Afternoon summary
- Gavin Williamson, the education secretary for England, has said schools may want to introduce longer days or weekend lessons as they consider how to help pupils catch up for the education they have lost this year. In a statement to MPs, in response to a Tory backbencher who proposed extending the secondary school day by 30 minutes to help pupils make up for the education they had lost, Williamson said that that idea had merit for some pupils - but that it would be for individual schools to decide if they wanted to adopt it. He said:
As part of the advice that was worked up along with the Education Endowment Foundation, one of their key recommendations was looking at how you can extend the school day, how you can look at provisional weekends in order to support children who really do need that little bit of extra help in order for them to have a real impact in terms of their educational attainment.
All of these measures can have an enormously positive effect and that’s why we developed a £1bn Covid catch-up fund because schools then have the ability to take such action.
Labour’s Kate Green said Williamson was responsible for a “summer of chaos, incompetence and confusion that has caused enormous stress” to parents, pupils and teachers. But Williamson received very little criticism from Conservatives in the chamber, despite the fact that his U-turn over A level grades last month created abysmal headlines for the government.
- Boris Johnson’s claim that Britons are going back to the office “in huge numbers” (see 11.20am) has been undermined by figures showing the traditional mass return to the workplace failed to materialise in London, with passenger numbers on the tube and buses rising more slowly than usual for the end of summer.
That’s all from me for today.
Our coronavirus coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
A Department of Health official has been in touch to explain the figure that Matt Hancock cited earlier (see 2.50pm) when he said that the most recent test and trace figures show that 84.3% of contacts were reached, where contact details were provided. He was referring to figures in annex table 7 in the most recent report.
This table shows that, of the close contacts identified of people testing positive for coronavirus, 75.5% of them were reached and told to self-isolate. But the chart also shows that no contact details were provided for some “close contacts”. Once these are excluded, the success rate rises to 84.3%.
UK records further 1,295 coronavirus cases - but just three new deaths
The government has published its latest daily coronavirus death toll for the UK. A further three deaths have been recorded.
According to this chart, there have now been 41,504 UK coronavirus deaths, but this only counts people who have died within 28 days of testing positive. There are more than 10,000 more deaths that have been attributed to coronavirus, according to the ONS or other bodies, but are not included in this figure because the people who died were never tested.
Today’s dashboard also shows that 1,295 more people have tested positive. Daily case numbers have now been increasing significantly since early July. As my colleague Nicola Davis explains here, this increase is partly, but not wholly, explained by the fact that testing is increasing too.
Updated
In the Commons Bob Blackman, a Conservative, asks if the government is considering extending the school day for half an hour to allow pupils to catch up with the schooling they’ve missed.
Williamson says that longer school hours, or even schooling at weekends, could benefit the children who need most help. But he implies that he will not be recommending this across the board. He says the government has a catch-up fund. But it will be for individual schools to decide what they do, he says.
Williamson says government wants to identify what 'learning gaps' pupils have
Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons education committee, says his committee published a report in July saying next year’s exams should be delayed.
He says all pupils in school should be benchmarked, to help the decision as to whether exams should be delayed.
Williamson says the government will be doing this to identify the “learning gaps” that children have.
Williamson is responding to Green.
He says he is pleased Labour wants children back in school. He says Green’s predecessor, Rebecca Long-Bailey, was “more ambivalent” about this.
He says the government has already delivered a £1bn Covid catch-up fund. This will be spent on interventions that deliver results, he says.
As for delaying next year’s exams, he says he said earlier this year that he would be asking Ofqual to look at this. Labour has not made a submission to Ofqual on this matter, he says. So he says he welcomes the fact that Labour is now backing his position on this.
Labour blames Gavin Williamson for 'summer of chaos, incompetence and confusion'
Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, is responding to Williamson now. She says there has been a “summer of chaos, incompetence and confusion that has caused enormous stress” to parents, pupils and teachers.
She says Labour wants pupils in schools.
She says Williamson was right to allow teacher-assessed grades to apply.
But this approach still creates problems, she says.
She asks Williamson to clarify when he was warned about the problems with the system.
How many pupils missed a place at their first choice university?
And how many universities are losing students because they are now going somewhere else?
Turning to school reopening, Green asks when schools will start to get the support they need to help pupils catch up.
She says she was glad to read that the government is considering delaying exams next summer. (See 9.48am.) But will plans for this be in place by the end of this month?
Updated
Williamson is now speaking about school opening.
He says pupils and parents should be assured they are returning to a safe environment.
He says whole-year groups will be kept separate. In addition, other measures are in place to protect health. And schools are being issued with PPE equipment, in case a pupil develops symptoms when they are on the premises.
Gavin Williamson's statement to MPs
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, is making a statement to MPs.
He starts by addressing the exam results situation.
He says Ofqual put in place a system for allocated grades “that was believed to be fair and robust”. But too many of the results were unfair, he says. And that is why the rules were changed, and students were allowed to keep the grades assessed by their teachers.
