled over his support for his senior adviser over his decision to take his family 260 miles away to Durham in March to self-isolate.
In an interview with The Guardian, the Labour leader said: “I am putting the prime minister on notice that he has got to get a grip and restore public confidence in the government’s handling of the epidemic.
“If we see a sharp rise in the R rate, the infection rate, or a swathe of local lockdowns, responsibility for that falls squarely at the door of No 10.
“We all know the public have made huge sacrifices. This mismanagement of the last few weeks is the responsibility of the government.”
Sir Keir added: “There is a growing concern the government is now winging it … At precisely the time when there should have been maximum trust in the government, confidence has collapsed.”
Only 40 per cent of test and trace patients provided info on contacts
Only four in 10 coronavirus patients identified in the government’s new test and trace programme were contacted and provided vital information within the first four days of the scheme’s operation, leaked figures obtained by Channel 4 suggest.
Despite describing the first few days of the scheme as “successful”, health secretary Matt Hancock has so far declined to provide figures on the number of people contacted.
Only 1,831 of the 4,456 patients who tested positive completed the required forms to provide information about their contacts either online or through a phone call by the end of the weekend.
More details here:
Leaked figures show government's 'test and trace' scheme only contacted 4 in 10 coronavirus patients
Boris Johnson promised a 'world-beating' system would sit at the heart of the government's moves to ease lockdownHealth minister admits he doesn’t have test and trace statistics
The junior health minister Edward Argar has suggested the number of people being tested for coronavirus is not important, as he came under fire for the failure to provide figures for nearly two weeks.
He also insisted he still did not know how many people are going through the test-and-trace programme and providing provided vital information about contacts.
Argar described those statistics – obtained by Channel 4 News – as “outdated, partial and leaked”, but admitted: “I don’t have the precise figures.”
On the daily numbers of people being tested, Argar refused three times to provide a statistic – instead arguing what mattered was the total provided (which includes multiple tests on the same person).
“That’s what we are focusing on, that’s the important statistic,” he told Sky News.
Argar also refused to say when test-and-trace figures would be provided – saying only they would be set out on “a weekly basis”. He could not say how many people used the smartphone app in trials on the Isle of Wight.
We don’t have ‘effective’ test and tracing, says Labour MP
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves urged the government to get an effective test and trace system in place.
Echoing Labour leader Keir Starmer’s call for Boris Johnson to “get a grip” on the crisis, she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The government have said that we're going to have a world beating test and trace mechanism.
“Frankly we’d just like an effective one and we don’t have that today.”
She added: “And so there are practical things that government can do to make the easing of these lockdown restrictions actually work and we’re urging government to get a grip and put those things in place.”
Minister ‘hopes’ Brits will get holiday this year
Continuing his media appearances this morning, health minister Edward Argar has said he hoped people would still be able to go on holiday this year.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not going to say a particular date on when that might happen because we will have to be guided by how the disease behaves, controlling any risk of a second wave and controlling the disease.”
“I hope that people will be able to go on holiday at some point this year, but I can’t make that promise and because I have to be cautious and go with the science and I don’t have that forward view yet of how a second wave or otherwise might behave.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman confirmed on Tuesday that the government is still looking at the prospect of air bridges between the UK and other countries, creating specific exemptions from the quarantine rules.
Despite pressure from some Tory MPs to drop the quarantine plan, home secretary Priti Patel will today set out the details of the 14-day restrictions on new arrivals to the UK from 8 June.
Defending the plan in The Daily Telegraph, Patel said: “We will all suffer if we get this wrong and that is why it is crucial that we introduce these measures now.
“Let’s not throw away our progress in tackling this deadly virus. We owe it to the thousands who have died.”
Meanwhile a YouGov poll of 1,565 people found that 63 per cent were in favour of the quarantine plan for travellers arriving in the UK.
Portugal seeking ‘air bridge’ with UK
Portugal’s foreign minister has said his country is in discussions with the UK about “air bridges” so tourists can avoid being quarantined.
Augusto Santos Silva told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “quarantine is an enemy of tourism”.
He went on: “During these weeks our diplomats will work together in order to guarantee that British tourists coming to Portugal would not be subjected on their return to England to any kind of quarantine.”
