Early evening summary
- The UK has become the first country in Europe to record more than 50,000 coronavirus deaths according to its main headline measure. With another 595 deaths recorded today, there are now 50,365 people who have died within 28 days of testing positive. If all deaths where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate are included, the total passed 50,000 some time ago and is now over 65,000. (See 4.30pm.) On 17 March, in the week before the first full lockdown was announced, Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said that a death toll of less than 20,000 deaths would be “a good outcome”.
- Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has said that Covid infections seem to have peaked in his region - although hospital cases are still rising. (See 3.45pm.)
- The ONS has published research showing that 83% of disabled people say they are worried about the effect the pandemic is having on their life, compared to 71% of non-disabled people.
- Boris Johnson has distanced himself from Donald Trump, until recently a close ally, telling MPs that he found it “refreshing” being able to discuss shared values with Joe Biden. (See 1.59pm.) But Labour has said Johnson should condemn Trump’s refusal to concede defeat in the US election.
- Parliament’s joint committee on human rights has said that it is a matter of “intense frustration and concern” that the government is failing to ensure that black people have their human rights protected as much as white people. (See 5.38pm.)
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
According to Tom Newton Dunn from Times Radio, Lee Cain tried to resign as Boris Johnson’s communications director last week because he was worried about being sidelined by Allegra Stratton, the newly-hired press secretary who will take televised briefings. This threat led to Cain being lined up for the chief of staff job, Newton Dunn reports. But he quotes a source saying the backlash means there is now only a 20% chance of Cain getting the job.
Newton Dunn explains all this in a Twitter thread starting here.
More on the internal power struggle raging in No10. I understand that Lee Cain, his current Director of Comms, tendered his resignation last week. Argued that he would be sidelined by the appointment of a new Chief of Staff and new on-air spokeswoman Allegra Stratton (1/5)
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) November 11, 2020
Sir Keir Starmer has described today’s coronavirus death figures, taking the total for deaths within 28 days of a positive test above 50,000 for the first time (see 4.30pm), as a “grim milestone”. He said:
It is a grim milestone and we’re the first in Europe to hit it.
Behind these numbers is a devastated family, one for every death, and they have to be uppermost in our mind.
The government was slow at phase one and they haven’t learned the lesson going into phase two.
We owe it to all of the families who are grieving to get on top of the virus and head towards a vaccine and that’s what the government must absolutely focus on now.
Starmer also said that he would be willing to get vaccinated early, if that would help to persuade people it was safe, but that he did not want to jump the queue. The government says the elderly and health workers should get priority. (See 10.16am.) Starmer said:
I would be first in line if that’s what people want but I don’t want to go to the front of the queue. I will take my place like everybody else.
But I would also do anything I can to encourage as many people as possible to have the vaccine because I think it is really important that everybody does have the vaccine.
More than three quarters of black people in the UK do not believe their human rights are protected as much as those of white people, a parliamentary committee has revealed today. The joint committee on human rights includes the figure in a report black people, racism and human rights that is strongly critical of governments for failing to address this problem seriously.
The report says:
Whilst the issues of racial inequality have been the subject of repeated reviews, the lack of progress in implementing the findings of those reviews has become a source of intense frustration and concern. Where actions have been taken, they have often been superficial and not had lasting effect. Our aim for this inquiry emphatically was not to embark on a new round of fact-finding in areas where the facts are already well established and considered recommendations have been made. Instead we call for action to implement these recommendations and look to how best to overcome the seeming inability for government to act.
The report highlights many areas where there is evidence of the human rights of black people being overlooked, not least in elections where it says “it is of serious concern to us that 25% of black voters in Great Britain are not registered to vote compared to a 17% average across the population”.
The report is also seriously critical of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, saying it has been “unable to adequately provide leadership and gain trust in tackling racial inequality in the protection and promotion of human rights”.
In a press notice about the report, Harriet Harman, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said:
The whole point about human rights is that they are supposed to be universal. Yet here in the UK it is clear that black people are in no doubt that the protection of their rights are inferior to those of white people.
We urge the government to take specific actions which will ensure black people have equal human rights. Commissioning reports and apologising is not enough.
Scotland unveils mass testing plan to enable students to return home for Christmas
The Scottish government is offering mass testing and staggered departure dates to 60-80,000 students in Scotland to enable them to go home for Christmas.
The minister for higher education, Richard Lochhead, outlined the scheme to the Holyrood parliament this afternoon, with students offered two rapid tests, five days apart, with those testing negative on both occasions able to travel home.
Universities are also discussing changing the date when their term ends to stagger the outflow of students across the country. Lochhead said that student infection rates were declining, and in the last week students contributed to only 2% of the national total.
Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Daniel Johnson described the statement as “woeful”, saying that it gave no answers on how and when students could return after the new year and included “a seeming misunderstanding of the benefit of lateral flow tests – they are useful because they are rapid rather than detect those who are asymptomatic”.
Welcoming the announcement, Matt Crilly, NUS Scotland president, said:
Focus now must turn to ensuring that institutions are equipped with enough resource to cope with the demand for testing and have funding to offer support to those students who for a variety of reasons, such as care experienced, estranged and international students, will stay in their accommodation over the winter break. We also need a clear strategy for January return: students deserve better than another term of uncertainty.
Updated
Speaking to broadcasters on a visit to a Tesco distribution centre this afternoon, Boris Johnson urged people to ignore anti-vaxx scaremongering and get vaccinated once the vaccine becomes available. He said:
Certainly I would say to everybody anti-vaxx is total nonsense – you should definitely get a vaccine.
Updated
Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, says more than 44,000 people have now participated in the city’s mass testing pilot that started on Friday last week.
Busy at all of our testing centres today, total tested as of 12.00 pm today 44,233. 220 positive. Please get tested and if you have thank you. Please wait a week and get tested again let’s do it for our family our community and our City. #letsbreakthechain
— Joe Anderson (@mayor_anderson) November 11, 2020
MPs condemn Ofqual for its role in exam marking fiasco
The exams regulator in England has come in for blistering criticism from MPs on the Commons education committee who have raised concerns about Ofqual’s transparency, independence and accountability following last summer’s exams fiasco.