Williamson repeats his apology to students. He says he is “deeply sorry” for what they went through.
He says some students will still be unhappy with their grades. And for some student, such as those who are home educated, there was not enough evidence available to allow them to have a grade. For this group, exams will be available.
He says universities have agreed to give places to students who have got their grades where possible. Where that is not possible, they will offered alternative courses or allowed to defer for a year.
He says Sally Collier, who was head of Ofqual, has decided that the next stage of the process should be overseen by someone else. He says he wishes her well.
Updated
Johnson claims government has 'not been blown off course' and that U-turns explained by changing circumstances
Downing Street has released a further extract from what Boris Johnson told the cabinet at the start of their meeting this morning. He defended the various government policy changes announced over recent weeks and months (or “U-turns”, as they are normally called by the media) on the grounds that the government had to respond to changing circumstances.
Overall, the government had not been “blown off course”, he claimed. He said:
In the last few months we’ve been sailing into the teeth of a gale, no question.
And I am no great nautical expert but sometimes it is necessary to tack here and there in response to the facts as they change, in response to the wind’s change, but we have been going steadily in the direction, in the course we set out, and we have not been blown off that course.
And that is thanks to you, to the government, but it is overwhelming with thanks to the British people and the way they have come together, the way the whole country has come together to defeat the virus, so thank you all for everything that you have done.
And of course I think there is still going to be some turbulence ahead, and of course things are still going to be difficult on the economic front, and of course we still need to get this disease absolutely out of our systems, but I am absolutely confident that, if we continue in the way that we have, that there will be calmer days, brighter days and calmer seas ahead of us.
Last week we published a list of 11 coronavirus U-turns. Some of them could be justified on the grounds that the government was responding to changing circumstances (for example, the UK scientific advice on face coverings has changed over recent months) but many of these decisions (eg, school meal vouchers, the A-level algorithm) were simply cases of the government admitting that its initial decisions were wrong.
Updated
According to the Financial Times’ Jim Pickard, figures from Transport for London suggest Tube and bus use in London has increased by less than 10% compared with this time last week.
figures from @TfL from this morning show the extent to which workers have NOT returned en masse:
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) September 1, 2020
- Tube use down 72% on same day last year
- Bus use down 53% on same day last year
- Tube use up 8% on same day last week
- Bus use up 6% on same day last week
These figures undermine Boris Johnson’s claim earlier (see 11.20am) that “people are going back to the office in huge numbers”.
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Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who now chairs the Commons health committee, asks if the government intends to roll out regular weekly testing for NHS staff.
Hancock says he wants to deploy testing as widely as possible, following clinical advice.
Hancock is responding to Ashworth.
He says he “bows to no one” in his enthusiasm for mass testing. He says he pushed his neck out when he set the 100,000 tests per day target. Now the government needs to increase testing again, he says.
But he says he will only use tests that have been validated. Saliva tests are still being worked on, he says.
Turning to local testing, he says local lockdowns are working. And the government does publish the data used to justify them, he says.
He says councils are required to seek consensus with local elected officials, including MPs, before announcing local lockdowns. But he says in some cases it is not possible to reach a consensus.
On vaccines, he says MPs are at one in their “abhorrence” at the anti-vax movement. He says a vaccine will only be rolled out when it has been approved by regulators.
Updated
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is responding to Hancock.
He says the government’s test and trace system is now yet “world-beating”, as Boris Johnson promised. (See 3.26pm.)
He says Hancock now seems to support mass testing. When will weekly testing by introduced for all frontline NHS workers?
He asks when a rapid test will be introduced, and who will be able to get it first? And will a saliva test be rolled out?
He asks why Hancock ignored local council leaders, but followed the advice of the Tory MP Sir Graham Brady, chair of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee, when he agreed to lift some restrictions in the north-west.
And he asks why Hancock thinks restructuring Public Health England now will help.
Ashworth ends by saying that the UK has suffered by the highest per capita death rate from coronavirus of any developed country in the world.
Updated
Hancock's statement to MPs on coronavirus
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is now making a statement to MPs about coronavirus.
He says the number of deaths is now very low. The latest daily death toll recorded just two deaths, he says.
But he says that in France and Spain the number of cases is increasing “exponentially”. And he says hospital cases are going up too.
He says the government must remain vigilant. He summarises the steps it is taking.
It will be reminding people what they can do to stop the spread of the virus. An advertising campaign will remind people to wash their hands, cover their faces in certain places and socially distance. And people who are ill should get a test, he says.
He says testing and contact tracing continues. Some 60m tests have been carried out, he says.
He says the government is looking at new technology to improve testing.
More financial support is being made available, from today, for people who need to self-isolate, he says.
And he says that work is continuing on a vaccine. And he says the government will bring forward plans so that, when a vaccine does become available, a wider range of medical personnel are allowed to vaccinate people.
