Afternoon summary
- Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has said a legal ban on visiting other people at home will be introduced in parts of the north-east of England. (See 4.24pm.) The details are here.
- Downing Street has dismissed calls for a review of the compulsory 10pm closing time for pubs. (See 2.06pm.)
- Hancock seems close to seeing off a potential revolt from Tory MPs who want to the Commons to have prior votes on lockdown measures “as far as is reasonably practicable”. In a Commons debate Hancock said that the government would shortly offer further consultation (see 4.05pm). He subsequently met government backbenchers threatening to rebel over this, and afterwards one of them, Steve Baker, posted this on Twitter.
Government Chief Whip @Mark_Spencer kindly invited a number of us to meet him at 16:30 with Secretary of State @MattHancock and @CommonsLeader @Jacob_Rees_Mogg
— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) September 28, 2020
I'm happy to report it was a cordial and constructive meeting. I hope and expect we will reach a satisfactory agreement
- Criminals have been abusing a government loan scheme set up to help firms manage through the coronavirus crisis, a BBC investigation has revealed.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
As MPs pointed out in the House of Commons earlier (see 3.52pm), the new coronavirus regulations that became law today go well beyond just making it obligatory for people to self-isolate if ordered to by NHS test and trace, with fines starting at £1,000 for those who don’t comply.
There are also provisions for the first fine to be £4,000 if the offence is committed “recklessly”. There are also fines for people who give false information to contact tracers, and fines for workers who do not tell their bosses they are meant to be self-isolating.
And there are new rules saying pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes are banned from playing music which exceeds 85 decibels. (Loud music encourages people to shout, which hugely increases the risk of the virus being spread.)
The Independent’s Andrew Woodcock has a good guide to the new rules here.
Updated
50 council areas in England with highest rates of Covid
Here are the 50 local authorities in England with the highest numbers of new coronavirus figures. The list is from PA Media, which has produced it using Public Health England data out today.
There are four numbers after every council name: rate of new cases in the seven days to 25 September, expressed as number of new cases per 100,000; (actual number of new cases in that period); rate of new cases in the seven days to 18 September, expressed as number of new cases per 100,000; (actual number of new cases in that period).
Knowsley 279.7 (422), 152.5 (230)
Burnley 269.9 (240), 157.4 (140)
Liverpool 262.2 (1306), 165.4 (824)
Newcastle upon Tyne 238.1 (721), 111.6 (338)
Bolton 231.6 (666), 204.8 (589)
Pendle 219.3 (202), 124.8 (115)
Halton 217.1 (281), 160.7 (208)
Manchester 207.3 (1146), 140.7 (778)
Hyndburn 204.8 (166), 160.4 (130)
South Tyneside 196.7 (297), 147.0 (222)
Bury 193.2 (369), 157.1 (300)
Oldham 188.9 (448), 137.9 (327)
St. Helens 187.7 (339), 120.2 (217)
Sunderland 185.8 (516), 107.3 (298)
Preston 184.4 (264), 159.3 (228)
Warrington 182.4 (383), 101.9 (214)
Blackburn with Darwen 177.0 (265), 154.3 (231)
Rochdale 165.5 (368), 125.9 (280)
Sefton 165.0 (456), 103.8 (287)
Wirral 162.6 (527), 137.6 (446)
Salford 156.9 (406), 125.9 (326)
Bradford 154.3 (833), 125.8 (679)
Birmingham 145.1 (1657), 96.2 (1098)
Tameside 143.9 (326), 119.7 (271)
Gateshead 139.6 (282), 103.9 (210)
Northumberland 139.6 (450), 60.8 (196)
Wigan 133.6 (439), 101.9 (335)
Leeds 128.1 (1016), 90.4 (717)
North Tyneside 120.2 (250), 76.0 (158)
Hartlepool 117.4 (110), 51.2 (48)
West Lancashire 114.6 (131), 57.7 (66)
Trafford 109.1 (259), 61.5 (146)
Sandwell 108.4 (356), 72.5 (238)
Rossendale 104.9 (75), 181.9 (130)
Middlesbrough 102.9 (145), 41.1 (58)
Fylde 102.7 (83), 55.7 (45)
Leicester 99.9 (354), 100.5 (356)
Craven 99.8 (57), 70.0 (40)
Kirklees 96.2 (423), 83.0 (365)
Calderdale 93.6 (198), 56.7 (120)
County Durham 90.9 (482), 47.5 (252)
Barrow-in-Furness 89.5 (60), 59.7 (40)
Stockport 89.3 (262), 61.7 (181)
Ribble Valley 85.4 (52), 34.5 (21)
Sheffield 84.5 (494), 51.8 (303)
Oadby and Wigston 84.2 (48), 73.7 (42)
Solihull 84.1 (182), 60.1 (130)
Rotherham 82.5 (219), 49.4 (131)
Darlington 81.5 (87), 23.4 (25)
Chorley 79.5 (94), 43.1 (51)
The latest Public Health England data also shows that more than 1,600 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Birmingham in the seven days to 25 September, PA Media reports. A total of 1,657 new cases were recorded - the equivalent of 145.1 per 100,000 people, up from 96.2 in the previous week.
