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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Léonie Chao-Fong, Lucy Campbell and Andrew Sparrow

MPs back all ‘plan B’ measures amid large Tory rebellion on Covid passes and mandatory vaccines – as it happened

Summary

  • Nearly 100 Conservative MPs voted against plans for Covid vaccine certificates for some large venues in England – marking the largest rebellion of Boris Johnson’s premiership. The number of rebels far exceeds Johnson’s parliamentary majority of 79 – and the 56 MPs needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in his leadership.
  • In a separate vote, 63 Tories voted against mandatory vaccinations for NHS and social care staff in England. Labour supported the measure but Keir Starmer suffered his own rebellion, with 22 Labour MPs voting against.
  • MPs also backed compulsory face coverings in more indoor public places including museums and galleries, as well as allowing fully vaccinated people who come into contact with a Covid case to take daily lateral flow tests for seven days, rather than self-isolating
  • Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, a senior member of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee, said a leadership challenge in the New Year is “on the cards” unless the PM unites the party by delivering a “major change in the way he does things”.
  • Labour leader Keir Starmer said the rebellions were “a very significant blow to the already damaged authority of the prime minister” but stopped short of explicitly calling for him to resign

Here is the moment Keir Starmer said the prime minister “needs to take a long, hard look at himself” and “ask himself whether he has the authority” to lead the country.

The Daily Mirror has published a photo showing a “raucous” Christmas party thrown by Conservative aides on December 14 last year, when London was in Tier 2.

The image shows 24 people crowded together in a medium-sized room in the party’s Westminster HQ, with guests including billionaire Tory donor Nick Candy and a senior figure on Boris Johnson’s leadership election campaign.

From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar:

Just hours before the biggest rebellion of his premiership, one of Boris Johnson’s key allies was asked about the possibility of a challenge to the prime minister’s position. “It is a very difficult thing to do, as you may remember with the previous incumbent,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg, speaking on his Moggcast podcast on ConservativeHome.

It is indeed a tough hurdle to get more than 50 sitting Conservative MPs to submit no confidence letters in their leader and prime minister. But as in the case of Theresa May, ousted by Rees-Mogg and his allies, it is not insurmountable.

Anti-Johnson feeling on the backbenches is running high partly because of his botched handling of sleaze scandals and the furore over lockdown parties in Downing Street. However, an equally sizeable reason for discontent is rightwing, libertarian MPs unhappy with the ideological basis for Covid restrictions.

Rees-Mogg remains very loyal to the prime minister but at the same time made no attempt in his podcast to deny the existence of a mutinous mood within the Tory ranks in parliament.

The prime minister personally pleaded with the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers to back his plan B measures before the vote on Tuesday evening. But nearly 100 Tory MPs directly challenged his authority by voting against Covid passports for entry to nightclubs and other large venues.

That means almost a third of all Tory MPs and most backbenchers have now put the prime minister on notice that they are extremely unhappy with the idea of further restrictions.

Since Brexit, the Tory party has thrown out its more centre-right, moderate voices. As a direct consequence, the main strain of opinion in the Conservatives is now inherently more lockdown-sceptic, freedom-loving, anti-mask than the party of David Cameron might have been.

If Johnson does need to opt for stricter, plan C measures in the face of a rising tide of Omicron, he will now find himself in the same position as May did over Brexit – attempting to rely on Labour votes in the face of a revolt on the right.

Read the full story here:

Keir Starmer has stopped short of explicitly calling for Boris Johnson to resign.

Asked whether he thought Conservative MPs should be writing to the 1922 Committee to prompt a leadership election, he told broadcasters:

He has an 80-seat majority and he’s just had, you know, 90 or 100 of his own MPs voting against him on a three-line whip, that’s a significant blow to the authority of the Prime Minister.

Just when we need decisive decisions in this pandemic, it’s the worst possible leader at the worst possible time.

Asked again if Tory rebels should try and get rid of the prime minister, the Labour leader replied:

Well, the Prime Minister needs to ask himself the question whether he has the authority to lead this country through this pandemic.

It looks like the number of Conservative MPs who voted against Covid passes tonight could be more than previously reported.

From Sky’s Sam Coates:

Several people have pointed out that the vote over Covid passes marks one of the biggest rebellions any Conservative leader has ever suffered.

From Times Radio’s Tom Newton Dunn:

And Prospect magazine’s Tom Clark:

And as policy expert Sam Freedman reminds us, the Brexit deal defeat was a huge blow for Theresa May and led to Jeremy Corbyn tabling a dramatic no-confidence motion in the Commons.

Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has responded to tonight’s vote, saying the Tory rebellion “makes all UK nations less safe”.

Updated

Among those who voted against mandatory vaccination for NHS workers and against Covid passes was independent Jeremy Corbyn. The former Labour leader had earlier tweeted:

Here is the moment Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the Conservative 1922 Committee, said a leadership challenge is “on the cards” for Boris Johnson is he fails to “change his approach”.

Building on that, pundits have pointed out that both Tory MPs who won their seats in byelections this year – Jill Mortimer in Hartlepool and Louie French (the party’s newest MP) in Old Bexley and Sidcup – rebelled against the government on Covid passes.

This analysis is from Sky’s Kate McCann

Updated

From the BBC’s Nick Eardley on what tonight’s hefty rebellion signifies for Boris Johnson and his government

An observation from the Times’s Patrick Maguire on the vote on Covid passes

Updated

96 Tories voted against PM on Covid passes, with two Tories as tellers, division list shows

In fact there were 96 Tory MPs voting against the government on Covid passes, plus two Tory MPs acting as tellers, according to the division list on the Commons website. There were also 10 Liberal Democrats, eight Labour MPs, six DUP MPs, two independent MPs and one Green MP voting against. The list is here.

That is all from me for tonight. My colleague Lucy Campbell is now taking over.

MPs vote for mandatory vaccination for NHS workers by 385 votes to 100

In the final vote MPs have voted for mandatory vaccination for frontline NHS workers by 385 votes to 100 – a majority of 285.

Updated

Asked if he is saying next year there could be a leadership challenge, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown replies: “That’s got to be on the cards.”

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of the Conservative 1922 Committee, is asked about the latest claim that there were 103 rebels in the second vote. (That might be 101 Tories voting against, plus two tellers.) He says this means Boris Johnson has to change the way he operates, and consult the party more. If he doesn’t, the party is in trouble, he says.

From ITV’s political editor Robert Peston

The Times’ Henry Zeffman points out that seven former ministers were among the Tory rebels on the first vote.