The Conservative chair of the committee, Robert Halfon, has written to the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, laying out his committee’s findings following an inquiry into events over the summer, accusing Ofqual of burying its head in the sand as the crisis unfolded.
Although the regulator recognised there were problems with its model for awarding grades in the absence of exams last summer, the committee said it failed to raise concerns and chose instead to follow ministerial direction and “hope for the best”, calling into question its independence.
Halfon said:
The fallout and unfairness from the cancellation of this summer’s exams will have an ongoing impact on the lives of thousands of families.
But such harm could have been avoided had Ofqual not buried its head in the sand and ignored repeated warnings, including from our committee, about the flaws in the system for awarding grades.
A lack of transparency at Ofqual meant opportunities to raise alarm bells were missed. Ofqual should have acted to protect the futures of our young people.
The committee’s criticisms are mainly directed at Ofqual rather than the government, though the letter reveals that, contrary to normal practice, ministers have still not provided the committee all the official papers and minutes of meetings relating to the period, despite assurances in September that they would.
Looking ahead to next summer, the committee says exams must go ahead and “robust contingency planning should be put in place as soon as possible to ensure this can happen”, but questions whether schools can continue with the full curriculum, given the continuing and varying impact of the pandemic across the country.
Updated
Boris Johnson has responded to today’s Covid death figures. In a clip recorded for broadcasters, he said that every death was a tragedy and “we mourn everybody who’s gone”. But he said the country was now entering a different phase in its fight against the virus.
I do think now we’ve got to a different phase in the way that we treat it. And after these tough autumn measures, which I hope people will stick to really, really rigidly, as far as they possibly can, I’m very much hoping that two things will start to come to our aid.
Number one, the mass testing, the rapid turnaround testing. And the other thing is the prospect of a vaccine. You have, as it were, two boxing gloves to pummel the disease in the weeks and months that follow.
But I’ve got to stress that we’re not out of the woods yet. It does require everybody to follow the guidance, do the right thing, to suppress the disease in the way that we all understand.
UK headline Covid death toll passes 50,000 as 595 more deaths recorded
The UK government has just updated its coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.
- The UK has recorded 595 further coronavirus deaths, taking the official headline death toll above 50,000 for the first time. This is the highest daily total since early May, and substantially above yesterday’s total (532) which was the previous highest total for this wave of the pandemic. The headline death total is now 50,365, making the UK the first country in Europe to pass this milestone. But this figure only counts people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. Taking into account all deaths where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate, the UK total has passed 65,000.
- There have been 2,623 deaths in the past week, up 27% on the previous week.
- The UK has recorded 22,950 further positive cases.
Updated
And in Northern Ireland there have been 791 further coronavirus cases, up from 514 yesterday and 679 a week ago. And there have been eight further deaths, down from 11 yesterday and 10 a week ago.
Updated
Public Health Wales has recorded 928 new coronavirus cases. That is more than double the total for yesterday (444), but less than the figure a week ago (1,202).
It has also recorded 45 more deaths – more than double the figure announced yesterday (22) and one more than the figure for last Wednesday (44), when the number was inflated by the inclusion of some past cases.
Updated
Two thirds of teachers in England say they know colleagues who have displayed symptoms of Covid-19 in their school or college, according to a trade union survey.
Almost six in ten (59%) of those polled also reported that classes, year groups or ‘bubbles’ had been sent home because of suspected or positive Covid-19 cases.
The findings were based on the response of 7,440 members of the NASUWT union, which said that it “laid bare the reality” teachers and headteachers faced in terms of additional workloads and that safety concerns were having a major impact on mental and physical health.
Nearly a half of teachers (47%) expressed confidence in the way their school or college was dealing with suspected and actual cases, but a third (33%) were not confident.
“The reality is of more and more teachers being absent from work because of illness or because they need to self-isolate,” said NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach,
“The government has not done enough to support teachers in meeting the challenges of providing education to children and young people in these unprecedented circumstances.”
Covid infections seem to have peaked in Greater Manchester, says Burnham, although hospital cases still rising
The second wave of coronavirus infections appears to have peaked in Greater Manchester, the mayor, Andy Burnham has said, although the “full impact” would not be felt by the region’s hospitals until later this month.
The infection rate across the region of 2.8 million people, most of which has been under restrictions for 14 weeks, fell week-on-week for the first time since 21 August.
However, data released today also showed that Greater Manchester’s intensive care capacity had reached 79% and there had been a sharp rise in the number of Covid patients in non-critical care in the first week of November.
Andy Burnham says Greater Manchester may have reached the peak of the second wave in infections after first week-on-week fall in cases since August. However, he says the NHS hasn't yet "seen the full impact". Figures below show rise in Covid patients in ICU and non-ICU beds. pic.twitter.com/rLy4W1LwWc
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) November 11, 2020
There were 129 Covid-19 patients in intensive care in the week ending 9 November, up only slightly from 126 the previous week but more than double the tally three weeks ago.
The number of patients in non-ICU beds jumped to 1,208 in the week to 9 November, up from 1,049 a week earlier.
Burnham told a press conference that hospitals could increase ICU capacity to cope with an expected rise in patients during November.
Although there are the first signs perhaps that we may have seen the peak of the second wave with regard to the number of new infections in the community, I think it’s important for me to say that it doesn’t yet appear that we’ve reached the peak in terms of pressure on our hospitals and that is more likely to be felt towards the later part of this month – that’s certainly what colleagues in our hospitals are expecting to see. We haven’t, from an NHS point of view, seen the full impact yet of the second wave.
The overall fall in the infection rate was reflected in a drop in cases among the over-65s who are most vulnerable to Covid-19.
There was, however, concern about a continuing rise in infections among care home residents, 4.1% of whom have confirmed or suspected Covid-19 in the week to 10 November, up from 2.5% a fortnight ago. This remains significantly lower than in early April, when these figures were first collated, when the number stood at 6.7%.