Updated
During a wide-ranging statement on the Scottish government’s programme for 2020-21, that includes a commitment to youth training, the expansion of digital access for poorer households, green investment and a review of adult social care to examine options for the creation a National Care Service investment, Nicola Sturgeon said that, if she was governing an independent country and not having to deal with the “self-sabotage” of Brexit, she could contemplate even more far-reaching plans, including “a migration system that welcomes talent at all levels and supports people to make Scotland their home” and a universal basic income.
She pledged that, by next spring, her government would publish a draft bill “setting out the proposed terms and timing of an independence referendum”, as well as the proposed question that people will be asked in that referendum. She added that at next May’s Holyrood elections – in which the SNP are already predicted to win a majority – “we will make the case for Scotland to become an independent country, and seek a clear endorsement of Scotland’s right to choose our own future”.
In a move welcomed by children’s campaigners, Sturgeon announced what she described as “one of the most ambitious pieces of legislation in the 20 year history of devolution”: the full and direct incorporation into Scots law of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child. She said:
This will mean public authorities - including the Scottish government - will be required by law to act in ways compatible with the convention’s requirements to recognise, respect and be accountable for the rights of children in what we do.
Sturgeon said that committing to the vision of a National Care Service would match the postwar National Health Service, and insisted that investment in youth training would ensure that COVID will not be the defining experience for this current generation of young people.
The full 139-page Scottish government programme for 2020-21 is here (pdf). And here is Sturgeon’s introduction.
Updated
Hancock claims England's test-and-trace system 'in the top tranche' internationally
Here is the full quote from Matt Hancock in the Commons earlier when he claimed that England’s test-and-trace system was now “in the top tranche” internationally. Hancock was responding to a question from the Conservative MP Jack Lopresti, who wanted to know how the country was doing by international standards. Hancock replied:
Well, of course, we learn the lessons and I talk to my international counterparts including in Germany and South Korea. Actually, compared to international systems ... we are now absolutely in the top tranche and we’re constantly looking all around the world to how we can improve the operation of test and trace.
In May Boris Johnson promised that a “world-beating” test-and-trace system would be up and running by 1 June. A national system did launch in England before the start of June, but in its early days it was widely criticised and, as this Twitter thread explains, in some respects it is still performing badly. Johnson, though, has defended the “world-beating” tag on the grounds that “we are now testing more per head of population than virtually any other country in Europe”.
Updated
Updated
NHS England has announced nine further coronavirus hospital deaths this afternoon. Seven were in the north-west, one was in the south-east and one was in the Midlands. The full details are here.
In Wales one further death has been announced.
But no further deaths have been announced in Scotland or in Northern Ireland.
Updated
Setting out her programme for government for the coming year in the Holyrood equivalent of the Queen’s Speech, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, began by announcing an additional 154 positive cases of coronavirus confirmed yesterday.
Sturgeon said she wanted to “draw attention to the fact that 66 of today’s cases are in greater Glasgow and Clyde, and the situation there is causing us some concern”.
She told the chamber that further analysis was under way, and that she would be chairing a meeting of the resilience committee later this afternoon to consider what action may be necessary, raising immediate concerns about stricter guidance being reintroduced across the city.
Sturgeon went on to emphasise that the pandemic did not mean her government would simply “hunker down”. “Even amidst the uncertainties of a global pandemic, this is a time to be ambitious. To use the disruption of Covid to rethink how we do things.”
Updated
Matt Hancock takes questions from MPs
Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, is taking questions in the Commons now. There is a live feed at the top of the blog.
In response to the first question, from Labour’s Sam Tarry, who claimed that the test-and-trace system was repeatedly failing to hit its target for the number of contacts of people testing positive reached and advised to self-isolate (80% is the goal), Hancock said the most recent figures showed 84.3% of contacts were reached, where contact details were provided.
In response to another question, he said England’s test-and-trace system was “in the top tranche” internationally.
Hancock did not clarify exactly where the 84.3% figure came from. The latest weekly bulletin from NHS test and trace, published last week, said 75.5% of contacts were reached in the last week for which figures were available.
After that document was published, the Press Association’s Ian Jones posted this on Twitter.
Test and Trace has a target of reaching 80% of contacts of people who have tested positive.
— Ian Jones (@ian_a_jones) August 27, 2020
The target has now been missed for nine weeks in a row. pic.twitter.com/9bhvDvzuaJ
UPDATE: A Department of Health official has been in touch to explain the figure. See 5.54pm.
Updated
No 10 issued its downbeat assessment for the prospects of the trade talks with the EU (see 1.57pm) as the UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, met his opposite number, Michel Barnier, in London to prepare for formal talks next week, a round deemed critical by Brussels if a deal is to be reached before the end of the year.
France’s EU affairs minister, Clément Beaune, warned that no deal was a risk, but blamed the British government for the impasse. “Things are not advancing because the UK would like to have its cake and eat it: to leave the European Union and have access to the European market.”
