Early evening summary
- Boris Johnson has comfortably won a vote on extending the Coronavirus Act, emergency legislation giving the government sweeping powers, for another six months. With Labour backing the government, there was no chance of defeat, but 35 Conservative MPs defied the whip and voted against the government. Some cited their concerns about the illiberal implications of the Coronavirus Act, but most of them were critical of the lockdown (which is largely enforced under different legislation - also extended today in a vote that went through on the nod). The Tory rebellion was smaller than the one in December on the new tiering restrictions (when 53 Conservatives voted against the government) and smaller than the one in October on keeping the 10pm curfew (when 42 Tories voted against). Sir Keir Starmer also suffered a rebellion because 21 Labour MPs defied the whip and voted against extending the act.
That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on on global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.
Party breakdown of 76 MPs who voted against Coronavirus Act renewal
And here is the breakdown, by party, of the 76 MPs who voted against extending the Coronavirus Act.
Conservatives: 35
Labour: 21
Lib Dem: 10
DUP: 7
Green: 1
Alliance: 1
Independent: 1 (Jeremy Corbyn)
The two tellers were Alistair Carmichael (Lib Dem) and Chris Green (Con).
Updated
The 21 Labour MPs who voted by voting against extending Coronavirus Act
And here are the 21 Labour Mps who voted against the party whip in the division.
Diane Abbott
Apsana Begum
Ben Bradshaw
Richard Burgon
Dawn Butler
Andrew Gwynne
Ian Lavery
Emma Lewell-Buck
Clive Lewis
Rebecca Long Bailey
John McDonnell
Ian Mearns
Kate Osamor
Kate Osborne
Bell Ribeiro-Addy
John Spellar
Graham Stringer
Zarah Sultana
Jon Trickett
Derek Twigg
Beth Winter
Sturgeon contrasts SNP's 4% pay rise for NHS with Tories' 'miserly' 1% offer in England
In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, has been campaigning for the SNP ahead of the elections in May and she has been highlighting her government’s decision to award NHS staff a 4% pay rise - in contrast to the 1% pay increase being offered to NHS staff in England. She said:
Politics is about choices, and the SNP chooses to back our NHS.
In this election we can build a country fit for the heroes who have kept us going every day through the pandemic.
We have to do more than clap for the people who look after us - we should give them fair pay for the work they do. That starts with a fair deal for our NHS staff ...
The Tories’ miserly 1% pay offer south of the border shows that they have the wrong priorities - people will no doubt wonder how they can find the money to massively increase their stockpile of nuclear weapons or build a bridge to Northern Ireland but refuse to find the money to properly reward those who were at the frontline of the pandemic.
The contrast has not gone unnoticed in England. Today Unison’s head of health, Sara Gorton, said Johnson should follow Sturgeon’s example. She said:
The Westminster government should learn from the approach being adopted north of the border on NHS pay and be shamed into following the Scottish example.
It is normal to view announcements like this mainly in terms of what they might do to support for independence in Scotland, but a new book, Englishness by the academics Ailsa Henderson and Richard Wyn Jones, describes how the perception that Scotland is getting more than England has been growing considerably in recent year, and is an important component of Englishness as a political force. In 2000 just 21% of people in England thought Scotland was getting more than its fair share of public spending. Now that figure is 38% - much higher than the proportion of English who complain about money going to Wales or Northern Ireland.
Henderson and Wyn Jones call this “devo-anxiety”, which they define as “the sense that England is unfairly treated both financially and politically within the union”, and their book, which is an essential read for anyone interested in nationalism and the future of the union (or in understanding Brexit), suggests its a much bigger problem for the future of the UK than is often realised.
The 35 Tory MPs who rebelled by voting against extending Coronavirus Act
Thirty five Tory MPs voted against the government in the division. Here is the full list.