Updated
YesCymru, the campaign for an independent Wales, says it has now got 15,000 members. That might not sound much, but at the start of the year the organisation, formed six years ago, had just 2,500.
“Due to Westminster’s handling of Covid-19, the people of Wales are seeing that they and the Senedd can do a better job of looking after our interests than Westminter,” said the YesCymru chair, Siôn Jobbins.
NHS England has recorded 361 more coronavirus hospital deaths. There were 118 in the north-west of England, 80 in the north-east and Yorkshire, 68 in the Midlands, 29 in the east of England, 27 in London, 25 in the south-east, and 14 in the south-west. The details are here.
That is 20% up on the total for yesterday (300) and for last Wednesday (302), and more than double the total for the Wednesday before (174).
Updated
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA
The latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. Heather Stewart, Simon Murphy and Lisa O’Carroll recap a busy week in Westminster. Libby Brooks, Steven Morris, and Rory Carroll update us on how the devolved nations have approached the second wave. Plus, Rajeev Syal speaks to the chair of the education select committee, Robert Halfon.
The DUP is not thought to be keen on the compromise proposal in Northern Ireland for a one-week extension of the lockdown (see 2.14pm), the BBC’s Jayne McCormack reports.
Understand the executive has adjourned for a while - it’s thought DUP ministers pushed back against the 1-week extension proposal that seeks to buy more time. Not clear if the paper could go to another cross-community vote...
— Jayne McCormack (@BBCJayneMcC) November 11, 2020
Back to Lee Cain, and here is my colleague Jessica Elgot’s story about his potential promotion from director of communications at No 10 to chief of staff.
The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg has a good Twitter thread on this, starting here.
If you are following Chiefgate...
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 11, 2020
1. 2 tory sources confirm Cain was offered job by PM at weekend after talking about it for few weeks
2. PM's fiance, Carrie Symonds, however, said to be deeply unhappy about the plan
3. Not now clear what outcome will be
Sam Coates from Sky has a good Twitter thread on this too, starting here.
Westminster somersaulted overnight at the scoop by @elliottimes that Lee Cain, currently Director of Communications is “poised” to be made Boris Johnson’s chief of staff. Congratulations to Times political editor on throwing a pebble which has caused **quite** so many waves.
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) November 11, 2020
These are from HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.
One former minister unsurprised by the move tells me: "Lee Cain is at the centre now anyway. It is a bit like Tony Soprano – Cummings – appointing one of his underbosses, as consiglieri. Tony still the ‘boss boss’."
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) November 11, 2020
“What is much more important is that they appoint someone, ideally an MP, to properly manage relations with the parliamentary party and sort that out because it is pretty poor.”
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) November 11, 2020
And this is from Gavin Kelly, who was deputy chief of staff at Downing Street when Gordon Brown was PM.
A key role of CoS is to avoid governing gridlock & make daily judgement calls for PM between competing interests: different departmental views; voices within No 10; wings of party; or short v long-term perspectives.
— Gavin Kelly (@GavinJKelly1) November 11, 2020
Hard for anyone. Harder still if steeped in a Comms mindset. https://t.co/WmOORLHfeu
Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary
Here are the main points from the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- No 10 signalled that it was not expecting the UK-EU trade talks to conclude this week. In Brussels a summit scheduled for a week tomorrow is now seen as the ultimate final deadline for a deal.
- The spokesman said it was the government’s “intention” to go back to a regionalised system of coronavirus restrictions when the current national lockdown in England ends next month. He said:
When the current national measures come to an end on December 2 we will be returning to a regional tiered approach. And we’re committed to setting out our proposals for what that system will look like the week before the current regulations lapse on December 2, so MPs will have the time to consider them and to vote upon them.
- The spokesman said Nightingale hospitals would be used as mass vaccination centres.
- The spokesman was unable to provide evidence that part of the £670,000 PR spend by Kate Bingham, head of the government’s vaccine, was used to combat anti-vaxxer arguments, as the PM claimed at PMQs.
- The spokesman refused to deny that Lee Cain was being considered for the post of Downing Street chief of staff. The spokesman said: “I’m not going to comment on the speculation today about personnel matters in Number 10 I’m afraid.”
- The spokesman condemned an Extinction Rebellion protest at the Cenotaph. He said:
The Cenotaph is a memorial to those who fought and died to preserve all our freedoms. On today, of all days, when we join together to pay tribute to our war dead, this action was profoundly disrespectful.
Updated
Cathedral offers its services as space for vaccination centre
Lichfield cathedral has invited local GP practices to use its nave as a vaccination centre when the immunisation programme is rolled out.
The Very Rev Adrian Dorber, dean of Lichfield, said:
The roll out of this new vaccine to immunise us against Covid-19 infection is the best news of the year. We want to offer the cathedral nave as a big space that can safely and securely house local vaccination programmes and enable speedy delivery to those most at risk.
Discussions are underway with local health providers to arrange facilities and appropriate dates and times.
The dean continued:
We pray every day for our nation and community especially for healing the sick and protecting the vulnerable. It’s only right we offer the cathedral as the practical means for those prayers to be answered.
The Scottish government has blamed a “coding error” after it emerged Scotland’s contact-tracing officials had failed to locate more than 50% of Covid-19 contacts within 24 hours of being identified.
The Sun reported today that Public Health Scotland, a new government agency, had admitted its published data had wrongly shown high levels of successful contact-tracing as part of Scotland’s “test and protect” system.
The Sun said in five of the eight weeks of September and October, only around half of all contacts were told of a positive case within 24 hours; in one week that number fell to 41.7%, belying government claims the Scottish test and trace system is working very well.
PHS revised its data to show the number of people who were not notified their tests were positive within 24 hours rose from 8,262 to 15,291, while the number of contacts who were not traced within 24 hours rose from 17,225 to 23,828.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said the erroneous data was due to a coding error but insisted Scotland’s “test and protect” system still met the World Health Organisation’s criteria for success.