Other cities continuing to record increases in their weekly rate include Newcastle upon Tyne (up from 111.6 to 238.1, with 721 new cases); Manchester (up from 140.7 to 207.3, with 1,146 new cases); and Salford (up from 125.9 to 156.9, with 406 new cases).
Updated
'Let's do the future differently' after Covid, Ed Davey tells Lib Dem online conference
Earlier I wrote the “don’t let a good crisis go to waste” mantra and how it might apply to coronavirus. (See 12.09pm and 12.12pm.) In his speech as leader to the Liberal Democrats’ online conference, Sir Ed Davey made the same sort of point, saying the pandemic should be an opportunity. Here’s an excerpt.
The Conservatives aren’t listening. Their answer is all about going back.
Back to the office. Back to the old ways.
I say: let’s do the future differently. Starting by finding out what people want ...
So if there’s less demand for office space, let’s work with businesses to turn those buildings into sustainable, affordable homes to help solve the housing crisis.
If there’s less demand for air travel – let’s switch investment from Heathrow’s doomed third runway into green zero-carbon flight, and save jobs in our aerospace sector.
If there’s less demand for oil and gas, let’s work with industry to transition the UK into the world-leader in clean energy technologies – from hydrogen for heating to tidal for power.
If you listen and work with business, you can build new green industries, with thousands of green jobs.
I know, because I’ve done it.
Davey also devoted a large part of his speech to the importance of carers, and why he was committed to speaking up for them. It was because he had been a carer for most of his life, he said.
This is personal for me. You see, I’ve been a carer for much of my life.
First as a teenager, when I nursed my mum during her long battle against bone cancer.
My dad had died when I was four. My mum was my whole world.
So on one level, it was easy caring for mum: I loved her.
But it was also incredibly tough.
Taking her tumblers of morphine for her agonising pain – before going off to school.
Coming home to look after her. Helping her on and off the toilet. Taking life, day by day. Because there was nothing else you could do.
And at the end. Visiting her on a totally unsuitable dementia ward in my school uniform, alone by her bedside. When she died.
I was a carer as a son. And then as a grandson:
Organising the care for my Nanna, getting her into a good home, figuring out how we could afford it.
Trying to make her last few years as comfortable as we could.
And now, as a father. As Emily and I care for our son John every day.
John is 12. He can’t walk by himself. He was 9 when he first managed to say “Daddy”.
John needs 24/7 care – and probably always will.
And that’s my biggest challenge: John will be on this planet long after Emily and I have gone.
So we worry. No one can possibly love him like we do. Hold him like we hold him.
And our fears are shared by so many parents. Many not as fortunate as Emily and me.
So let me say this, to all of you who need care…
To all of you who are carers…
To the parents of disabled children…
To the thousands of young people, caring for your mum or your dad.
I understand what you’re going through.
And I promise you this:
I will be your voice. I will be the voice of the 9 million carers in our country.
The government has just updated its coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.
- The UK has recorded 4,044 new coronavirus cases. That’s the lowest daily figure for more than a week - although still double what the rate was in early September.
- The UK has recorded 13 further deaths. That takes the official headline death total to 42,001, although this figure is an underestimate because it only counts people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. Overall more than 57,600 people have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus in the UK.
- In England 245 patients were admitted to hospital with coronavirus on Saturday, the most recent day for which figures are published. The figure for the previous day was 274.
- There are 245 patients in hospital in England on mechanical ventilation. Yesterday the figure was 233.
Glasgow university expects to spend more than £3m after waiving student rentals and handing more than 3,000 hot meals to students ordered to self-isolate during a Covid-19 outbreak.
After several large student halls linked to a cluster of 172 cases were locked down last week, the university said on Saturday it would waive a month’s rent for thousands of students and give each a £50 one off subsistence bonus.
Its welfare staff also distributed an as yet unspecified number of food parcels holding three days’ supplies; food vans selling pizza, burgers and pasta were allowed to set up shop outside several halls, including the Murano Street complex at the centre of the outbreak.
As Glasgow’s outbreak grew, Prof Anton Muscatelli, its principal, issued one of the toughest warnings of any last week when he told students Glasgow would not hesitate to discipline, including suspending, any student who broke the rules. That increased anxieties and concerns about the punitive stance being taken by ministers and principals.
On Saturday, as he announced the unusually generous subsidies and giveaways, Muscatelli took a gentler tone. He told students:
This isn’t the start of academic life we would wish for anyone. To get on top of this outbreak we need to work together and support each other, I would like to offer my profound and sincere thanks to everyone who is isolating for playing their part.
As yet, no other Scottish institution has offered that level of support but St Andrews university and others cancelled accommodation contracts for students who left university early at the start of the outbreak. Some set up hardship funds for students.
Updated
Hancock says legal ban on visiting other people's homes to be introduced in parts of north-east
Right at the end of his speech at the opening of the debate Matt Hancock, the health secretary, announced that restrictions in the north-east were being tightened.
Referring to the areas in the north-east where the rules were tightened a fortnight ago, he said:
Unfortunately the number of cases continues to rises sharply. The incident rate across the area is now over 100 cases per 100,000. We know that a large number of these infections are taking place in indoor settings outside the home.