Italy, another country popular with UK tourists, began allowing people to travel in, out and around the country for the first time in around three months on Wednesday.
Most people arriving in the UK from Monday will be told to isolate for 14 days in an attempt to prevent coronavirus cases being introduced from overseas.
A £1,000 fixed penalty notice in England will be levied on those failing to adhere to the quarantine, with prosecution and an unlimited fine potentially to follow.
Ministers urged to pay wages of people having to self-isolate under test and trace
The government is facing calls to pay the wages of workers told to self- isolate under the new test and trace scheme.
Public health officials will ask anyone who has had close contact with a patient to isolate for 14 days, even if they do not have symptoms.
But concerns have been raised that workers could be plunged into financial hardship if they comply with the programme.
“People should not be forced to suffer financial hardship for doing the right thing and self-isolating,” Lib Dem leadership candidate Layla Moran told The Independent.
“The government has rightly offered generous support to those temporarily laid off through the furlough scheme. They must now offer the same level of support to those who need to self-isolate.”
More details here:
Ministers urged to pay wages of people told to self-isolate under new test and trace scheme
Exclusive: 'People should not be forced to suffer financial hardship for doing the right thing and self-isolating,' says MPWill quarantine plan be ‘three-week wonder’?
As holidaymakers and the travel industry wait to hear home secretary Priti Patel’s detailed plans for 14 days of self-isolation for arriving travellers, two warring cabinet ministers appear to have confirmed that the quarantine will be a “three-week wonder”.
In a joint article for The Daily Telegraph, both Patel and transport secretary Grant Shapps signal that a series of so-called “air bridges” – bilateral no-quarantine deals – could soon be brought in to allow tourists to avoid the self-isolation rules.
The expectation is that the air bridges will take effect when the policy is first reviewed, on 29 June.
Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has more details:
UK travel quarantine plan could be 'three week wonder'
Home secretary and transport secretary say 'It is crucial that we introduce these measures now'
Guernsey becomes first place to reopen pubs
Guernsey has become the first place in the British Isles to reopen pubs this week, as it entered phase four of its coronavirus lockdown plan with no known Covid-19 cases remaining.
Guernsey has become the first place in the British Isles to reopen pubs this week, as it entered phase four of its coronavirus lockdown plan with no known Covid-19 cases remaining.
In addition to pubs, hairdressers, gyms, restaurants, cafes, museums and cinemas have also been allowed to welcome customers again. Initially pubs and bars not serving meals were warned they would need to remain closed even when other businesses reopened, but that continued closure now just applies to nightclubs.
Asked about more widespread re-openings, health minister Edward Argar told Sky News this morning: “In terms of hospitality and pubs and bars reopening, we will be guided by the science.
“We are not in a position to give a date for that, we will be looking at it again in the coming weeks before the beginning of July.”
‘We’d never known food poverty until coronavirus’
The number of families with children receiving emergency food parcels in the UK has almost doubled in a year, according to the latest figures from The Trussell Trust.
April was the busiest month ever for Trussell Trust’s food banks, with an 89 per cent increase in emergency food parcels compared with the same month in 2019.
And the number of parcels provided for children has more than doubled, while almost twice as many families with children are receiving them (a 95 per cent rise).
The Independent has spoken to some of the families suffering from jobs losses and falls in income during the lockdown, as they seek emergency help from charities for the very time.
Coronavirus and food banks: The stories behind the statistics
As demand hits unprecedented levels, The Independent speaks to the people at the heart of the crisis about how the pandemic has affected their livesVulnerable children ‘may never return’ to school, MPs told
Head teachers fear many vulnerable children will never “come back” to school, with up to eight million pupils set to be at home for six months, MPs have been told.
Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said school leaders feared the numbers staying away will grow with “more distractions” in the summer months, with primaries set to stay shut for some year groups.
“They stay up worrying if those children will ever come back, because the leap that will need to get them back in school will be so vast,” she has told the Commons education committee.
Longfield also warned ministers had only a “two-week window” to organise the summer schools she says are desperately needed to help struggling pupils.