They were:
Adam Afriyie (Windsor)
Steve Baker (Wycombe)
Harriett Baldwin (West Worcestershire)
Bob Blackman (Harrow East)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Graham Brady (Altrincham and Sale West)
Christopher Chope (Christchurch)
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown (The Cotswolds)
Philip Davies (Shipley)
David Davis (Haltemprice and Howden)
Jonathan Djanogly (Huntingdon)
Richard Drax (South Dorset)
Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford)
Marcus Fysh (Yeovil)
Mark Harper (Forest of Dean)
Philip Hollobone (Kettering)
David Jones (Clwyd West)
Pauline Latham (Mid Derbyshire)
Jonathan Lord (Woking)
Tim Loughton (East Worthing and Shoreham)
Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet)
Karl McCartney (Lincoln)
Stephen McPartland (Stevenage)
Esther McVey (Tatton)
Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot)
John Redwood (Wokingham)
Andrew Rosindell (Romford)
Henry Smith (Crawley)
Julian Sturdy (York Outer)
Desmond Swayne (New Forest West)
Robert Syms (Poole)
Craig Tracey (North Warwickshire)
Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
David Warburton (Somerton and Frome
William Wragg (Hazel Grove).
We should find out soon how many Tory MP rebelled in the vote.
On 1 December, when MPs voted for the tiering system coming into force after the second lockdown, 55 Conservatives rebelled (53 voting against the government, plus two acting as tellers). At the time that was the biggest government revolt of this parliament.
The last motions, one approving the Coronavirus Act one year status report and the other extending proxy voting and remote participation in the Commons until 21 June, went through on the nod.
MPs vote to renew Coronavirus Act by 484 votes to 76
MPs have voted to renew the Coronavirus Act by 484 votes to 76 - a majority of 408.
Preventing businesses from operating their own Covid rules would be un-Conservative, says Liam Fox
Earlier during the debate Liam Fox, the Tory former international trade secretary, said he would support the government even though he resented having to vote to extent the Coronavirus Act powers for another six months.
And he said this about Covid-status certificates.
We’re all used to having in international travel the concept that you cannot cross a border without having immunisation, that is a perfectly reasonable thing for any country including the United Kingdom to want to do.
It’s when it comes to domestic issues that I think there is a real problem. Where the government were to try to compel individuals to carry some proof of either immunity through vaccine or a negative test, I think that would be completely unacceptable in a country where civil liberties are held so highly and so prized.
I think however we as Conservatives should be very careful not to constrain the private sector in how they choose what customers they have. If they choose to have particular customers in particular ways, whether they’re airlines or pubs, that is up to them and again I would not like to see a Conservative government intervene in the freedom of the private sector to choose the customers that they have.
This is interesting because it is probably similar to what Boris Johnson thinks about this issue, and may be a good guide to what the government ends up proposing.
Updated
MPs are now voting on the motion to renew the Coronavirus Act.
This time MPs shout “no” when Nigel Evans, the deputy Speaker, puts the motion to the house and so there is a division.
We will get the result in about 15 minutes.
MPs are now voting.
The motion to extend lockdown restrictions enforced under the Public Health Act goes through on the nod.
Argar says that in his speech Richard Burgon seems to be arguing for a “zero Covid” approach. But Argar says Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, has said achieving zero Covid is impossible.
Back in the Commons Edward Argar, a health minister, is now winding up the debate. He says, as British MPs debate easing lockdown restrictions, in other European countries, like France, Italy, Germany and the Czech Republic, governments are moving in the opposite direction.
This is what Labour’s Richard Burgon told MPs in the debate about why he would vote against renewing the Coronavirus Act.
People have been brilliant throughout this whole crisis, looking after each other and respecting the lockdown rules. It’s the government that has failed.
And while the government continues to fail to put in place proper sick pay to those that need to self-isolate, a decent minimum income floor and other measures that deal with the deepening social crises that people in our communities face, I cannot support extending the government’s Coronavirus Act for six months more.
I will vote against this act and the government should bring back a better act, one that protects civil liberties and one that tackles both the public health and social crises.
Updated
Here is a question from below the line (BTL).
The answer is that vaccines are preventing a lot of people from getting very ill, and from dying, but not everyone. Initially, when the vaccines were approved, some ministers made comments suggesting deaths would no longer be a problem, but that is not what ministers or their officials are saying now.