The WHO recommends more than 80% of cases are contacted within 72 hours. Last week, nearly 92% of people were contacted within that time.
Opposition parties were scathing, however. Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour’s deputy leader, tabled an emergency question in Holyrood, with the Scottish Greens, Tories and Lib Dems calling for full disclosure from ministers.
Monica Lennon, Labour’s health spokeswoman, said:
Test and protect is crucial to containing coronavirus but with only around half of cases being contacted within 24 hours, people will be feeling bitterly disappointed, especially those living in areas forced into higher tiers.
Sinn Féin accuses DUP of putting lives at risk by blocking proposal for two-week lockdown extension
In Northern Ireland the power-sharing executive has failed to agree an extension to its version of lockdown, which is due to end at midnight on Thursday. Four of the parties in the five-party executive have backed a proposal for a two-week extension, but the DUP has blocked it.
In a statement at lunchtime Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland and deputy first minister, said:
Last night at the executive we were warned by the chief medical officer that any easing of the current restrictions would cause ‘excess deaths’.
The advice was stark and clear – if we don’t keep current restrictions in place for another two weeks, more people will die.
My priority has been to save lives, protect livelihoods and ensure that our health service would not be overwhelmed by the spread of the virus.
Last night the health minister [the UUP’s Robin Swann] brought forward a paper which made it very clear there should be an extension of the current restrictions for another two weeks to reduce the spread of the virus and its impact on society.
The health minister’s proposal to extend the restrictions was put to a vote in the executive.
Sinn Féin, the UUP, the SDLP and the Alliance party, a majority of the executive voted in favour of the health minister’s proposals.
The DUP voted against, used their veto and blocked the health minister’s proposal.
The executive is now reportedly considering a compromise proposal for a one-week extension of the lockdown.
Updated
The universities minister, Michelle Donelan, has sought to downplay concerns raised by experts about the reliability of tests which will be used on university campuses ahead of the creation of a “student travel window” during which students will travel home for Christmas.
Lateral flow tests (LFTs), which can deliver a result in as little as 30 minutes, are rapid but do not necessarily detect as many infected people as the PCR testing used at NHS sites, warned Dr Ellen Brooks Pollock, a lecturer in infectious disease modelling at the University of Bristol who has led research into Covid-19 among students. She told the BBC this morning:
Although a positive test is a good indicator of infection, a negative test does not guarantee that you are not infected, so you might have a lower viral load or be at an earlier or later stage of infection.
Prof Jacqui Ramagge, an executive dean for science at Durham University who has been overseeing a pilot project there for rapid Covid-19 testing, added that the danger of failing to pick up students who could become infectious later could be mitigated by taking a number of tests over a few days.
Asked about this, Donelan replied:
So that isn’t correct in terms of this lateral flow rapid test that we have. It is highly reliable. The number of false positives or false negatives are extremely low and as I’ve said our plan outlined today isn’t contingent on testing. That is complimentary to the plan. That is an additional element of it.
Updated
Johnson distances himself from Trump, saying it was 'refreshing' to discuss shared values with Biden
At PMQs Boris Johnson said that it was “refreshing” to speak to Joe Biden, the US president-elect, yesterday because the Biden administration and the UK will share so many priorities.
In response to a question from Labour’s Angela Eagle, he said:
I had, and have, a good relationship with the previous president, I do not resile from that - it is in the duty of all British prime ministers to have a good relationship with the White House.
But I’m delighted to find the many areas in which the incoming Biden/Harris administration is able to make common cause with us.
In particular, it was extremely exciting to talk to President-elect Biden about what he wants to do with the Cop26 summit next year, in which the UK is leading the world in driving down carbon emissions and tackling climate change.
And in response to the Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, Johnson said:
One of the many merits of the excellent conversation I had yesterday with President-elect Joe Biden was that we were strongly agreed on the need once again for the United Kingdom and the United States to stand together, to stick up for our values around the world, to stick up for human rights, to stick up for global free trade, to stick up for Nato, and to work together in the fight against climate change. It was refreshing to have the conversation. I look forward to many more.
You would expect Johnson to want a good relationship with the Biden administration but the speed with which Johnson seemed willing to consign Donald Trump to history was a little surprising.
This is from the Daily Mirror’s Pippa Crerar.
Trump well & truly dumped @realDonaldTrump
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) November 11, 2020
Boris Johnson: "I had & have a good r'ship w the *previous* President. I do not resile from that. It's the duty of all British PMs to have a good r'ship with WH".
Says he's "delighted" to have many areas of "common cause" w new admin
Updated
PMQs - Snap verdict
After the general election of 1918 Stanley Baldwin famously complained that the House of Commons was full of “a lot of hard-faced men who look as if they had done very well out of the war”. They may not be men, they may not be hard-faced, and most of them aren’t in the House of Commons, but it is increasingly clear that there are a lot of people who have done very well out of the coronavirus crisis, and some of them have been linked to the Tories. The government has been spending billions, normal tendering processes have short-circuited and, when the National Audit Office finally goes through the books, it is likely to conclude that not all money has been spent wisely. Jolyon Maugham and the Good Law Project have been campaigning on this issue for months, but today was the first time Sir Keir Starmer majored on the subject at PMQs.
Starmer is undoubtedly firing in the right direction. But today his attempt to weaponise the topic wasn’t particularly successful. He had a good moment with his gotcha question about the number of face masks procured under a £150m contract (“none”), but for various reasons the scandal charge did not stick as well as it might have done.
Partly that was because Starmer started with the £670,000 PR spend by Kate Bingham, head of the government’s vaccine taskforce, and Johnson argued that much of this was spent on recruiting people to take part in the vaccine trials have have helped to prove the efficacy of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. This may be the first time the government has deployed this defence since the story broke on Sunday, and it does not explain why government press officers could not do this job, but it still worked as a credible response. Another problem was that Starmer then chose to raise new Labour figures about PR spending (see 12.47pm) - which may largely be accounted for by spending on public health advice. Starmer was on safer ground complaining about the £150m face masks contracts, but Johnson’s broader response - about the need to try everything in an emergency - had merit too. The government is certainly vulnerable on this issue, but Starmer probably needs to find a more precise way to prosecute the case.