And so, at the request of the local councils, with whom we’ve been working closely, we will introduce legal restrictions on indoor mixing between households in any setting.
We do not take these steps lightly, but we must take them, and take them now, because we know that swift action is more likely to bring the virus under control.
This is from my colleague Josh Halliday.
Matt Hancock has just announced "restrictions on indoor mixing between households in any setting" in north-east England.
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) September 28, 2020
This appears to be strengthening the earlier guidance which "advised" people in seven council areas not to meet others "in any public venue": pic.twitter.com/hn9jeLi5oN
Updated
12.4m people have downloaded new NHS Covid app, fastest British app download in history, Hancock says
Hancock told MPs that today the UK would be conducting its 20 millionth test. He said that was more than the number of tests conducted in France and Spain together.
And he said the new government app has now been download by 12.4m people. That was the fastest download of an app in British history, he said.
Updated
Hancock hints at further consultation with MPs - without offering prior votes on lockdown measures
This is what Matt Hancock told Sir Edward Leigh when Leigh asked about MPs getting the chance to have prior votes on lockdown measures. (See 3.44pm.) He signalled that there would be further consultation with MPs - but he refused to accede to the key demand in the Brady amendment, for the Commons to get prior votes on lockdown measures.
I strongly agree with the need for us in this house to have the appropriate level of scrutiny. We have already, as the prime minister set out last week, put in place further measures. The aim is to provide the house with the opportunity to scrutinise in advance through regular statements and debates, questioning the government’s scientific advisers regularly, which has already started, gaining access to local data and having the daily calls with ministers, including [Cabinet Office minister Penny Mordaunt].
We are looking at further ways to ensure the house can be properly involved in the process, in advance where possible, and I hope to provide the house with further details soon and I will take up the invitation to have a further meeting with [Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee and leader of the Tory rebellion on this issue], with whom I have already met to discuss this issue, to see what further progress can be made.
Updated
In the Commons Mark Harper, a Conservative former chief whip, has just said that the rules making it a legal obligation to comply with an order to self-isolate only came into force overnight. He says there were 12 pages of detailed law. And they included new offences not mentioned when the plan was announced. That is not acceptable, he suggests.
Hancock says sometimes the government has to act quickly.
Steve Baker, another Tory backbencher, quotes these tweets from the Constitution Unit, a group of academics specialising in constitutional matters.
This is pretty remarkable. 12 pages of dense text that can only be fully understood with reference to earlier regs, published 7hrs before coming into effect, no parliamentary scrutiny, & potentially £10,000 fines
— Constitution Unit (@ConUnit_UCL) September 27, 2020
If trying to quell backbench dissent this is a funny way to do it. https://t.co/0S1Pmauiwx
Also this policy was briefed to the media 8 days ago. Was it really not possible to schedule proper, detailed parliamentary debate during that time, given the far-reaching consequences?
— Constitution Unit (@ConUnit_UCL) September 27, 2020
Given the current mood, it seems very likely MPs will ask this. https://t.co/n4IqIWgoHG
Hancock says the government set out what it was planning to do eight days ago.
But Chris Grayling, the former transport secretary, intervenes. He also makes the argument that measures like this, which affect the whole country, including places with low rates of coronavirus, need parliamentary scrutiny.
Updated
MPs debate coronavirus
In the Commons Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is opening a general debate on coronavirus. The motion is just “that this house has considered Covid-19” and so nothing will be decided, and there won’t even be a vote.
It is not clear yet whether we will learn anything new, but Hancock has just been asked, by the Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh, about what can be done to ensure MPs get a prior vote on future lockdown measures.
My colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels says that EU sources are going further than Maroš Šefčovič (see 3.15pm) and saying that, unless the UK drops the parts of the internal market bill that would override the Brexit withdrawal agreement, Brussels won’t finalise a trade deal.
Maroš Šefčovič wouldn't say what happens to trade/security talks if IMB provisions stay. But EU sources franker - both diplomats and officials.
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) September 28, 2020
"There is no way that as long as this threat is pending that we agree to that finalised deal."
Another big choice for gov in Oct.
Updated
EU restates its threat to start legal proceedings against UK over internal market bill
The European Union has restated his strong opposition to the internal market bill, the legislation what would allow the UK government to overrule parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Speaking after a meeting in Brussels of the joint committee, which is in charge of implementing the agreement, the European commission vice president, Maroš Šefčovič said:
We maintain that the bill if adopted in its current form would constitute an extremely serious violation of the [Northern Ireland] protocol as an essential part of the withdrawal agreement and of international law. The withdrawal agreement is to be implemented, not to be renegotiated, let alone unilaterally changed, disregarded or disapplied.
In a statement earlier this month, after the bill was published, Šefčovič said the UK should abandon the offending clauses in the bill by the end of the month (ie, by Wednesday). He implied that, if the UK refused, the EU would take legal action to force London to comply with its obligations under the withdrawal act. Today he restated that threat - but without saying when the EU might start proceedings. He said:
Once again, I reminded the UK government today that the Withdrawal Agreement contains a number of mechanisms and legal remedies to address the violation of the legal obligations contained in the text. And I underscored that the EU will not be shy in using it.
When we will do it, how we will do it - proceed, you will have to give us a little bit of time and we will inform you in due course.
