Lunchtime summary
- Hancock has said that people should report anyone failing to self-isolate to the police - apparently contradicting Boris Johnson, who said last week he had “never much been in favour of sneak culture myself”. Asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr whether he would snitch on a neighbour to police himself, Hancock said:
Yes. And for the self-isolation part, that is absolutely necessary because that is how we break the chains of transmission.
- Sir Keir Starmer has said that the government should act “in the next few days” to tackle the rising number of coronavirus cases, instead of waiting for weeks. (See 10.20am.)
- Starmer has said that Labour should be less shy about expressing its patriotism. (See 12.26pm.) Shortly after he made the comment in an interview on Times Radio, his deputy Angela Rayner used her speech to Labour’s virtual conference to argue that the “fire and rehire” policies being adopted by some major firms were not just immoral but unBritish. (See 12.19pm.) She said:
Mass firing, and re-hiring, on lower pay and worse terms, using the threat of the dole queue to pick the pockets of the very staff who have kept those companies going.
So I say to companies like British Airways and British Gas. If you use our country’s name, then you better respect our country’s values.
- Rayner used her speech to condemn Boris Johnson as a “Bullingdon Club blagger” less equipped to serve as prime minister than any of his predecessors. (See 12.19pm.)
I’m afraid this blog is wrapping up now because I’m required elsewhere in the virtual newsroom. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
The Conservative party has put out this response to what Sir Keir Starmer was saying in his morning interviews this morning. It is from Amanda Milling, the Conservative party co-chair. She said:
This morning Sir Keir Starmer showed that he’s more interested in criticising and blaming than setting out a credible, alternative plan.
Sir Keir failed to set out how Labour’s testing policy would work, failed to back a future trade deal with the EU, failed to back the union and couldn’t name a single policy difference between him and Jeremy Corbyn.
During conference season the main parties always put out statements criticising what’s been said by their opponents. Journalists often ignore them because they tend not to tell us anything new. But this statement is moderately interesting because it shows just how hard CCHQ is finding it to develop a credible line of attack against Starmer. They accuse him of not backing a Brexit trade deal, even though he did. They accuse him of not backing the union with Scotland, even though he did. And they accuse him of being too similar to Jeremy Corbyn, when everyone knows he isn’t.
The only critique that has some truth in it is that Starmer has not set an alternative Covid plan. But Starmer is quite deliberately not setting out an alternative Covid plan; he is just saying that the existing plan (ie, testing) should actually work.
Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
Speaking at Labour’s virtual conference, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said the government’s handling of coronavirus had been “hapless”. He said:
Unfortunately, and it gives me no pleasure to say this, we’ve all been catastrophically let down by the government.
If ministers had risen to this moment, as the British public have, then the loss of many lives and much of the economic hardship could have been avoided.
These times called for a government that could put ideology, dogma and ego aside, and calmly and competently do whatever it takes to save lives and jobs.
Unfortunately, we got the exact opposite. Just when we required a steady, capable hand on the tiller, we’ve had a hapless government that keeps on steering us onto the rocks.
Since it’s Labour conference, here are three books about the party that have landed on my desk - two recently, one around the start of lockdown - that I would recommend.
Left Out, the Inside Story of Labour under Corbyn, by Gabriel Pogrund and Patrick Maguire - This has already had plenty of rave reviews, and it really is every bit as good a people say; superbly written, exceptionally detailed, scrupulously fair, but above all gripping. It’s hard to put down.
Sample extract:
At his best [Jeremy Corbyn] was Delphic; at his worst he was gnomic. It fell instead to his team to decode and debate what little he did say, in the hope they might claim it as a victory for their own competing agendas.
One one occasion [Seumas] Milne, [Karie] Murphy and [Andrew] Fisher were forced to do just that, arguing over the meaning of what Corbyn had said as he sat in silence. Another aide recalled: ‘Jeremy sat there, and didn’t speak to offer any clarity whatsoever on what he’d meant. So he was just there, and I remember thinking, “this is mental”. They were interpreting his words in front of him, while he wasn’t saying anything ... It was like he didn’t feel the need to clarify of take control of the situation.’