Speaking on France Culture, he said the EU would not compromise on linking market access to respect for its rules on health and the environment. The EU has said the UK can only have tariff-free, quota-free access to the European market if it agrees to respect European standards on environment, workers’ rights and state aid for companies.
EU officials dismissed reports that Barnier was refusing to discuss British proposals on a future fisheries treaty. “The UK has not presented new legal texts in the area of fisheries,” a spokesman for Barnier said. He went on:
We have been engaging constructively and in good faith. Michel Barnier said at the end of the last round of negotiations that we have shown flexibility by taking note of Prime Minister Johnson’s three red lines and working on them. We have not seen, however, a reciprocal effort on the UK’s side regarding European priorities. We are now waiting for the UK to present concrete and constructive proposals.
Updated
Boris Johnson has posted this on Twitter, promoting his new LinkedIn account. (See 1.57pm.)
Throughout the pandemic, so many businesses have done amazing work to support their staff and their community.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) September 1, 2020
And we’re going to do right by them too.
Follow my LinkedIn page for updates on the latest guidance and support for businesses.
https://t.co/TBqGHzS6v6 pic.twitter.com/seV1Ke8QRA
According to the BBC’s Andrew Sinclair, the number of people testing positive for coronavirus in the outbreak at the Banham poultry factory in Norfolk has now passed 100.
Hearing unofficially that number of positive covid tests from Banham Poultry factory now stands at 104
— Andrew Sinclair (@andrewpolitics) September 1, 2020
No 10 claims EU making progress in trade talks 'very difficult'
The Downing Street lobby briefing has finished. Here are the main points.
- The prime minister’s spokesman said Brussels was making it “very difficult” for the two sides to make progress in the UK-EU trade talks. In a statement likely to heighten fears that London is preparing for the talks to collapse, and for the UK to be left without a trade deal with the EU once the transition period ends in December, the spokesman said:
We concluded the seventh round of negotiations on the 21 August and, while we had useful [discussions], little progress was made. An agreement is still possible, and it is still our goal, but it is clear that it will not be easy to achieve. The EU is still insisting, not only that we must accept continuity with EU state aid and fisheries policy, but also that this must be agreed before any further work can be done in any other areas of the negotiation, including on legal text, making it very difficult to make progress.
We will continue to work had to reach agreement and look forward to the next round taking place next week.
No 10 has in recent weeks repeatedly been stressing the possibility of the talks ending in no deal, but this is one of most negative briefings we’ve had yet.
- The spokesman said there was no change to the government’s commitment to maintaining the 0.7% aid target, which obliges the government to spend 0.7% of national wealth on overseas aid. At the weekend the Sun reported that the target, which is deeply unpopular with many Tory MPs, would be axed. Asked about the report, the spokesman said there was “no change” to the government’s commitment to spend 0.7% of national wealth on aid. He went on:
We have discussed previously the large amounts of speculation that you have read over the weekend. It was just that - speculation. There is on change with regard to the commitment on 0.7%.
- The spokesman said that Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the international development secretary, would be eligible for a pay-off when her job ends tomorrow. Her department is being merged with the Foreign Office, and today was her last cabinet meeting.
- The spokesman refused to endorse what Tony Abbott said this morning about social distancing measures being undesirable. (See 12.14pm.) The spokesman said Johnson wanted people to follow social distancing rules. The spokesman also claimed that no final decision has yet been made as to whether Abbott, the rightwing former Australian PM, will be made a UK trade envoy. My colleague Patrick Wintour’s full story about Abbott’s comments is here.
- Johnson told cabinet this morning that the government would not let the coronavirus crisis distract it from its domestic agenda, the spokesman said.
- Cabinet ministers were told this morning that the country needed to remain “vigilant” about the risk posed by coronavirus, the spokesman said. The warning came from Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, who briefed cabinet.
- The spokesman was unable to provide figures to justify Boris Johnson’s claim at cabinet that Britons are returning to the office “in huge numbers”. (See 11.20am.) Asked what evidence there was to back this up, the spokesman said that having schools go back would give parents greater flexibility. But he added: “It is too soon for us to be able to share figures with you about people returning to work today.” When it was put to him that it would be more accurate for the PM to say he wants people to return to the office in large numbers rather than claiming that they are already, the spokesman repeated the point about his not having data available to share. But he stressed the benefits of people returning to the office. It was good for employees’ learning and development, he said; staff benefited from being able to meet face to face; and having workers in offices was good for the local economy.
- The spokesman said government adverts would be rolled out later this week encouraging people to return to the workplace. He said:
Later this week you can expect us to run our latest phase of our All In, All Together campaign and what that will look at is reiterating our guidance on how to return safely to work. It is the campaign we have been running with both regional and local media.
Some of the things we’ve looked at so far is the support that is available to businesses, how to shop safely and also what people need to know about NHS Test and Trace.
