Afternoon summary
- Sir Keir Starmer has described the government’s testing regime as being “on the verge of collapse”. (See 5.09pm.) He was speaking after Sarah-Jane Marsh, the testing director at NHS test and trace, the service for England, apologised for the fact that many people have been unable to get a test, or have been told to travel long distances if they want to get one. (See 11am.) Matt Hancock, the health secretary, told MPs it would take at least two weeks to resolve the processing problems that have led to these problems. (See 12.32pm.)
- Starmer has criticised Boris Johnson for not yet delivering on his promise to get a Brexit trade deal. (See 5.51pm.)
That’s all from me for today. Our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Updated
From the BBC’s Nick Eardley
BREAKING: Another top civil servant departing
— Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) September 8, 2020
Rowena Collins Rice - Director General at the Attorney General's Office - leaving her job
Dept says part of process going back months, but yet another senior figure leaving
There appears to be some confusion on what is driving the rise in coronavirus cases in Glasgow, after an email update from the health board’s public health chief appeared to contradict previous messages from Nicola Sturgeon and others that indoor gatherings of “extended families, twentysomethings, and people letting their guard down at home” were the main factor.
Dr Linda de Caestecker said in the news update sent by email: “When we examine the rate per 100,000 population it is highest in West Dunbartonshire where many cases relate to family gatherings and parties. The next highest rate is in Glasgow City where more cases are associated with visits to bars and restaurants. Only the Inverclyde rate is remaining relatively low at present.”
This raises the question of whether De Caestecker meant that more cases in Glasgow were associated with hospitality than home transmission, or that – relative to West Dunbartonshire – more people were infected in hospitality settings in Glasgow but the majority were still being infected at home.
The Guardian asked the health board’s press office for clarification, but was told it would not be possible to ask De Caestecker or provide any guidance. We were told to quote the email directly, despite pointing out that this particular quote is unclear.
Earlier in the day, at her coronavirus briefing, Nicola Sturgeon warned Scots against pub crawls specifically, saying: “When you do go out, it’s far better to stay in one pub than to visit several. If you spend time in three or four different bars, you’re significantly increasing the number of people who could transmit Covid to you.”
Updated
Starmer criticises Johnson for not yet getting Brexit trade deal done
Sky News has just broadcast a fascinating interview with Sir Keir Starmer in which the Labour leader in effect started criticising Boris Johnson for failing to deliver the Brexit deal he promised. He also made it clear (not for the first time, but nevertheless quite definitively) that he is not interested in trying to rejoin the EU. Labour remainers may hate it, but probably not as much as CCHQ. As an exercise in nimble political repositioning, it was extremely accomplished.
Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, repeatedly asked him if he was worried about the government breaking the law, and if Labour would align with Tory rebels to defeat its plans to legislate to give it power to overrule the withdrawal agreement. But Starmer did not want to engage with this issue at all, and instead kept stressing how important it was for the government to actually get a trade deal with the EU. He said:
Getting a deal is in the national interest. That is what the public want. That is what they were promised. The outstanding issues are not difficult. They can be resolved. Let’s get the deal, let’s move on and focus on the job in hand, which is dealing with this pandemic ...
What the nation wants is a deal that is in the national interest and everything should be focused on that. Let’s not reopen old arguments that the public think are long settled, and that’s what the government is doing.
When asked what his position was on Brexit, and if he now thought it was a good idea, Starmer replied:
We have left the EU, the divide between leave and remain is over. We need a deal ... I don’t think there’s a case for reopening the issue of membership of the EU. We have left ...
The prime minister won the election. It was a devastating election for the Labour party. [Boris Johnson] won by promising he would get a good deal. So what I’ve said is, here’s the space, get that good deal, deliver on your promise.
As Sky’s Sam Coates later said, it was almost as if Starmer were saying “get Brexit done” (Johnson’s successful 2019 general election slogan). Normally Starmer, a former head of the Crown Prosecution Service, would be the first to speak up for the importance of upholding the rule of law. But he has a good eye for a political elephant trap, and the Tories would like nothing more than to be able to depict him as someone siding with Brussels on this issue (the withdrawal agreement) against what they would claim as the national interest.
Rather than getting sucked back into a remain/leave argument (which Labour lost badly in 2019), Starmer is seeking to frame this as a deal/no deal argument, with Johnson failing on competence and delivery if the trade talks falter.
Updated
Starmer claims test-and-trace system 'on verge of collapse'
Sir Keir Starmer has claimed that the test-and-trace system is “on the verge of collapse”. In an interview with the BBC, the Labour leader said the government should have used the summer to get a “very effective” test-and-trace system in place. But that did not happen, he claimed.
What we’re now seeing is stories over the past few days that is showing the testing regime is on the verge of collapse.
Heartbreaking stories from people who need a test being told no tests are available. Or the website is crashing, or people are being told to go miles and miles for a test. Nobody can argue that that is good governance.
Starmer said he continued to support the principles of the government’s coronavirus restrictions, saying he did not want to “undermine” messaging during the pandemic. But he criticised the government’s own messaging as “confused”.
