Early evening summary
- Boris Johnson has declared that he would not hesitate to order further restrictions to tackle coronavirus if necessary. He made the comment at a sobering news conference where his two most senior scientific advisers stressed that the Covid figures were heading “in the wrong direction”. (See 6.17pm.)
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Government rules out refunds on railcards not used during lockdown
The government has this evening ruled out giving refunds to people holding railcards they have been unable to use – or granting a time extension – despite ongoing travel restrictions in place as a result of coronavirus.
There are an estimated 5.1m railcards in circulation in the UK, typically triggering discounts of about a third on ticket prices, and valid for a year.
But restrictions brought in to contain the coronavirus mean that train services have been cut and only essential journeys made by key workers, so it is unlikely many cards have been used. There are seven cards, including senior railcards for the 60-plus age group and a 16 – 25 card for younger travellers.
A spokesperson for the Rail Delivery Group, which administers the scheme, said:
After careful consideration, the government has confirmed to us that railcards will remain non-refundable and will not be extended.
We understand that this decision may not be the news our customers had been hoping for. Refunding or extending railcards for over 5.1m customers would come at a significant cost to the taxpayer at a time when the focus must be on maintaining rail services to support the country’s recovery from the pandemic.
The news will be a disappointment not only to railcard holders but also to the passenger group Transport Focus which had been calling for either an extension or a discount on renewal.
Anthony Smith, chief executive of Transport Focus, said:
Passengers bought railcards in good faith and will be disappointed by the decision not to extend them or offer a discount on renewal to make up for the period when we were encouraged not to travel.
While the Government continues to provide high levels of support to make sure the day to day railway keeps operating, it seems a pity some slack could not be given on this issue to encourage people back to rail travel.
The Rail Delivery Group has created an FAQ page here.
'Things definitely heading in wrong direction' - Summary of Johnson/Whitty/Vallance press conference
Here are the main points from No 10 press conference.
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Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said the figures were “definitely heading in the wrong direction” in the fight against coronavirus. His phrase summed up the main message of a press conference intended to reinforce the need for the restrictions already in place and counter any public complacency. Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, presented eight slides showing the extent to which the virus is spreading. He said there was a “significant rise” in test positivity in the north-east and north-west of England, and Yorkshire and Humber. “This increase is accelerating quite rapidly in some of those areas,” he said. And he said hospitalisation was rising, particularly in hotspots, though the figures remain “in a much lower level than at the beginning of April”. Whitty summed up:
We are pointing out that the direction of travel for both hospitals and intensive care is going in the wrong direction, particularly in these areas that have seen rapid increases in cases.
And Vallance said: “Things are definitely heading in the wrong direction.”
- Whitty said the NHS could soon be under pressure if case numbers were not contained.
Professor Chris Whitty tells @peston there could be 'pressure on the NHS sooner rather than later' if the UK doesn't get on top of rising coronavirus cases https://t.co/OditUzYyLV pic.twitter.com/Cmton48sZt
— ITV News (@itvnews) September 30, 2020
- Boris Johnson said he would not hesitate to order further measures if necessary. But he stressed that he hoped he would not have to. He said:
I have to be clear, that if the evidence requires it, we will not hesitate to take further measures that would, I’m afraid, be more costly than the ones we have put into effect now.
But if we put in the work together now, then we give ourselves the best possible chance of avoiding that outcome and avoiding further measures.
- Johnson and Whitty both said it was possible that the next wave of the epidemic might be more localised. Johnson said:
We are seeing some very clear local peaks, just as there were local peaks in Italy and other countries. It’s too early to say, but it may be that this is a more localised phenomenon this time, in which case all the more reason for us to concentrate on these local solutions as well as these national solutions.
And Whitty said:
If you look around Europe during the first wave that happened here, the UK was actually an outlier in having an epidemic that was almost uniform in shape, although not absolutely in size, across the whole country. If you look at Italy and Spain, for example, [they had] significant epidemics, but highly concentrated.
Now it is possible that in this next stage of the epidemic here we will have a pattern more like that, where it is more highly concentrated in certain areas, lower rates in the others. But it is far to early to say that. We have got a long winter ahead of us, and a lot could happen in that time.
But later Johnson said he did not want people to get the wrong idea from this. Towards the end of the press conference he said:
Listening to this, I realise there is a slight danger of people getting the wrong message from this, in the sense, yes of course it is more acute in these particular local areas, but it is vital to stress that this remains a national threat and a national challenge, and we all have to fight it together.
- Johnson said he would be providing regular press conferences to update people on the fight against coronavirus.
Photograph: Pippa Fowles/No10 Downing Street
Updated
While the press conference was taking place, MPs voted by 330 to 24 - a majority of 306 - to renew the powers in the Coronavirus Act.
That’s it. The briefing is now over.
I’ll post a summary soon.
Johnson says he is worried people might be getting the wrong message. He says he wants to stress that coronavirus is a problem everywhere.
Q: A recent survey showed that only 20% of people are self-isolating when asked to. Why is that? And are you saying the government’s plan is to come down hard on the north of England to spare London and the south?
Johnson says the government just wants to bring the R number down by stamping on where cases are highest. If people are in any doubt, they should check the rules on the website.
Vallance says it would be wrong to say this is just a problem in some areas. It is worse in some areas. But it is a problem everywhere.
Self-isolation is vital, he says. If people circulate, they will give the virus to others.
Vallance says more recent figures might suggest better compliance. The survey a few weeks ago referred to intent to self-isolate, he says.
(But there are also studies, like this one, showing a very low proportion of people actually self-isolating when asked to.)
Q: Do you accept many people are not wearing masks?
Johnson says people should wear masks. Fines will be imposed on people who don’t.
Vallance says case numbers are going up. Adherence to the rules is crucial, he says.
Johnson and Whitty say Covid outbreak may be 'more localised' now than in spring
Q: There were 71 deaths just before the full lockdown. There are 71 deaths now. What is the difference?
Johnson says it is possible that there is a difference in the way the disease is expressing itself in the country. There are local peaks. It may be “more localised” this time.
Whitty says Italy and Spain had significant epidemics that were highly concentrated.
He says it is possible that this might be happening here. He says it may be “more localised” this time.
As for the comparison with March, he says the doubling time at the moment is slower than in March, when it was three to four days.
Initially they underestimated how quickly the virus was doubling then.
But the small number of deaths now does not mean that we could get to larger numbers of death quite quickly.
Vallance says things are heading in the wrong direction. There is no room for complacency.
We need to reduce contacts in certain environments, in particular indoor spaces that are poorly ventilated.
Updated
Q: What are the chances of more restrictions everywhere?
Johnson says we know we can drive down the virus, because we did it before.
He says a package of measures is in place, a combination of national rules and local ones. And there is tougher enforcement.
He says he hopes that, if people follow the guidance as before, then we can get the spread down.
He wants to do that while keeping the economy open and young people in education, he says.
Success will be judged in the days and weeks ahead, he says.
Q: Your presentation last week was controversial. Do you still think cases are doubling every week?
Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said he was trying to get across three messages in his presentation last week.
He says he wanted to make the point that more cases could lead to more deaths, that case numbers were growing already, and that cases could double very quickly.