Starmer did better with his final three questions, which were focused on jobs, the delay in extending the furlough scheme and lack of help for the self-employed. Labour has been increasingly focusing its attacks on Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, as much as Johnson himself, and these questions were all aimed at the Treasury. Johnson regurgitated the usual talking points but he was at his weakest when Starmer asked about an individual, a self-employed photographer, who spoke to him on his LBC phone-in on Monday. A report (pdf) from the Britain Thinks consultancy yesterday said that showing empathy, which used to be seen as a moderately important attribute for a leader, is now rated as more important than before by voters when judging a politician. On empathy Starmer beats Johnson quite easily, and it showed in this exchange. Johnson sounded tin-eared when asked about the photographer’s plight.
Updated
At PMQs Sir Keir Starmer mentioned new research showing that the government has spent £130m on PR this year. Labour has now issued a press release with more details.
The party says it is demanding “more transparency on taxpayer value for money on this spend”.
Here is an extract.
Over £130m has been spent on communications consultancies since January, Labour has today reported. 23 different communications consultancies have been used by the UK government since the year began.
As questions swirl around the government’s decision to spend £670,000 on PR consultants for one official, the analysis reveals the amount of taxpayer money being spent on agencies – including many with established links to senior Tories.
The amount doesn’t include existing spend on special advisers and civil servants working on communications and press.
A majority of this spend is also with a single agency, Manning Gottleib OMD, paid £113,290,408.50 in 2020 alone, as part of a four-year media buying deal with the UK government for £600m.
The figures also show how spend peaked at £36m in July, with close to £35m spent in September.
Updated
Scotland records 64 Covid deaths - highest daily total since early May
Scotland has recorded its highest daily Covid-19 deaths since the peak of the pandemic in early May after 64 fatalities involving people with positive cases were recorded in the last 24 hours.
National Records of Scotland, the government statistics agency, said 206 deaths were recorded last week where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate, an increase of 38 over the previous week. Of those, 143 people died in hospital and 53 in care homes.
NRS said that adjusting for age, the data showed people living in large urban areas were four times more likely to die of the virus compared with those in rural areas, while West Dunbartonshire had the highest age-standardised death rate of all council areas, followed by Glasgow City, Midlothian and Inverclyde.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, said at her daily briefing the number of positive cases rose by 1,261 in the last 24 hours but she said the rate of increase was clearly slowing, as a result of the multi-tier controls imposed across the country. She said that had those controls not been in place, Scotland would now be seeing about 3,000 new cases every day.
Updated
Andrew Selous (Con) pays tribute to armed forces families.
Johnson says the armed forces could not function without the support of these families. Better provision will be made for them, he says.
And that’s it. PMQs is over.
Kate Hollern (Lab) says every day we are finding out more about “dodgy contracts”. Will the government commit to publishing details in time?
Johnson says of course the government will publish contracts. But of course the government has to deal with the private sector.
Christopher Clarkson (Con) asks the PM to pay tribute to everyone ensuring war memorial services could go ahead this year.
Johnson says the government has introduced a national insurance break for veterans.
Updated
Angela Eagle (Lab) asks if the PM has any advice for Donald Trump, whose refusal to accept the result of the election is embarrassing and dangerous for democracy.
Johnson says he had a good relationship with Trump. That was his duty as PM. But he says it was exciting to find so many areas of agreement with Biden.
Johnson says, in his conversation with Joe Biden yesterday, both agreed on the importance of sticking up for Nato, sticking up for human rights and addressing climate change.
Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dem) says Johnson met a constituent of his in Orkney. The constituent urged him to change the rules so that deck hands count as skilled labour. The rule has been changed. But the Home Office refuses to implement that.
Johnson says he will take it up with the home secretary. He remembers the visit to the crab fishing boat. He says being able to change the rules is one advantage of Brexit.
Julian Sturdy (Con) asks what will be needed for York to leave tier 2 and go into tier 1 on 2 December, after lockdown.
Johnson urges York council to join in the mass testing pilots.
James Murray (Lab) asks the PM to admit that the current outsourced model of contact tracing has been a waste of time and money.
Johnson says he does not agree. The system has located where the disease is, and allowed people to take appropriate measures.
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Alexander Stafford (Con) asks for an assurances that families and friends will be able to meet during Christmas.
Johnson says the more we follow the rules, the better chance we have of as normal a Christmas as possible.
Johnson says the government is looking at what can be done to keep the tourism sector going through the winter months.
Imran Ahmad Khan (Con) asks about religious freedom in Pakistan.
Johnson says the government has raised this with the Pakistani government, urging them to guarantee freedoms.
Johnson says Wales will not lose out in relation to regional support after the end of the post-Brexit transition.
Simon Jupp (Con) asks about regional airports. What assurances can the PM give them about temporarily scrapping regional business rates for them?
Johnson says the Bank of England’s liquidity support scheme is helping the airport sector.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says the UK faces a growing Tory unemployment crisis.
The furlough U-turn came far too late, he says.
Unemployment is 4.8%, he says.
Will the PM commit to making the £20 uplift to universal credit permanent, and to extend it to legacy benefits?
Johnson says he is delighted the SNP now supports universal credit. The uplift and the furlough scheme continue to March, he says.
Blackford says the PM should answer the question about universal credit.
He says 3 million self-employed people have been excluded from support. These people will be struggling to get by at Christmas.
Will the PM fix the gaps in the support scheme to help them?
Johnson says the government has just introduced a winter support package for poor families, with free meals.
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Starmer says lives would have been saved if the government had locked down earlier, and jobs would have been saved if furlough had been extended earlier.
Why is the government failing the self-employed?