We’re seeing this increase in infection rate, that’s the time the testing regime needs to work and it’s not working and the prime minister needs to take responsibility.
Updated
Britain records 2,420 more coronavirus cases
The government has just updated its daily coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.
The government normally publishes figures for the UK, but these figures are just for Britain because the Northern Ireland data is not available today.
- Britain has recorded 2,420 more coronavirus cases. That is well down on the UK totals for Sunday and Monday (2,988 and 2,948 respectively) but, if it were not for the Sunday/Monday figures, this would still be the highest daily total since the end of May.
- Britain has recorded 30 more coronavirus deaths, taking the official headline total to 41,584. This is the highest daily total for reported deaths since the end of July (when 34 deaths were recorded on 29 July for the UK). This figure only records people who have died within 28 days of a coronavirus test, and so it significantly understates the true number of coronavirus deaths in the UK. Taking into account all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, there have been 57,417 UK deaths. (See 10.38pm.)
This post replaces an earlier one that wrongly described today’s figures as UK ones, not GB ones.
Updated
Here are three Conservative MPs responding to what Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said earlier about how the government’s internal market bill would break international law because of its impact on the withdrawal agreement. (See 1.27pm.)
This is from Sir Bob Neill, who asked the question prompting Lewis’s comment. He voted remain in the referendum.
Well, it was a straight answer to a straight question. But a very troubling one nonetheless. Even as a “contingency”, a willingness to break international law sits ill for a county that has always prided itself on upholding the rule of law. https://t.co/BckgcYNfRF
— Sir Bob Neill MP (@neill_bob) September 8, 2020
These are from Sir Roger Gale.
Seeking to re-negotiate the Northern Ireland Protocol will be regarded world-wide as an act of bad faith. 1/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) September 8, 2020
Those of us who supported the Withdrawal Agreement did not expect that the Clause 38 “Get Out Of Jail” provision would be used to try to re-write an international agreement signed up to by the Prime Minister. 2/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) September 8, 2020
I want to see a deal with the EU but that is a matter for largely M.Barnier and if we reach 31st Dec without one then so be it. What we must not do though is to undermine our international credibility. Britain is an honourable Country and that honour is not for sale or barter 3/3
— Sir Roger Gale MP (@SirRogerGale) September 8, 2020
And this is from George Freeman, a former minister.
“Yes this does break the law, but only in a very specific and limited way”?!
— George Freeman MP (@GeorgeFreemanMP) September 8, 2020
Oh dear.
That sound you hear? It’s the sound of the Supreme Court preparing to remind Ministers that intentionally breaking the law - even in a very specific and limited way - is, well, unlawful. https://t.co/0l63k8TeAz
Updated
Updated
Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned that the arts are at the “point of no return” following the pandemic. Speaking to the Commons culture committee this morning, the composer and theatre impresario said it was economically “impossible” to run theatres with social distancing. He said the government had given him “no satisfactory answer” over “anomalies”, such as why people can fly on a plane but not attend the theatre without social distancing.
Lloyd Webber told: “We simply have to get our arts sector back open and running,”
Britain was a “leader in world theatre” and should be given the green light to “demonstrate how we can reopen”, he said. “We are at the point of no return really.”
Lloyd Webber cited an acquaintance, “one of the finest viola players I know”, now working in a supermarket. “There comes a point now when we really can’t go on much more,” he said.
The government rescue package was “giving money to buildings to keep the lights off” and going down a “bottomless pit” instead of “getting the buildings open”, he added.
Lloyd Webber also said: “There comes a point when we really can’t go on anymore. Theatre is an incredibly labour-intensive business. In many ways putting on a show now is almost a labour of love. Very few shows hit the jackpot in the way a Hamilton, Lion King or Phantom Of The Opera do.”
With regard to the question as to why the government allows people to sit elbow to elbow alongside strangers for three hours on a plane, but not in a theatre, this gets asked a lot, and the BBC’s Nick Robinson did actually get an answer earlier in the summer from Prof Jason Leitch, Scotland’s national clinical director. Leitch said it was partly just a choice, because government can’t allow everything.
It’s partly about mitigation in each location and public health measures that are possible but it’s also about choices. How you use the headroom you have. You simply cannot open everything at once. It’s a balance of family/society/economic/cultural relaxations. None risk-free.
— Jason Leitch (@jasonleitch) July 6, 2020
In the House of Lords earlier John Kerr, the former ambassador to Washington and Brussels, was scathing about the government’s decision to legislate to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. “Tearing up treaties is what rogue states do. I can’t recall our ever doing so,” he said.
Updated
Boris Johnson may not be popular with his predecessor, Theresa May (see 12.54pm), but he has had a warm endorsement this afternoon from Donald Trump.
Thank you Boris, working great together! https://t.co/84LabKf513
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 8, 2020
Trump’s tweet refers to a Sunday Telegraph story about notes from various high-level UK-US meetings showing, among other things, that Johnson told the American ambassador when he was foreign secretary in 2017 that Trump was doing “fantastic stuff”.