He says cases are going up, and the number of deaths is rising.
But he says it is much more likely that in April and March there were over 100,000 cases per day. So you cannot make a like for like comparison between the published figures then and the published figures now (which are higher).
Q: How are enforcement agencies going to stop people travelling from lockdown areas to non-lockdown areas?
Johnson says people should look at the rules on the website.
But he does not want to go back to a national lockdown where people are told to stay at home, he says.
Johnson is taking questions from members of the public.
Q: What support is in place for young people?
Johnson says there is a package of support. He thanks students for how they are behaving. He says the Kickstart programme will help young people into work.
And he wants to help young people retrain, as he set out yesterday, he says.
Whitty says his NHS colleagues wanted him to stress that the NHS is open for patients.
Johnson underlines that point.
Whitty is now showing an animation illustrating how coronavirus spread in the spring, how it went down over the summer, and how it is coming back.
And Whitty says this slide shows hospital admission rates by region.
The final slide shows admissions to intensive care. In some areas they are rising sharply, he says.
But he says there is no danger of the NHS being overwhelmed.
Whitty says this slide shows hospital admission rates.
Whitty says this slide shows positivity rates for under-21s.
Amongst the very young, rates are not rising. But amongst older people in this group, they are.
Updated
Whitty: proportion of people testing positive is going up
Whitty says some people think there are just more cases because more people are testing positive.
But this slide shows that is not the case, he says. It shows the positivity rate - the proportion of people testing positive. They are going up, he says.
Updated
Whitty says his slide shows where new cases are.
There is a particular increase amongst young people.
And in some areas the increase is accelerating, he says.
Whitty says the slide on the left shows the total rate of coronavirus. The dark the colour, the more there is. There is a particular concentration in the north and the Midlands.
And he says the slide on the right shows the increase in the last seven days. The more orange there is, the greater the increase. It is increasing particularly in the north-west and north-east.
Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, is speaking now. He is presenting slides.
He starts with one showing what happened in the spring.
This shows excess deaths.
Johnson says 14m people have already downloaded the app.
Johnson says some people think we should just give up the fight against coronavirus.
But he does not think that is what the nation wants, he says.
He says he will not allow the UK to be overwhelmed.
Johnson says he will provide regular updates to public through press conferences
Johnson says the only way to tackle the virus is for everyone to follow the rules.
He thanks people for what they have done.
And he promises to provide “regular updates” himself through these press conferences.
Johnson says he would like to be able to say the new measures were already working.
But yesterday we had the biggest daily rise in cases, and cases are over 7,000 today.
He says in many ways the UK is better placed than it was in the spring.
He says 32bn items of PPE have been ordered. A four-month stockpile will be in place. By December UK suppliers will provide 70% of it, compared to just 1% before the pandemic.
Updated
Johnson says plans are being put in place to allow students home safely for Christmas.
Boris Johnson's press conference
Boris Johnson is starting his press conference.
He says new restrictions were introduced last week because the rise in case numbers implied more people were going to die.
Sixty two students at Newcastle’s two universities have tested positive for Covid.
Northumbria and Newcastle Universities said in a statement:
As of Friday 25 September, we can confirm that we were aware of 62 Newcastle University and Northumbria University students who had tested positive for Covid-19. These students are now self-isolating. Their flatmates and any close contacts are also self-isolating for 14 days in line with government guidance and have been advised to contact NHS119 to book a test as soon as possible should symptoms appear.
There were 705 new cases of Covid in Newcastle over the last seven days, up from 393 the week before. That gives the city an infection rate of 233 per 100,000 people, more than Bolton and far above the English average of 51.
MPs are voting on the Coronavirus Act motion now.
The debate was short - backbench speeches lasted just three minutes each - but it showed that the No 10 compromise has not satisfied all Conservatives. Sir Charles Walker said it was an “utter, utter disgrace” that MPs were getting just 90 minutes in total to debate such an important measure, and Sir Bernard Jenkin said the PM needed to take more notice of the views of his backbenchers.
Updated
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, said:
The emergency and the extensive powers in this legislation have naturally and rightly raised questions and concerns. The nature and the imposition of measures that significantly alter individual liberties deserve full and frank scrutiny, no matter the context. And it is in that regard that it is really quite unhelpful that we have only been given a 90 minute debate today.
Updated
UK records 7,108 more Covid cases as sharp increase sustained
The government’s coronavirus dashboard has just been updated. Here are the key figures.
- The UK has recorded 7,108 new coronavirus cases. This is marginally lower than yesterday’s total (7,143), but it suggests the sharp increase in cases is being sustained. This is only the second time the daily case numbers been above 7,000, and this figure is higher than any recorded at the peak of the first wave in the spring. However, because there is far more testing taking place now than there was in March, April and May, these record case numbers do not mean that the prevalence of coronavirus in the community is comparable to what it was then. Other evidence suggests that overall case numbers are only smallish fraction of what they were in the spring.
- The UK has recorded 71 further deaths - almost double the daily figure for a week ago (37). It takes the headline total number of deaths to 42,143. But this figure is an underestimate because it only counts people who have died within 28 days of testing positive for coronavirus. Overall more than 57,600 people have died from confirmed or suspected coronavirus in the UK.
Updated
Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee, is speaking in the Commons debate now. He welcomes what Matt Hancock said. He says the new approach will be in the interests of parliament and of government, and it should ensure people that important questions are addressed before new regulations are imposed.
Mark Harper, a former Tory chief whip, intervenes. He says what Hancock described (see 3.45pm) is exactly what Brady asked for in his amendment (see 9.37am), with the one exception that the word “possible” has replaced Brady’s word “practicable”.
Labour’s Chris Bryant asks Brady if he can explain what the new system actually involves.
Brady says the government is talking about using commencement dates in regulations. Regulations would be introduced using the affirmative procedure (which is what happens now), but commencement dates for regulations would be set in the future, so the laws would only take effect after MPs have voted on them.
Under the current system, MPs do approve regulations, but any vote can take place up to 40 days after they have already come into force.
Scotland’s higher education minister, Richard Lochead, has told the Holyrood parliament that his government was “never advised to keep students at home” while insisting that young people “are in no way to blame” for the current spike in infections across Scotland’s campuses.
Lochead insisted that bringing students back to campus – a move that has been sharply criticised by opposition parties, students bodies and some academics – was in line with scientific advice and that “there were no easy risk-free option”.
He said that the Scottish government was advised that telling students to stay away from campuses would have “inflicted significant harm on them and the wider higher education sector in Scotland”.
He also confirmed that 759 students had tested positive for Covid with “many more” self-isolating, adding that he expected to see more positive cases in the coming days.
And he said that he wants students “to have the option to return home safely for Christmas”. He said:
We are looking with the sector at the best approach, this includes public health measures, staggering term end dates, and transport considerations. We will work with the UK government to bring as much consistency across these island as possible.
Updated
Here is another Labour MP describing Matt Hancock’s concession as worthless.
Meaningless “non-concession” from Hancock on more parliamentary scrutiny of #COVID19 restrictions. Only applies to “significant national measures”, not draconian ones imposed on local communities with no consultation & commits only to consult Parliament “wherever possible”.