Updated

According to Labour sources, there were 101 Tory rebels, Sky is reporting.

Updated

Johnson hit by significant revolt as MPs pass Covid passports by 369 votes to 126

Boris Johnson has endured what looks like a much larger rebellion. The Covid pass regulations passed by 369 votes to 126 – a majority of 243.

There will be more opposition MPs voting against this time but, judging by what was said during the debate, a majority of those 126 no votes are likely to be Tory.

Updated

There were also 46 Tory MPs who did not vote in the first division. But they were almost matched by the 45 Labour MPs who did not vote. The list of MPs who did not vote is here.

38 Tory MPs voted against government on face masks, division list shows

Thirty eight Tory MPs voted against the government in the first division. They are listed here. And there were two Tory tellers, meaning 40 Tories in total rebelled in this division.

Three DUP MPs also voted against the government.

According to Jason Groves, government sources are now saying that parliament definitely will be recalled if new Covid regulations are needed over Christmas.

Given that this is an assurance many Tory MPs have been demanding, it is surprising that ministers did not announce it in the debate, or that Boris Johnson did not make this more explicit when he spoke to the 1922 Committee. (See 6.45pm.)

MPs start voting on plan for Covid passes

The second statutory instrument, changing the self-isolation rules, went through on the nod.

It is here (pdf) in the unlikely event that anyone wants to read the legal text.

That means the vote likely to cause Boris Johnson the most trouble, the vote on Covid passports (or vaccine passports, as the critics call them - even though a negative lateral flow test will count for people who are not fully vaccinated) is happening now.

Here is the text (pdf) of the SI implementing this.

Updated

Johnson suffers first rebellions as face mask rules pass by 441 votes to 41

The face mask regulations passed by 441 votes to 41 – a majority of 400.

Most of the 41 MPs will have been Tories – we will get the full division list later – and these are the hardcore rebels, willing to vote against something seen as acceptable by Tory MPs rebelling over Covid passed.

Updated

This is from the Times’s Steven Swinford on what Boris Johnson told the Conservative 1922 Committee this evening.

Committing to give MPs a say on future regulations is little more than saying he will obey the law. Ministers can use secondary legislation to pass public health regulations before MPs have voted to approve those measures, and this happened frequently during lockdown last year. But normally secondary legislation implemented in this way has to be approved retrospectively by MPs, otherwise it lapses.

As the i’s Paul Waugh reports, voting could take a bit longer than usual tonight because a bit more time has been allowed to enable MPs to observe some social distancing.

The tellers for the noes are the Tory MPs Philip Hollobone and Jackie Doyle-Price.

They are veteran rebels on Covid issues, as this chart shows.

MPs vote on making face masks compulsory in most indoor settings in England

MPs are now voting on the first statutory instrument – the one requiring face masks to be worn in England in most public indoor venues.

The SI is here (pdf).

Updated

Barclay says red list arrivals testing negative to be released from hotel quarantine – once regulations can be changed

Barclay turns to what happens to people currently in hotel quarantine.

He says the government will release people from quarantine, and let them follow the rules as if they had arrived from a non-red-list country.

If people have tested positive, they will have to stay in quarantine.

But he says this will require changes to legislation. He says the government will try to do this as quickly as possible.

Updated

Steve Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, is winding up for the government.

He says South Africa has still not reached the peak of cases, and we don’t know how high the peak will be.

Sajid Javid speaking in the Commons earlier
Sajid Javid speaking in the Commons earlier. Photograph: Jessica Parker/Parliament

Updated

Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, will appear in an advert shown on ITV tonight urging people to get a booster jab. It will be part of what the Department for Health and Social Care says will be a “multimedia marketing blitz”.

Commenting on the latest booster jab figures, the DHSC says:

The NHS in England experienced its busiest Monday ever for vaccinations yesterdaysince the rollout began in December last year and 418,000 boosters were delivered yesterday alone, with 185,000 of these delivered by community pharmacies.

In the Commons Andrew Gwynne, a shadow health minister, is now winding up for Labour. The votes are due to start at 6.30pm.

Bob Seely (Con) says he is fed up with “dubious forecasts and ridiculous extrapolations”. He says even academics have criticised modelling like the recent paper from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine that says Omicron could kill 75,000 people. It could, but it might not.

Like other Tory MPs opposed to Covid passports, he cites the Scottish governmnent’s paper, saying it shows the evidence does not back the plans.

Richard Drax (Con) told MPs that he would be voting against the government measures because they were wrong. He said it was time to “put fear to one side” and let people get on with their lives.

The Telegraph’s Christopher Hope and the Mail’s John Stevens have a bit more on the PM’s appearance before the 1922 Committee.

In the Commons Anthony Mangnall (Con) says vaccine passports do not work. He claims the 70-page report on Covid passports produced by the Scottish government showed this.

He also criticise the government for spreading fear.

Updated

There are almost no opposition MPs left in the Commons chamber, and it is now just Conservative backbenchers speaking. They have been far more vocal in their opposition to these measures than opposition MPs have.

Greg Smith (Con) is speaking now. He says he won’t be supporting the measures. Like Andrea Leadsom, he says (see 5.29pm), he sees these as slippery slope. He thinks they are leading to a fundamental change in the relationship between citizen and state.

He says he is worried about the mental health impact of restrictions. And he is worried about the impact on hospitality. In his constituency he has heard of firms losing up to 50% of Christmas bookings.

Boris Johnson has released an open letter to NHS staff thanking them for their work during the pandemic and asking them to help deliver the booster rollout.

Boris Johnson has just arrived for a meeting with the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope reports.

Back in the Commons Andrea Leadsom, the former Conservative cabinet minister, says Covid regulations are causing harm. She cites the example a person with dementia terrified of face masks, or an eight-year-old constituent who got stuck in South Africa.

She says the government should be focusing on positive measures - promoting booster jabs, and educating people about health - not criminalising people.

I cannot see where this will end. Covid will be with us for many years to come. And it’s unthinkable that every autumn we will be limiting the quality of life for all citizens just to be on the safe side.

Justifying our new illiberal rules on the basis that they’re less authoritarian than those of other countries is truly appalling. That is not our culture, that is not our history. This is a slippery slope down which I do not want to slip.So I’m afraid I’m not going to be supporting these measures.

And Labour’s Jess Phillips seems to be isolating too. At this rate, there won’t be many MPs left for the vote tonight.

The Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, will miss the vote because he is isolating.