At the time one might have been tempted to view this as hyperbole motivated by politeness. But a year later Johnson told a private Tory dinner that he was “increasingly admiring of Donald Trump” and he went on:
I have become more and more convinced that there is method in his madness … Imagine Trump doing Brexit. He’d go in bloody hard … There’d be all sorts of breakdowns, all sorts of chaos. Everyone would think he’d gone mad. But actually you might get somewhere.
In the light of the latest developments in Brexit, it is hard not to conclude that Trump is indeed providing Johnson with a role model.
Updated
Caerphilly county borough in south Wales has one of the highest rates of coronavirus in the UK, the Welsh health minister, Vaughan Gething, has told a press conference.
The rate has increased to 72.9 cases per 100,000 of the population.
Gething said:
Of the 451 tests carried out by the mobile testing unit in Caerphilly on Saturday, 19 were positive, which indicates current transmission in the community.
The majority of the cases have been associated with people socialising without social distancing and in people returning from holiday abroad with coronavirus.
He gave an example of a group of friends who returned home (he did not specify where) from Ibiza. Three came home with the virus. Some went out socialising and within days it had spread to 13 others.
Gething said the rise in Caerphilly was so rapid that there had not been early warning signs.
He said other areas in Wales were on a “watch list” and community testing is to begin in the lower Rhondda Valley in south Wales.
Gething insisted that it was right not to order pubs and shops to shut because the evidence was that the virus was not being passed on in those settings but in people’s homes.
Updated
The police and crime commissioner (PCC) for Redcar and Cleveland – last year branded “Britain’s worst police force” – has resigned after what his local MP called a “truly disastrous tenure”.
Barry Coppinger tendered his immediate resignation on Tuesday after the police watchdog began investigating the deletion of WhatsApp messages from his personal phone.
In his resignation letter, Coppinger said he had “felt under siege” since inspectors published what was described as “the most damning report ever given to a police force” last September. The report, by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, was the first to ever find a force inadequate across all areas.
Coppinger said he had been “working and making decisions while experiencing considerable, cumulative stress” ever since.
He admitted deleting WhatsApp messages but said they were all “of a mundane, logistical nature and did not, to my recollection, include anything significant to the work of the force or OPCC [Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner].”
His resignation was welcomed by Simon Clarke, the MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who himself stepped down as a government minister for personal reasons on Tuesday.
Updated
Boris Johnson has invited members of the public to submit questions to him on coronavirus, implying that he has a press conference planned. According to the Guido Fawkes website, it will be tomorrow.
I’ll be answering some of your questions about coronavirus.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 8, 2020
Ask your questions at https://t.co/FBynuacYFP pic.twitter.com/7cw6hbYQp8
In his opening statement in the Commons Matt Hancock cited a King’s College survey today as evidence of how coronavirus can have longterm effects for people lasting for months. He has just mentioned it again, saying the longterm impact can be “devastating”. He said:
Six months on many people are still suffering from chronic fatigue, muscle pain, and breathing difficulties, previously fit and healthy people reduced to barely being able to function.
A King’s College survey published today shows that 300,000 people in the UK have reported symptoms lasting for more than a month and 60,000 people have been ill for more than three months.
My colleague Sarah Boseley has a story about that King’s College study here.
There seem to be a concerted effort today from political leaders and officials to encourage young people to take social distancing more seriously. (See Robert Jenrick at 9.15am, Matt Hancock at 12.32pm, Prof Chris Whitty at 12.34pm and Nicola Sturgeon at 1.58m.) Andy Street, the Conservative mayor for the West Midlands, is now making the same point. Point out that there has been a “very notable increase in Birmingham and Solihull” infection rates in the last few days, he said:
The really important message to get across is that this is very much concentrated in the younger age groups, so under-40s. It looks to be as a result of socialising and household contact. The critical message is everybody has a responsibility to follow the guidance.
If they do not follow the guidance, we will of course be subject to very stringent restrictions preventing people enjoying the things they’ve been looking forward to.
In Birmingham the infection rate in the week ending September 5 was 62.4 cases per 100,000 while in neighbouring Solihull it was 46.1, PA Media reports.
In the Commons Munira Wilson (Lib Dem) says Matt Hancock should forget “world-beating”. What is he doing to have a functioning test system?
Hancock says we do have a functioning test system, and he is addressing the capacity problems.
Here is Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, on Brandon Lewis’s admission that the government plans to break international law. (See 1.27pm.)
This is a really sad and shocking state of affairs for our country. Breaking international law will do untold damage to our reputation abroad, it will make us poorer and make it harder to solve global crises like the climate emergency. https://t.co/zUeYxxsTKL
— Ed Davey MP 🔶🇪🇺 (@EdwardJDavey) September 8, 2020
NHS England has announced a further eight coronavirus hospital deaths. The full details are here.
There have been three further deaths in Scotland.
But there have been no further deaths in Wales.
Today’s Northern Ireland figures will be available at 2.30pm.
Back in the Commons, the SNP’s Philippa Whitford says if people are being asked to travel long distances for tests, that is dangerous. Wouldn’t it be better for people to be tested locally if the problem lies with laboratory processing? She says samples could then be sent on to laboratories. And she urges Matt Hancock to expand testing in hospitals (so-called pillar 1 testing).