Beyond the Red Wall by Deborah Mattinson - A former pollster to Gordon Brown, Mattinson is one of Britain’s leading focus group/public opinion experts and this book is her attempt to explain why Red Wall voters abandoned Labour in 2019. It’s clear and compelling. Every Labour MP should have to read a copy, because there is no route back to power without addressing the issues she illuminates.
Sample extract:
In March 2020, BritainThinks ran a citizens’ jury for the thinktank Labour Together, an organisation seeking to unite the warring Labour party factions ... Asked to create the ‘ideal’ political party, a team drawn from Red Wall constituencies brainstormed with enthusiasm. They summed up their thinking with the slogan ‘Let’s Make Britain Great Again’. The knowing nod to Trump led to a spontaneous chant of ‘Let’s build a wall,’ which everyone joined with joking and laughing. ‘Where would the wall be?’ I asked, wondering if they were referring to the Red Wall, but I was quickly corrected. ‘No! We’ll build a wall around London!’ shouted one and everyone cheered. They could not have been clearer: keeping Londoners in their place would be a very desirable outcome indeed.
Warring Fictions: Left Populism and its Defining Myths, by Chris Clarke - This came out earlier this year and, although it says very little about Corbyn, or his policies, it provides real insight into Corbynism by anatomising the mindset of left populism, a key element of the phenomenon. Wide-ranging, clever and original, it’s a vital read for anyone interested in not just left populism, but any sort of populism at all.
Sample extract:
Beneath this is a deeper truth, which is that consensuses are seldom shaped from opposition. There’s no ‘Duncan Smith’ consensus and no ‘Foot consensus’. Parties almost always need to start inside the Overton Window, before they’re trusted to move it.
This acknowledgement is a central difference between left pluralism and left populism. The former’s theory-of-change is based on meeting people where they are and shifting the mainstream; the latter’s is based on taking stances from beyond the window, which drag the mainstream leftwards.
The latter approach is flawed, even in the case of Corbyn. Labour’s better-than-expected 207 performance may be seen as proof by some that a radical opposition can make the running. Yet this was enabled by major concessions to the mainstream of the day - on Trident, welfare, Brexit and immigration. It came against a Tory leader who had inadvertently placed herself outside the mainstream. And it was still unsuccessful.
Labour should stop being so shy about patriotism, says Starmer
This is what Sir Keir Starmer told Times Radio this morning about Labour and patriotism. (See 11.11am.)
I think in the Labour party we’ve been very shy about patriotism for too many years. I love my country, I think we’re a great country, I think we could be even better, and I think the Labour party, the Labour movement, actually wants the very best for the country. That’s why we go out knocking on doors, campaigning, trying to form the next government, because we want better for our country.
So I think we should not be so shy, we should be proud of being patriotic, and in many senses that reflects the values of the Labour party. And I’m very clear about that.
Rayner says 'Bullingdon Club blagger' Johnson less equipped to be PM than any of his predecessors
Here is the full text of Angela Rayner’s speech to the virtual Labour conference. It did not contain any announcements, or anything particular surprising, but deputy leaders’ speeches at Labour conference are usually devoted to political knockabout, and this had plenty of punchy, well-scripted attack lines. Here are some highlights.
- Rayner condemned Boris Johnson as a “Bullingdon Club blagger” who was less equipped to serve as prime minister than any of his predecessors. She said:
Never has there been a prime minister more out of his depth and ill-equipped to the task than this Bullingdon Club blagger.
He lights up Downing Street green for Grenfell and then whips Tory MPs to block the Grenfell inquiry recommendations.
He claps for our carers when it suits him for a photo opportunity. But he doesn’t even know what they earn, and won’t pay them what they deserve.
He calls a Covid war cabinet meeting to allow grouse shooting when frontline staff can’t get the tests they need and people can’t say goodbye to their loved ones.