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) September 30, 2020
Burnham says government's centralised approach to local lockdowns 'unsustainable'
The government’s centralised approach to decision-making on lockdown restrictions is “unsustainable” and must urgently change before “the most difficult winter we’ve ever known in this country”, Andy Burnham has said.
The mayor of Greater Manchester said the government’s approach had been “too driven from rooms in Whitehall” with little regard to the impact of decisions on communities.
Calling for local leaders to be more involved in the decision-making process, Burnham said at a press conference:
Things feel unsustainable this week and it also feels like the last significant moment to change things before the winter.
We’re now looking at probably the most difficult winter we’ve ever known in this country. It’s staring us in the face and we’re not where we need to be. I would say we’re nowhere near where we need to be in terms of our readiness to face that winter.
Burnham said one of the key issues was a lack of extra financial support for areas where restrictions have been imposed and that there should be an urgent review of the 10pm curfew on nightlife, which is “causing major harm to a hospitality industry that is already teetering on a cliff edge”. He added:
We can’t carry on in this way. We are ready to work with the government but we need to reset here. We can’t just have ad hoc conversations here and there with ministers. We need to be involved. Don’t do to us, work with us. I’m afraid that hasn’t happened so far.
The whole approach has been too centralised, too driven from rooms within Whitehall without any recognition about what this means for people on the ground and how it affects our communities.
Burnham said the government should never impose local restrictions without proper financial support for residents, businesses and councils in those areas. It was “utterly wrong” that Bolton’s hospitality industry had not been offered Treasury support, beyond a payment of up to £1,500 every three weeks, despite being forced to go takeaway-only three weeks ago.
He added: “We’ve had the health crisis and that continues but now we’re going to see the economic crisis break as well as a health crisis simultaneously because the redundancies are going to start if things stay as they are.”
Updated
In the Coronavirus Act debate the Labour MP Chris Bryant said he thought Matt Hancock’s concession was worth “nothing” because it had not been written down. Hancock replied by saying Bryant would be able to read it in Hansard.
Hancock says government to drop Coronavirus Act provisions weakening Mental Health Act protections
Hancock told MPs that one part of the Coronavirus Act was being dropped.
The act allowed people to be sectioned under the Mental Health Act on the basis of the opinion of just one doctor, not two. It also allowed the time limits for these orders to be extended.
Hancock said that, even when the act was passed, he was not convinced this part was necessary. Now it will be dropped, he said. He said the government would introduce secondary legislation to remove this provision in the bill.
What Hancock said about compromise offer to MPs
Here is the full quote from Matt Hancock on the new arrangements. He said:
I ... propose that we change the approach to bringing in urgent measures. And I’m very grateful to all colleagues we’ve worked with to come forward with a proposal that will allow us to make decisions and implement them fast, but also ensure that they are scrutinised properly.
Today I can confirm to the house that for significant national measures, with effect in the whole of England or UK-wide, we will consult parliament. Wherever possible we will hold votes before such regulations come into force.
But, of course, responding to the virus means that the government must act with speed when required and we cannot hold up urgent regulations which are needed to control the virus and save lives.
I am sure that no member of this house would want to limit the government’s ability to take emergency action in the national interest as we did in March and we will continue to involve the house in scrutinising our decisions in the way the prime minister set out last week with regular statements and debates and the ability for members to question the government’s scientific advisers more regularly, gain access to data about their constituencies and join daily calls with the paymaster general.
Hancock said he hoped that these new arrangements would be seen as a new convention.
Updated
Hancock says MPs will be consulted and given prior votes where possible on significant lockdown measures
Hancock is now addressing what the government will do ensure MPs get more say over emergency regulations.
(This is the compromise deal brokered with Tory rebels.)
He says he believes that legislation is improved by scrutiny from the Commons.
He says that in future, for significant national measures affecting the whole of England or the whole of the UK, the government will consult MPs and give them a vote wherever possible before those measures come into force.
But he says ministers must reserve the right to act quickly in emergencies.
Updated
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, is opening the debate.
He says the government has needed the powers in the act and that it needs to be reviewed, even though not all the powers in the act are needed in future.
MPs debate Coronavirus Act
MPs are now starting the Coronavirus Act debate.
There is a provision in the act saying it has to be renewed by parliament after six months. MPs are now debating that provision. There is a simple motion asking MPs to agree “that the temporary provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 should not yet expire” and it is not amendable. That is why the Speaker has not allowed the amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, or any of the other amendments.
British football’s top 100 earners should consider donating a week’s wages to support community clubs across the country, MPs have heard. The sports minister Nigel Huddleston appeared to back the idea in the Commons earlier after it was floated by Labour’s Chris Evans.
During an urgent question on government support for sport, Evans said:
I wonder has the minister thought of more innovative ways of raising finance by creating some sort of community trust where we ask the top earning 100 footballers in this country - some are earning £350,000 a week, £500,000 a week - to just donate one week’s wages to a trust, which then can be distributed amongst struggling clubs to ensure communities can still enjoy their football.
Huddleston replied:
Both now and in the future, I encourage all stakeholders in sports to do the right thing and play their part, and he’s making some good points about voluntary donations as well as what we will be requiring and expecting from sport at various levels.
Updated
Public Health Wales has recorded 388 more coronavirus cases and one further death.
There have been 424 new cases of coronavirus confirmed in Northern Ireland in the last 24-hour reporting period, the Department of Health there has announced. A further coronavirus-linked death has been reported to the department, although it did not occur within the last day.
Asked about the prospect of tighter coronavirus restrictions being imposed on Merseyside (see 2.18pm), Downing Street said that officials are “closely monitoring” the coronavirus rate in Merseyside and that the current rules are being kept “under constant review”.
NHS England has recorded 43 further coronavirus hospital deaths. It says that the people who died were aged between 43 and 98 years old and that all except one had known underlying health conditions. The details are here.
Updated
Failure to protect healthcare workers from Covid-19 has been described as “outrageous to the point of immorality” by a Nobel prize winner. Sir Paul Nurse, director of London’s Francis Crick Institute and a geneticist who won the Nobel prize for medicine, said the UK and other countries were “woefully unprepared” for the pandemic. As PA Media reports, in an interview in the latest Big Issue magazine Nurse said the government had not properly embraced how to deal with science and explain it to the public.
There were simulations about what we do in a pandemic. We failed miserably in the tests and we failed miserably in reality. The fact that we couldn’t even protect our healthcare workers with equipment is outrageous to the point of immorality.
We’re stumbling from one crisis to another in midst of chaos, frankly.
In some respects, I have some sympathy to the government, because it’s a terrible thing for having to deal with, and I have sympathy with the scientists trying to advise them, but I don’t think we’ve handled it very well.
My experience over 20 years when I have been involved [in government] is that the UK, generally, has done rather well in its interaction with science.
I’m less impressed with the present government - because it’s populist it doesn’t like relying so much on evidence and experts because they have to justify an opinion against knowledgeable arguments.
Updated
Teaching union calls for 'Nightingale schools' to help reduce Covid risk
The National Education Union wants the government to back “Nightingale schools” with additional teachers and smaller class sizes, to help curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus in areas of high risk.