A good guide to how effective vaccines are is the latest Public Health England vaccine effectiveness report (pdf). It’s for March 2021. Here is an excerpt.
Analysis of routine testing data continues to show a vaccine effect against symptomatic Covid-19 from either vaccine in those aged 70 year and over, for whom the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of a single dose reaches ~ 60% ...
As before, we find that among those who develop symptomatic infection, risk of hospitalisation is reduced by 35 to 45% after one dose of either vaccine. Combined with the reduced risk of becoming a case, this is consistent with a vaccine effectiveness against hospitalisation which is similar to previously reported value of 80%.
Data continue to show encouraging effects from a single dose of the Pfizer vaccination on risk of mortality in symptomatic cases over 80 who have been vaccinated, where the risk of death is reduced by 54%. Combined with the reduced risk of becoming a case, this is consistent with a vaccine effectiveness against mortality which is similar to previously reported value of 85%.
An 85% effectiveness rate against death is effectively a 15% non-effectiveness rate. So vaccines lower the risk considerably, but not totally.
Updated
Bob Seely (Con) says he thinks the government’s approach is “unbalanced”. He says the government said it would base policy on data, not dates. But as the data has changed, the dates haven’t.
He says the government is basing its policy on what is happening to cases, when it should be basing it on hospitalisations and deaths.
The continuation of this “draconian approach” is not normal, he says.
In the Commons Greg Clark, the Conservative chair of the science committee, says his committee has heard evidence saying there is no known evidence of outdoor transmission.
He says the roadmap was based on evidence that was six weeks out of date.
He says he agrees with Matt Hancock about the need to protect the NHS. But the government needs to say what that means, he says. He says Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, told the committee that politicians needed to decide what an acceptable level of deaths would be.
And he says he thinks closing borders would be “ruinous” for Britain’s economy, and for its reputation as an open, trading nation.
Updated
Lambeth in London was the local authority reporting the lowest proportion of older adult care home staff given a first dose of Covid vaccine in England, PA Media reports. PA says:
The NHS England data, published today, showed that 45% of eligible older adult care home staff in Lambeth had been given their first jab by 21 March.
This was followed by Wandsworth at 55.8%, Luton at 57.6%, and Camden at 58.6%, the figures showed.
This compares with Shropshire, which had the highest proportion in England, at 87.4%.
Staff are classed as eligible for the vaccine if they have not had Covid-19 in the previous 28 days.
Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the backbench Conservative 1922 Committee, told MPs that he was the 31st speaker in the debate, and only two of the MPs who went before him gave “unqualified support” to the government’s plans. He said coercion and control had gone too far, and that it was time to trust the people.
Updated
Back in the debate Chris Green (Con) said he wanted to know why schedule 22 of the Coronavirus Act was being retained. It gives the police wide powers relating to events. He said it had not been needed yet, and he said he did not see why it needed to stay. He said he wondered whether the government wanted to keep it available for when England hosts European championship matches this summer. He suggested that ministers might want to use that to showcase their Covid-status certification rules.
A total of 26,710,498 Covid-19 vaccinations took place in England between December 8 and March 24, according to NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 483,894 on the previous day.
As PA Media reports, NHS England said 24,681,955 were the first dose of a vaccine, a rise of 275,881 on the previous day, while 2,028,543 were a second dose, an increase of 208,013.
Here are some more quotes from the debate on the Coronavirus Act, taken from PA Media.
William Wragg (Con) criticised the proposal for Covid-status certification. He said:
I cannot help but think we have a back of a fag packet-esque approach to this whole question of Covid vaccine certification.
Karen Bradley, the Conservative chair of the procedure committee, said the government should have allowed time for amendments to the act to the debated. She said:
If amendments are put forward and the government cannot find a good reason to say no to the amendment that has the support of a majority of this house, the amendment is probably a good amendment, and I’d just suggest that maybe the government should think about more time for debate and more opportunities to amend.
Labour’s Graham Stringer said he would not vote for the regulations after raising concerns about the lack of data provided by the government to justify its roadmap decisions.
And the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said he could not support the regulations after warning “our liberties are at stake” and questioned why powers limiting protest had not been reviewed.