But Šefčovič also indicated that, even if the UK refused to rewrite the bill, the EU would continue negotiations on implementing the withdrawal agreement.
Šefčovič is co-chair of the joint committee with Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister. Speaking after the meeting Gove said the UK would not drop the internal market bill because it was needed “as a safety net”. But he said the UK government wanted to see the withdrawal agreement “implemented in full”.
Updated
There have been a further 286 cases of coronavirus in Wales, but no further deaths, Public Health Wales has said.
NHS England has recorded a further 10 coronavirus hospital deaths. The people who died were aged between 60 and 97 and all had known underlying health conditions, NHS England says. The details are here.
The number of fines issued to rail passengers who fail to wear face coverings has been going up in the past month, figures suggest. As PA Media reports, British Transport Police (BTP) handed out 32 fines between 15 June, when the new laws came into place in England, and 17 August. But the total figure rose to 81 by 24 September, by which point the force had also stopped 54,175 people to remind them of the rules, and asked 3,842 people to leave the railway.
Updated
Although Downing Street is now saying that all students should be allowed home at Christmas (see 2.06pm), only this morning the junior health minister Helen Whately did not rule out students being told they would have to stay away from their families over the holiday period. Whately was just quoting what her boss, the health secretary, Matt Hancock, was saying last week.
Updated
Students should be allowed home for Christmas, says No 10
The Downing Street lobby briefing has finished. Here are some of the main points.
- No 10 has dismissed calls for a review of the compulsory 10pm closing time for pubs. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, called for a review this morning, arguing that the rule “may be doing more harm than good”. (See 9am.) But the prime minister’s spokesman ruled out a review of the kind proposed by Burnham and insisted that the restriction was “introduced for a reason”. Asked to justify the 10pm closing time, he said that the experience from local lockdowns suggested this struck the right balance between the need to let pubs trade and the need to reduce the risks from people mixing.
- The spokesman refused to deny a report saying that a “a total social lockdown” may be imposed on much of northern England. (See 11.39am.) Asked about the Times splash reporting this, the spokesman said the PM has been clear that further restrictions might prove necessary. But he said that it might take at least two weeks from their implementation to assess the impact of measures already announced. Reporters at the briefing were left with the impression that no new nationwide restrictions were being planned for this week.
- The spokesman said the PM was opposed to the idea of students being told to stay away from home at Christmas. He said:
We would expect all students to be able to go home at Christmas.
Some reporters have interpret that “expect” as equivocal (ie, not a firm guarantee), but in the briefing it did not sound that way; it came across as a very firm “expect”. But the spokesman declined to say whether or not the PM thought some universities were going too far in terms of the restrictions being imposed on students now. He just said that everyone should have to follow the rules.
- The spokesman said the PM stood by his demand that a UK-EU trade deal should be agreed by 15 October.
- The spokesman said reports last week suggesting that a UK-EU trade deal was now highly likely to be agreed were “a little on the enthusiastic side”. He seemed to be referring to a column by James Forsyth, the Spectator political editor known for his particularly good access to the private thinking of Tory Brexiters. In a column (paywall) in the Times on Friday Forsyth wrote:
There is cautious but growing optimism in Whitehall that there will be a Brexit deal. At the beginning of this month the mood was grim. There was a feeling that the talks weren’t getting anywhere. This frustration contributed to the Internal Market Bill’s rash commitment to disapply parts of the withdrawal agreement. But there is now a more positive attitude, a sense that things are moving and that a deal is coming into view.
With fewer than 100 days left until the end of the transition period, there has been an outbreak of reality, with both sides beginning to contemplate what the failure of these talks would actually mean in terms of geopolitics and economics.
Columns like this are closely read in Brussels and No 10 may have been worried that its publication may have made Johnson sound over-anxious to get a deal. The spokesman said today:
Although the last few weeks of informal talks have been relatively positive, there remains much to be done. The fundamentals of our position have not changed. From the start of this process we have been saying that we simply want a standard free-trade agreement like Canada’s.
The EU’s position has been less straightforward and we continue to be asked to accept provisions which do not reflect the reality of our status as an independent country.
Significant gaps remain as the EU still needs to adopt more realistic policy positions, but we are ready to work as hard as necessary to move things forward this week.
- The spokesman suggested talks on a UK-EU trade deal could continue to the EU summit starting on 15 October. Although formal talks will end after the round of negotiations taking place this week, the spokesman said “informal discussions” might continue right up to the summit.
- The spokesman said the government would not comply with the EU demand for the clauses in the internal market bill allowing the UK to ignore the withdrawal agreement to be abandoned by the end of this month. The spokesman said: “The bill has been supported by the House of Commons and will continue its passage through the House of Lords.”
- The spokesman refused to commit to giving MPs a vote on emergency coronavirus regulations before they take effect. More than 40 Tory MPs have signed an amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, saying that ministers should ensure “as far as is reasonably practicable” that MPs get to vote on lockdown restrictions imposed via ministerial regulation before they take effect. (Currently, if MPs do get a vote, it is only after the regulations have become law anyway). The spokesman refused to commit to this. He said:
It is absolutely vital that we can take urgent action to stop the virus spreading, protect the NHS from a second wave and save lives.