The next phase we’ll look at is specifically the guidance on how to get back to work safely, and you can expect to see that later this week.
- The spokesman said that Boris Johnson is joining LinkedIn, the employment networking social media site. The spokesman said that he would be using it to engage with business as the economy recovers and that he would be posting written and video content on it promoting British business.
- The spokesman effectively confirmed reports that Johnson asked Prince William to agree that Simon Case could become the next cabinet secretary. Case had been due to return to his post at the prince’s private secretary. Asked about the reports, the spokesman said:
I saw that report ... I don’t think I would have any argument with it. As you would expect, No 10 works closely with the Royal Household.
Tom Newton Dunn from Times Radio posted a Twitter thread on this last night. It starts here.
The PM owes the future king one, I hear. Boris Johnson had to ring Prince William personally last week to ask if he could pinch his man to be the new Cabinet Secretary. Highly rated Simon Case didn't apply for the job, and wanted to return to KP when his No10 secondment ended (1)
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) August 31, 2020
- The spokesman said that around 40% of schools in England were reopening today. Other schools are reopening later (sometimes because teachers have inset days). Asked how the process was going, the spokesman said that he did not have figures on the proportion of pupils returning yet, but he said in Leicestershire, where pupils started returning last week, there was a good response. The full data about the proportion of pupils in class is due to be published on 15 September.
- The spokesman refused to say what proportion of Whitehall civil servants were working in the office. But he did say: “You can expect to see more civil servants return to the office in the coming weeks.”
- The spokesman refused to endorse what Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said last week about it being fine for his officials to work from home. Hancock said he was concerned about the quality of their work, not their location. But, asked if the PM agreed, the spokesman said he wanted more workers back in the office.
- The spokesman confirmed that Ofqual is carrying out a consultation into whether next year’s A-levels and GCSEs should be delayed to help pupils catch-up on missed learning. He said:
The education secretary [Gavin Williamson] wrote to Ofqual about this on June 18. Ofqual then began a consultation on the idea of exams starting after the May half-term. Ofqual will set out their final view in due course and we will wait to see what that recommendation is.
Updated
Exams in Wales could be delayed next summer, the country’s education minister, Kirsty Williams, has said.
Speaking at the Welsh government’s weekly press conference, Williams said Qualifications Wales was in discussion with colleagues across the UK about a change to next summer’s exam timetable. She said:
It is our intention at this time to hold examinations next year. There are discussions about when those examinations may take place.
But she said any delay to next year’s exams would have a “knock-on effect” on matters such as progression to university and results day. “It does need careful consideration.”
Williams said teachers had already been told about adaptations they should make to courses including, for instance, reducing the number of texts literature students needed to work on.
On going back to school, she said it was “critical” for children’s development and health and that “every precaution” had been taken to minimise risk and ensure health and safety.
“Wales is ready to go back to school, to go back to college,” she said.
Updated
Bolton council is urging the government to abandon plans to ease the lockdown restrictions in the town from tomorrow, my colleague Josh Halliday reports.
NEW: Bolton council is asking govt to keep its Covid restrictions in place – less than 24 hours before they were due to be lifted – following a sharp rise in cases
— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) September 1, 2020
Decision was taken by local leaders this morn, four days after Matt Hancock announced measures would be lifted.
As Josh reports in a story this morning, the decision to ease restrictions in some areas in the north-west of England that was announced at the end of last week was strongly opposed by some local Labour MPs and council leaders.
Updated
Updated
This is from ITV’s Paul Brand on what Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, is likely to say in his statement to MPs later.
Understand Gavin Williamson is not planning any announcement today on delaying exams. His statement later will simply be an update to MPs, repeating the line that the government is consulting with Ofqual on whether or not to shift exams back by a couple of months.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) September 1, 2020
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has admitted he made a “mistake” when he broke social distancing guidelines by shaking hands with a colleague this morning (see 10.03am), Sky’s Joe Pike reports.
NEW: An apology from Defence Secretary Ben Wallace after he was filmed shaking hands on Downing St.
— Joe Pike (@joepike) September 1, 2020
Spokesperson:
‘The Secretary of State recognises the mistake and apologises for slipping up. He know the importance of social distancing and will be extra careful in future.’ https://t.co/wElk1OgBco
These are from my colleague Patrick Wintour, who was listening this morning to Tony Abbott, the former Australian PM who has been lined up for a job as a UK trade envoy. Abbott cast doubt on the wisdom of using lockdown policies to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
Tony Abbott, ex Aussie PM and tipped as UK trade envoy, attacks house arrest by Covid heath dictators."Every life is precious & every death is sad but that's never stopped families sometimes electing to make elderly relatives as comfortable as poss while nature takes its course".
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) September 1, 2020
Tony Abbott refuses to comment on whether he will be joining UK board of trade. Says "not yet official". He says UK and Australia can seal trade deal by end of year, including goods free of tariffs, mutual recognition of quotas and free movement of people for work & not welfare.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) September 1, 2020
Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov has more details of what Abbott said.