Updated

Jane Stevenson (Con) says she would like to see the government getting back to the Conservative principle of trusting the public. She says she will support some, but not all, of the measures tonight. But she does want to move on from passing “never-ending regulations”.

Fleur Anderson (Lab) asks why the Tories MPs opposed to the “papers please” aspect of Covid passes are not opposing the elections bill, which is requiring people to produce photo ID when they vote.

She also says Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, gave a “chilling” briefing to MPs earlier. He said, with Omicron, the breaks were off, in terms of how it is spreading.

Sara Britcliffe (Con) indicates she is supporting the government on these measurs but she says, if it wants to move to plan C, it needs to bring those measures to the Commons.

Rachael Maskell (Lab) says, as a former healthcare worker, she cannot support mandatory vaccination for NHS staff. She says it is unnecessary; healthcare workers already pay great attention to patient safety, she says. And she says this will discriminate against black members of staff, who are less likely to be vaccinated. The NHS should be winning over their confidence, not penalising them.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader, intervenes. He says attempting to force people to get vaccinated is “totally wrong”.

Andrew Bridgen (Con) told MPs that parliament should only pass evidence-based legislation that works.

It is essential that it [legislation] is effective, evidence-based, logical and it needs to have broad public support and what I see in front of us today in regard to plan B, delivers on virtually none of these items.

It’s clear that these measures before us today are being treated with strong suspicion of a wider agenda, partly because they simply will not deliver on their supposed intentions.

But he said vaccine passports and mandatory vaccination for NHS staff would not pass this test. Vaccinated people could still pass on the virus, he said.

All the evidence suggests Omicron is milder than over variants, he said.

He said the most dangerous epidemic facing the world today was the epidemic of fear.

Updated

Back in the debate Mark Harper (Con), chair of the Covid Recovery Group, which represents lockdown-sceptic Tories, told MPs that when the government orginally published its plan B, the Covid pass plan would have been vaccination only.

He said ministers only included negative lateral flow tests to win over the opposition.

He is right. The autumn and winter plan for Covid published earlier this year said plan B would include “introducing mandatory vaccine-only Covid-status certification in certain settings”.

UPDATE: Harper said:

They are very limited at the moment about what is proposed [in terms of Covid passes], but that was true everywhere they were introduced around the world. Everywhere they have been introduced, they have extended it, in terms of the venues they apply to.

Anyone who thinks that they are going to stick to what is currently on the order paper, I am afraid are kidding themselves.

In the government’s own plan B it is very clear ministers’ preference is for vaccine-only passports. It is very clear to me that the only reason why tests have been incorporated is to buy or secure the support of the opposition. That is the only reason. So we know what ministers would like to do if they could get away with it.

Updated

UK records 59,610 new Covid cases – highest daily total since early January

The UK has recorded 59,610 more Covid cases, according to the government’s dashboard. That is the highest daily total since early January, when 59,937 cases were recorded on 9 January. The total number of cases over the past week is 12.1% up on the previous week.

There have also been 150 further deaths, but deaths are down 6.5% week on week.

Covid dashboard
Covid dashboard. Photograph: Gov.UK

Updated

Back in the Commons debate Andrew Murrison (Con) says members of the public would not expect MPs to be on recess when important decisions should be taken. He says he would urge ministers to cancel recess so that MPs sit next week, and the week after.

Murrison, a doctor, also says he hopes ministers will rethink the plan for mandatory vaccines for NHS workers. He says it is argued that, because surgeons need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, there is precedent. But with hepatitis there is no alternative to the vaccine, he says. With Covid, there is; daily lateral flow tests could offer the same protection.

Speaking at a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus (APPG) earlier to discuss the Omicron variant, Prof Stephen Reicher, a member of the Sage sub-committee advising on behavioural science and professor of psychology at the University of St Andrews, warned that it would take several weeks to roll out booster jabs and another couple of weeks before the take effect. He said:

If we were to do nothing now, by then the cases would be catastrophically high. So we need to bring cases down in order to give us time to vaccinate.

Reicher added that a simple metric from the pandemic is that the rate of infection depends upon the rate of contacts, adding that while the contact rates remain below pre-pandemic levels they have risen as restrictions have been eased.

“There are two ways you can bring them down,” said Reicher. “You can bring them down by giving very clear advice, which is don’t socialise. If you do socialise now you won’t be able to socialise at Christmas.”

The alternative, he said, is that socialisation can be limited by legislation. “Now, that’s a very real debate. But it seems to me that’s the only debate that should be being had right now, not whether but how we bring down the level of contact,” said Reicher.

Updated

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, says 650,000 booster jab appointments were booked in England yesterday.

Back in the Commons Steve Brine (Con) says many of his constituents have objected to the “frightening nature” of the PM’s TV broadcast on Sunday night (when he warned “a tidal wave of Omicron is coming). He says, instead of “panic stations”, we need a plan to live with Covid. And he says he will not support the Covid passports plan.

Nicola Sturgeon announces new Covid advice for Scotland

Scots should limit their indoor social mixing to no more than three households over the festive season, but family Christmas celebrations can go ahead, Nicola Sturgeon has said. My colleague Libby Brooks has the full story here.

More than 500,000 jabs delivered yesterday, latest figures show

More than 3m booster and third doses of Covid vaccine have been delivered across the UK in the past week - the highest number for any seven-day period since the rollout of extra doses began, PA Media reports. PA says:

A total of 3,165,642 booster and third doses were given in the week to 13 December, including 513,722 on Monday.

This is the most extra doses reported for a Monday so far.

It is also close to the highest number of extra doses of vaccine reported for a single day, which is 550,253 for Saturday 11 December.

The figures, from the four UK health agencies, show that more than 24m extra doses have now been delivered in the UK.

Around 45% of all people aged 18 and over in the UK are now likely to have received either a booster or third dose of Covid vaccine, according to analysis by the PA news agency.

Updated

15-minute wait after booster jabs to be suspended to speed up process

The chief medical officers for the four nations of the UK have issued a joint statement saying the 15-minute waiting period after Covid-19 booster vaccines - to allow staff to check the patient does not have an adverse reaction - should be temporarily suspended to allow for more people to get vaccinated. They said suspending this rule temporarily would speed up the process. The statement went on:

The 15-minute wait should therefore be suspended for first, second and homologous or heterologous boost vaccinations with mRNA vaccine given the current situation, with this operationalised in line with the needs in each of the four nations.

The long-term decisions on the 15-minute wait, when the current need for extreme speed of vaccination and boosting is over, should rest with the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM), the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

This is the statement Sajid Javid referred to in the debate earlier. (See 2.19pm.)