Hancock agrees with Whitford on the need for more pillar 1 testing.
Updated
Sturgeon warns young adults that discounting risks of Covid is 'a dangerous delusion'
Nicola Sturgeon has warned young adults against “a really dangerous delusion” that they can discount the risks of catching Covid-19 or ignore the risks that they will pass it on to older and/or vulnerable people.
The first minister said a majority of the big spike of cases in Scotland, which has led to three deaths overnight of patients with confirmed cases in hospital, were among people aged 18-39 who were enjoying the relaxation of lockdown and physical distancing regulations by going to pubs and parties.
She told the daily coronavirus briefing that the surge in infections, hospitalisations and deaths was worrying. There were 176 new cases recorded overnight. She confirmed there was no likelihood Scotland would shift from phase 3 to phase 4 of its lockdown-easing routemap this week.
She said:
To younger people, please think about your loved ones and to older people be even more vigilant with hygiene and distancing if you’re spending time with young relatives who might have been in pubs and restaurants.
She said the Scotland-wide prevalence was about 20 cases per 100,000 but that was much higher in the five councils in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area, where household visits have now been restricted.
Jason Leitch, the Scottish government’s national clinical director, said it showed the country needed to retain its current rules on distancing and hygiene. “We’re at the edge of what we can safely do, while maintaining prevalence at this rate,” he said.
Updated
Hancock announces new lockdown restrictions for Bolton
Hancock says the government is investing in making fast, mass testing available.
He stresses the importance of local restrictions. And he says there is a particular problem in Bolton, which is why he says he is announcing new measures there.
He says Bolton now has 120 cases per 100,000 people. That is the highest case rate in the country.
The increase is partly caused by socialising among people in their 20s and 30s, he says. He says a number of pubs have been identified as places where the virus has spread significantly.
- Pubs and restaurants in Bolton will only be allowed to provide a takeaway service. And they will have to close between 10pm and 5am, he says.
- Guidance for Bolton saying people must not socialise outside their household will be made legally binding, he says.
And he says measures are being introduced to restrict the number of people visiting care homes and hospitals in Bolton.
Updated
Matt Hancock's Commons statement on coronavirus
In the Commons Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is making a statement about coronavirus.
He says the daily number of people dying is at its lowest level since March.
But he says coronavirus is still dangerous, and he says the long-term effects can be very serious in people who get the illness.
Updated
Here is the QC and campaigner for government transparency and accountability Jolyon Maugham on Brandon Lewis’s comment about the government breaking international law. (See 1.27pm.)
"My client only broke the law in a specific and limited way" is amongst the rarer pleas advanced by Counsel in written or oral submissions. https://t.co/2beBwHC7Py
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) September 8, 2020
Updated
'This does break international law,' Northern Ireland secretary tells MPs
This is what Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said when his Tory colleague Sir Bob Neill asked for an assurance that nothing in the internal market bill being published tomorrow would breach international legal obligations. Lewis replied:
I would say to my honourable friend that, yes, this does break international law in a very specific and limited way. We’re taking the power to disapply the EU law concept of direct effect required by article 4 in certain very tightly defined circumstances.
There are clear precedents for the UK, and indeed other countries, needing to consider their international obligations as circumstances change. And I would say to honourable members here, many of whom would have been in this house when we passed the Finance Act in 2013 which contains an example of treaty override. It contains provisions that expressly disapply international tax treaties to the extent that these conflicted with the general anti-abuse rule.
And I would say to my honourable friend we are determined to ensure we are delivering on the agreement we have in the protocol and our leading priority is to do that through the negotiations and through the joint committee work. The clauses which will be in the bill tomorrow are specifically there for should that fail to ensure that we are able to deliver on our commitments to the people of Northern Ireland.
This is not what the government was saying yesterday, when ministers and officials were insisting their plans would not breach the withdrawal agreement.
Updated
Sir Bob Neill, the Conservative chair of the Commons justice committee, says obeying the law is not negotiable. Does this plan break international law?
Lewis says it does break international law in a limited way. But he claims there is precedent for this.
I will post the full quote in a moment.
Updated
Withdrawal agreement 'not like any other treaty', Brandon Lewis tells MPs
In response to Theresa May, Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, said that the UK had worked with the EU “in a spirit of good faith” and that it was continuing to do so. But he claimed the withdrawal agreement and the Northern Ireland protocol were “not like any other treaty”. He explained:
It is written on the assumption that subsequent agreements could be reached between us and the EU on the detail. That is the entire purpose of the specialised joint committee. And we continue to believe that that is possible. But as a responsible government we cannot allow businesses to not have certainty for January.
And the reality is that the UK internal market bill and the finance bill are last legislative opportunities that we have to give that certainty and confidence to the people and businesses of Northern Ireland that we will deliver what we agreed in the protocol, outlined in the manifesto and what we set out in the command paper.
Another Conservative MP, Simon Hoare, has also criticised the government’s decision to legislate to allow it to override aspects of the withdrawal agreement. These are from Business Insider’s Adam Payne.