We will continue to keep parliament updated on the latest data and the scientific advice on the virus, and work in advance with parliamentary colleagues wherever that is possible.
But the spokesman did say that MPs would get a vote on the rule of six (which has already come into force) on 6 October. If MPs get a vote on the Brady amendment on Wednesday, the government could lose, although it seems likely that for procedural reasons the amendment will not be accepted.
- Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will open this afternoon’s debate on coronavirus, the spokesman said.
Updated
All schools have been closed across the Uists, the chain of islands in the Western Isles, which had largely escaped the coronavirus pandemic unscathed, after an outbreak escalated over the weekend to 14 cases.
NHS Western Isles said schools and nurseries on North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist would close for three days to help suppress the outbreak, which has grown quickly on South Uist to include residents at a care home. The home has temporarily suspended all visits, admissions and discharges.
The cluster is the largest and most significant to affect the Western Isles; until it emerged late last week, there had only been seven positive cases confirmed by NHS Western Isles since the pandemic was declared in March, and no deaths. It had the lowest infection rate of any Scottish council area.
NHS Western Isles said all the affected people were in self-isolation at home, and none had yet been hospitalised.
Dr Maggie Watts, the board’s director of public health, said:
We would like to reassure our local communities and visitors to the island that we are taking all necessary steps to contain the virus but it is vital that everyone in the Western Isles follows the current Scottish government restrictions and guidance to limit any spread of the virus.
Updated
The Welsh government has announced an additional £140m of funding to help businesses deal with the economic challenges of Covid-19 and Brexit.
Of this, £20m will be ring-fenced to support tourism and hospitality businesses and £60m will be allocated for businesses hit by local lockdown restrictions.
This is the third round of funding. The government says it has already given £300m to 13,000 companies in Wales, which has helped protect more than 100,000 jobs.
By the end of the day, 12 areas of Wales will be subject to local lockdowns – covering almost two-thirds of the population. The economy minister, Ken Skates, said there was likely to be a “rolling programme” of more restrictions.
The government has also announced that freelancers working in the cultural and creative sectors in Wales will be able to apply for their share of a £7m fund.
Individuals can apply for a £2,500 grant when the scheme opens next week.
Updated
8,000 pupils and 350 teachers and staff in Liverpool self-isolating, says city's mayor
Around 8,000 schoolchildren and more than 350 teachers and staff are self-isolating in Liverpool, the city’s mayor has said, as it recorded one of the highest infection rates in England.
Matt Ashton, Liverpool’s director of public health, said the city was in a “very difficult position” as its number of cases rose sharply in the past week.
Liverpool’s seven-day infection rate was 242 cases per 100,000 people in the week to 24 September, Ashton said, compared with 211 in Bolton, which previously had the highest rate.
Ashton said coronavirus cases were doubling every eight to nine days and that 12.8% of people being tested were confirmed positive, which is also worryingly high.
The city’s mayor, Joe Anderson, posted this on Twitter.
New infections of COVID-19 in this last week in Liverpool is 1254, this has increased the numbers infected to approx 5000 it is doubling every six days. There are currently 8,000 school children at home self isolating and over 350 teachers & staff. Please stay safe and take care
— Joe Anderson (@mayor_anderson) September 28, 2020
Ashton warned that the rise in cases had led to “sharp increases” in Covid hospital admissions and that “increases in deaths are likely to follow”. He said the increase in cases spanned all age groups, including the most vulnerable over-65s.
Updated
Police in Scotland arrested 14 people and issued at least 101 fines after raiding more than 300 house parties and illegal gatherings over the weekend, the force has said.
Iain Livingstone, the chief constable of Police Scotland, said the vast majority of people were observing the strict “rule of six” laws which in Scotland limit indoor gatherings to six people aged over 12 from two households.
However, there were a minority flouting them. He said:
There is no doubt that house parties or house gatherings are not permitted and there can be no excuse for arranging, attending, or hosting a house party.
It is against the law. Where officers encounter blatant, wilful, or persistent breaches, we will take decisive action to enforce the law.
The force said its officers forced entry to households three times.
Nicola Sturgeon, speaking at her regular coronavirus briefing, backed the police. Although police were called to student residences in Edinburgh on Saturday, she said most police enforcement involved non-student gatherings.
“Anyone who is flagrantly breaching very clear rules against households meeting should take a very long hard look at themselves,” she said. The rules are “for the collective wellbeing of people across the country”.
Updated
There was a “large decline” in uptake of a key childhood vaccine at the start of the pandemic, figures have shown. As PA Media reports, figures provided to Public Health England (PHE) show the number of vaccinations for the first MMR vaccine fell in the weeks after lockdown was introduced. The new report suggests the stay-at-home messaging at the start of the pandemic may have contributed to the dip in vaccine uptake.
“The initial decrease in vaccination counts may be associated with Covid-19 messaging about staying home which could have overwhelmed the messaging that the routine immunisation programme was to continue,” the authors wrote. Another contributory factor could be that GPs had to reschedule appointments in the initial weeks after lockdown, they added.
Commenting on the report, PHE said it is “vital” that parents ensure their children attend appointments and catch up on any missed vaccinations.
Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images
A campaign to dispel Covid-19 conspiracy theories, featuring residents who have lost loved ones to the virus, has been launched in Bradford.
The “behind the mask” social media posts, posters and billboards launched by Bradford council and Community Action Bradford show stories of local people in order to urge others to adhere to restrictions.
One image shows resident Iqrah, whose 30-year-old aunt died after contracting coronavirus, leaving behind her husband and one-year-old child. “You think it’s a conspiracy theory? Tell that to my family,” it reads.
Another shows Kirsty, a Bradford mother who had to stay apart from her daughter for 12 weeks because she was shielding.
It is hoped the campaign will show the ways the virus has impacted lives in the city – where the Covid rate is currently at 134.7 per 100,000 people – as well as highlighting guidance such as wearing face coverings and social distancing.
Soo Nevison, of Community Action Bradford and District, told the BBC:
There are still people who believe coronavirus isn’t real and don’t want to believe the severity of the illness.
The case studies prove otherwise and at a time when we have spikes in infection rates, now more than ever, we need to protect ourselves and those around us.
Updated
Covid hospital cases in Scotland have doubled in last fortnight, says Sturgeon
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is holding her daily coronavirus briefing.
She starts with the daily coronavirus figures.
She says there have been 222 new cases, with 6.9% of those getting tested being positive. She says this number is lower than expected. The figure for Sunday was 344, with a 9.1% positivity rate. She says there is likely to be a “weekend effect” partly explaining the decrease.
But Sturgeon says there are now 122 people in hospital in Scotland with coronavirus, an increase of 17 on the previous day. And there are 16 people in intensive care, an increase of four on the previous day. Sturgeon says these figures show the virus is spreading and that the higher case numbers are not just explained by more testing. She says on 15 September there were just 48 people in hospital, meaning hospital numbers have doubled in a fortnight.
In the spirit of “don’t let a good crisis go to waste” perhaps (see 12.09pm), the Scottish government is today inviting organisations and community groups to submit ideas “to drive a fairer recovery in the wake of coronavirus”.
Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, has apologised for saying, in relation to coronavirus, that Labour should not let a good crisis go to waste. Speaking on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning she said:
That was the wrong thing to say. I regret it. I know it will have caused pain and offence to people who’ve suffered under this terrible pandemic and I should not have said that.
What I would say is that the crisis has exposed all sorts of things about our economy and about the pressure on our public services that we’ve got to learn from, we have to learn the lessons of this pandemic.
I apologise profusely for those comments, they were the wrong thing to say and I’m particularly ashamed that people should feel that I was seeking to make political capital out of a crisis.
Boris Johnson cited Green’s remark at PMQs last week, implying that Labour was eager to exploit the coronavirus crisis for party political advantage. But the saying - which is widely attributed to Rahm Emanuel when he was Barack Obama’s chief of staff - is generally taken as meaning that a crisis can provide an opportunity for policy reform that is normally impossible, and that seemed to be the point Green was making when she spoke at an event during Labour’s online conference. She said Covid provided an opportunity to address school underfunding.
Prof Susan Michie, the director of University College London’s Centre for Behaviour Change and a member of the Independent Sage group, has backed Andy Burnham’s call for a rethink of the rule saying pubs most close at 10pm. (See 9am.) In a statement given to the Science Media Centre, she said:
The measure is another example of a restriction brought in without a coherent strategy and without sufficient consultation with relevant experts and communities.
These are dangerous times and it is of the utmost importance that the government listen to both those advising government directly and those complementing that advice on Independent Sage. The latter have consistently argued that high risk venues such as indoor pubs and restaurants should be closed to maximise the chance of children being able to attend school.
And Prof Robert Dingwall, professor of sociology at Nottingham Trent University, told the Science Media Centre that the 10pm rule was a good example of policy being made by people with “limited life experience”. He explained:
When were any of those involved in making this decision last in a city centre pub at closing time? The disdain for the night-time economy reflects the puritan streak in public health that has marked so many interventions.
Anyone with a basic knowledge of sociology, anthropology, socio-legal studies or criminology would have predicted the transport chaos that Andy Burnham has described – and the street parties that we have seen elsewhere.
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Parliament says its bars will now close at 10pm
In one of the faster, and least surprising, U-turns on record, the parliamentary authorities have announced that Commons bars now won’t be exempt from the 10pm closing time rule applying everywhere else. (See 9.42am.) A parliament spokesman said: “Alcohol will not be sold after 10pm anywhere on the parliamentary estate.”
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Today’s Times splash (paywall) claims that the government is preparing “a total social lockdown across much of northern Britain and potentially London to combat a spiralling second wave of coronavirus”. In their report Tom Newton Dunn and Steven Swinford say:
Under the new emergency plan, all pubs, restaurants and bars would be ordered to shut for two weeks initially. Households would also be banned indefinitely from meeting each other in any indoor location where they were not already under the order. Schools would stay open as well as shops, factories and offices at which staff could not work from home.
The social lockdown was among options presented to the cabinet’s Covid-19 strategy committee before last week’s new restrictions, which included a 10pm curfew on all hospitality venues. The Times has learnt that the group of six ministers, led by Boris Johnson, held them back, fearing a backlash from Tory MPs and sections of the public.