The call comes as the NEU launched a new website to track Covid-19 outbreaks around each school, as part of a campaign to lobby the government for better access to tests for both staff and pupils.
In a briefing before the union’s special conference on Saturday, Kevin Courtney, the NEU’s joint general secretary, said:
We have got Nightingale courts to deal with the backlog in the courts. We think we need Nightingale classes too.
Some people tell us this is over-ambitious but in Bolton and in Newcastle we are worried that they are going to move to a rota operation and we think that reducing class sizes in those areas is a better option. It will take real work but there are supply staff, there are [teachers] who qualified last summer who still don’t have jobs and this could be work they could sensibly do.
Courtney said the Department for Education’s latest figures showed that more than 500 secondary schools in England were only partially open, and that there were reports of entire year classes and groups of pupils studying for GCSE and A-level or BTec qualifications being sent home to isolate.
The union’s delegates will also consider a motion calling for changes to the exam and assessment system for 2021. It wants standardised tests in primary schools to be dropped, and for changes to GCSE and A-level exams to avoid a repeat of this year’s fiasco.
Updated
Updated
One of Britain’s biggest cultural donors, Dame Vivien Duffield, has announced a £2.5m package to help safeguard the learning and community work of arts organisations during the pandemic.
Her Clore Duffield Foundation has over two decades given £30m to fund Clore learning spaces at 66 cultural organisations, from Sage in Gateshead to Bristol Old Vic to the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
They did remarkable work, she said, but lockdown closed them all and even though museums, galleries, theatres and concert halls were all gradually reopening, most of the learning centres remained closed. She went on:
This donation is to help the institutions take the necessary precautions, and where possible start their learning programmes in person. It is of course also to help retain and support the learning teams which are in danger of being dispersed.
The intention is to give a percentage of the original capital grant. Recipients of up to £1m will get 10% of the original grant and recipients of more than £1m will get 5%. So the British Museum which originally received £2.5m will get £125,000 and the Holburne Museum in Bath which originally got £145,000 will get £14,500.
Updated
The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope has more on the deal struck between the government and Tory rebels over MPs getting votes on emergency legislation.
BREAKING Matt Hancock has agreed a peace deal with Conservative rebel MPs over Parliamentary scrutiny of future lockdowns.
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) September 30, 2020
Ministers will be hoping this will heal the rift in the party.
More details when the Health Secretary addresses the House around 3pm.
Tory rebel source tells me: “We will get the votes we want in the future (on) anything significant.”
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) September 30, 2020
The intervention by Sir Lindsay Hoyle at the start of #PMQs sealed the Government’s climb down, according to sources.
The Commons order paper had the Coronavirus Act debate down to start after 7pm, but we’re told that it will now start soon after 3pm. MPs are debating the non-domestic rating bill first, but is has not attracted overwhelming interest and the speeches should all be over within the hour.
New results from a clinical trial of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine have shown that the jab can induce a “robust” immune response against the virus, raising hopes it will provide at least some protection against Covid-19 infection.
Scientists from the partnership gave the vaccine to 60 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 in April and May and found that two doses produced antibodies and T cells that should fight the virus. Antibodies take on the virus directly, while T cells destroy cells that the virus invades.
The UK has pre-ordered 30m doses of the BioNTech vaccine which are due to be delivered this year and next, along with tens of millions of doses from other vaccine manufacturers, including Valneva in France, and AstraZeneca, which has partnered with Oxford University to trial its experimental vaccine.
The BioNTech vaccine, known as BNT162b1, smuggles genetic material called mRNA into muscle tissue. There, the body uses the mRNA to make fragments of virus protein which the immune system then learns to hunt down the pathogen.
The results need to be confirmed in a larger trial and in wider age groups to get a sense of how useful the vaccine might be. For now, it is unclear how older people with weaker immune systems will respond, and how long any protection may last. “As vaccine-induced immunity can wane over time, it is important to study persistence of potentially protective immune responses,” the scientists write in Nature.
Merseyside economy 'may collapse' if lockdown restrictions imposed without bailout, local leaders warn
Coronavirus restrictions are expected to be imposed on Merseyside very soon. New cases are running at a rate of more than 200 per 100,000 people.
Local mayors and council leaders have signed a joint statement saying they accept the need for further restrictions. But they also say that the region is “at breaking point” and that, if new rules are imposed, they need more money to help support local businesses and public services. They say:
We are already at breaking point. With new restrictions – and who knows for how long they might be needed – our economy and public services may collapse.
If we do not act now, we will see a legacy of unemployment and ill-health that will cost lives for generations to come.
So, today, we are calling on the government to work with us.
If government decide that new restrictions are required, they must also provide a comprehensive package of financial support for our economy and our public services.
And to help us minimise the length of restrictions required, we must secure from the government an immediate uplift in testing capacity, that matches testing resources to the high level of cases in our region.
We are fully committed to working in partnership with national government, but we need the right support and resource to help us at a regional level. And we need it now.
The statement says Liverpool has already been hit particularly hard because its visitor economy is worth almost £5bn to the region and employs more than 50,000 people. Over the last six months local authorities on Merseyside, and the combined authority, has already lost more than £350m through extra costs and missing income, it says.
The statement has been signed by Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool city region; Joe Anderson, mayor of Liverpool; Rob Polhill, leader of Halton council; Graham Morgan, leader of Knowsley council; Ian Maher, leader of Sefton council; David Baines, leader of St Helens council; and Janette Williamson, leader of Wirral council.
Updated
The government has signed its first independent fishing deal for 40 years after arriving at a post-Brexit agreement with Norway.
It involves annual negotiations on share of catch, something the EU has rejected in Brexit trade talks.
The Norwegian fisheries and seafood minister, Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen, described it as a “great day”.
The environment secretary, George Eustice, said: “The agreement is testament to our commitment to acting as a cooperative independent coastal state, seeking to ensure a sustainable and a prosperous future for the whole of the UK fishing industry.”
Updated
Rebel Tory MPs set to agree deal with whips over Covid restrictions
Rebel Conservative MPs hoping to force the government to give the House of Commons more power over sweeping coronavirus restrictions are set to agree a deal with party whips, after an amendment was thwarted by parliamentary procedure, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.
The Welsh education minister, Kirsty Williams, has said that allowing university students to return home for Christmas is a “priority” for her government. She said:
We will leave no stone unturned, working with our universities and with our public health officials and with other governments in the United Kingdom, to give students the chance to get home for Christmas.
That’s my priority. It’s my priority as the education minister and it’s my priority as a mum.
Williams said that state school attendance across Wales was at 80%. She said the figure had been constant since the return to classrooms this month. Most schools have had no Covid cases. Only 22 have had three or more cases.
Scotland records seven further Covid deaths - highest daily figure since mid June
There were seven deaths after a positive coronavirus test reported in Scotland since yesterday, the highest daily figure since June 17, and 640 new cases, Nicola Sturgeon said at her daily briefing, with 137 people being treated in hospital.
The highest number of cases, 232, were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, where hundreds of university students are self-isolating following significant clusters in halls of residence.