Corbyn is also supporting the protect everyone bill proposals. (See 3.01pm and 3.08pm.)
In contrast to maintaining the Coronavirus Act, the #ProtectEveryone Bill provides a way forward for new legislation that focuses on human rights and support for everyone, not punishment.
— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) March 25, 2021
We can't leave protecting our rights to this Tory Government. https://t.co/jBYLFPcVIq
Updated
From Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister:
Today’s #Covid statistics. The pre election period means Covid briefings can’t happen every day - only when there are changes to the restrictions. However, I will post here daily - and as FM (as I remain during campaign) I’ll continue every day to manage @scotgov response. https://t.co/OTHcC3o55c
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) March 25, 2021
Updated
Labour council leaders have said that the government announcement that the union jack flag should be flown at all times from council buildings is “cynical” and “offensive”.
Michael Payne, the deputy leader of the Labour group on the Local Government Association, said that the announcement was both pointless and a waste of time, as many councils like his in Nottinghamshire have already been flying the flag. He said:
Rather than wasting time on pointless edicts instructing councils to do things that they are already doing, are proud to do, [Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary] ought to be spending his time sorting out the coronavirus situation and putting councils on a sustainable financial footing and covering the additional costs and loss of income we’ve had.
The edict was completely pointless and absolutely not needed because councils are already [flying the flag], and are incredibly proud to do so.
Shaun Davis, the Labour leader of Telford and Wrekin council in Shropshire, said that the timing of the announcement was cynical, being so close to local elections. He said: “The Conservative party think they own the flag. Nobody does, the flag belongs to our country.”
Updated
And Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has posted this on the latest vaccination figures.
I’m delighted that uptake of the vaccine is now 95% amongst over 60s & that the protection against dying is 85%
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 25, 2021
The vaccine is safe, effective & our route to normal. pic.twitter.com/5Nb3MqyrX0
The i’s Hugo Gye has a summary of the latest vaccination figures for England.
NHS England weekly stats are out
— Hugo Gye (@HugoGye) March 25, 2021
As of 21st March the following had received at least one vaccine dose, using NHS population figures:
95% of 80+
>100% of 75-79
97% of 70-74
93% of 65-69
93% of 60-64
80% of 55-59
65% of 50-54
22% of 16-49
91% of shielders
75% of care home staff
Back in the Commons Steve Baker, the deputy chair of the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, cited polling figures published on the Guido Fawkes website suggesting 15% of people say government Covid advertising has caused them fear, anxiety or depression. That amounts to 8 million people, he said. He said the government should drop this advertising, and he confirmed he would vote against renewing the act.
Updated
NHS England to cut Covid alert level from 4 to 3
NHS England is reducing its national alert level from 4 to 3, the Independent is reporting. That should mean local hospitals getting more control over what they do. Sir Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, said this move was “a consequence of both declining infection rates across the community and the impact that’s now being felt from the vaccination programme”.
This is not the same as the UK Covid alert level, which is decided by the four chief medical officers on the basis of advice from the Joint Biosecurity Centre, and which is currently at level 4. But NHS England and the JBC will be looking at the same data, and so the UK alert level is also likely to be reduced soon.
Updated
Sir Desmond Swayne, a Conservative libertarian and lockdown sceptic, says the habit of “inhumane policies” soon trickles down. He says only this morning one of his constituents was denied the company of her husband while having a miscarriage because of lockdown rules.
He says “tyranny is a habit” and today’s legislation shows MPs have not kicked the habit.
And he is particularly critical of the proposal to let pubs ban people who have not had the vaccine. Theatres, restaurants and sporting venues will do the same, he says, leading to “total social control”.
Updated
Labour’s Dawn Butler also backs the proposals in Liberty’s protect everyone bill. And she tells MPs that the alternative legislation is available because she says she tabled her own coronavirus (2) bill in the Commons yesterday based on the Liberty plans.
Jeremy Wright, the Conservative former culture secretary, told MPs that keeping restrictions in place until June, not May, would cause “weeks more misery” for many people. He said the government should effectively combine phases three and four of the roadmap, ending almost all restrictions in May.