Tony Abbott, who has been signed up as Boris Johnson’s new Brexit trade adviser, is talking to Policy Exchange this morning, where he is railing against the “health dictatorship” of coronavirus lockdowns.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 1, 2020
Tony Abbott says governments should be less like doctors and more like “health economists” who ask “uncomfortable questions” about “the level of deaths we might have to live with”.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 1, 2020
Abbott says the media have spread “virus hysteria,” and praises Sweden for allowing citizens more freedom.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 1, 2020
Tony Abbott says "fear of falling sick [is] stopping us from being fully alive."
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 1, 2020
Tony Abbott says scientific opinion on the coronavirus in the UK is split between “alarmist” scientists and those who believe it is “not all that much worse than a severe flu."
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) September 1, 2020
Updated
The Cabinet Office has confirmed that Simon Case has been appointed as the new cabinet secretary. My colleague Peter Walker previewed the appointment in a story last night.
Here is the news release from the Cabinet Office. And here is a quote on the appointment from Boris Johnson.
Simon will make a fantastic cabinet secretary and head of the civil service. His years of experience at the heart of government and working for the royal household make him ideally suited for this crucial role.
I would also like to thank Mark Sedwill for his outstanding service to the government and the country as a whole. After serving for decades with great distinction, I believe he has earned the gratitude of the nation.
(Johnson, of course, effectively sacked Sedwill, Case’s predecessor.)
Yesterday’s Guardian story was illustrated with a picture of a clean-shaven Case, the most up-to-date available. But the Cabinet Office has this morning issued a new picture showing that Case now has a beard. At 41, Case is the youngest cabinet secretary to be appointed since Maurice Hankey in 1916 (not necessarily a bad thing, although some commentators have questioned his relative lack of experience), and the new look probably conveys a bit more gravitas.
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Johnson claims Britons returning to office 'in huge numbers'
Sky News has broadcast a clip of Boris Johnson addressing cabinet at the start of today’s meeting. It was standard Johnson boosterism. He said:
People are going back to the office in huge numbers across our country, and quite right too.
And, of course, we know that there is still going to be more of this disease, this wretched Covid, still to come, and although we know there’ll be more outbreaks, we’re also absolutely confident that we are going to be able to deal with those outbreaks, and bit by bit this incredible country is getting back on its feet.
It is not clear yet what evidence there is to support Johnson’s claim that people are returning to the office “in huge numbers”. Last week there were multiple reports (eg here and here) saying the opposite. I’m back in the Guardian office in the House of Commons for the first time since March, but the roads were quiet and the pavements relatively empty as I came into Westminster. If people are embracing commuting in large numbers in London, I didn’t spot it.
Updated
Boris Johnson is chairing a socially distanced cabinet meeting today in the Locarno Suite in the Foreign Office. It might not be as cosy as the Downing Street cabinet room, but it’s a great setting for pictures.
Updated
The UK manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest rate for over six years in August, as companies restarted operations following the pandemic, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports in his business live blog. But firms are still cutting staff. There are more details here.
Here is Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, arriving for work at No 10 this morning with his colleague Cleo Watson. Like the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, (see 10.03am), he seems to be taking a relatively relaxed approach to social distancing guidance.
Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
As Alex Wickham reports in the Politico London Playbook briefing, Cummings and his staff are moving into a new office in the Cabinet Office. But, according to Wickham, there have been teething problems.
The fabled “NASA-style” control room needs work, according to an official who says it actually resembles an “underwhelming” large open plan whitewashed modern office, “like a call centre” ... The ultimate aim is to have a series of TV screens and projectors on the walls beaming in extremely detailed live data on coronavirus numbers from private tech companies, then eventually stats on how the government’s “Project Speed” infrastructure programmes are progressing. Which does sound kinda cool, but unfortunately for a project titled Speed, they are yet to be installed. A Whitehall “Thick Of It” fan tells Playbook it’s currently more like “DoSAC season 1” than Apollo 11.
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In the Commons we’ve got an urgent question for Matt Hancock, the health secretary, on coronavirus at 3.30pm. And then there will be a statement from Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, covering exams and school reopening, starting probably around 4.15pm.
One UQ and one Statement from 3:30pm Today:
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) September 1, 2020
UQ - @JonAshworth to ask @MattHancock to make a statement on Covid-19.
Statement – Qualification results and full opening of schools and colleges. @GavinWilliamson / @KateGreenSU
UPDATE: The coronavirus UQ has been updated to a statement, Labour whips reports.
The UQ on Covid has been turned into an oral statement from @MattHancock by the Government.
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) September 1, 2020
The order remains the same. https://t.co/znwZfefG5v
There is not much difference between a UQ and a ministerial statement. Both involve a minister taking questions from MPs on a particular topic. But a statement takes place when a government department voluntarily offers one, while a UQ involves a minister being obliged to answer a question approved by the Speaker. Ministerial statements also tend to last a bit longer (a full hour).