Yet it’s always someone else’s fault. Civil servants. The public health body they voted to create in the first place.
Or even the public – for doing the right thing and trying to get a Covid test ...
[Johnson’s] hero Thatcher once said ‘advisers advise, but ministers decide’.
Now the motto seems to be ‘ministers decide, but advisers resign.’
He’d probably make the algorithm resign if he could.
- She paid a lavish tribute to key workers. She said:
This crisis has shown who we cannot survive without.
The NHS and social care staff who have put their lives on the line.
The posties, bus drivers, shop workers, delivery drivers and so many others who have kept us all safe, fed and connected.
She also said Labour would be pushing in particular for people doing these sorts of jobs to stand for the party in the council elections next year.
- She stressed her own working class background, how much she gained personally from Labour achievements like Sure Start and the national wage, and how much her life experiences different from those of Boris Johnson and some of his cabinet colleagues. She said:
My first step in politics wasn’t in the Oxford Union, it was in my trade union.
Not debating for bragging rights at the bar but negotiating because our livelihoods depended on it. I know which Union I’d rather be in.
Because I was born in Stockport, but I was made in our movement. I never went to university, but when I joined my union I found an education and a vocation.
- She suggested that the “fire and rehire” policies being adopted by some major firms were not just immoral but unpatriotic. She explained:
Mass firing, and re-hiring, on lower pay and worse terms, using the threat of the dole queue to pick the pockets of the very staff who have kept those companies going.
So I say to companies like British Airways and British Gas. If you use our country’s name, then you better respect our country’s values.
And if they won’t end fire and rehire, it’s time the government stepped up and ended it for them.
This was probably the most Starmeresque line in the speech. Earlier today Sir Keir Starmer told Times Radio that he wanted the party to sound more patriotic. (See 11.11am.) Here Rayner was rather neatly doing just that, wrapping a conventional Labour workers’ rights argument in the union flag.
Photograph: Jessica Taylor/AFP/Getty Images
Q: Does Labour need a majority of working class votes at the next election?
Yes, says Starmer. It needs to earn those votes.
(At the last election the Conservatives had a greater share of working class votes than Labour did.)
And that’s it. The Times Radio interview is over.
Q: If someone voted leave, hates their country being called racist, wants immigration to be controlled and wants a life sentence to mean a life sentence, would they be welcome at a Labour meeting?
Starmer says he wants all views to be respected. The party has 580,000 members. People won’t always agree.
He says he is committed to rooting out factionalism.
Starmer says he insists on meeting people who no longer voter Labour when he does visits
Q: You say Labour is under new leadership. But your policy agenda is the same as the old one.
Starmer says saying Labour is under new leadership goes beyond policy. Trust in Labour has been damaged, he says. He needs to restore trust in the party. Until you do that, you will not get a hearing on policy.
He says when he goes out, he asks to meet people who no longer vote Labour. He does not just want rallies with supporters.
Q: Do those pledges still hold?
Starmer says Covid means the challenges facing the UK are now even greater than they were. We cannot go through the anguish of the last six months and then return to business as usual, he says.
Q: Your 10 pledges imply you still want free movement?
Starmer says now the UK has left the EU, free movement no longer applies. But he says people do want the benefits it brought.
Gloria De Piero, the former Labour MP turned Times Radio presenter, says Labour has been running adverts this week saying the PM should get Brexit done. But Starmer used to back a second referendum. Which is the real Keir Starmer?
Starmer says the UK has left the EU. The remain/leave debate is over. He says some of the options on offer in the last parliament were not ideal.
Q: Isn’t the government right to hold firm on state aid and fishing?
Starmer says he thinks a deal can be struck on both issues. And he is sceptical of the government’s arguments on state aid because the UK does not spent as much on state aid as currently allowed under EU rules.
Times Radio is now broadcasting its interview with Sir Keir Starmer.
He started by saying that he thought Labour needed to do more to show its patriotism. Asked if he would be happy to wave the union jack, he said he had done in the past and would be happy to do so again in the future.