A 2nd Tory MP expresses their disapproval
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) September 8, 2020
Simon Hoare says he shares May’s concern that the UK is at risk of no longer being a “country that keeps its word and abides by international obligations””
He asks Lewis to reassure him that he understands how serious these issues are
May’s question to Lewis: "How can the government reassure future international partners that the UK can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs?"
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) September 8, 2020
This is from my colleague Rajeev Syal.
Jonathan Jones’ leaving email to GLD colleagues: no explanation as to why he has resigned, but praises them for their work on the “constitutional complexities of leaving the EU”. pic.twitter.com/scjmMDqD8P
— rajeev syal (@syalrajeev) September 8, 2020
May accuses Johnson of undermining trust in UK as country that honours international agreements
Here is the full quote from Theresa May in the UQ on the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 12.46pm.)
The United Kingdom government signed the withdrawal agreement with the Northern Ireland protocol. This parliament voted that withdrawal agreement into UK legislation. The government is now changing the operation of that agreement. Given that, how can the government reassure future international partners that the UK can be trusted to abide by the legal obligations of the agreements it signs?
May phrased her comment as a question, but it was a clear indication that she believes Boris Johnson has undermined trust in the UK as a country that can be relied on to honour international agreements.
Theresa May, the former Conservative prime minister, asks how the UK can be trusted to keep its word in the light of the plans unveiled by the government this week.
Brandon Lewis says businesses need certainty. These plans will give certainty to the people of Northern Ireland that the government will deliver on what it promised them.
In the Commons Louise Haigh, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, says the resignation today of the head of the government’s legal department is very worrying.
She says the government is undermining trust by appearing to go back on the agreement it signed. We cannot afford to be seen as a country that does not keep its word, she says.
She quotes Margaret Thatcher saying Britain is a country that keeps its treaties.
Responding to Haigh, Brandon Lewis says Haigh should wait until she sees the legislation. He says it will deliver on the promise made by the Conservatives for unfettered access.
The legislation will serve as a “safety net”, ensuring that Northern Ireland goods remain part of the UK customs areas, he says.
And it will confirm that Great Britain will not be subject to EU state aid rules.
He says he cannot comment on the resignation of Jonathan Jones.
In the Commons Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, is responding to an urgent question about the government’s plans to legislate to allow it to override the Northern Ireland elements of the withdrawal agreement.
He says the government is committed to implementing the Northern Ireland protocol. But he says the government is also committed to allowing unfettered access for trade from Northern Ireland to Britain, and that it intends to legislate how the protocol will operate.
Scotland records three Covid deaths - highest daily total since June
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minster, told reporters at her coronavirus briefing that three more confirmed coronavirus patient had died in Scotland. It is the first time three deaths have been recorded in one day since 30 June. It brings the total number of Covid-19 fatalities to 2,499.
Sturgeon also said 21,719 people had tested positive for the virus in Scotland, up by 176 from 21,543 the day before. This represents 2.3% of people newly tested, down from 2.4% yesterday.
Of the new cases, 91 are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 32 in Lanarkshire and 16 in Lothian. There are 267 people in hospital with confirmed or suspected Covid-19, an increase of 11 in 24 hours. Of these patients, six were in intensive care, up one.
Updated
This is from Prof Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer.
Jonathan Van Tam lays the situation out clearly. We have through the extraordinary efforts of the whole population got COVID rates right down. They are now rising again especially in those aged 17 to 29. If we stop social distancing COVID comes back. We all need to protect others https://t.co/9uYMSLkbnp
— Professor Chris Whitty (@CMO_England) September 8, 2020
Hancock's evidence to Commons health committee - Summary
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has finished giving evidence to the Commons health committee. We did not learn much from it about the government’s plans to reform social care (the supposed subject of the session), but Hancock did have some important things to say about coronavirus. Here are the main points.
- Hancock said that it would take at least two weeks to resolve the processing problems that have led to people being unable to get coronavirus tests. Asked how long it would take to solve the problems - highlighted this morning in a tweet from NHS Test and Trace’s testing director (see 11am) - Hancock said they would be sorted out “in the coming weeks”.
We have had these operational issues ... We’ve had a problem with a couple of contracts ... But it’s a matter of a couple of weeks until we can get all that sorted in the short term, in the immediate term.
We have already put in certain solutions to ensure people don’t have to travel more than 75 miles. I appreciate 75 miles is far loner than you would want to go, and indeed the vast majority of tests are much closer than that.
- He said he had just started seeing “credible” evidence of people being reinfected with coronavirus. But all the cases involved people who were asymptomatic second time around, he said. He told the MPs:
We have also just started to see the first credible cases of reinfection and through genomic analysis you can see it is a different disease to the one the person got the first time around.
But in all the cases that I have seen it has been an asymptomatic second infection that has been picked up through asymptomatic testing.
But the hard question is, because one of the most difficult parts of dealing with this virus is asymptomatic transmission what we don’t yet know is the transmissability of the disease even from an asymptomatic person who might have had the disease before.
But we have got a huge amount of work going into answering that question.
- He said even people with mild cases of coronavirus could suffer longterm debilitating effects. The longterm effects of coronavirus were not “very strongly correlated” with the severity of the infection, he said:
This is not just about people who were hospitalised, in fact, and this is really relevant for now because the latest rise in the last few days has been largely among young people.