In the Commons Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, says many of the powers in the Coronavirus Act are not needed. He is particularly critical of the police powers, saying that a Crown Prosecution Service review found that 252 people had been incorrectly charged under provisions in the bill, and that not one person had been correctly charged.
He says the Lib Dems will be voting against the motion to renew the bill.
Instead MPs should be supporting the protect everyone bill supported by the human rights group Liberty, he says.
Back in the Commons Sir Charles Walker, one of the Tory MPs most opposed to the lockdown, has just started speaking. He says “as sure as eggs is eggs” MPs will be back in the Commons in September voting to renew the Coronavirus Act again. That is “inevitable”, he says.
He is now telling a rather convoluted tale involving a pint of milk to make the point that the right to protest is a freedom, and that unless you cherish freedoms, you will lose them.
Updated
School reopening has led to 'slight' increase in Covid case rates in younger age groups in England, PHE says
Public Health England has published its weekly Covid surveillance report (pdf). The report covers the period until the end of last week (week 11) and it says, while overall case rates are still falling slightly, there has been a slight rise in case rates in children and young people between the ages of 5 and 19. It says:
Overall case rates decreased slightly in week 11, however slight increases were seen in case rates in the 5-9 and 10-19 year age groups in the past 2 weeks. This is likely to reflect schools reopening which occurred in week 10.
In response Dr Yvonne Doyle, Public Health England’s medical director, issued this statement.
Responding to our weekly #COVID19 surveillance report, our Medical Director, Dr Yvonne Doyle, urges everyone to remember #HandsFaceSpace.
— Public Health England (@PHE_uk) March 25, 2021
See our weekly surveillance report here: https://t.co/8dYt9zEVk9 pic.twitter.com/cu4AZM8jPB
Updated
The EU has been overly cautious and budget conscious over Covid vaccines and should step back from waging a “stupid vaccine war” with Britain, the former European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has said. My colleague Daniel Boffey has the story here.
Hancock refuses to guarantee Coronavirus Act won't be renewed again in September
Towards the end of his speech at the opening of the debate Matt Hancock, the health secretary, was asked by the Tory MP Steve Brine for an assurance that in September the Coronavirus Act would not be renewed again for another six months. As emergency legislation, it is not meant to become permanent.
Hancock said he hoped so – but that he could not guarantee it. He told Brine:
There are parts of this act that have allowed us to do good things that everybody would like to see like that, and so when we do come to retire this act, which we must within one year and preferably within six months, we will need to make sure that we can continue to do that sort of thing and make sure that nurses can be enrolled as easily as possible into the NHS.
But I cannot answer whether we will be retiring it in six months. My preference would be yes, but given the last year, I think a prediction would be hasty.
Updated
In the Commons Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is highlighting aspects of the Coronavirus Act that he considers unnecessary. He says the government should have allowed more time for debate, so MPs could properly review what parts they would and would not want to keep.
Steve Baker, the Tory lockdown sceptic, intervenes to point out that he and Labour would agree on a section relating to police powers being unnecessary.
Updated
NHS England has recorded 73 further coronavirus deaths in hospital. The details are here.
A week ago today the equivalent figure was 97 deaths.
Hancock ends by saying the UK is on the road to recovery, but not at the finishing line.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, asks if the government will put France, or other European countries, on the “red list”, or impose new restrictions on hauliers entering the country.
Hancock says this will be addressed when the government publishes the report from its global travel taskforce on 5 April.
Hancock says 12 provisions from the Coronavirus Act are being removed because they are deemed no longer necessary.
The Department of Health and Social Care set out what these are in a press notice here.
Hancock tells MPs the restrictions under the Public Health Act will fall away in June, when the fourth phase of the roadmap to lockdown easing takes effect.
Turning to the Coronavirus Act, he says it needs to be extended because it allows certain public services to continue during the pandemic. For example, it allows virtual court proceedings to take place.
Labour’s Dawn Butler says Hancock is being misleading. If the motion is defeated, the government will have 28 days to produce an alternative bill, she says.
Hancock repeats the point about the Act being essential to allow public services to continue. He says, for example, that it allows sick pay to be paid to people who self-report.