Back in the Commons Caroline Lucas (Green) says the government has not made the case for vaccination passports. She says she wants more people to get vaccinated, but passports can entrench opposition, she says.

Hundreds of people queue at a vaccination centre on Solihull High Street today.
Hundreds of people queue at a vaccination centre on Solihull High Street today. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

In the Commons Labour’s Graham Stringer is speaking, and Steve Baker (Con), who has been strongly critical of Covid restrictions, intervenes. He says he has read the impact assessment for the mandatory vaccination for NHS frontline workers regulatoins. He says it says that it says that 88,000 people will leave the health sector because of these measures - 73,000 from the NHS, 15,000 from the independent health sector - and 35,000 from domiciliary care. He says that is reason enough to vote against.

Back in the debate, asked if he agrees that parliament should be recalled over Christmas if new measures re needed, Streeting says it would be strange for MPs to have talked so much about parliamentary sovereignty in the Brexit debates for it to be ignored now.

This is from Stephen Morgan, the shadow schools minister, on the latest school absence figures for England. (See 2.52pm.)

Hundreds of thousands of children are facing continued disruption to their education because of the Conservatives’ failure to prioritise schoolchildren ...

Labour is calling on ministers to deliver a Christmas vaccine guarantee to ensure all 12- to 15-year-olds can get a jab during the holidays to keep kids learning next term. This must be delivered alongside practical ventilation measures in all schools, so teachers are not forced to open windows this winter.

Updated

Bob Seely (Con) asks Streeting to acknowledge that, while vaccination might protect the vaccinated person from Covid, it won’t stop them spreading the infection.

Streeting says Seely does not realise that the main advantage from mandatory vaccination is that it would protect the NHS because it would stop staff falling ill.

Updated

Streeting says warnings about impact of mandatory vaccination on social care workforce numbers turned out to be unfounded

Back in the Commons Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is taking some criticism from Labour MPs unhappy about the party backing mandatory vaccination for NHS staff.

Streeting says the party is backing mandatory vaccination partly because of what happened when this was introduced for social care staff. He says we did not see the “collapse in the social care workforce numbers that we were warned of”. And he says there is lots of evidence it had a positive impact on vaccine take-up.

But he also stresses his admiration for how the Welsh government has focused on encouraging the workforce to do the same. He says the UK government should also be cooperating with the workforce in the same way.

Updated

Sunak warns over multibillion cost of booster programme

Rishi Sunak has issued a stark warning to Department of Health officials over the multibillion-pound cost of regular booster rollouts, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.

Turning to the plan for mandatory vaccintion for NHS staff, Streeting says staff who are unwilling to be vaccinated could be redeployed.

Having NHS staff fully vaccinated will protect patients, he says.

He asks why NHS staff should have to work alongside people who will not get vaccinated. And he asks how MPs would feel if a loved one contracted Covid from an unvaccinated member of the NHS staff.

Streeting says he does not accept that Covid passes are a threat to business. He says they will give customers the confidence to keep attending events.

One of the reasons Labour is in favour is because it supports business, he says.

And he says they are not vaccine passports. Rather, they are about having a deeper requirment to show a negative test, he says.

He also claims that countries like France and Denmark, with stricter Covid passport rules, have all seen their retail and recreation sectors prosper more than those in the UK.

Back in the Commons Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is responding to Sajid Javid.

He says he hopes the tone of the debate will be reasonable. And, in a swipe at the Tory Marcus Fysh, he says it should not be up to the opposition to say that these measures do not bear comparison with 1930s Germany. (See 9.55am.)

Labour is supporting the measures, he says.

But he says the NHS is in a weaker state to deal with Omicron because of what has happened under the Tories, including record waiting lists, 100,000 staff vacancies and more than 100,000 vacancies in social care. He goes on:

It wasn’t just that they didn’t fix the roof while the sun was shining, it’s that they dismantled the roof and removed the floorboards, and now the NHS is locked in a race against time, a race against the fastest variant of Covid-19 we have seen to date.

Wes Streeting in the Commons yesterday.
Wes Streeting in the Commons yesterday. Photograph: UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA

One in 30 primary pupils in England off school for Covid-related reasons, DfE figures show

One in every 30 primary school pupils in England was absent from the classroom last week for Covid-related reasons, according to government statistics that reveal how younger children had become the most affected even before the spread of the Omicron variant.

The figures released by the Department for Education showed that a record 146,000 primary school pupils were absent from on 9 December, or 3.3%, with the total including a record 65,900 off with confirmed cases of Covid. A further 56,700 were off with suspected cases.

The figures suggest that while vaccinations and measures such as mask-wearing may be keeping infections down in secondary schools, primary school-aged children are now the most vulnerable cohort.

While 1.3% of secondary school pupils were off with a confirmed case of Covid, the rate was 1.5% for primary school pupils. But before the October half-term break, confirmed cases in secondary schools were more than double those in primaries.

The data also revealed that increasing numbers of teachers are absent for Covid-related reasons, with 2.4% off across all state schools in England, compared with 2% two weeks previously. The greatest share of those off were from primary schools.

Overall Covid-related pupil absence rose to 2.9% on 9 December, up from 2.6% on 25 November.

The DfE’s absence statistics understate the number of pupils and students missing with Covid cases – under the DfE’s accounting, those with Covid confirmed by PCR tests are counted as absent with illness rather than as Covid-related. The numbers for confirmed cases issued by the DfE are those cases with positive lateral flow test results only.

Updated

Javid ends by saying the government will not extend mandatory vaccination to any professions other than care workers and frontline NHS staff.

And he says he would never support the sort of “mandatory vaccination” policies implemented in some EU countries.

Back in the Commons Javid is defending the plans for mandatory vaccination for frontline NHS staff.

Asked if staff who refuse a jab will get redundancy payments, he says they would not, because it would not count as redundancy.

He says, when mandatory vaccination was introduced for care home staff, it led to an increase in vaccine take-up.

He says there has been a net increase of more than 55,000 in the number of NHS staff vaccinated since the government opened the proposal on this in the autumn.

Updated

Hospitals in England are bracing themselves for a “significant” surge in Covid patients from next week because the Omicron variant is spreading so fast, a senior NHS leader said today.

Omicron’s greater transmissibility means hospitals will again have to treat large numbers of patients despite it apparently inducing milder symptoms than the previously dominant Delta strain, said Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers. He told the all-party parliamentary group on coronavirus.