This morning Steve Rotheram, mayor for the Liverpool city region, said ministers were right to be considering options like this. He said:
We have all seen the worrying rise in cases of coronavirus across the country, so it is right that if the current restrictions are not proving to be enough, that the government considers every option available to protect people and stop the spread of the virus.
But Rotheram also said that if the government does implement a lockdown like this, it must include “a package of measures to protect jobs and support the local economy, including a local furlough scheme, financial support for businesses and support for the self-employed - many of whom have not received any help at all since this crisis began.”
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All university teaching should be online this term, says academics' union
The University and College Union has written to the prime minister urging him to intervene to ensure universities move online and students who wish to are allowed to return to their homes safely.
UCU general secretary, Jo Grady, said that, given the growing prevalence of Covid-19 across the country and outbreaks in university campuses, online teaching should become the norm in the higher education sector. She said:
We are only a week or two into the new academic year, and we already have Covid-19 outbreaks at institutions in Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee, and these are unlikely to be the last examples.
My union is not prepared to take chances with the health of students, our members and the communities they serve. It is clear that remote learning should be the default for campus life while we are in this precarious position with the virus.
A small number of universities have already announced they are moving temporarily online, including Birkbeck London, Liverpool John Moores and Liverpool Hope. Manchester Metropolitan University, meanwhile, where 1,700 students are currently in quarantine lockdown in their halls of residence, has said foundation and first year studies will move online.
Most universities however are continuing to offer “blended learning”, including some face-to-face teaching. Grady warned Boris Johnson:
Campus life cannot currently be safe with in-person teaching.
Those currently working and studying in our universities need a national strategy that accepts this, moves teaching online for the duration of this term, and ensures students can safely return home where possible.
The UCU is also calling for students to be allowed to return home if they wish without fear of financial penalty for leaving student accommodation.
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Travel abroad linked to higher chance of testing positive for Covid, says ONS
The Office for National Statistics has published a report this morning with more detail from its infection survey, its weekly assessment of how much coronavirus is in the community based on random sampling. The most recent was out on Friday. Today’s report is about the characteristics of those testing positive.
Here are the main points.
- Infection rates “increased primarily in the least deprived areas within each region” between 23 July and 10 September, the ONS says. Here is the chart with the details.
The ONS report does not offer an explanation for this. But there may be a possible explanation in another finding ...
- Positivity rates have been “higher amongst people who have travelled abroad”, the ONS says. Here is the chart.
- Positivity rates - the proportion of people testing positive - “have increased over time amongst those aged under 35 years who had socially-distanced direct contact with six or more people aged 18 to 69 years”, the ONS says. It says this suggests that “socially-distanced direct contact” amongst the young is an increasingly important factor in the spread of coronavirus.
There was speculation that we might get a Commons urgent question this afternoon about students and coronavirus restrictions, but we won’t. There are no statements either, meaning that the general Covid-19 debate (on a ‘take note’ motion – MPs won’t decide anything) will start at 3.30pm.
No Statements or UQs today https://t.co/okKKIJiyp2
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) September 28, 2020
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NHS Test and Trace has 'long way to go' to be ready for winter, say health leaders
Health leaders have said NHS Test and Trace has “a long way to go” to be ready for winter.
NHS Providers, which represents hospitals and other NHS trusts, has made the argument in a document published today setting out 12 tests the service needs to meet to be “fit for purpose” over the winter. It says these include: “Dramatically improving test turnaround times; creating a range of new testing facilities to enable those who need a test to get one closer to where they live and work and improving performance at every stage of the end to end contract tracing process.”
In a statement Chris Hopson, NHS Providers’ chief executive, said:
An effective test-and-trace system is a key weapon in the fight against Covid. It is vital to protect our economy and help the NHS to continue to care for patients. It has to succeed and we all have a contribution to make to ensure that success. But the size of task facing NHS Test and Trace is about to increase significantly as winter approaches and we have to be sure that this key public service will be able to cope.
That is why we have clearly set out what NHS trusts believe NHS Test and Trace needs to do to build, extend and improve its service. We can’t have a repetition of the problems of the last few weeks where NHS staff had to stay off work because they, or their family members, haven’t been able to access a test.
NHS Test and Trace has been created from scratch, at incredible pace. Good progress was made between late May and August but the problems of the last few weeks have reinforced that it has a long way to go to be ready for winter.
Last week Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, told MPs that the government had already spent more than £12bn on the test-and-trace system. But it is continuing to miss some of its key targets.
The 12 tests for the service set by NHS Providers are:
1) A broader range of targets, regularly published.
2) More emphasis on local control.
3) Testing capacity should be quadrupled. (The capacity is currently for 270,000 tests per day, and it is due to reach 500,000 tests per day by the end of October.)
4) A “massive expansion” in access to testing.
5) A “significant increase” in turnaround times.
6) A more strategic approach to prioritising.
7) A clear plan for the regular testing of NHS staff.
8) Better performance at all stages of contact tracing.
9) Better performance in harder to reach communities.
10) Better data flows.
11) The successful deployment of new testing techniques.
12) Improving public confidence in the service.