She also confirmed that, as of 12 October, people on low incomes would be eligible to receive a new £500 grant if asked to self-isolate.
She said that household restrictions remained the best way to contain the virus: the ban on household visiting, which initially came into force in west of Scotland before being extended nationwide, have blunted the rise but added that now university clusters are confusing the picture.
Updated
From Bloomberg’s Kitty Donaldson
.@BorisJohnson has seen over a potential rebellion with Tory backbenchers over Parliament's oversight of coronavirus lockdown powers.
— Kitty Donaldson (@kitty_donaldson) September 30, 2020
Health Secretary Matt Hancock will set out the deal at 3:30pm
PMQs - Snap verdict
At PMQs it is often assumed that the key task for the leader of the opposition is to “land a blow” or “deliver a knockout punch”. That can be important, and in an understated way Sir Keir Starmer does it well, but an equally vital skill is the ability to avoid, to dodge, and at that Starmer is even better. He must be driving them bonkers in No 10. Every attempt that Boris Johnson makes to lay down a dividing line, with Starmer on the wrong side of it, fails.
In the past we’ve had ‘Starmer, the friend of IRA-loving Jeremy Corbyn’, which collapsed as soon as Starmer started talking about his record as DPP, and ‘Starmer, the Brussels-supporting remainer’. This fantasy got an outing last night on the CCHQ Twitter account, but Johnson did not try either of these lines of attack at PMQs, with the result that his overall performance was less erratic than some of his other ones in recent weeks.
But only up to a point. Instead Johnson tried to depict Starmer today as someone opposed to the coronavirus restrictions - and, by implication, opposed to the whole national effort to fight the virus. One problem with this argument was that it was not clear whether Johnson was accusing the opposition of inconsistency (sometimes backing lockdown, sometimes not), or just accusing it of being hostile. But the main problem, of course, is that that charge just isn’t true, and Starmer established that quite clearly. (See 12.17pm.) That did not stop Johnson ploughing on at the end with a pre-scripted soundbite about Labour opportunism, but political messaging has to be at least half-true to be effective, and Johnson must have known he was peddling something inherently implausible.
It was another underwhelming performance. But not quite as underwhelming as some of his others, and at one point he almost got the better of Starmer. It came when Starmer asked what was an obvious question in the light of yesterday:
If the prime minister doesn’t understand the rules and his own council leaders are complaining about mixed messages, how does the prime minister expect the rest of the country to understand and follow the rules?
Johnson replied: “Actually, I think that the people of this country do understand and overwhelmingly do follow the rules.” And this worked because, broadly, it is true. (One of the most extraordinary features of the coronavirus crisis has been how compliant people have been overall, despite the fact that there is little risk of people facing sanctions for not following the rules.) But then Johnson ruined it by saying people were doing what they were told “in spite of the efforts of [Starmer] continually to try to snipe from the sidelines”. This just amounts to criticising Starmer for doing his job, and Starmer’s healthy approval ratings suggest that, as a jibe, it doesn’t work.
Starmer did deliver some clean hits too. Johnson did not have a decent answer to the question about lack of government support for businesses that just can’t operate now and his first two questions - why has just one area (Luton) come out of local lockdown, and what is the plan for the restrictions to be lifted everywhere else? - were excellent. Johnson was struggling to answer both. On Luton, he said that it was able to lift its local restrictions because “local people pulled together to suppress the virus”. That implied that millions of people in other parts of England facing similar rules were not doing likewise, quite a slur potentially, but Starmer chose not to pursue that. But he did not really need to. He won comfortably anyway.
Speaker says government has treated Commons with 'contempt' over Covid regulations
Here are some extracts from Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s statement at the start of PMQs.
- Hoyle accused the government of treating the Commons with “contempt” in relation to coronavirus restrictions. He said:
The way in which the government has exercised its power to make secondary legislation during this crisis has been totally unsatisfactory.
All too often important statutory instruments have been published a matter of hours before they come into force and some explanations as to why important measures have come into effect before they can be laid before this house has been unconvincing and shows a total disregard for the house ...
As I hope my early comments show I have not taken this decision lightly. I am looking to the government to remedy a situation I regard as completely unsatisfactory.
I am now looking to the government to rebuild the trust with this house and not treat it with the contempt that it has shown.
- He explained why he would not allow votes on amendments in the debate on the Coronavirus Act tonight. He said:
When I became Speaker I made it clear that I would take decisions on matters relating to procedures guided by professional advice.
I have concluded on the basis of advice that I received that any amendment to the motion before the house risks giving rise to uncertainty about the decision the house has taken.
This then risks decisions that are rightly the responsibility of parliament ultimately being determined by the courts.
Updated
From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh
Here's the full email from a @RishiSunak constituent mentioned by @Keir_Starmer in #PMQs pic.twitter.com/PUC74F5GkR
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) September 30, 2020
Jerome Mayhew (Con) asks about the A47 in Norfolk. But plans to upgrade it have just been postponed. Why?
Johnson says the government is intensely ambitious for transport infrastructure. That project will be reconsidered, he says. The government is looking at projects from 2025 onwards.
And that’s it. PMQs is over.
Nav Mishra (Lab) asks if the ban one evictions will be reinstated to prevent a housing crisis this winter.
Johnson says landlords have to give at least six months’ notice. So there won’t be evictions over Christmas, he says. And the government is embarking on a huge programme to build more homes.
Neil Coyle (Lab) asks if councils will be funded for all the homeless people they helped.
Johnson says the way homeless people were housed was one of the “consolations” of the crisis. The government will continue to do what it can, he says.
Laurence Robertson (Con) asks if the A&E unit will return to Cheltenham hospital.
Johnson says he has been told this closure is only temporary.
Mick Whitley (Lab) says the government has decided to write off 1m jobs as unviable. Why?
Johnson says that is a misrepresentation of what the government is doing. It will continue to support jobs. But the most important thing is to get people into work.
Updated
Darren Henry (Con) asks what the PM will do to support the Midlands engine.
Johnson says he is happy to support this.
Janet Daby (Lab) asks what the government will do to protect jobs in the hospitality sector. Why does the PM think these jobs are not worth saving?
Johnson says the government is doing what it can to support every job in the country. But it cannot save every job. There is a lifetime skills guarantee to allow people to retrain, he says.
David Simmonds (Con) asks what will be done to extend the Syrian refugee settlement scheme.
Johnson says the UK can be proud of what has been done to resettle refugees. It will continue to meet its obligations to those fleeing persecution and war, he says.
Debbie Abrahams (Lab) asks what the PM’s biggest Covid mistake has been.
Johnson says he is grateful for the question. There will be plenty of time to go over the decisions made, for which he takes responsibility. He says the increase in cases in Bolton is worrying. He urges Abrahams to get Labour to support the government.
Harriet Baldwin (Con) asks if the PM will change some of the elements of the algorithm used to allocate housing under the planning bill.
Johnson says he wants to see more homes built, in a way that avoids desecrating the green belt.
Tommy Sheppard (SNP) asks if the PM would regard a Conservative victory in the Scottish elections next year as a mandate for the union.
Johnson says the Scots had a vote on this in 2014. That was a vote for a generation. We should stick with that, he says.