But it doesn’t matter how serious your infection was first time initially, the impact of long Covid can be really debilitating for a long period of time, no matter if your initial illness wasn’t all that severe.
This was a particular issue for young people he added, he said.
People of all ages are affected by long Covid and people who are younger who might think they are unlikely to get severe symptoms or die of Covid can still have a terrible illness that completely changes their lives for months and months and months.
These are from the Local Government Chronicle’s Sarah Calkin.
Disappointing @CommonsHealth session, supposedly on social care reform but dominated by Covid. Appreciate there are plenty of questions on that too but social care reform hasn't got any less urgent as a result of the pandemic, only more so due to impact on council finances
— Sarah Calkin (@sjcalkin) September 8, 2020
All we've really got from @MattHancock is that discussions on social care reform were delayed by Covid but are starting up again and 'we are currently in the depths of spending review discussions about the how demographic pressures are manifest'.
— Sarah Calkin (@sjcalkin) September 8, 2020
Council leaders in the north-east of England have warned young adults to follow coronavirus restrictions after a “deeply concerning” increase in coronavirus cases.
Average cases per day across the region have doubled in just over a week and are now averaging around 80 per day, while local authorities expect the figure to rise.
A statement on behalf of the leaders of seven north-east councils and the North of Tyne combined authority said:
A significant minority believe it is OK to have house parties, hold events with unregulated crowds, ignore the rules – well it isn’t.
By not following the guidance, advice and legislation you are at greater risk of spreading the virus to your own family, which as we have seen can lead to tragic consequences.
It added that more compliance with its track and trace system was also needed to curb the numbers. It went on:
People who have symptoms or are asked to do so by the health protection teams must book a test and self-isolate until they have their results.
Don’t assume, if you are a contact, that a negative test means you are OK - it doesn’t; you could be incubating the virus. If you are asked to self-isolate, it is really important that you do so whatever your test status at the time.
We have seen cases where individuals with symptoms have had a test, then gone out and infected others before getting their results - reckless and selfish behaviour.
Updated
Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool city region, has said there has been a “worrying rise” in coronavirus cases in his region over the last week.
We've seen a worrying rise in cases of Coronavirus across our region over the past week.
— Steve Rotheram (@MetroMayorSteve) September 8, 2020
I know that nobody wants to see a local lockdown like we've seen in other areas, so please keep taking every precaution to stop the spread. pic.twitter.com/AS668jqQqk
Updated
Resignation of legal department chief shows 'something very rotten' about this government, says Labour
Lord Falconer, the shadow attorney general, has put out this statement about the resignation of the head of the government’s legal department. (See 11.35am.)
Jonathan Jones is an impressive lawyer and a loyal civil servant. If he can’t stay in the public service, there must be something very rotten about this government. This resignation indicates that senior government lawyers think that the government are about to break the law.
The government is trashing the best of the UK, we are a law abiding country and the government have some serious questions to answer.
Asked how worried he was about the sharp rise in new coronavirus case numbers, Hancock told MPs:
It is for all of us to take this very seriously indeed. And we have seen in other countries that if you don’t take a second spike seriously, it can lead to very serious problems down the track.
Hancock says resolving processing problems creating Covid test shortages will take two weeks
Hancock told MPs that it would take a couple of weeks for the government to resolve the laboratory processing problems that have led to people being unable to get a coronavirus test. Asked about the apology this morning from Sarah-Jane Marsh, director of testing at NHS test and trace, to people who have been waiting (see 11am), Hancock paid tribute to the work she was doing. But he said it would take a fortnight to get these problems sorted.
He also said that he was ensuring that people would not be asked to go more than 75 miles for test, although he acknowledged that that was not ideal.
And he said he was rolling out testing for asymptomatic people in care homes.
Updated
Back in the health committee, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked about a claim that the coronavirus crisis could lead to 30,000 extra cancer deaths, because of people missing treatment. Asked what the government’s own estimate was of the number of extra people likely to die from cancer, Hancock said he could not give a figure at this point because he did not know how long it would take the government to process the backlog of cases.
Government legal department head resigns 'following dispute with No 10 over plan to override withdrawal agreement'
Turning away from the Commons health committee, PA Media has reported that Sir Jonathan Jones has resigned as the permanent secretary of the government legal department.
According to the Financial Times (paywall), Jones has resigned following a dispute with No 10 about its plans to override parts of the withdrawal agreement. The FT says:
Two officials with knowledge of the situation told the Financial Times that the Treasury solicitor and permanent secretary of the Government Legal Department was leaving his position due to a dispute with Downing Street over its plans to challenge parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Those close to Sir Jonathan said he was “very unhappy” about the decision to overwrite parts of the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the 2019 withdrawal agreement, with new powers in the UK internal market bill.
Updated
The SNP’s Neale Hanvey asks Hancock on what basis he has the confidence to challenge the advice given by scientific advisers.
Hancock says the decisions taken by the government in March were based on advice from the scientists.
Q: Deciding to lock down the country was a big move. What made you decide when was the right time? What was the clincher?