Hancock told MPs there were a record number of doctors and nurses in England. He tweeted about this earlier.
NEWS: We have a record number of NHS doctors & nurses in England - a total of 123,813 doctors & 301,491 nurses
— Matt Hancock (@MattHancock) March 25, 2021
Huge thank you to the whole NHS team pic.twitter.com/9iCkX6QEUa
Hancock rejects claims positive Covid modelling justifies easing restrictions more quickly
Mark Harper, the chair of the Covid Recovery Group, which represents anti-lockdown and lockdown-sceptic Tories, asked Hancock about a report in today’s Times saying modelling suggests there will be dramatic falls in Covid numbers are due in the next fortnight.
Exclusive:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) March 24, 2021
The number of coronavirus patients in England is projected to halve over next fortnight, according to Spi-M projections:
Covid hospital patients
⬇ from 4,000 to 2,000
Covid hospital admissions
⬇ from 294 to 150
Coronavirus deaths
⬇ from 92 to <20 https://t.co/HB6js4u31H
Harper said these figures justified the CRG’s calls for lockdown easing to go faster than planned.
Hancock claimed he had not seen the report. But he rejected the call to speed up lockdown easing, saying that cases could go up.
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, opened the debate.
He said the government was following the roadmap to recovery. He said 55% of adults in the UK had been vaccinated, and hospital numbers were at their lowest level since September.
But he said there were reasons for caution, because cases were rising in some areas. And he said they did not know how the vaccines would perform against the new variants.
UPDATE: Hancock said:
I must tell the house that whilst I am still by nature an optimist, there remain courses for caution.
Cases are rising in some areas and they are rising among those under 18. There are early signs of cases flattening among the working age population too.
I am delighted that uptake of the vaccine is now 95% amongst over-60s and that protection against dying from the vaccine is around 85%. Both of these figures, 95% uptake and 85% protection, both of these are higher than we could have hoped for.
But while we are confident that we have broken the link between the number of cases and the hospitalisations and deaths that previously inevitably followed, no vaccine is perfect and take-up isn’t 100%.
So that link while broken is not yet severed. New variants also remain a risk because we don’t yet know with confidence the impact of the vaccine against the new variants.
Updated
MPs start debating renewal of Covid lockdown restrictions
MPs are now debating the renewal of the Covid lockdown restrictions.
MPs are considering four separate motions: there are two relating to the Coronavirus Act, which has be be renewed; another relating to lockdown restrictions (which are law under the Public Health Act, not the Coronavirus Act); and a motion allowing proxy voting and virtual proceedings in the Commons to continue until 21 June.
The Downing Street lobby briefing is over. Here are the main points.
- The prime minister’s spokesman said that the report from the taskforce looking at Covid-status certification due in April would just be an “initial update”. Boris Johnson mentioned the April deadline in his Sky interview earlier. (See 12.54pm.) But the spokesman said the full review, which is being led by Michael Gove, is only due to be finished ahead of step four of the lockdown easing plan, which starts on 21 June.
- The spokesman would not say whether the UK was prepared to share domestically produced vaccine doses with Brussels in order to solve the ongoing supply row. Asked about this, the spokesman said:
We are continuing to work closely with the EU. As our [joint] statement said, we are all facing the same pandemic and the third wave makes co-operation between the EU and UK even more important. we will continue to work with the EU in terms of the short, medium and long-term steps we may be able to take to expand vaccine supply for everyone, not just here but across the world as well.
- The spokesman said Downing Street would start using its new briefing room at 9 Downing Street on Monday, for a press conference with Johnson. The spokesman would not say when the planned briefings with Allegra Stratton, the press secretary, would start there. The room was refurbished, at a cost of £2.6m, so that Stratton could use it for regular White House-style televised briefings.
PM seeks to calm pubs entry row, suggesting checks would have to wait until mid-summer
Sky News has broadcast its interview with Boris Johnson this morning, and in it Johnson sounded like a politician in backpedaling mode, anxious to calm the controversy generated by what he told the liaison committee yesterday.