UPDATE: See 12.26pm for the full quote.
Updated
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, told Sky News this morning that he was not worried “at the moment” about the direction in which Sir Keir Starmer was taking Labour. Starmer should stick with the progressive, ambitious agenda developed under Jeremy Corbyn, McCuskey said. And he said that leftwingers in the party had been much more respectful to Starmer than rightwingers had been to Corbyn.
'You said last month - Keir has to recognise that the ship he is sailing, if it lists too much to the right, it will go under - Are you worried?'@LenMcCluskey says Keir Starmer is in a "great position" and he wants the Labour leader to be PM.#Ridge https://t.co/GvaT6GJIXE pic.twitter.com/CiuMcLV0XS
— Sophy Ridge on Sunday (@RidgeOnSunday) September 20, 2020
Sky’s Sam Coates says there are members of the cabinet who agree with Prof Carl Heneghan’s argument that imposing further restrictions now would be a mistake. (See 10.45am.)
There are members of the cabinet who agree with Carl Heneghan’s suggestion to consider whether to pivot more to Sweden https://t.co/8sWwiDTByC
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 20, 2020
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, is about to deliver her speech to Labour’s online conference. You can watch it here.
I will post a summary once I’ve seen the full text.
Here is my colleague Heather Stewart’s story about Matt Hancock’s comments this morning.
In an interview on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday Prof Carl Heneghan, director for the centre of evidence-based medicine at Oxford University, said there was no evidence that we are seeing a second wave of coronavirus and that it would be a mistake to impose harsh restrictions now. He explained:
What we’re seeing is that the virus is operating in a seasonal way.
As we’ve gone back to schools, actually what’s happened now is we’ve seen about a 60% increase in consultations for all the acute respiratory infections and that’s what’s driving the problems in the test and trace programme.
All the young children who have coughs and colds and these infections, one is called rhinovirus.
As we look at the data, Covid is operating in a similar seasonal way, and mirroring those respiratory infections, so what we have to do now is slow down, this is a long winter.
Heneghan said that it would be wrong to impose a new lockdown now. “We can’t afford to go now with harsh measures,” he said. “The impact on the economy here is going to be significant.” It was better to be vigilant.
If it becomes worse and it impacts on disease, then, yes, that’s the point when we have restrictive measures, but that time is not now.
Q: Will people in London be told to work from home from this week?
Hancock says he would not rule that out.
On Times Radio Gloria De Piero (the former Labour MP who co-presents the programme with Newton Dunn) asks when Cobra will next meet to discuss coronavirus.
Hancock says an alternative decision making structure is in place now. But he says that does not mean Cobra won’t meet again.
Q: Will you bring back daily press conferences?
Hancock says they have been holding them when necessary. There was one last week.
Matt Hancock is now being interviewed by Tom Newton Dunn on Times Radio. So far much of the interview has replicated what Hancock was saying in his other two interviews this morning, but Newton Dunn also asked why NHS Test and Trace failed to anticipate the extra demand for tests. Didn’t they realise children get sniffles when they return to school?
Hancock said what they did not anticipate was the number of people without symptoms requesting tests.
Starmer urges PM to act 'in next few days' to tackle rising Covid cases, not delay for weeks
This is what Sir Keir Starmer told Andrew Marr when Marr asked if he wanted to see further restrictions imposed now. Under Starmer Labour has backed the government’s coronavirus measures, and generally he has avoided advocating an alternative Covid strategy. He has said it is important for public messaging to be clear, and he told Marr he did not want to second guess the PM.
But, when pressed by Marr, Starmer said it would be wrong for the government to delay imposing further restrictions (as Johnson is reportedly considering - see 9.53am.) After referring to what Prof Neil Ferguson said yesterday, Marr suggested that bold decisions were needed from leaders now. Starmer replied:
Take swift action, do it in the next few days, don’t leave it for two to four weeks ...
I want swift action, if necessary local restrictions, look at a national lockdown. The government has got the figures. But I don’t want to leave it two or four weeks.