Hancock says the clinch factor was the rising number of new cases.
Q: Prof John Edmunds said that, if the lockdown had happened earlier, many lives would have been saved. Why are you confident you took the right decisions?
Hancock says the government took the decisions based on the information it had at the time.
There is a debate about the timing, he says.
But he says he is focused on stopping the sharp rise in cases now.
Updated
Talking about social care, Hancock told the Commons health committee that there were “a series of injustices” in the system. He said:
The current way that the social care system operates clearly has embedded in it a series of injustices that have grown up over time.
One is the system of deciding which care is paid for in the social care system and which care is paid for in the NHS, which as you’ll know from your time in my job was essentially decided over a series of court cases rather than anyone taking a policy decision.
Then the second aspect is the fact that of course many people, including some very vulnerable people, need care and that care needs to be paid for.
Some people would like to have more care then can currently be paid for.
Updated
Matt Hancock's evidence to Commons health committee
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons health committee. The session is primarily focused on social care, but Hancock has been talking about coronavirus too.
Asked about the recent rise in cases, Hancock said he was concerned, but that a second peak was not inevitable.
Matt Hancock on Coronavirus case rise - "I am obviously concerned... but there is no inevitability to a second peak."
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) September 8, 2020
NHS Test and Trace chief apologises for people not being able to get tests
Sarah-Jane Marsh, director of testing at NHS Test and Trace, the English testing organisation, has apologised to people who have been unable to get a Covid test. In recent days many people have found it impossible to book a test, or else found themselves directed to a test centre many miles away.
Can I please offer my heartfelt apologies to anyone who cannot get a COVID test at present. All of our testing sites have capacity, which is why they don’t look overcrowded, its our laboratory processing that is the critical pinch-point. We are doing all we can to expand quickly.
— Sarah-Jane Marsh 🌈 (@BWCHBoss) September 8, 2020
We have additional NHS, Lighthouse, University and Partner Labs all due to open-up imminently and we are also expanding the use of non-Laboratory based tests.The Testing Team work on this 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. We recognise the country is depending on us.
— Sarah-Jane Marsh 🌈 (@BWCHBoss) September 8, 2020
PA Media quotes this example from someone who has been struggling to get a test. Andy Thompson, 38, a technical manager from Crewe, said his six-year-old daughter is home from school with a continuous cough, but has so far been unable to get a home test. Social media is full of other, similar stories (although also accounts from people who have been able to get a test easily).
Updated
ONS update shows that UK has now had 57,417 coronavirus deaths
The latest Office for National Statistics weekly report on deaths in England and Wales out this morning says that in the week ending 28 August coronavirus accounted for just 1.1% of deaths.
But, on the basis of the figures in the report, PA Media says just over 57,400 deaths involving Covid-19 have now been registered in the UK.
The ONS report says that 52,316 deaths involving Covid-19 had occurred in England and Wales up to 28 August, and had been registered by 5 September.
Figures published last week by the National Records for Scotland showed that 4,228 deaths involving Covid-19 had been registered in Scotland up to 30 August, while 873 deaths had occurred in Northern Ireland up to 28 August (and had been registered up to September 2), according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.
Together, these figures mean that so far 57,417 deaths have been registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, including suspected cases.
This is far higher than the headline UK coronavirus death figure published on the government’s dashboard, which is currently at 41,554. That’s because the headline figure only covers people who died with 28 days of testing positive. Although tests are routine now for people with symptoms, earlier in the crisis thousands of people died from coronavirus without being tested.
Updated
Photograph: Stefan Rouseau/PA
Sage expressed doubts about Covid-free 'pass'
On the subject of possible 24-hour Covid-free “passes”, that could enable people testing negative to attend concerts etc (see 9.48am), it is worth pointing out that the government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies is sceptical.
At the end of last week, as part of its regular release of Sage paperwork, the government published a consensus statement from Sage on mass testing. It is dated 31 August, and it looks at the pros and cons for using mass testing in different ways.
The document does not talk about 24-hour Covid-free “passes”, but it does consider the case for what it describes as “pre-event passports”. It says this process could allow activities to resume, but it says the logistics would be complicated, and that tests would have to be carried out close to the time of the event.
And it highlights two other potential problems: people cheating, and people getting a false sense of reassurance.
If a test-negative result is a requirement for entry to a venue or activity, a range of strategies to “game” the system may emerge including false verification of test results ...
Those receiving a test-negative result - whether true or false - may engage in behaviours that increase the risk of transmission during or after the event including reducing hand hygiene, not wearing face coverings and not maintaining physical distance from others.
This is that the Sage document says in its key recommendations.
The use of testing as a point-of-entry requirement for particular settings and events, e.g. sporting and cultural events, could play a role in allowing the resumption of such activities with reduced risk of transmission. Such applications of testing would require superb organisation and logistics with rapid, highly-sensitive tests.
That reference to “superb organisation” sounds like a note of caution. “Superb” isn’t a word that has regularly been applied to the government’s testing arrangements.