Johnson says Tories are enthusiastic about the clean, green future. He is pleased this is being pioneered in the Tees Valley.
Munira Wilson (Lib Dem) says the Coronavirus Act has weakened protections for the disabled.
(This is why the Lib Dems are voting against. See 11.56am.)
Johnson says the government will give the disabled the protection they need.
Johnson says he totally supports the ambition of HS2. But he has been assured that communities affected are being consulted.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asks if the PM will stop leisure travel from lockdown areas.
Johnson says overall the UK is proceeding with the same approach.
There are some differences, and some “seeming illogicalities”. That is inevitable. But he is grateful for the cooperation Saville Roberts is giving.
(That did not address the question at all.)
Updated
Ben Spencer (Con) says there has been less traffic noise during lockdown. What can be done to reduce noise and pollution from the M25?
Johnson says the government wants to see more electric cars on the roads.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, says just 15% of Scots trust the Westminster government to operate in Scotland’s interests. Why does the PM think that is?
Johnson says the internal market bill will benefit Scotland. It devolves power back down to Scotland, he says. It enables Scotland to take back control of its fisheries. Today is a historic day, he says. The government has managed to lift the ban on British beef being sold to America. That covers Scottish beef too.
Blackford says Johnson did not answer the question. The PM is “yapping, mumbling, bumbling”, but not answering the question. A Tory government that arrogantly breaks international law has shattered trust in the government. If the bill fails to get the consent of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, will he withdraw it?
Johnson says Blackford is just trying to “foment grievance where no grievance should exist”.
Updated
David Mundell (Con) asks if the government will reach an agreement with the US on the Airbus dispute, so that tariffs on Scotch whisky can be lifted.
Johnson says he has raised this with the Trump administration and will continue to do so.
Starmer says the PM does not get it. There are viable jobs, but the businesses cannot operate now. They need help.
He says black history month is about to start. Black women are five times more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth. Will the government address this?
Johnson says the government is reviewing race inequality. He says he is surprised by the fact that Starmer does not know that. He says the opposition supports the restrictions one moment, and opposes them another. He says the shadow education secretary made it clear when she said it was a crisis to exploit. The government is taking the tough decisions, he says.
Starmer says he supports the restrictions. But he is asking about economic support. Some 10 million people could lose their jobs by Christmas. They wanted an answer to that question. The PM should have answered it. He quotes from someone who owns a wedding company. They cannot organise weddings, so there is no work. But those jobs are viable once the restrictions are lifted. What does the PM say to that business owner?
The Speaker says it is prime minister’s questions, not opposition questions.
Johnson says most people support the £190bn the government has spent. The furlough plan is far more generous than what is on offer in other countries. He knows the wedding sector is in difficulties. But the best way forward is to all pull together, and get the virus down. He says the support is only possible because a prudent, one nation Conservative government was in power.
Updated
Starmer says the idea that asking a question at PMQs undermines confidence is wearing a bit thin. He says he spoke to the leader of Newcastle council yesterday. He called for better economic support. Why has the PM decided that some jobs are not worth saving?
Johnson says Labour was calling for the measures the government introduced. He says they must drive down the virus and keep children in education. That is the strategy. Labour supported it last week. Starmer “simultaneously attacks and doesn’t attack” the restrictions. Which is it?
Boris Johnson denies people are confused by local lockdown rules
Starmer says there is widespread confusion about the rules. He does not just mean the PM not knowing his own rules; having sat opposite him at PMQs, that was not a surprise. Starmer quotes the Conservative leader of Bolton saying people feel let down. How does the PM expect the people of the country to understand and follow the rules?
Johnson says the people of the country do understand the rules and follow them, despite Starmer continuing to snipe. He says he cleared up the situation yesterday. He says people want to see the government defeat the virus, and they want to see us doing it together. He asks Starmer to be a little bit consistent, and to instil confidence in the measures he supports.
Here is the clip if you missed it:
Updated
Starmer says the PM described local measures as a “whack-a-mole strategy’. But that implies the mole goes down. In these areas, the virus has not gone away. What is the plan for getting them out of restrictions?
Johnson says nobody wants to see these measures. But you have to take strong action. He says the illness seems to be more localised now than it was in the spring.
Sir Keir Starmer says over 16 million people - one in four - are living under restrictions in England. But only one area, Luton, has come out of local restrictions. Why?
Johnson says Starmer is right. There is “a serious and growing problem with the resurgence of the virus”. In Luton local people pulled together. That is the way forward for the entire country.
Updated
Jason McCartney (Con) asks if the PM will support the events industry.
Boris Johnson says he would like to have a situation where people can be tested before events.
Speaker criticises government's handling of Covid regulations - but says he won't accept Brady amendment tonight
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, starts with a statement.
He says the way in which the government has used its powers to make secondary legislation during the crisis has been “totally unsatisfactory”.
He says regulations have come into force with very little notice. That is “totally unsatisfactory”, he says.
He says he will give “very sympathetic” consideration to applications for urgent questions on these matters.
MPs should get the chance to vote on amendable motions on regulations, he says.
But, turning to tonight’s debate, he says only 90 minutes has been set aside for it.
He cannot give it extra time, he says.
He says when he became Speaker he said he would take decisions based on advice.
He says tonight’s debate is meant to be a simple yes/no vote on renewing the Coronavirus Act.
He says any amendments might create uncertainty. So he will not allow amendments, he said.
But he says he hopes the government will resolve this issue and stop treating parliament with contempt.
Updated
From my colleague Jessica Elgot
Latest on Brady rebellion - talks now taking place after PMQs, so only a few hours left to hash out any agreement. If the Speaker doesn't call the amendment, then MPs may be facing a 'take it or leave it' scenario.
— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) September 30, 2020
Expect Hancock to have something to say ahead of debate.
The Lib Dems have said they will vote against renewing the Coronavirus Act tonight. In a statement the party leader, Sir Ed Davey, said:
To save lives through this pandemic, the Liberal Democrats have supported and continue to support all necessary measures to keep people safe – including the lockdowns and face-covering requirements.
However, I have deep reservations about the serious implications for people’s wellbeing, rights and freedoms. Most alarming to me is the watering down of care for elderly, disabled and vulnerable people. That is a red line issue.
Just imagine what that has meant for those children and their families. On top of all the other hardships of lockdown, having the lifeline of caring support cut off completely.
I have appealed to the prime minister to listen and heed the legal advice, but he has refused. Liberal Democrat MPs are therefore unable to vote for an act that fails to care for the most vulnerable, sees people wrongfully charged and gives ministers a blank cheque.
Britain’s car industry risks losing out even if there is a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, according to a report by the BBC’s economics editor, Faisal Islam. This means car parts from Japan and Turkey used in the UK will not be treated as British, so some exports may see higher tariffs, the BBC reports.
Lucy Powell, a shadow business minister, said:
This is really worrying for our country’s automotive industry. The government must listen to businesses and trade unions, and crack on to deliver the trade deal with the EU they promised during the election.
Both sides need to work harder and ensure a deal is reached that protects the businesses and jobs that our communities rely on, or risk adding to the growing unemployment crisis.