Johnson says unquestionably this has been hard. But the government has done everything possible to help, he says. He says the self-employed have been helped, and universal credit has been uprated. Labour now supports UC. But it proposed abolishing it in its manifesto.
Starmer says Johnson should know the self-employed employment support scheme does not help many self-employed people. He says a self-employed photographer told him on LBC on Monday he needed help. Starmer says he promised to raise it with the chancellor. He is raising it with the PM now.
Johnson says he is grateful to everyone complying with the lockdown, and to the people of Liverpool for supporting the mass testing pilot. He says science has now given the government two big boxing gloves to tackle the virus (testing and a vaccine). He ends with the hands, face, space message.
Starmer says this is taxpayers’ money. The PM may not value it, but people do. He quotes a contract for face masks worth £150m. How many face masks were delivered?
Johnson says we are in the middle of a global pandemic. He says the government has to work with the private sector. Some are better than others. But the government has to work with them, even if Labour hates them.
Starmer says the answer is none.
He quotes another contract, and says the government is spraying money at companies. He says the chancellor did a U-turn on furlough. Yesterday’s figures, showing redundancies up 180,000, showed the damage done by that delay.
Johnson says the furlough programme has continued throughout the pandemic. Overall £210bn has been spent helping the economy. Those furlough programmes are disproportionately benefiting the poorest in society. That is what one nation Conservatism is about, he says.
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Starmer says the chancellor’s package for forces charities was just £6m. That is not enough. This government can find more than £600,000 for PR consultants. He says new research shows the government has spent £130m on PR this year.
Johnson says Starmer is referring to the vaccine taskforce. They were combating the anti-vaxxers, and persuading people to take part in trials. He says Starmer should take back what he said.
Sir Keir Starmer also pays tribute to Jonathan Sacks. He mentions the terrible events in Saudi Arabia this morning, congratulates Joe Biden and welcomes the vaccine announcement.
He asks the government to do whatever it can to help armed forces charities like Help for Heroes.
Johnson agrees. Help for Heroes is a remarkable charity, he says. He urges people to donate online to charities.
Fiona Bruce (Con) says church leaders have issued a call for prayer in relation to Covid. Will the PM support that and champion the right of freedom of religion?
Yes, says Johnson. He says where freedom of belief is under attack, other human rights are under attack too.
Ruth Cadbury (Lab) asks about the tiny number of Windrush victims who have received compensation.
Johnson says what happened was a scandal. The government is seeking to make amends. It will speed up the compensation programme.
Boris Johnson starts by sending sympathies to the family and friends of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who died last week.
And he says he attended the armistice day event at the tomb of the unknown warrior.
Health chief says NHS can deliver vaccination programme because 'army' of staff been working on it for months
Here are the main points from the Downing Street coronavirus data briefing. It was the first of what we’re promised will be regular data briefings on Wednesdays from No 10.
The press conference was chaired by Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England. Van-Tam has been a regular at the No 10 press conferences with the prime minister and other ministers and, of all the scientists who have become public figures during the pandemic, he is probably the best communicator, combining clarity and authority.
It is not hard to see why Downing Street is so keen to have someone like him presenting is health message, instead of someone like Michael Gove or Robert Jenrick.
- Van-Tam said he was “very reassured” that the NHS was ready for the mammoth task of administering the coronavirus vaccine. People had been preparing for this for months, he said. He said there would be a full NHS briefing on this next week. But he said:
If you didn’t understand just how many months people have been thinking about this, you would instinctively have worries about, do we have the refrigeration capacity required? Do we have the transport systems required to move vaccines around? Do we have the needles and syringes to do this programme at speed and pace? The answer to which is, I am very reassured on all of those points. An absolute army of people have been working on this for months, behind the scenes, quietly, well away from media attention.
I am absolutely convinced that the enormous NHS team behind this has grasped that nettle [the challenge of this] and understands the scale and challenge of the project, and is up for it.
- He said the vaccination programme would be “innovative”, involving pop-up vaccination centres and the housebound getting the vaccine at home.
- He said he was willing to volunteer to help administer the vaccine himself in his spare time. He made the point to illustrate how committed health professionals were to this programme. He said:
This is one of the most important, if not the most important, vaccination programme we’ve done for decades. And from that perspective I don’t mind telling you I’ve had the conversation at home; if I can help with this in some evenings and weekends doing some extra vaccinations sessions myself then I’m going to. That’s a given if I can get on the list and be useful.
- Older people will get priority for the vaccine at first, but over time that could change, Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, told the briefing. The JCVI has already published interim advice on who should get the vaccine first. (See 10.16am.) But Lim said, in the second phase of a vaccination programme, the priority order might change. He explained:
In phase two of the programme it’s likely that we’ll prioritise individuals who may suffer because of the need for hospitalisation because of Covid or perhaps because of long Covid. The reason it’s not been decided is because we need to also balance the possible prioritisation of individuals who are transmitting Covid instead.
And he said there could be different priority groups for different vaccines.
Because vaccines may act differently on older people, that may of course impact on how we prioritise the use of vaccines.
As new vaccines become available we may prioritise vaccines differently for different people.
- Van-Tam rejected suggestions that politicians or other leading officials, like himself, should get the vaccine early to encourage take-up. That would not be ethical, he suggested. He said, as a 56-year-old with one medium-to-high risk condition, he would like to be vaccinated early. But he went on:
If I could, rightly and morally, be at the very front of the queue, then I would do so, because I absolutely trust the judgment of the MHRA on safety and efficacy. But that clearly isn’t right, we have to target the most highest risk individuals in society and that is how it should be in terms of our system.
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There is “absolutely no chance” that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will compromise on safety standards in order to rush out a vaccine, Dr June Raine, its CEO, said. She said:
Although we have adapted our processes to undertake our rigorous review of effectiveness and safety in a rolling way, there is absolutely no chance that we will compromise on standards of safety or effectiveness.
- Van-Tam said he was not aware of any plans to allow people to buy the vaccine privately and that he would not approve if there were. He said:
One of the things I like about the NHS is that it’s there for everybody, irrespective of their level of wealth or who they are in society. That’s a really important principle to me, personally ... I think these vaccines need to be prioritised to those who need them, not those who can afford to pay for them privately.