All the evidence we have in front of us suggests that there will be a considerable impact [from Omicron] in terms of degree of hospitalisations. And the key point to grasp is irrespective in a sense of the severity of the symptoms, if you have a very large number of people who are infected with Omicron, and we know that this variant is significantly more infectious and more transmissible than Delta, it doesn’t take a particularly large percentage of people to be hospitalised before you get a large raw number of hospitalisations and that I think is the concern.

We [the NHS] were already beyond full stretch before we got to winter. We’re now facing the prospect of significant numbers of hospitalisations probably starting I would think in the next week to two weeks.

That is a concern because the NHS is already “beyond full stretch” even before winter has arrived properly, Hopson added.

Three shadow cabinet ministers, Reeves, Phillipson and McMahon, test positive

Three members of the shadow cabinet have tested positive today: Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, Bridget Phillipson, the new education secretary, and Jim McMahon, the new shadow environment secretary.

Updated

Javid says government considering case for refunding red list arrivals their hotel quarantine fees

Karl McCartney (Con) says people in red list hotels should not just be released early. (See 2.33pm.) He says they should be reimbursed for the “astronomical” fees they have had to pay.

Javid says he is “very persuaded” by this argument. He says the government is looking at it, and he says he hopes to be able to say more on this.

Updated

Javid says government to consider releasing red list arrivals early from hotel quarantine

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if the government will release people who are being “incarcenated” in hotel quarantine, given that all countries are being taken off the red list from tomorrow. He says people are being kept in “inhumane conditions”.

Javid says in the past people already in quarantine have been required to finish their planned quarantine. But he says he has asked for a review of this. He hopes to be able to say something more.

Javid says he would not support vaccine-only Covid pass system

Back in the Commons Sajid Javid insists that the government is not introducing vaccine passports. He says it is important that people can show they are safe in different ways - either by showing their vaccine status, or by showing they have had a negative lateral flow test.

Asked if he can rule out a vaccine passport system (a system that only accepts evidence of being fully vaccinated as proof of eligiblity to a venue), Javid effectively does rule it out. “I would not support a vaccine only option,” he says.

Boris Johnson will address the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee in person this evening, my colleague Aubrey Allegretti reports.

Javid says all 11 countries on red list being removed because Omicron now so prevalent in UK

Javid says the regulations will not be kept in place “for a moment longer” than necessary.

He says the travel red list is less effective than it was because Omicron is spreading so much in the UK.

He says the testing rules for new arrivals will remain. But from 4am tomorrow all 11 countries on the red list will be removed from it.

That means arrivals from those countries will no longer have to go into hotel quarantine.

Updated

Luke Evans (Con) asks when the government will get get rid of the rule requiring people to wait in a clinic for 15 minutes after getting a Pfizer or Moderna jab.

It was reported yesterday that this rule is going to be abandoned. Javid does not confirm that, but he says that this is being looked at urgently, and he says he expects to hear an update later, when he leaves the chamber.

Layla Moran (Lib Dem) asks Javid about reports that Omicron is more serious for children than Delta.

Javid says he has not seen any evidence for that.

Javid says, if the NHS is overwhelmed because of Omicron, hospitals might not be able to treat all patients in need. For example, they might have to take difficult decisions, affecting perhaps a child who has been in a car crash. Would they get treatment?

He says some MPs might think this is just a “hypothetical” risk, “but it’s not”.

Javid says 20% of recorded hospital Covid cases are not in hospital for Covid symptoms

Chris Grayling (Con) asks how many patients are in hospital because of their Covid, and how many are in hospital with something else, but happen to have Covid. The official figures list both as Covid hospital cases.

Javid says he looked into this when he first became health secretary. He says of around 6,000 Covid hospital patients, 80% are there because of their Covid symptoms. The other fifth are in hospital for something else, but were found on testing to have Covid.

Aaron Bell (Con), another member of the science committee, says Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, told the committee this morning that the measures being introduced by the government were proportionate. He says that is not what her article in the Daily Mail today implied.



Greg Clark (Con), chair of the Commons science committee, raises a point heard in evidence by his committee this morning. (See 10.22am and 12.04pm.) He says in South Africa Omicron hospital stays tend to be shorter than Delta ones.

Javid says we cannot assume that will be the same in the UK. The health systems are very different, he says. And he says even if this is true, the risk to the NHS remains.

Javid says the Omicron doubling time means the NHS is still at risk of being overwhelmed.

He says, even if Omicron turned out to be only half as severe as Delta, the increased doubling times means that an Omicron wave would only be two days behind in terms of impact on hospitals.

Even if the hospital stay [of Omicron patients] is half of what it [other Covid variants] is at the moment, at the rate that this thing is growing, and if it continues to grow at that rate, that benefit could be cancelled out in two days.

Updated

Javid says Omicron doubling every two days

Javid says Omicron is more transmissible than Delta. The growth in the UK is mirroring what happened in South Africa.

He says the observed doubling time for Omicron is two days.

(Until recently ministers have been saying between two to three days.)

And he says, although there are just 4,713 confirmed cases, the scientists estimate that the real number of people getting infected every day is 42 times higher, at around 200,000.

He says scientists have never seen a Covid variant that can spread so quickly.

Andrew Murrison (Con) says Javid’s answer on recall was not satisfactory. He says the situation is changing all the time. MPs need to be able to have a debate on the basis of the latest information.

Javid refuses to commit to parliament being recalled if further measures needed over Christmas

Sajid Javid, the health secretary, is opening the debate.

He says he wants to explain why Omicron is such a risk.

Mark Harper (Con), chair of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, says he asked before for a commitment that the government would recall the Commons if new measures are needed over the Christmas recess. Javid said he would discuss it with the PM. Has he done so?

Javid says he cannot give that commitment. It would not be a matter for his department. But the government could seriously consider it, he says.

Updated

The Spectator, which is keeping a tally, has a list of 85 Conservative MPs who are certain or likely to vote against the government on the Covid measures tonight.

The largest rebellion is likely to be on the Covid pass proposals. The face mask and isolation measures are far less contentious.

Nikki da Costa, who worked in No 10 for both Boris Johnson and Theresa May as the parliamentary affairs specialist, says that around a quarter of the MPs on this list would be first-time Covid rebels. And more than a third of them have voted against the government on this frequently.

Labour MPs are being told to vote in favour of the regulations introducing mandatory vaccination for frontline staff this evening. But, as my colleague Jessica Elgot reports, the Unite union is asking Labour MPs not to back this measure.

According to the Sun’s Harry Cole and Natasha Clark, ministers were told at cabinet this morning that there is a risk that some hopsitals might have to close by mid-January because the spread of Omicron could lead to so many staff being off sick.