First, he stressed that “no decisions have been taken at all” about whether pubs will be allowed to exclude customers without Covid-status certificates.
And, second, he also implied that any Covid-status certification system for pubs and other venues would not come in come anyway until mid-summer.
When asked to confirm that the government was considering limiting access to pubs to people either with a vaccine certificate, or a negative test result, after 17 May, Johnson replied:
All sorts of things are being considered. I really think it’s a bit premature to start talking about that. What we want to do is roll out the vaccine programme and see what that builds in terms of general resistance to the virus.
But he said he did think there would be a role for certification.
Johnson said the taskforce looking at this issue would report either on 5 April or 12 April.
When asked if the government could end up just using vaccine certification for foreign travel, Johnson said:
I think we need to think carefully about the issue. As I’ve said before there are lots of difficult issues because there are some people who, for medical reasons, can’t get a vaccination, pregnant women can’t get a vaccination at the moment. You’ve got to be careful about how you do this.
And you might only be able to implement a thorough-going vaccination passport scheming - even if you wanted such a thing - in the context of when absolutely everybody had been offered a vaccine.
The government is committed to ensuring that all adults in England have been offered a first dose of vaccine by the end of July. So Johnson’s comment implies that any such scheme along these lines would not start until mid-summer.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson says 'no decisions have been taken' on whether people will need proof of vaccination or a negative #COVID19 test to attend a pub.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 25, 2021
'None of this applies on April 12 because that's outside only', he adds.
Latest: https://t.co/n0pd1QBtRh pic.twitter.com/Eo82XPTfqa
Updated
Child poverty in UK rose to 4.3m in year to March 2020, DWP figures show
Child poverty in the UK rose sharply in the year before the arrival of the Covid pandemic, according to the latest official statistics, leaving almost a third of youngsters living in families below the breadline, the highest level for 13 years.
At the end of March last year, just after the UK went into lockdown, 4.3m children (31%) were in poverty, an increase from 4.1m the previous year, and up from 3.6m in 2010 when the country prepared enter a decade of austerity.
Campaigners urged the government to bring forward a plan to tackle child poverty as part of its purported aim to “level up” the country, and suggested it start by extending the £20 uplift to universal credit beyond its current end date at the end of October.
Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said:
This dismal data shows child poverty levels are now devastatingly high, and that’s before we see the impact of the pandemic. Children and their families will pay the price unless government acts urgently.
The data showed three-quarters of children in poverty were in a family where at least one parent works. Nearly half of children in one parent households were in poverty. The youngest were hardest hit: 36% of under-five’s were living below the breadline. Food insecurity was experienced by 1.1m youngsters.
The relative poverty line is set at 60% of median UK income.
The data suggest the prevalence of deep poverty – where household income is at least 50% below the official breadline – is increasing. There were 2.9m children experiencing deep poverty in 2019-20, up from 600,000 in 2010/11.
The figures do not take into account the impact of the Covid economic crisis. Estimates by the Social Metrics Commission in November suggest nearly 700,000 people, including 120,000 children, slipped into poverty during the first six months of the pandemic.
Boris Johnson was speaking to reporters on a visit to a nursery in London. One feature of these visits is that Johnson always seems keen to join the youngsters doing some paintwork (his mother is an artist) and he was at it again this morning.
Aficionados of British political photocalls may see this as Johnson gently mocking David Miliband ...
In his interviews Boris Johnson also denied telling Tory MPs this week that the success of the vaccine programme was down to “greed”, according to the PA Media report.
In comments better seen as an attempt to clarify what he meant (the quote, and the context, are reported here), Johnson said that the vaccine success was partly due to the role played by government. But he said it was also “thanks to free enterprise and big companies deciding to take a risk to put their investment into bets that they didn’t know would pay off, which is what capitalism is basically all about, and producing a life-changing result”.
He added: “So it’s the combination that matters.”
Johnson says 'freedom-lover' MPs should support plan for cautious easing of lockdown
Boris Johnson has been talking to reporters on a visit to a nursery this morning, and he insisted that freedom-loving or libertarian MPs should support his plan for a gradual easing of lockdown restrictions. He said:
The libertarian in me is also trying to protect people’s fundamental right to life and their ability to live their lives normally and the only way really to restore that for everybody is for us to beat the disease, and the best path to freedom is down the cautious but irreversible road map that we’ve set out - that’s what the freedom-lover wants.