Marr turns to Scotland. As Sophy Ridge did earlier (see 8.50am), he quotes Starmer saying in January that an SNP majority in next year’s elections would create a mandate for a second referendum.
Starmer insists Labour will be arguing against one between now and next May.
Starmer repeats the point about Labour being opposed to the idea in principle.
Q: And what if the SNP win?
Starmer says he does not want to start being “hypothetical”.
Marr points out that Starmer already set out his view in January.
And that’s it. The interview is over.
Q: Should the Brexit transition be extended?
Starmer says he does not think that is necessary. He thinks a deal can be achieved. The government should do what it promised.
Q: What do you want - extension or no deal?
Starmer says he does not think you have to choose. A deal is possible.
Starmer says he does not support raising taxes now.
But, before the election in 2024, Labour will present its plans for addressing the debt.
Q: Are you in favour of a wealth tax?
Starmer says it does not make sense to set out tax plans so far ahead of a general election.
Writing the manifesto now, four years early, in the middle of a pandemic “does not seem to me very sensible”, he says.
Q: Neil Ferguson says action is needed now. Do you support that?
Starmer says local restrictions and national restrictions might be needed.
And he say it would be a mistake to wait for several weeks.
According to today’s Sunday Times (paywall), Boris Johnson is meeting officials to discuss options for further restrictions today. It says Johnson “will reject calls from scientists for an immediate two-week ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown after being urged by the chancellor to minimise the number of businesses affected by any new curbs. It is still under consideration for the half-term fortnight next month.”
UPDATE: See 10.20am for the full quote.
Updated
Starmer's interview with Marr
Sir Keir Starmer is now being interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr. Marr starts with coronavirus, and Starmer is broadly repeated the points that he made on Sky earlier - that testing needs to be fixed, that the PM should apologise, that he should have fixed this over the summer, but that Labour would support new restrictions.
Q: Do you think £10,000 fines are too draconian?
Starmer says it is important to take action against the few people who are not complying with the rules.
Q: Would you dob in your neighbour?
Starmer says the police have got this right. They have focused on encouraging people to obey the rules. But where people aren’t, action should be taken.
Q: Boris Johnson calls you Captain Hindsight?
Starmer says Labour said earlier that testing needed to be sorted out. That was foresight, he says.
Q: Would you back a lockdown now?
Starmer says he does not want to second guess what the PM is doing.
Updated
Scotland's health minister expresses concerns about UK plan for £10,000 fines for people who don't self-isolate
Scotland’s health secretary Jeane Freeman has raised concerns about the impact of the newly-announced Covid fines on working people. Freeman said this morning:
We understand that very many people are in low paid jobs, with fragile contracts, sometimes in really difficult circumstances, so we need to win people to this fight with us. Simply imposing fines on them if they don’t, in and on itself won’t be sufficient. Those are big numbers which very many people would be completely beyond their capabilities.
Freeman told BBC Breakfast on Sunday that the Scottish government would announce new restrictions very shortly, “not necessarily today, but definitely by the early part of next week”.
Yesterday, first minister Nicola Sturgeon reiterated her call for a four nations Cobra meeting in the next 48 hours.
Q: Boris Johnson said tests would be turned around in 24 hours. That is not happening.
Hancock says around half of people get a result the following day.
(Within 24 hours and the next day are not the same thing. Now the government is focusing on the latter measure.)
Q: When do you think a useable vaccine might arrive?
Hancock says the Oxford vaccine is still at the front of the queue.
It could arrive this year. But it is more likely to come early next year.
There is still hope that we will get one of the vaccines over the line this year. The Oxford vaccine is still at the front of the queue. More likely is next year, and probably the early part of next year.
We have got the cavalry coming over the next few months - the vaccine, the mass testing and the improvements in treatments - but we have got to all follow the rules between now and then to keep people safe.
Q: And if they don’t, how many people might die?
Hancock says he does not know.
And that’s it. The interview is over.