Updated

Welsh government likely to announce extra restrictions on Friday, health minister says

The Welsh government is likely to announce additional restrictions on Friday to try to combat Omicron, the health minister, Eluned Morgan, has said.

Asked if a full lockdown was on the way, Morgan said:

The Welsh government will do what we need to do to keep the people of Wales safe and to protect the NHS.

It will be more difficult to instigate a full lockdown without the support of the UK government and conversations are always ongoing with the UK government in terms of what is possible.

We are still assessing the situation but there is a likelihood we will see some additional restrictions being introduced at the next review. [Friday]. We will need multiple layers of protection to keep Wales safe from a large Omicron wave that is heading our way.

Morgan admitted she could not say what Christmas might look like, adding: “The last thing we want to do is cancel Christmas. But we are not currently taking anything off the table.”

She took a swipe at the UK government. She said:

What you need to do in Wales is look at the example set by our first minister rather than the example set in the UK government by Boris Johnson. I think that the public have understood the leadership of Mark Drakeford. It has been secure, sure, cautious.

She said medical staff were being asked to cancel leave and work through Christmas to give booster jabs. The government is also asking for military personnel to help. She said she hoped there would be a “three-week burst of activity” before, hopefully, a return to “some sort of normality”.

Updated

MPs debate Covid passes for England, and other new regulations

MPs are now about to start the debate on Covid passes, other regulations announced last week (on face masks and isolation rules), and mandatory vaccination for frontline NHS workers.

The Commons order paper, with links to all four statutory instruments being put to a vote, is here (pdf).

Hundreds of people queuing outside a vaccination centre in Bristol today.
Hundreds of people queuing outside a vaccination centre in Bristol today. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Labour says HRA plans show government more interested in 'culture wars' than waging war on crime

Responding to Raab in the Commons, Steve Reed, the shadow justice secretary, dismissed the proposed Human Rights Act reforms as a distraction tactic. He said:

Every time the government is in trouble politically they wheel out reforming the Human Rights Act. It’s a dead cat destruction tactic by a government that doesn’t know how to fix the criminal justice system that they have broken and is desperate to divert attention away from corruption scandals that they started. This is little more than an attempt to wage culture wars because they’ve surrendered from waging war on crime and corruption.

Updated

Raab claims his reforms will introduce 'healthy dose of common sense' to Human Rights Act

In the Commons Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, is delivering his statement on the government’s plans to reform the Human Rights Act. There is a summary of the government’s plans here, on the Ministry of Justice’s website.

Here are extracts from the news release.

The proposals achieve this by restricting the rights available to those subject to deportation orders, strengthening the existing legal framework, or limiting the grounds on which a deportation decision can be overturned. This – alongside wider Home Office in its New Plan for Immigration - will reduce pull factors to the UK being exploited by people smugglers facilitating dangerous small boat crossings ...

The plans will give the supreme court more ability to interpret human rights law in a UK context, meaning the government can enforce rules designed to tackle forced marriages without fear of intervention from Strasbourg ...

The UK will remain party to the ECHR and continue to meet its obligations under the convention and all other international human rights treaties.

However, ministers will ensure the UK supreme court has the final say on UK rights by making clear that they should not blindly follow the Strasbourg court. It will mean that rights are interpreted in a UK context, with respect for the country’s case law, traditions, and the intention of its elected law makers.

Proposals also include measures to introduce a permission stage which will intercept frivolous claims that sap the energy and resource of courts.

Meanwhile, greater prominence will be given to the rights to jury trial and freedom of expression - meaning the space for rigorous debate will reflect the UK’s traditions and secure its values.

The government has also published today its independent Human Rights Act review, and a consultation document on its reform plans.

Raab claimed his plans would “strengthen typically British rights like freedom of speech and trial by jury, while preventing abuses of the system and adding a healthy dose of common sense”.

Updated

Cabinet met virtually today, No 10 says - as it still approves Christmas parties going ahead

Cabinet ministers held their meeting virtually this morning, not in person, No 10 said today at the lobby briefing. But the government is still saying Christmas parties should go ahead, and in the Commons this evening there will not be any opportunity for MPs to participate or vote remotely. These are from the Mail’s Jack Maidment and Byline Times’ Adam Bienkov.

Whitty tells cabinet its too early to know how severe Omicron is

Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, also addressed cabinet. This is how No 10 summarises what he said.

The chief medical officer updated cabinet on the latest evidence on the Omicron variant, confirming that the doubling time still appeared to be around two to three days. He said it was too early to say if cases were reducing or plateauing in South Africa but that there was no reliable evidence from South African scientists of a peak in case rates. He added that it remained too early to say how severe the Omicron variant was but that we can expect a significant increase in hospitalisations as cases increase.

Johnson tells cabinet 'huge spike' in Omicron cases coming

Boris Johnson told cabinet this morning that a “huge spike” in Omicron cases is coming. This is from the Downing Street read-out of what he said.

Following Sunday’s address to the nation on the national booster mission, the prime minister said we must be clear in our message to the country to get boosted now and that the full weight of government would support the NHS to boost everyone over 18.

The prime minister said a huge spike of Omicron was coming and the measures we aimed to introduce as part of plan B were balanced and proportionate, helping to reduce transmission while we ramp-up the booster programme.

The prime minister finished by encouraging everyone eligible to get boosted and do everything possible in support of doctors, nurses and vaccinators as they do their vital work.

According to the Sun’s Harry Cole, there has been speculation about the government shelving the vote on Covid passports later. No 10 has denied this.

At the Commons science committee Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, was asked if the person who has died with the Omicron variant had any underyling health conditions. She said they did not release infomation like that about individuals for privacy reasons.

At one point this morning there were no PCR test slots available to the general public at walk-in and drive-in test sites across England, PA Media reports. PA says:

The government website said said there are “none available” at every region in England while slots are still available at sites in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

PCR test kits which are posted to people’s homes, usually arriving the following day, are available, the website says.

The public are being advised to try again later if they cannot get a test. Tests will not be available through helplines, the website added.

Now the government website is saying tests are available.

Asked how long people are staying in hospital with Omicron, Riley says there is some evidence from South African that hospital stays are shorter. But he says comparing what happens in one health system with another is not easy.

At the science committee Prof Steven Riley, the UK Health Security Agency’s director general for data, analytics and surveillance, is speaking now.

Asked how many people could end up in hospital because of Omicron, he refuses to put a figure on it.

He says the estimate today that Omicron is 29% less severe than previous variants (see 10.09am) is useful.