Van-Tam says healthcare professionals understand how challenging this vaccination programme will be.
He says he has personally said if he can help, by doing vaccinations himself in the evenings and at weekends, he will. He says that is the approach of people in the health service.
Raine repeats the point about the same high standards applying whatever vaccine is used.
And Lim says the JCVI will advice the government in a timely manner.
That’s it. The briefing is over.
I will post a summary soon.
Updated
Q: How confident are you that the vaccine can be rolled out? And what will the impact be on GP services?
Van-Tam says the NHS will be giving a briefing on this next week.
But he says people have been thinking about this for months.
He says he is very reassured by the preparations. An army of people have been working on this, he says.
The models will have to be innovative. There will be some form of mobile, pop-up vaccination centres. And there will have to be home visits for the housebound.
He says the government has said distribution should not be a factor that slows down the vaccination programme.
Q: What happens if the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine only turns out to be 50% effective. The UK has bought more of it. Is there a danger of people who get that vaccine complaining they have had the less effective one?
Van-Tam says the 90% figure is an interim one. It could go up or down. He says that will be the case for all vaccines. It will take time for the final data to come in. Governments will want to start distributing vaccines before that final data is in.
Lim says the JCVI may consider what vaccines are best for which groups.
Van-Tam says they may have to take decisions based on interim assessments of efficacy. Speed and high up-take are important. “It would be very easy to let the perfect become the enemy of the good,” he says.
Q: Will you prioritise black, Asian and minority ethnic groups for the vaccine?
Lim says people in these groups are more at risk. But the reasons for this are complex. Some of it is to do with societal factors, like jobs. Some of it is to do with underlying health conditions. Some of it is to do with household size. Some of it is to do with health inequalities.
He says the JCVI wants to ensure every group gets access to the vaccine. But that might mean having to have special programmes for special groups, including community leaders. He says reducing health inequalities is an aim.
Q: Are we ahead of other countries in getting the vaccine?
Van-Tam says Pfizer/BioNTech have not disclosed what contracts they have with other countries. The UK has already bought 40m doses, which will be enough for 20m people.
He says it has said it will produce 50m doses this year.
Q: Have you seen the latest Pfizer data yet?
Van-Tam says he has not seen any new data. The only data he has seen is already in the public domain.
Updated
Van-Tam says the elderly should get the vaccines first.
But he says it is also well known that vaccines sometimes do not work as well on older people.
He says the vaccines he has seen data on show “good responses in the elderly”.
Raine says the the MHRA will look extremely carefully at the efficacy of vaccines on older people.
Lim says, because vaccines may work differently on older people, that may influence how they are prioritised.
Q: Will people be able to buy the vaccine privately?
Van-Tam says, as an NHS doctor, he values the principle that people are treated on the basis of need.
He says he is not aware of any plan to allow people to buy the vaccine privately. That would be a matter for ministers, he says. But he says he favours medicines being distributed on the basis of need.
Q: When will the UK return to normal? And how important will vaccines be?
Van-Tam says we do not yet know. We don’t know how effective the vaccine will be. Delivery will not be instant. And production will not be instant.
He says we do not yet know whether the vaccine will prevent transmission as well as illness.
But he says in the long run he think the vaccine will make a “very important difference”.
Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, says he has had friends who have suffered from Covid. He knows how important it is.
He says in the long run the programme may prioritise people with long Covid. But it may also prioritise people who are most likely to spread the virus. He says they have not taken this decision yet.
Updated
They are now taking questions.
Q: Can you reassure people the regulatory process will not be rushed?
Dr June Raine, head of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, says there is “absolutely no chance that we will compromise on standards of safety and effectiveness”.
Q: Should politicians and senior officials get the vaccine first?
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam says if he could get the vaccine early, he would. But he would have to consider whether that was morally right. He says people with clinical need should get it first. He says the “mum test” is important; he says he has told his mother to be ready, so when it does become available, she can get vaccinated.
Updated
Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, is speaking now.
He says the JCVI advises the government on vaccination policy.
It has been meeting weekly during the crisis, he says.
He explains the interim recommendations, published in September.
Policy needs to be understandable and deliverable, he says.
He summarises the priority groups. They are, in this order:
1) Older adults’ resident in a care home and care home workers.
2) All those 80 years of age and over and health and social care workers.
3) All those 75 years of age and over.
4) All those 70 years of age and over.
5) All those 65 years of age and over.
6) High-risk adults under 65 years of age.
7) Moderate-risk adults under 65 years of age.
8) All those 60 years of age and over.
9) All those 55 years of age and over.
10) All those 50 years of age and over.
11) Rest of the population (priority to be determined).
Lim says age is by far the biggest risk factor.
Updated
Van-Tam is speaking again.
He presents another slide, showing the different types of vaccine the UK has access to.
Dr June Raine, head of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, is speaking now. She is explaining the regulatory process.
She says the process does not finish once a medicine is approved. She says the agency then continues to monitor them for safety.
Van-Tam is now showing a slide illustrating how the processes has been speeded up.
What is different is that the phase 1, phase 2 and phase 3 trials are now overlapping.
The trials themselves are as thorough as they normally are, he says.
He says this means information can go to the regulators more quickly than usual.
And he says manufacturers are producing the vaccine before it has been approved. He says they are doing so at their own risk. If the vaccine is not approved, the stock will have to be destroyed.
Updated
Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer for England, starts with a slide showing the normal vaccine approval process.
He says phase 3 studies tend to be very big, involving between 30,000 and 50,000 people.
Safety tests take place at every stage, he says.
Updated
No 10's Covid data briefing
No 10 is holding a data briefing now.
You can watch it here.