Updated
Q: Dido Harding said up to 1m people might be asking for a test every day. How many are getting them?
Hancock says it is over 200,000.
Q: So just one in five?
Hancock says the number of people asking for tests has gone down this week.
Q: You said people had a duty to get a test. You said, if in doubt, people should get them.
Hancock says he meant if people were in doubt about their symptoms.
He says 100,000 tests per day are going to care homes. It would be politically easier to give those tests to others, he says.
Asked if the government is considering a further national lockdown, Hancock says he is not ruling it out.
Q: Death rates are very low. Are you over-reacting?
No, says Hancock. He says death rates are a lagging indicator.
We have seen in other countries when the case rate shoots up, the next thing that happens is the numbers going into hospital shoot up.
Sadly, we have seen that rise, it is doubling every eight days or so - people going into hospital - then, with a lag, you see the number of people dying sadly rise.
He says you can compare the UK to two countries. One gives a warning, another gives hope.
Spain saw the number of cases going up. At first people said, like Marr, that death rates were not going up. But they are now.
Belgium took a different approach. He says, as soon as cases started rising, it brought in restrictions.
Q: They weren’t very popular ...
Hancock says he is not interested in popularity.
Q: What about Sweden?
Hancock says Sweden does not provide a better model. It did impose some rules. And people followed strict social distancing measures voluntarily. But it has still had a much higher death rate than its neighbouring countries.
Updated
Hancock's interview with Andrew Marr
Matt Hancock is now being interviewed by the BBC’s Andrew Marr.
Marr presses him on whether he would report on a neighbour breaking the rules. He points out that Boris Johnson ruled this out last week. Hancock initially stresses the fact that most people are following the rules, but when pressed he says he would report someone to the police.
Updated
This is what Matt Hancock told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday about the possibility of restrictions in London.
The first line of defence is people’s behaviour. But then, after that, local lockdowns are necessary, and I’ve brought in local action right across different parts of the country where cases are rising ...
I’ve had discussions this week with the mayor of London [Sadiq Khan] and the teams are meeting today to discuss further what might be needed.
In a statement issued on Friday Khan said he was “extremely concerned” about the “accelerating speed” of new Covid cases in London and that it was “increasingly likely” new restrictions would have to be imposed soon
Q: Do you have the stamina for the fight ahead?
Yes, says Hancock. He says incredibly motivated to do the right thing.
He says he could increase the number of tests available for drive-through centres. But that would mean taking some away from care homes. He wants to do the right thing, he says.
He says in Belgium they were seeing a second wave. But they brought in new restrictions, essentially on socialising, and that enabled them to bring the second wave under control.
He says “we can get through this - until the cavalry comes” in the form of mass testing, vaccines and treatments.
And that’s it. The Hancock interview is over.
Hancock says he is not apologising for the performance of NHS Test and Trace. He defends what staff have done.
Hancock says meeting taking place today to consider case for new restrictions for London
Hancock says his officials are meeting today to consider the need for lockdown measures in London. He says he has discussed this with Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London.
Khan wants new restrictions imposed in the capital from as early as tomorrow.
UPDATE: See 9.20am for the full quote.
Updated
Hancock says nation faces 'tipping point' with coronavirus
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is now being interviewed on Sky.
He says the nation is at a tipping point. If people do not follow the rules, including the rule of six, further restrictions may be necessary.
The nation faces a tipping point. We have a choice. Either everybody follows the rules - the rule of six and the need to self-isolate if you have a positive test or if you are contacted by NHS Test and Trace - or we will have to take more measures.
I don’t want to see more measures, more restrictive measures, but if people don’t follow the rules that is how the virus spreads.
He says the rules are being toughened.
Q: If you knew somebody was breaking the rules, would you report them?
Yes, says Hancock. And everyone should.
- Hancock says people should report anyone ignoring social distancing or self-isolation rules. When Boris Johnson was asked a similar question in an interview with the Sun last week, he was not as explicit as this, saying he did not approve of a “sneak culture”.