Five staff members and one patient have tested positive with Covid-19 at the cardiac unit of Belfast’s Royal Victoria hospital.
The Belfast trust, which runs hospitals in the city, confirmed the outbreak today.
It comes as the number of positive tests for coronavirus in Northern Ireland is confirmed as 320 - the highest daily total since current test systems were put in place in the region.
Updated
There are 550 people in NHS beds in Wales for Covid-related illnesses – up by 60% on seven days ago. The number of patients being treated in critical care beds has risen from 16 to 34 in the last week.
The Welsh health minister, Vaughan Gething, said there was more “scepticism” about Covid-19, partly being fuelled by conspiracy theories.
Gething said the public was “thirsty for action” in March because of a “rising tide in deaths” in other parts of the world. There was more “complacency” now, he told the Senedd’s health, social care and sport committee.
Updated
The Scottish government has announced a consultation on whether to make permanent the arrangements that have made it easier for women to have an early abortion at home during the pandemic.
Since March, women have been able to take both pills required for an early medical abortion at home, where it is considered clinically appropriate.
The current arrangements will remain in place as long as the virus remains a risk, but consultation has now started to gather views, including from women who have had the treatment, on making the current arrangements permanent.
Scotland’s public health minister, Joe FitzPatrick, said:
The current arrangements were put in place to minimise the risk of transmission of Covid-19 and ensure continued access to abortion services, without delays, during this pandemic. This consultation will allow us to gather as much evidence as possible to help inform future arrangements.
Updated
On this morning’s BBC Victoria Derbyshire show the Conservative backbencher Peter Bone said that, if the government did not agree to give MPs prior votes on coronavirus regulations, he would vote against the entire Coronavirus Act tonight. The act, which gives ministers a very wide range of emergency powers, has to be renewed every six months and if the government were to lose the main vote tonight (which is most unlikely - Labour is not expected to vote against) the powers would lapse.
Bone said he did not think it would matter if the act became redundant. He explained:
Why do we need these emergency powers? Why couldn’t all the things that are being done by ministers be done by parliament? There is no need for these emergency measures. They were brought in because we were at the height of a pandemic when parliament was not sitting and operating ... I don’t see why government ministers making decisions is better than parliament making decisions. So the logic is, why do we need the act?
Here is Sky’s Sam Coates on the standoff between No 10 and Tory backbenchers over the powers parliament has to scrutinise coronavirus regulations. (See 9.23am.)
Waiting for white smoke on compromise talks over whether the Commons should have more of a say in Coronavirus restrictions
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 30, 2020
It’s a referendum on the influence of chief whip Mark Spencer, who Tory rebels think understand the issue properly. The q is whether No10 listens, they say
It looks all but certain the Brady amendment doesn’t get selected this lunchtime, and Labour wouldn’t vote to challenge the main Coronavirus reauthoristion motion. So gvt wins
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 30, 2020
But that would NOT be the end of the story.
Today’s vote was only ever to be symbolic - as 1984 laws are the ones that matter and give the powers used when introducing the restriction MPs want to scrutinise
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) September 30, 2020
A restive Parliamentary party with both wings plus the 1922 against them is a dangerous place for No10 to be.
Priti Patel looked at idea of sending asylum seekers to South Atlantic
A Whitehall brainstorming session prompted by Priti Patel led to the idea being floated of sending asylum seekers to a volcanic island in the South Atlantic, my colleagues Peter Walker and Jessica Murray report.
An initial review of the parliamentary art collection has found 232 items with links to the transatlantic slave trade, the House of Commons has said. Of those pieces, 189 depict 24 people who had ties to the slave trade and 40 pieces depict 14 people who were abolitionists.
There are more than 9,500 works of art in the collection and a review is under way, prompted by concerns raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.
Hywel Williams, the Plaid Cymru MP who chairs the Speaker’s advisory committee on works of art, said:
The interpretation of our artworks is reviewed constantly, but this is the first time we are systematically reviewing the entire collection looking at issues around slavery and representation.
We will look at ways to better explain and contextualise works in the collection through our website and in the material we give to visitors to parliament. And we will look for ways to better shine a light on the people in parliament who worked hard to abolish slavery.
There are details of the 232 items here (pdf).
Updated
The fishing industry has warned the government not to sell it out in Brexit talks after it emerged that the UK had offered a three-year transition deal for the sector to help get a trade deal over the line by December.
“The fear right from the beginning has has been that we would again be sold out as we were in the 1970s,” said Barrie Deas, head of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations said at briefing this morning.
But he warned the government not to sell them out.
What we wouldn’t agree to is surrendering fishing rights in order to have a trade deal.
The government would find it very difficult politically amongst its own supporters, never mind the kicking it would get in the press, from the fishing industry, if it came back with a poor deal on fishing.
But he said “all the signals” were the government would deliver.
He believed that a transition period was “one of the moving parts” of the negotiations and the industry could be content if it was a “step-wise movement towards the quota system” the industry is seeking.
Updated
'Pathetic' - Media hit back at Sharma after he suggests Covid lockdown detail questions unfair
Alok Sharma is (quite rightly) being widely criticised by journalists for suggesting that it is unfair for broadcasters to ask ministers to explain details of coronavirus restrictions. (See 10.01am.) Here are some of the comments he’s attracting on Twitter.
From Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor
Not sure it really flies to say it's a 'gotcha' question to expect govt ministers to know what the rules are that they are asking millions of people to follow
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) September 30, 2020
From Jason Groves, the Daily Mail’s political editor
Business Sec Alok Sharma accuses media of 'gotcha' journalism for asking ministers the details of Covid laws they are imposing on people. Pathetic
— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) September 30, 2020
From Nick Robinson, the Today presenter
I don’t think the producers of Pointless will be too worried about the competition. Believe it or not we ask questions to get the answers not to prove that politicians don’t know them https://t.co/5k2b9BIXJz
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) September 30, 2020
From the Daily Mirror’s Dan Bloom
Alok Sharma has said asking Boris Johnson to know the regulations in the North East was "one of those 'gotcha' questions".
— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) September 30, 2020
Try using that excuse with police who are issuing you with a fine!
From Bloomberg’s Emily Ashton
Alok Sharma suggesting on Radio 4 that ministers being asked about details of Covid restrictions is like a "quiz show" - not a good look
— Emily Ashton (@elashton) September 30, 2020
From LBC’s Theo Usherwood
The last time a political party deployed the "it's not a quiz show" line to straight forward questions they couldn't answer was when Diane Abbott failed to explain how Labour would employ more police officers.
— Theo Usherwood (@theousherwood) September 30, 2020
That's the territory the Government appears to occupy right now.
From openDemocracy’s Caroline Molloy
The arrogance of this from Alok Sharma is astonishing, particularly given how disingenuous and evasive government press departments have become lately.
— CarolineJMolloy (@carolinejmolloy) September 30, 2020
What next? “No, we won’t have parliamentary questions, it’s not a quiz show?” https://t.co/4zK0CFdz3f
Updated
The Evening Standard’s Sophia Sleigh says Alok Sharma used the “gotcha” line (see 10.01am) in three separate interviews this morning.