But he says if there are a very large number of infections, then even if only a small proportion of them are leading to serious illness, that will put pressure on the NHS.

Hopkins says, with Omicron, people are more likely to get reinfected with coronavirus than with Delta. She says the reinfection rate for Omicron is three to eight times higher.

But she says they do not yet have data on how much more severe it is.

Updated

Restrictions might be needed for two months, MPs told

Hopkins tells the science committee that, given the large numbers of people being infected with Omicron every day, the next few weeks are set to be “very difficult”.

UPDATE: Hopkins also said the plan B restrictions might have to remain in place for two months. She said:

I think that if the modelling that the London School [of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine] has done, I would expect that there’s going to be needing some level of restrictions in place for the next four to eight weeks.

Updated

These are from the FT’s Sebastian Payne on the mixed motives for Tory MPs planning to rebel tonight.

At the science committee Dr Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK Health Security Agency, is now giving evidence. She is here instead of Dr Jenny Harries, the agency’s chief executive, who was originally scheduled to appear.

She says vaccine protection wanes after 12 weeks, which is why the booster jabs have been brought forward

Q: Is the Covid pass plan, which MPs are voting on today, designed to encourage more people to get boosters?

Hopkins says she does not think that is the case because under the Covid pass plan people can enter venues by showing a negative lateral flow test instead of by showing they have been vaccinated.

Tory MP Danny Kruger says PM has persuaded him not to rebel in Covid votes tonight

Danny Kruger, a parliamentary private secretary to Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, was one of the Tories threatening to vote against the government tonight. But, following a conversation with Boris Johnson this morning, he has decided to support the government.

In a post on his website, he explains why. This is what he says about why he changed his mind.

I spoke to the health secretary last night and the prime minister this morning. Both stressed that these deliberately limited measures are intended to prevent another mandatory lockdown; that there will never be compulsory vaccination for any citizen, or vaccination as a condition of employment for anyone except health and care workers; and that there will never be vaccine passports, as opposed to the ‘Covid passports’ that include a lateral flow test. On this basis - thus far and no further - I am happy to support the measures this evening.

But most of what he says in the statement is critical of what the government is planning. Here is another excerpt.

The paradox is that the measures are mild in terms of the fight against Covid-19, but significant in terms of the signal they send about the society we are becoming.

They are mild because we are not closing anything or restricting ordinary socialising; we are not introducing compulsory vaccination; and we are not introducing ‘vaccine passes’, but simply a requirement to show a negative test or proof of vaccination to enter large venues.

Limited as these measures are, however, they could well be harbingers of something much worse, as we see in other places (such as New York, where vaccination is compulsory if you want a job or any social activities; or Austria, where it is compulsory full stop, with fines and internment if you disobey).

Danny Kruger.
Danny Kruger. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Sturgeon expected to announce new measures on social mixing

As Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, meets her cabinet this morning to make the final decisions on new Covid restrictions, we have some hints already about what will and won’t be in this afternoon’s statement to the Holyrood parliament.

On Monday evening Sturgeon definitively ruled out shutting schools early for the festive break in order to curb the spread of the new Omicron variant.

Sturgeon, who is also expected to make a televised address later this evening, rejected calls from Scotland’s largest teaching union the EIS to close schools immediately, stating that her priority was to keep them open safely.

But with the health secretary, Humza Yousaf, describing new restrictions as “inevitable”, early briefing suggests the Scottish government will bring in lighter touch limits around social mixing, perhaps with limits on the number of households that can meet up each day, while urging the public to be stricter about social distancing and mask wearing.

It does not sound like there will be further extension of the vaccine passport scheme, which applies to nightclubs and large scale events like football matches, at this stage.

Updated

JCVI set to make announcement on vaccinating 5 to 11-year-olds before Christmas, MPs told

Greg Clark, chair of the science committee, also asked Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s Covid panel, when the JCVI would authorise vaccines for children aged five to 11, as allowed in the US.

Lim said the JCVI were waiting for the vaccines to be approved for this age group by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA). He said the regulators liked to move in step.

Asked when that decision might come, Lim indicated that it could come before Christmas, saying that this was a matter that was being considered now.

UPDATE: Here is the exchange between Clark and Lim on when an announcement might be made.

Lim said: “We are discussing that at the moment. We’re also waiting for the vaccines to be approved by MHRA.”

Clark asked: “So would you expect to make a decision before Christmas on that?”

Lim replied: “I would expect so, we try and keep in step with the approval process.”

Updated

Hunt tells JCVI chair it's 'totally obvious' it should have approved boosters for all adults earlier

At the science committee Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s Covid panel, is giving evidence now and Jeremy Hunt, the health committee chair, has been giving him the third degree.

Hunt said that the JCVI was acclaimed as a nimble regulator at the start of the pandemic. But Israel went ahead with boosters for all adults in September, when the UK was holding off from doing that. He put it to Lim that the Israeli approach was right and the UK’s wrong.

Lim said he did not agree. He said people at risk of death from the Delta variant were almost all over 40, and that giving booster vaccines too soon could make them less effective.

But Hunt rejected this argument, saying it was now “totally obvious” that all adults should have been given boosters earlier.

Hunt also criticised the decision not to authorise vaccines for teenagers earlier, as France did. Lim said the JCVI did not have the data to justify that.

Hunt also criticised the decision not to authorise vaccines for children above the age of five, as US regulators have permitted.

UPDATE: Hunt said:

America has already made a decision that it’s safe to vaccinate the over-fives with Pfizer, we haven’t made a decision yet.

I suppose the question I’m really asking, having been the most nimble in the world and received plaudits everywhere for being fleet to foot, can you understand why people are worried that not just yourself but with the MHRA, our regulators have been dragging their feet and therefore putting the NHS at greater risk this winter, and it might otherwise have been?

Lim replied:

I’ve been asked that question before and if you look at the different decisions that have been made, there is a time, I believe, to be extra fast, there’s a time to move extra cautiously.

We’ve moved very quickly at the start when there was a need to, we moved very quickly when Alpha emerged and we needed to change the advice, and we moved very quickly when Omicron emerged and we’ve changed our advice.

So, where we need to move very quickly, we will do so, where we feel that we do not want to outpace the data for safety reasons, we feel will do so. Both of these obviously are judgments as to how quickly one moves and we have made out those judgments based on the best available information.

Updated

A total of 792 deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 3 December mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate, PA Media reports. PA says:

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), this is down 3% on the previous week and is the lowest number of deaths since the week to 22 October, when the total was also 792.