He repeats the point about the need for people to follow the rules. And if they have the virus, they have to self-isolate.
Q: Are people following the rule of six?
Hancock says people did relax over the summer. But they must follow the rules. If he was not worried about this, the government would not be introducing £10,000 fines.
But the government is also offering much more support to people who do need to self-isolate.
He says self-isolating isn’t like being in lockdown. You must not leave your home.
Updated
Q: Why are you a vegetarian?
Starmer says he gave up meat a long time ago, for the body and for the environment. But he does miss meat, he says.
And that’s it. The interview is over.
Q: If the SNP win the Scottish parliament elections, should there be another independence referendum?
Starmer says Labour does not want a second referendum.
He say the Tories are focusing on Brexit and the SNP on independence. But they should be focusing on coronavirus.
He says there should be a Cobra meeting on Covid.
Q: In January you said, if the SNP won a majority at Holyrood, they would have a mandate for a referendum.
Starmer says, if the SNP win a majority, that will have to be looked at by Westminster. But Labour will be arguing against that.
Q: So there should be a second referendum?
Starmer sidesteps the question. He says he wants to focus on “the here and now” for the moment.
Q: You wanted a second referendum. But now you are telling the PM to deliver Brexit. Will you back any deal?
Starmer says he will consider the deal. But a deal is in the national interest.
The PM promised a deal.
He signed the withdrawal agreement. Did he know what was in it? If he did, why did he mis-sell it to the public? Or was it incompetence - not knowing what was in the deal?
Q: Do you really want to move on? Or is this just a political position?
Starmer says the last parliament could not agree on anything.
Q: What are your principles?
Starmer says the UK is out of the EU. The leave/remain debate is over.
But of course he wants to get into power, he says. That is what he is politics for. He wants to change lives. And you don’t do that from opposition.
Q: What is your message for the Labour conference?
Starmer says he wants to stress that Labour has a new leadership. He has spent the last six months listening to what people think about the party. He is focused on 2024.
Q: It’s not very subtle, is it? Corbynites won’t like this.
Starmer says they lost the last four elections.
He is listening to people. And he will take decisive action, for example on anti-semitism.
He says Jewish groups told him they would judge him by his actions, not his words. He is happy with that.
Starmer says children should be prioritised for testing, like NHS key workers. They should be able to get a test within 24 hours, and results within 24 hours.
Q: How much extra testing capacity would be needed for this?
Starmer says the government should have increased testing capacity over the summer.
Q: But what is needed now?
Starmer says Sage said some time ago that, in the autumn, 500,000 people might have Covid symptoms at any one time. So they knew what the demand would be.
The system should be able to test 500,000 people a day.
Q: Isn’t it unrealistic to prioritise children, when so many other people need tests too?
Starmer says this problem has been known about for months.
He says parents have seen children, or whole classes, sent home.
And this is not going to end. It could go on for months, he says.
He says that does not amount to a meaningful return to school.
He says everyone knows that children get bugs at school. He cannot believe the government did not scenario plan for this.
Starmer's interview with Sky's Sophy Ridge
Sky’s Sophy Ridge is interviewing Sir Keir Starmer now.
She starts by asking if he backs the government plans briefed overnight for fines of up to £10,000 on people who refuse to self-isolate.
Starmer says he does support these plans.
But he say that he thinks in most cases people are obeying the rules.
There are a few people that are breaking the rules and something has to be done about that.
I have to say that I think that is not going to be the silver bullet, that isn’t going to deal with the problem we’re in.
We’ve got rising infection rates, I think the whole country is concerned about that, but we have a testing system, just as we need it to be effective, is barely serviceable and this is a major problem.
Q: Would you support the government if it calls another national lockdown?
Starmer says he does not think a second national lockdown is inevitable.
The priority is to sort out testing, he says.
If he were the PM, he would apologise for the problems with testing. He would make fixing it his first priority. And he would bring back the daily briefings, he says.