WATCH LIVE: Coronavirus data briefing (11 November 2020)
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) November 11, 2020
Speakers:
🔵 Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, Deputy Chief Medical Officer
🔵 Dr June Raine, CEO @MHRAgovuk
🔵 Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation https://t.co/gsaDTZm0Jk
As Ben Quinn and Sally Weale report, the government has announced plans for students in England to be tested en masse and sent home in early December, so that any students who are positive can self-isolate for two weeks before being allowed home for Christmas.
Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, told BBC Breakfast this morning that any students told to self-isolate because a housemate tested positive would be allowed to do this at home. She said:
The same as if you or I got a positive test, they [students] will have to isolate under law and this allows them enough time to be able to do that.
Again, if their housemates were traced, then they could either get a test and if they get a test and tested negative, what we’re saying for students is they will have a bespoke offer that they can then isolate at home, in terms of their parents’ home or their carer’s home, if they choose to.
If they are traced and they have a positive test, then yes they will have to isolate on campus or in their university accommodation.
As my colleague Denis Campbell reports, GP services in England will be cut back well into 2021 so family doctors can immunise millions of people against coronavirus at new seven-day-a-week clinics. The full story from Denis is here.
Speaking on the Today programme this morning, Prof Martin Marshall, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the key issue for general practice was staffing. He explained:
We can’t do the usual things that we do in general practice, looking after acutely ill patients, dealing with people who might have cancer, dealing with people who have long-term conditions, continuing to deliver immunisation, other immunisation programmes, at the same time as delivering the vaccine, without having extra staff.
Prof Robin Shattock, who is leading Imperial College London’s own efforts to produce a coronavirus vaccine, told BBC Breakfast this morning that vaccination would make sense even for people who have had the virus. He told the programme:
We certainly think, longer term, people will benefit from boosting, even if they had coronavirus.
Because natural infection gives a very variable level of protection, we don’t know how good it is, and some people may be protected for a significant period, some people may get very little protection from natural infection, so boosting with a vaccine definitely will provide some benefit.
The Times and the Daily Mail both have the story about Boris Johnson considering appointing Lee Cain, his communications director, as chief of staff - although they are reporting it in slightly different terms.
In the Times (paywall) Francis Elliott says Cain is “poised” to get the job. Elliott writes:
[Cain’s] promotion means that he will have privileged access to the prime minister and set him on the same footing as [Dominic] Cummings and Lord Udny-Lister (Edward Lister], who serve as senior advisers.
The promotion is part of a wider plan to refocus Downing Street that will ensure one-to-one access to Mr Johnson is limited to those three senior political advisers, plus Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, and Mr Johnson’s two principal private secretaries. The prime minister is said to accept that he needs a reorganisation after a series of unforced errors. Promoting Mr Cain, however, will be taken as a rejection of advice to broaden his circle beyond the pro-Brexit clique.
But in the Mail Jason Groves just says Cain is “in talks” about taking the role. Groves writes:
Some MPs believe the creation of the role could help rein in controversial chief adviser Mr Cummings. But Mr Cain served as a loyal lieutenant to Mr Cummings at Vote Leave and remains one of his closest allies.
A Whitehall source said: ‘The PM desperately needs a chief of staff. Dom (Cummings) does not operate in that way and knows it. He has always said he does not want the title but won’t serve under anyone who has it. But he would be able to work with Lee, because he knows he is an ally, not a threat.’
Government sources are confirming that the move has been discussed, but nothing has been announced.
This is from the Telegraph’s Cat Neilan.
Tories divided on Lee Cain - btwn those who don't like him, and those who hate him.
— CatNeilan (@CatNeilan) November 11, 2020
Seen as an advocate for lockdown and architect for Leave, he unites two sides of the party against him.
"Lee Cain’s promotion makes Rishi’s trajectory even quicker."https://t.co/nvJIi9BNiS
Updated
Johnson under pressure from Tories over lockdown and possible chief of staff appointment
Good morning. With the vaccine announcement on Monday, and a call with Joe Biden yesterday, Boris Johnson has been having a relatively good week so far, but the Conservative party is disruptive and this morning he faces pressure on two fronts.
First, reports that he is planning to install Lee Cain, the combative, Vote Leave diehard currently in charge of No 10 communications, as Downing Street chief of staff are going down very badly in some party circles. As Alex Wickham reports in his London Playbook briefing, this proposal is being viewed by some as a power grab by the Dominic Cummings faction (although some of us thought Cummings was running the place already). Wickham writes:
The Times story sent genuine shockwaves through government. Playbook received WhatsApp messages from no fewer than nine serving special advisers last night, asking if it was true and expressing their bewilderment. One SpAd said the move would mean Cummings installing a puppet as chief of staff. Another SpAd even claimed they would resign if it happened, and suggested they would not be alone. The pugnacious Cain is a controversial figure in Whitehall, having been at loggerheads with many current (and many more former) SpAds and ministers over the last year...
“My phone is on fire. I have never seen a night like this the entire time I’ve been in here,” one SpAd told Playbook.
And, second, Conservative MPs have formed a new group to oppose further lockdowns.
Mark Harper, the former chief whip, announces the creation of the Covid Recovery Group in an article in the Daily Telegraph. According to the paper, 50 Tory MPs have already joined, and another 45 are considering signing up. In his article Harper says:
Lockdowns and restrictions cost lives, whether in undiagnosed cancer treatments, deteriorating mental health and missed A&E appointments – not to mention the impact they have on young people’s education, job prospects and our soaring debts.
Last week, I voted against my party for only the second time in fifteen years. The country is badly in need of a different and enduring strategy for living with the virus that doesn’t require us to keep living under a series of damaging lockdowns and seemingly arbitrary restrictions.
I’ll post more on both these stories as the day goes on.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The ONS publishes a report on the impact of coronavirus on disabled people.
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12.15pm: Kirsty Williams, the Welsh government’s education minister, holds a briefing.
12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is expected to hold a coronavirus briefing.
12.30pm: A minister responds to a Commons urgent question on rough sleeping and coronavirus.
At some point today No 10 is also due to be holding a coronavirus data briefing.
Politics Live is now doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog 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, like Brexit, and when they seem more important or more 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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