Around one in 15 (6.8%) of all deaths registered in England and Wales in the week to 3 December mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.

There long queues all over the country today outside vaccine centres where people are waiting for a booster vaccine.

This is from my colleague Oliver Holmes, who has filmed a queue on the Holloway Road in London.

Here is the queue outside the walk-in vaccination centre at St Thomas’s Hospital in Westminster, London.

People queuing to receive Covid vaccine and booster doses outside Saint Thomas’s Hospital
People queuing to receive Covid vaccine and booster doses outside Saint Thomas’s Hospital Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

This is from the BBC’s Clodagh Rice in Belfast.

And here is the queue outside a vaccine centre at the Hartford Methodist Church in Northwich.

People queue outside Hartford Methodist Church for Covid-19 vaccinations and booster injections in Northwich
People queue outside Hartford Methodist Church for Covid-19 vaccinations and booster injections in Northwich Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

At the science committee Aaron Bell (Con) asked Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, what she thought of the estimate out today from South Africa suggesting Omicron is 29% less severe than previous variants. (See 10.09am.) She said that sounded right.

Omicron has not led to intensive care units being 'overwhelmed' in South Africa, MPs told

At the Commons science committee Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, has just started giving evidence about the impact of Omicron in South Africa.

She said Omicron was at least as transmissible as the Delta variant.

She said it generally produced a mild disease.

It was different for people in hospital, she said. Most people in hospital were unvaccinated, she said. She told the MPs that they did not do genomic sequencing for most patients, so the hospital statistics did not differentiate between Delta patients and Omicron patients. But she said intensive care units were “not overwhelmed” with Covid cases.

In an article published in the Daily Mail today Coetzee argues that the UK government is over-reacting. She says:

Yesterday there were only 11 Covid-related deaths in South Africa, far fewer than the 578 weekly average reported at Delta’s peak.

If Omicron really were such a deadly variant, we would expect the numbers to have shot up, yet that simply isn’t happening here.

This makes it all the more peculiar to see what’s happening in the UK. This huge over-reaction is scaring people unnecessarily, and if your government does decide go to for a hard lockdown in the New Year, that could end up doing far more harm than good.

Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association
Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association. Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

Many of the Conservative MPs opposed to the Covid measures being debated this afternoon argue that the Omicron variant does not pose as much of a threat as the government maintains. They claim evidence from South Africa backs this up.

For that reason it is worth reading this Twitter thread from Natasha Loder, the Economist’s health policy editor, who has been listening to a presentation this morning from a private health insurer in South Africa about Omicron. It starts here.

And here are the conclusions.

Raab says it was 'crass' for Tory MP Marcus Fysh to call Covid passes Nazi-type measure

In an interview with the Today programme Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy first minister, criticised the Conservative MP Marcus Fysh for yesterday likening Covid passes to something out of Nazi Germany.

Raab was initially reluctant to criticise Fysh, saying that he wanted to “play the issue not the individuals” and that he knew how much Fysh cared about liberty. But he added:

Actually, I don’t think comparing what we are trying to achieve to an authoritarian or Nazi regime is quite right. I think a lot of people find that crass.

At the Commons science comittee Jeremy Hunt, who chairs the Commons health committee but who attends some science committee hearings on Covid, asked Dame Kate Bingham what the government should have been doing to anticipate the Omicron variant.

Bingham said scientists should have been anticipating potential mutations, and starting work in advance on vaccines that would tackle them. She said that was not straightforward, but she said it was how “you get ahead of all the mutations”.

Pointing out that she no longer heads the vaccine taskforce, she admitted that she did not know to what extent that has been happening.

Raab admits ministers considering if further restrictions will be needed

In his morning interviews Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy first minister, confirmed that further Covid restrictions between Christmas and New Year are being discussed in government. My colleague Jessica Elgot has the story here.

Dame Kate Binghham, former chair of the UK vaccine taskforce, has started giving evidence to the Commons science committee (ahead of the time scheduled). As LBC’s Theo Usherwood reports, she told them that coronavirus would be around in some form or other for ever.

Updated

Lateral flow tests again unavailable online in England ahead of crunch Commons votes

Good morning. After the government announced yesterday that an estimated 200,000 people a day are getting infected with the Omicron variant of coronavirus, many people will be wanting to stock up with lateral flow tests. But for the second day in a row, the government website where you can normally order them is saying that none are available by post. It shows this message.

Message on government website this morning
Message on government website this morning Photograph: Gov.UK

Yesterday when this happened Downing Street said there was no shortage of kits, and that tests were just unavailable because the government did not have the capacity to send them out. Dominic Raab, the justice secretary and deputy PM, was doing interviews this morning, and he delivered the same line. He told BBC Breakfast.

The problem isn’t supply and volume, the problem is the allocation and distribution, or the delivery, of it.

We know that in relation to the online system there were some challenges yesterday and that’s partly because of the proportion they’ve got each day.

We’re making sure that however people may wish to order them and procure them, we’re ramping up not just the capacity ... but the ability to distribute and to deliver.

Raab did not have a particularly good morning. In one interview he said that 250 were in hospsital with the Omicron variant, when in fact there were 10. These are from Sky’s Sophie Morris.

And this is only the start of the day. In a vote at about 7pm, on Covid passes, Boris Johnson is facing the biggest Tory revolt this parliament. Here is our preview.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

9.30am: Dr Angelique Coetzee, chair of the South African Medical Association, gives evidence to the Commons science committee. She will be followed by: Dame Kate Binghham, former chair of the UK vaccine taskforce, at 10am; Prof Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s Covid panel at 10.30am: Paul Burton, chief medical officer from Moderna, at 11am: and Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, and Prof Steven Riley, its director general for data, analytics and surveillance, at 11.30am.

11.30am: Downing Street holds its lobby briefing.

Morning: Eluned Morgan, the Welsh government’s health minister, is due to hold a press confernce on Covid.

After 12.45pm: Dominic Raab, the justice secrtary and deputy prime minister, is expected to make a statement to MPs about government plans to amend the Human Rights Act.

After 1.45pm: MPs begin the debate on the new Covid rules for England announced last week. At 6.30pm they will vote on three statutory instruments relating to last week’s measures (face masks, self-isolation rules, and Covid passes), and another requiring NHS staff to be fully vaccinated.

2.20pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement to MSPs on Covid.

I will be largely focusing on UK Covid-related issues today, and particularly the Commons debate, but there is much more coverage on our global Covid 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.

Alternatively, you can email me at andrew.sparrow@theguardian.com

Updated

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