Updated
Jenrick confirms possibility of mass testing for Covid-free 'passes' for events
In one of his TV interviews this morning Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, confirmed that the government is looking at the idea of using Covid tests to enable people to get what could amount to a 24-hour “Covid-free pass”, enabling them to attend venues like theatres. Asked about the idea, Jenrick told BBC Breakfast:
That’s at a relatively early stage. But, as the health secretary said, we are exploring it and seeing if there’s an opportunity to use fast testing to give an individual an opportunity to go and use some of those things that are currently difficult to re-open, like theatres. Being able to prove at that moment in time they don’t have the virus.
That’s something we’re exploring and obviously it would be very helpful if we were able to bring that forward in the future.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, did talk about this idea in his LBC phone-in yesterday, although he did not describe the concept as amounting to a 24-hour “pass”. This is a piece of labelling that seems to have come from journalists.
Updated
The leader of one of the two councils added to indoor visiting restrictions by the Scottish government last night has said that the measures are the result of a rise in “selfish behaviour”.
Andrew Polson, joint leader of East Dunbartonshire council, said that the move to include his area and Renfrewshire in the ban on households visiting each other at home had been agreed with Nicola Sturgeon and the five local authorities.
Polson told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme:
Tougher restrictions were discussed yesterday, but at this present time we’re hoping that the house to house restrictions will suffice. There’s no doubt that sadly we’re seeing a rise in selfish behaviour in some of our neighbourhoods with house parties of seven or eight families or households gathering together. People seem to have lost this message that we need to get on top of Covid-19.
Polson was also asked about the possibility of closing pubs, cafes and restaurants, where people can still gather. There have been some concerns raised that locals feel there is an inconsistency in being able to meet in a pub but not at home. He said that there was a “fine balance between health and the economy” adding that “hospitality is on its knees”.
Meanwhile, Chris McEleny, SNP councillor for Inverclyde - which recorded the highest death rates during lockdown - is calling for the Scottish government to reconsider opening indoor pubs, saying that keeping them open while imposing visiting restrictions was undermining the public health message. McEleny told Good Morning Scotland:
It doesn’t make any sense that you can’t visit your mum in her own home with only one bathroom where you can stay safe but you can tell her to go to a pub where 100 people use the same washing facilities. Keeping pubs open ... has desensitised everyone’s reactions, we’ve lowered our guard.
Updated
The lockdown in Caerphilly, south Wales, is expected to last until at least October, the Welsh health minister, Vaughan Gething, has said.
Gething said community transmission of Covid-19 was taking place and unless people respected the restrictions, the outbreak was likely to “get out of control” and have “national consequences”.
Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, Gething said: “Social distancing has broken down.” He said the problem had been caused by a combination of people returning from Europe and getting together in houses.
He defended the decision not to close pubs, arguing that “significant transmission” was not taking place in such settings but this would continue to be reviewed.
There is no suggestion that road blocks will be set up to stop people from travelling in and out of Caerphilly county borough when the lockdown comes into force at 6pm on Tuesday.
Updated
Johnson chairs cabinet following health chief's 'people have relaxed too much' warning
Good morning. Last night, after the number of new coronavirus cases in the UK came close to 3,000 for the second day in a row, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, offered rather a chilling warning. “People have relaxed too much,” he said. “Now is the time for us to re-engage and realise that this is a continuing threat to us.” Describing the increase in case numbers as “big change”, he said;
We’ve been able to relax a bit over the summer, the disease levels have been really quite low in the UK through the summer but these latest figures really show us that much as people might like to say ‘oh well it’s gone away’ - this hasn’t gone away. And if we’re not careful, if we don’t take this incredibly seriously from this point in we’re going to have a bumpy ride over the next few months.
This morning Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, was doing the broadcast interview round on behalf of the government and he essentially backed Van-Tam’s message. He urged people to take “great care”.
The coronavirus is still with us so we all need to take great care. There is a concerning rise in cases and it reminds us that we have to keep following the guidance.
Although we are encouraged to return to the workplace to support jobs, cafes and so on, we need to do so responsibly ... Nobody wants to see a return to full national restrictions of the kind we had earlier this year.
And he said the young, amongst whom new infections are rising most quickly, had a particular responsibility to be careful.
We have to keep hammering the message home. Of course the people in those age categories are unlikely to become extremely unwell as a result of having the virus but they are able to pass it on to others. There’s a responsibility on younger people to not just stay at home, obviously to go out and go to work and to enjoy pubs and restaurants, but do so in accordance with the guidelines.
This will doubtless come up at cabinet this morning, and MPs will be hearing from Matt Hancock, the health secretary later.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
9.30am: The ONS releases its weekly death figures for England and Wales.
9.30am: Andrew Lloyd Webber and other leading figures from the arts give evidence to the Commons culture committee about venue reopening.
11am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee about social care.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minster, holds a coronavirus briefing.
12.30pm: Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, answers a Commons urgent question about the Northern Ireland protocol.
Around 1.15pm: Hancock makes a Commons statement about coronavirus.
And, of course, the UK-EU trade talks resume in London.
Politics Live has been doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog for some time and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, for the foreseeable future it will still mostly focus on coronavirus. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, like Brexit, and where they seem more important and interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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.
Updated