So my count is Alok Sharma used that “gotcha” response on BBC Breakfast, LBC and Radio 4’s Today Programme. Anymore?
— Sophia Sleigh (@SophiaSleigh) September 30, 2020
Whoever came up with that stock response might be regretting it now.🤪
Tom Newton Dunn from Times Radio thinks it was scripted.
Was Alok Sharma reading out his Gotcha/quiz show attack line from a script prepared for him? Seems so from this video. https://t.co/NrCF0KOb7i
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) September 30, 2020
Business secretary suggests it's unfair for journalists to ask ministers about details of lockdown rules
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, has suggested that it is wrong for journalists to ask ministers if they know they detail of lockdown restrictions. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme this morning he said:
There is an element of slightly ‘gotcha’ about this in terms of this line of questioning. You are a flagship programme when it comes to serious news and it is not a quiz show.
Sharma was talking in the context of the PM’s failure to be able to explain the new lockdown restrictions imposed on the north-east of England in a Q&A yesterday. A few hours before Boris Johnson fluffed the question, an education minister, Gillian Keegan, failed to answer the same question on the Today programme.
As soon as Sharma made his “quiz show” jibe, the Today presenter Martha Kearney asked if he was seriously arguing that asking ministers to explain the coronavirus rules was as trivial as a quiz question. At that point Sharma backed down a bit, replying:
No, absolutely not. But what I’m saying to you is that what is important is if people want to understand the precise restrictions that they have in areas which are more restricted, then they should go on to the [local authority] websites.
Labour said Sharma was trying to excuse incompetence. Alex Norris, a shadow health minister, said:
The prime minister should understand the rules he is asking huge numbers of people to follow. That’s not a gotcha, that’s just basic government competence.
Updated
Temporary restrictions to services are to be put in place at the Royal Glamorgan hospital in Llantrisant, south Wales, after 82 cases of coronavirus were identified there, PA Media reports.
The restrictions, which come into force at 2pm today, include suspending planned surgery with the exception of a small number of urgent cancer cases that have been clinically prioritised.
There are currently 82 case of coronavirus identified at the hospital, which is in Rhondda Cynon Taf - one of the areas of Wales subjected to local lockdown restrictions.
Last week, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University health board said 34 cases of Covid-19 had been recorded across two wards at the Royal Glamorgan hospital, linked mainly to transmission within the site.
In a statement on Wednesday, the health board said that despite teams working to manage the outbreak, “additional cases linked to transmission within the hospital” had been confirmed in recent days.
Updated
What Tory rebels are demanding in terms of prior scrutiny of new Covid regulations
In his Today interview Steve Baker gave a clue as to the possible basis of a deal between ministers and backbenchers over the Commons getting more say over Covid rules (see 9.23am) when he stressed three principles. He said:
I think there’s a common understanding between the government and ourselves on three things: that the government needs to retain the capacity for swift and effective action, that we shouldn’t be creating opportunities for vexatious opportunism from the opposition parties, and, thirdly, that we need prior approval of measures, major measures on a national scale, and indeed I think on a regional scale, which take away people’s liberties. That is the fundamental point of parliament - to legitimise, to authorise, restricting people’s freedom’s for the sake of the public interest. And at the moment MPs feel increasingly helpless as they find themselves unable to stand up for their constituents.
Yesterday Sir Bernard Jenkin, the chair of the Commons liaison committee, offered his own proposal for a possible compromise. In a letter to the PM he said:
Various proposals are being made that would require the approval by a vote of the House of Commons before or immediately after new restrictions come into force. The majority of us support this principle and expect that the government will also wish to accept it.
It is worth pointing out that the rebel Tories are not demanding that every single new coronavirus regulation has to be voted on by MPs before it comes into law. Here is the amendment tabled by Sir Graham Brady, saying the Coronavirus Act power should be renewed:
provided ministers ensure as far as is reasonably practicable that in the exercise of their powers to tackle the pandemic under the Coronavirus Act 2020 and other primary legislation, including for example Part 2A of the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984, parliament has an opportunity to debate and to vote upon any secondary legislation with effect in the whole of England or the whole United Kingdom before it comes into effect.
Johnson warned 'rule of law' at risk if MPs don't get more say over Covid rules
Good morning. Brexit was supposed to be about parliament “taking back control” but one of the extraordinary ironies of 2020 is that Britain’s departure from the European Union has coincided with the government implementing the most draconian restrictions on ordinary life seen in peacetime - mostly with MPs having no say over the process at all. The key lockdown measures have become law as regulations passed under emergency powers, Because of the way such secondary legislation is scrutinised, MPs have not had the chance to vote before the laws take effect, the few votes that have taken place have been retrospective (after the laws are already in place) and mostly the regulations have not been subject to votes or debates at all.
Now many MPs have had enough. There will be a debate tonight on extending the powers in the Coronavirus Act and many amendments have been tabled saying MPs should have a greater say. The most important has been tabled by Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, and it has got the support of dozens of Tories. It is likely that the amendments won’t be put to a vote for procedural reasons and ministers know that, if they don’t resolve this issue now, at some point soon the rebels will line up with the opposition to defeat them over this and so talks will take place this morning on a possible compromise.
In an interview on the Today programme this morning Steve Baker, the Tory former minister and a leading rebel on this issue, said that
What I’ve found by talking with colleagues on the backbenches, and indeed colleagues on the frontbenches, is people are extremely concerned about parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, the basis of our freedoms and our prosperity in the course of this crisis. And I do mean ministers - I’ve been amazed at the broad smiles that I’ve had from ministers in the course of this campaign ... There is widespread concern in parliament across parties and throughout the Conservative party that we are not standing up for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law and really that is what today is about.
Baker said 247 pieces of delegated legislation had been introduced to implement coronavirus restrictions. He said it was not being properly scrutinised, and members of the public could not keep up with it. “The rule of law is based on ideas like certainty, predictability, clarity and stability and I think we’ve seen that they are going out of the window with this virus,” he said. He went on:
When you get such a large and shifting body of law, you find even ministers and the prime minister cannot keep up with it.
What possible hope can the public have? I had one minister say to me yesterday, with terror in his eyes about the disease, we might have to change the law every 24 hours.
We can’t possibly expect 70 million people to keep up with law that changes every 24 hours - this would be chaos and ruin.
We’ll hear a lot more on this as the day goes on. Here is the agenda.
9am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.
10.15am: Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, gives evidence to the work and pensions committee about coronavirus and benefits.
12pm: Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs.
12.15pm: The Scottish government is due to hold its daily coronavirus briefing.
12.30pm: Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, answers an urgent question on government support for professional and amateur sport.
2.30pm: Anne Longfield, the children’s commissioner for England, gives evidence to the Commons women and equalities committee about the impact of coronavirus on children’s education.
5pm: Johnson holds a press conference with Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser.
Later, after 7pm, there will be the 90-minute debate on renewing the powers in the Coronavirus Act. The rebel amendment is not expected to be called, and it is possible that ministers and rebels may agree a compromise deal before the debate starts, but the debate will still give MPs a chance to speak out on this issue.
Politics Live has been doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog for some time and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, and where they seem more important and interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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