Vulnerable children ‘may never return’ to school, head teachers fear
'They stay up worrying if those children will ever come back', children's commissioner warnsBAME people more likely to be arrested under coronavirus laws
Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were nearly 50 per cent more likely than white people to be arrested in London using coronavirus laws, new figures suggest.
The total number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) handed out by the Metropolitan Police between 27 March and 14 May was almost a fifth higher for those from non-white communities.
Black people make up 12 per cent of the population but received 26 per cent of the 973 fines handed out by police and accounted for 31 per cent of arrests. Asian people, who account for 18 per cent of London’s population, were handed 23 per cent of fines and were subject to 14 per cent of arrests.
The UK’s largest police force admitted “higher proportions of those in black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups were issued with FPNs or arrested across London as a whole”.
But the Met said the reasons “are likely to be complex and reflect a range of factors”, adding: “This includes interactions between the areas subject to significant proactive policing activity targeting crime hot-spots and both the variation in the age-profile and geographical distribution of ethnic groups in London.”
Poll finds Cummings’ trip factor in decline in lockdown compliance
A fifth of Britons are following the lockdown rules less strictly than before – with a third of those citing Dominic Cummings’ actions as a factor, a survey has indicated.
The YouGov poll suggested that the vast majority – some 73 per cent – followed the lockdown rules last week as strictly as they had in the previous week.
But of the 21 per cent who said they followed the rules less strictly, 32 per cent mentioned the adviser who drove to Durham as one of the reasons for their breaches.
The YouGov poll suggests that in total 7 per cent of Britons may have used Cummings’ actions as their justification for their own breaches of lockdown rules.
The survey found that younger Britons were the most likely to have adhered less strictly to the rules than in the previous week.
BBC considering drama based on Cummings lockdown scandal
The BBC has now expressed an interest in producing a drama based on Dominic Cummings’ controversial breaching of lockdown rules.
Piers Wenger, the controller of BBC drama commissioning, was asked by the Radio Times whether the broadcaster would consider purchasing the rights to a drama adaptation.
“In the right hands, yes,” he responded.
He also said that the BBC had already received pitches from writers who were keen to adapt the story.
BBC considering drama series based on Dominic Cummings lockdown scandal
Broadcaster would pursue the project if it was ‘in the right hands’‘The government wants you to think parliament is broken’
Jess Phillips has described the images of the huge queues snaking around the Palace of Westminster – as Commons’ leader Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted MPs form a giant socially-distanced line to vote for an end to voting from home – as a “ridiculous” embarrassment.
But in her latest article for The Independent, the Labour MP urged people not to lose faith in the system.
“The government want you, the general public to look at the queue which they devised and think that politics is broken. They want you to hate the establishment, well the bit of the establishment that puts them in their place.”
Read more here:
The images of MPs queuing are ridiculous. But this is what the government wants you to think – that parliament is broken | Jess Phillips
These new rules are nothing more than an attempt to degrade democracy – that also increase the coronavirus risk for those working around WestminsterPMQs about to begin
All eyes will be on the House of Commons to see how Boris Johnson performs opposite Keir Starmer, with the PM likely to be grilled over his support for his senior adviser following his decision to drive 260 miles to Durham to self-isolate.
You can join our chief political commentator John Rentoul and our political correspondent Lizzy Buchan for post-PMQs analysis on The Independent’s YouTube channel from 12.45pm.
PMQs gets under way
Boris Johnson has told the Commons he will host the global vaccines summit on Thursday, describing it as “the moment the world comes together” to fight the coronavirus.
PM: Government takes BAME deaths report ‘very seriously’
Boris Johnson has told the Commons he takes “very seriously” the Public Health England report finding black and minority ethnic people are at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus than white people, and said the government wants to protect “all our country” from coronavirus.
Starmer ‘surprised’ Johnson hasn’t commented on George Floyd death
Labour leader Keir Starmer begins by expressing his “shock and anger” over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I’m surprised the prime minister hasn’t said anything about this yet,” said Starmer, adding that he hopes the PM will raise concerns the next time he speaks to Donald Trump.
Johnson said Floyd’s death was “appalling” and “inexcusable” and added: “I also believed protests should take place in a peaceful way.”