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Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, was filmed by Sky News shaking hands with a colleague on his way into Downing Street this morning. It is not known yet who he was greeting, but from the clip it seemed to be someone he knew and was pleased to see – but perhaps not someone from his household or support bubble, which would make this a breach of social distancing guidance.
VIDEO: Defence Secretary Ben Wallace caught shaking hands with a colleague on his way into this morning’s socially distanced Cabinet meeting.
— Joe Pike (@joepike) September 1, 2020
Is that following government #COVID19 guidance?@KayBurley | #KayBurley pic.twitter.com/BAJ1NBHVCn
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During his morning interview round Nick Gibb, the schools minister for England, confirmed that school exams could be delayed next year to allow more time for catch-up teaching. (See 8.21am and 8.36am.) Gibb’s boss, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said the same thing in a comment that provided today’s Telegraph splash. Williamson said:
I know there’s some concern about next year’s exams, and that’s why we’ve been working with [the exams watchdog] Ofqual on changes we can make to help pupils when they take GCSEs and A-levels next year.
Ofqual will continue to work with the education sector and other stakeholders on whether there should be a short delay to the GCSE, A- and AS-level exam timetable in 2021, with the aim of creating more teaching time.
Tuesday's Telegraph: "Pupils to face exam delay next summer" #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/T7twICyeD3
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) August 31, 2020
According to the Telegraph, “allies” of Williamson (ie Williamson himself, or his aides, speaking on background), said that if exams were delayed, they would start in June or early July, instead of May, but they would not run into the summer holidays.
If exams are delayed, Labour will be able to chalk this up as a minor win because the shadow education secretary, Kate Green, was calling for exactly this at the weekend. (Perhaps she was just proposing the inevitable, but pushing at an open door is a sensible and entirely legitimate opposition tactic.)
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Agenda for the day
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Kevin Rawlinson. I’m back from my summer break, and I hope you’ve all managed a decent holiday too.
For the last few months Politics Live has been functioning as the Guardian’s UK coronavirus blog, because there is so much overlap between politics and coronavirus, and that will continue for the time being. Generally we will be mainly focusing on coronavirus developments, but non-coronavirus politics will get covered too, and some of the time that might take precedence.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Paul Johnson, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, and other thinktank experts give evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about tax after coronavirus.
10am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
10am: Tony Abbott, the former Australian prime minister being lined up for a role as a UK trade envoy, gives a speech to the Policy Exchange thinktank. Later, at 3pm, he will give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee.
12pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
After 2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minster, makes a statement to the Scottish parliament about her government’s programme for 2020-21.
2.30pm: Matt Hancock, the health and social care secretary, takes questions in the Commons as MPs sit for the first time after the summer recess.
After 3.30pm: Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, is expected to make a statement to MPs. Hancock and Priti Patel, the home secretary, may also give Commons statements.
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Asked about a teachers’ survey suggesting that the average pupil is three months behind where they should be with their learning, Gibb said it showed the importance of children being back in school. He told Today:
The important thing now is that young people are back in school, back being taught by their teachers.
Over the lockdown period, schools worked hugely, very hard to make sure there was work for students to do, online lessons and so on. But ... it is always harder, even for the most hard-working student at home, to learn as effectively in that environment as opposed to being at school with your teacher.
He also defended the level of access to technology during the schools shutdown after the same survey suggested a quarter of pupils did not have access to a computer or tablet at home.
Schools didn’t just rely on online lessons, they also had other work sent home and so on. But we did procure one of the biggest procurement of computers in this country – over 200,000 computers were bought on a global market and given over to schools.
And we’ve also acquired a further reserve of over 100,000 computers for areas of the country with local restrictions in place, should that happen.
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Here’s a little more on Gibb’s assertion that the time needed for exam marking and the university admissions process is being considered as part of any decision on pushing next year’s summer exam season back. He told Today:
The issues are not simple. We have to take into account the other nations in the UK which also use the GCSEs and A-levels in their term dates; you have to take into account the time for marking, making sure results are delivered on a certain date for university admissions and so on.
There are a whole range of factors that the exam boards, Ofqual and the Department [for Education] are looking at, but we will form a decision very soon.
Pushed on whether an answer would come by October, Gibb said:
It will be very soon because we know schools need to know the answer to this question and we have been working on it since mid-June.
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Gibb has said any pupil with coronavirus symptoms will be sent home from school to be tested, telling BBC Breakfast:
I would urge parents to send their children back to school to help them to catch up on the lost education that they will inevitably have suffered during the lockdown period, and schools are doing everything they can to make sure that their pupils and their staff are safe.
Asked what will happen if a child gets a cough or a cold, Gibb said:
If a child is showing the symptoms of coronavirus then they will be asked to return home, to go home, and then the family asked to have a test.