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John Apter, national chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the Today programme this morning that it was hard for the police to stop large crowds congregating outside pubs after 10pm, as has been happening since the 10pm closing time came into force last week. He explained:
In a typical large town or city centre I think the public think we have hundreds and hundreds of police officers to police. We probably have a handful, and we have to prioritise.
So what we will find in a city centre, some officers will be dealing with 999 calls, crimes in action, people being seriously assaulted. You might only have one or two people in a busy high street at 10pm when hundreds and hundreds of people are coming out onto the streets.
Now, my colleagues will do the best they can to encourage and coerce people to move on. But it’s really difficult. And all you need is a hostile group who turns against those officers, and the resources for that town centre, that city centre, are swallowed up dealing with that one incident.
Asked if that had happened, Apter said it was happening “all the time”.
In his Today interview Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, also denied reports saying Manchester students who have been told told to stay in their university accommodation were being banned from going for coronavirus tests. “I have spoken to the vice-chancellor and I am assured that people are able to leave if they have got good reason to do that,” he said.
Irish PM says he's 'not that optimistic' UK-EU deal will be agreed
Micheál Martin, the Irish taoiseach (PM), has said he is “not that optimistic” about the EU and the UK reaching a trade deal. In an interview with the i, to be broadcast today as part of the Lib Dems’ online conference, Martin was asked if he thought a trade deal was likely. He replied:
I’m not that optimistic, if I’m honest. Just to let you know that the [Irish] government is preparing its budget in three weeks’ time on the basis that there will be a no-deal Brexit.
That’s the basis on which we’re preparing the budget and we’re warning and alerting businesses to that terrible reality.
I think progress has been slow in the talks so far, I think there is still potential for a deal, I believe a deal is the sane and sensible thing to do, and I think all of us as politicians have an obligation to those we represent - and in terms of Brexit that means the least damage possible to workers, to employers and to business and economy.
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Minister says bars in parliament should not be exempt from 10pm closing time
According to a Times story (paywall) by Esther Webber, the bars in parliament are exempt from the rule saying pubs in England must stop selling alcohol at 10pm. She explains:
Facilities serving alcohol on the parliamentary estate are understood to be exempt from the earlier closing time on the basis that they fall under the description of “a workplace canteen”.
Asked about the story in her Today interview, the health minister Helen Whately said she did not know if this was true but that, if it was, she did not think it was right for MPs’ bars to be exempt. “We at parliament shouldn’t be sitting around late at night drinking,” she said. “We’ve got a job to do.” But she stressed it was a matter for parliament.
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Helen Whately, the health minister, was interviewed on the Today programme after Andy Burnham. Asked about his call for a review of the rule for pubs in England to close at 10pm (see 9am), she gave a non-committal answer, saying it was “clearly early days”.
Burnham also said in his interview that, if the rule was going to stay, one solution might be to stop shops selling alcohol after 9pm, so that drinkers could not pile into supermarkets after being thrown out of the pubs at 10pm (something he said was happening in Manchester at the weekend). Whately said the government would keep “an open mind” on this issue.
In a separate interview on BBC Breakfast Whately defended the 10pm rule. She said:
As people drink more they tend to socially distance less. So one approach to keeping people socially distancing is to limit the amount of time that people are in places where they are drinking and then this breaking down of compliance with the rules.
We have also seen in some of the places where there have been higher rates over the summer that sometimes bars have been the places where there has been an outbreak so this is a reason why one of the actions we have taken is to have people stopping being out drinking at an earlier time.
According to a report by Glen Owen in the Mail on Sunday yesterday, Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, was one of the figures in cabinet most responsible for the 10pm closing time for pubs being a firm deadline. Owen wrote:
When the issue was put to the full cabinet on Tuesday, resistance flared again when business secretary Alok Sharma and environment secretary George Eustice suggested that it would be safer to taper the curfew with last orders at 10pm, rather than force everyone on to the streets at the same time.
But Mr Gove insisted that there should be a strict 10pm ‘guillotine’.
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Burnham says 10pm closing time for pubs 'doing more harm than good'
Good morning. Boris Johnson only announced the rule forcing pubs in England to close at 10pm six days ago, and it only came into force on Thursday, but already he is under pressure to abandon it. This morning on the Today programme Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said he thought it was counter-productive. He explained:
There needs to be an urgent review of the emerging evidence from police forces across the country. My gut feeling is that this curfew is doing more harm than good ... It creates an incentive for people to gather in the streets, or more probably to gather in the home, and that is the opposite of what our local restrictions here are trying to do.
So I don’t think this been fully thought through, to be honest.
Burnham said that in Manchester at the weekend the supermarkets were “packed to the rafters” after 10pm with people buying alcohol so they could continue drinking after the pubs had closed.
He also said the 10pm closing time was damaging to bars and restaurant which had taken “massive steps” to make themselves Covid secure.
Asked if he thought the 10pm rule should be abandoned, he replied: “My gut feeling would say it probably should.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
12.15pm: The Scottish government is expected to hold its daily coronavirus briefing.
12.30pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Priti Patel, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
3pm: Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, delivers his speech to the party’s online conference.
After 3.30pm: MPs hold a general debate on coronavirus.
Also in Brussels Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, and Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission vice president, are co-chairing a meeting of the joint committee, the body set up to implement the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Politics Live has been doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog for some time and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, and where they seem more important and interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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