Updated
In his Sunday Times interview Sir Keir Starmer also said, when asked if he watched the Queen’s address to the nation on Christmas day, that he watched it live. “In times of crisis and in difficult times people do look to the monarch as a voice and a symbol of what it is that we are as a country,” he said.
(The question was probably prompted by the criticism Jeremy Corbyn received when he answered a question on this last year.)
Starmer was also asked if he would every be willing as PM to use a nuclear weapon. He replied: “That’s not a question anybody who’s serious about being prime minister will ever answer.”
In fact, many prime ministers and leaders of the opposition have said they would be willing to use the nuclear deterrent in extreme circumstances - although generally they never discuss how extreme those circumstances would have to be.
Boris Johnson 'isn't up to the job', says Starmer
At least two of the Sunday newspapers have interviews with Sir Keir Starmer ahead of the Labour conference.
Nigel Nelson has spoken to him for the Sunday Mirror and his article is headlined: “Keir Starmer slams Boris Johnson as ‘not up to it’ - but offers to help save Christmas”. Summarising Starmer’s message, Nelson says the Labour leader believes “opposition politicians have a duty to pull together to rescue Britain because the PM is so useless”. That does not sound quite the way Starmer normally phrases things, but it does seem a reasonable summary of his message. Starmer told Nelson:
The PM isn’t up to the job. What people have seen for weeks and months is a pattern of refusing to acknowledge a problem exists, then doing a U-turn, and finally shifting the blame on to someone else.
I appreciate this is not easy and, if it was just a matter of one or two U-turns, that’s understandable. But he’s done 12. That’s serial incompetence.
We are a constructive opposition and will support the government when it gets it right and challenge it when it’s wrong.
And Caroline Wheeler has interviewed Starmer for the Sunday Times (paywall). For their headline, the Sunday Times have chosen a softish line - albeit one that does not reflect well on Labour MP. It says: “Once you’ve worked with donkeys, Labour MPs are a breeze.” Starmer’s parents used to look after rescue donkeys and Starmer told Wheeler:
It’s quite tough to get a donkey to do something it doesn’t want to. It probably gave me skills in life ...
The skills you learn in terms of patience, tolerance and persuasion ... have probably served me well in other areas.
Starmer calls for children to be prioritised for testing as Labour's online conference opens
Good morning. Today was meant to be the first full day of the Labour party conference in Liverpool. Now it has been reduced to what effectively sounds like a prolonged Zoom call but some conference fixtures remain. There will be major speeches from the leading figures in the shadow cabinet, the Sunday papers are more Labour-heavy than usual and Sir Keir Starmer is doing a series of broadcast interviews this morning.
Of course, the coronavirus crisis dominates everything. Overnight Starmer has called on the government to prioritise children for testing. In a statement he said:
If the prime minister does not get a grip of the testing crisis, children will be robbed of an education. We are seeing a growing flood of schools closures.
The testing regime is not working, nor does it appreciate the unique challenges many families are having to cope with.
That is why I’m urging the prime minister, like our key workers, to put children at the front of the queue for testing. To this week give parents a cast iron guarantee that they can get their child a test within 24 hours and the result back 24 hours later.
In response, the Conservatives issued this statement from their co-chairman, Amanda Milling. She said:
We urge Sir Keir to set aside the political point scoring and work with the government to control the virus and protect lives based on clinical advice.
Making sure that children who have coronavirus symptoms get a test is already a priority for NHS Test and Trace. This helps reassure parents and protect teachers and children and keep schools open.
A lot of parents who were trying unsuccessfully to get tests for their children last week may be surprised to learn that they were being prioritised. But no doubt we will hear more on this soon from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, who is also giving interviews this morning.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. Matt Hancock, the health secretary, and Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary are also on the programme.
9am: Starmer and Hancock are also interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
10am: Labour’s online conference, Labour Connected, starts. The opening remarks will be broadcast here, but most events are from members only.
10am: Starmer and Hancock are also interviewed on Times Radio.
11am: Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, speaks at the Labour conference.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
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