If that test proves positive, then the school will take advice from the local health protection teams and that will involve tracing all the children and adults that that child will have come across, and those people then will be asked to self-isolate.
And then, if it is the advice of the local health protection team, a mobile testing unit will go into the school as well to test more young people.
But he refused to commit to routine testing of teachers, pupils and parents, claiming that the scientific advice given to the government suggested testing was effective where people had symptoms.
Gibb suggests next year's exams could be delayed to allow more time for teaching
A decision on whether or not to delay next year’s GCSE and A-level exams will be made soon, Gibb has added. Perhaps seeking to avoid any eventual decision being seen as yet another U-turn, he stressed that ministers have been considering the issue since mid-June.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Gibb refused to commit to giving teachers and pupils clarity by October, but did say that officials were looking at oral examinations in foreign languages and practicals in science as they try to “reduce the burden of assessment so there’s more time for teaching”.
Elsewhere, Gibb told BBC Breakfast:
We’ll make a decision as soon as we can. We have to also take into account the other nations in the UK that use the GCSEs and A-levels, to take into account their issues as well, but we will be making a decision, with the regulator and the exam boards, very soon.
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The schools minister Nick Gibb has said he would be “delighted” to meet the footballer Marcus Rashford to discuss his campaign to tackle child food poverty. Gibb told BBC Breakfast:
I’d be delighted to meet Marcus Rashford. We are looking at all the policy suggestions that he has put forward in his letter to make sure that they do deliver on our shared objective, which is alleviating the kind of poverty that he talks about.
When Rashford first launched his campaign, Downing Street rejected it and ministers were sent out to publicly defend the government’s position. The following day, as public support for Rashford grew, the prime minister claimed to have only just learned of it and performed an embarrassing U-turn.
Now, MPs are scrambling to line up behind the charismatic young Manchester United footballer and political activist.
In a letter to MPs released on Tuesday morning, Rashford unveiled a “child food poverty taskforce” he has formed with brands including Aldi, Tesco, Deliveroo and Kellogg’s; set out three major new policy goals; and issued a rallying cry for long-lasting change.
“Food poverty is contributing to social unrest,” he wrote, reflecting on a series of recent meetings with families in need of the same support he depended on as a child. He described “watching a young boy keeping it together whilst his mother sobbed alongside him, feeling like he has to step up to protect his family and alleviate some of that worry. He was nine years old.”
“I know that feeling,” he wrote. “I remember the sound of my mum crying herself to sleep to this day, having worked a 14-hour shift, unsure how she was going to make ends meet. That was my reality.”
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As many as 50,000 people in the capital’s retail sector face losing their jobs due to the lack of visitors, according to the Tory MP for Cities of London and Westminster, Nickie Aiken.
She said the loss of international visitors had seriously affected London’s economy, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Almost half of the £10bn annual spend in the West End is from overseas travellers, and then the lack of office workers who have not been back at their desks since March, that has a huge effect on the overall turnover of West End shops and hospitality.
Between about 70-80% – you’re basically looking at about 50,000 job losses, retail job losses, in West End retail alone.
Aiken said she suspected a “huge falloff in confidence” regarding the perceived safety of public transport was partly behind the drop in shoppers, adding:
We’ve got to get that back, we’ve got to get businesses, the mayor of London and government to work together to provide that confidence to get people back in.
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Good morning
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s UK live blog. I’ll be taking you through the next few hours, before handing over to the usual custodian, Andrew Sparrow.
Education debacle continues to dog ministers
The coronavirus lockdown widened the gap between pupils in England from poorer backgrounds and their wealthier peers by 46%, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research, which has released research on the day hundreds of thousands return to schools.
While the average learning lost was three months for all pupils, according to teachers, more than half of pupils at schools in the most deprived areas lost four months or more, compared with just 15% of those in the least deprived areas.
That provides yet more evidence to support the claim that the UK’s approach to dealing with the pandemic has disproportionately hit the less well-off.
The news came as the embattled education secretary, Gavin Williamson, said next year’s GCSE and A-level exams might have to be delayed to give students more time to study the syllabus. Williamson has been clinging on to his job after the exams fiasco, during which the government performed several embarrassing U-turns that caused severe disruption to people’s lives.
Travellers from Portugal may face quarantine
There is intense speculation that Portugal is to be taken back off the UK’s safe travel list – just a week after it was added – as the Iberian nation reported 21.1 coronavirus cases per 100,000 people in the seven days to 30 August; passing the threshold often applied by the UK government of 20 per 100,000.
The decision, not due before Thursday, would mean yet more upheaval for travellers, who were told they would not have to self-isolate on return from Portugal from 22 August.
PM faces scrutiny
All of this faces the government as MPs return to the Commons after recess. Boris Johnson is coming under pressure from his backbench MPs for clarity on taxes, and his education and pandemic policy.
I will try to keep an eye BTL and respond to questions but the best way to get in touch with me is via Twitter, where I’m KevinJRawlinson.
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