He was speaking ahead of this afternoon’s debate in the Commons where some libertarian Tories are set to vote against the restrictions being extended.
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In the Commons earlier Michael Gove confirmed that the government was not proposing that vaccination alone should be a condition for people being allowed to enter pubs. (See 11.30am.)
During Cabinet Office questions William Wragg, the Conservative MP whose questions at the liaison committee yesterday prompted Boris Johnson to say he could imagine publicans being allowed to impose their own entry rules, reminded Gove that he told Sky News last year that the government was opposed to “vaccine passports” for pubs.
Gove replied:
Consistency is often the hobgoblin of small minds.
But my view on this issue is consistent - that a system that relied purely on vaccination would not be appropriate.
But what would be right was a system that ensured that we could open up our economy to the maximum extent that takes account both of vaccine status, but also of recent test status and indeed potentially also antibody status as well.
But the best thing to do is to be guided by scientific and clinical advice and then to subject that advice to proper, rigorous, ethnical questioning rather than taking an instant, off-the-shelf, instinctive approach.
Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has described the idea of letting publicans ban anyone without a Covid vaccine as “the worst of all worlds”. In a statement he said:
The government seems utterly incapable of making its mind up on Covid certificates – but this latest wheeze is the worst of all worlds.
As well as burdening struggling pubs with extra cost, the idea that businesses can voluntarily bar certain customers, who may not even have been offered a vaccine, is deeply illiberal.
The government should be focusing on supporting the pub industry and reviving our civil liberties and basic freedoms: this policy does the opposite of both.
As explained earlier (see 9.04am), what ministers are actually considering is a proposal that would allow publicans to exclude customers either because they had not had the vaccine, or because they had not recently tested negative.
Full impact of Brexit 'has not yet been felt', says thinktank
The Covid crisis has masked the full extent of the impact of Brexit and the government should be open about the “widespread disruption” caused by the sudden exit from the EU’s single market on 1 January, a new report by the Institute for Government has said. It says:
Ministers were wrong to dismiss initial disruption as ‘teething problems’, and many firms are still struggling to adapt to a fundamental shift in how they do business.
The report - End of the Transition Period, Was the UK prepared?- warns that the “full impact of Brexit has not yet been felt” with new controls on imports to enter into force later this year. It says:
Ministers must do more to explain what this complex patchwork of deadlines means for business – and consider what additional support might be needed to ensure firms are ready.
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of the UKHospitality trade body, has said it is “crucial” that visits to pubs and restaurants are not subject to mandatory vaccination certification. “It is simply unworkable, would cause conflict between staff and customers and almost certainty result in breaches of equality rules,” she said.
In a statement this morning about the SNP’s election campaign, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said it would be “overflowing with optimism and hope”. She said:
Now more than ever is a time for experienced leadership and government as we continue with the most important task we have: keeping Scotland safe.
The other parties have made it very clear over these past few weeks that they are not interested in governing or leading.
Our campaign will be the polar opposite. It will be about raising up, not tearing down. It will be overflowing with optimism and hope for a better Scotland.
Over these next six weeks we will set out our plans to protect the NHS, for a National Care Service and to protect and create jobs as we get on with the job of building a better Scotland.
That optimism, hope and sense of possibility is founded on a total belief in the abilities and talents of all the people who live here.
The SNP has also been buoyed by Survation polling for the Press and Journal suggesting the party is to win 67 seats in the Holyrood election - which would give it a majority in the 129-seat parliament.
The P&J write-up of the polling also quotes Prof John Curtice, the leading psephologist, saying that although support for independence is lower than it was last year, the Sturgeon/Salmond row in recent weeks “has not made much difference” to opinion on this issue.
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Guidance about flying union flag every day on government buildings should apply in Northern Ireland too, says DUP
The DUP has complained that Northern Ireland is excluded from the guidance issued by Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, yesterday s saying the union flag should be flown every day from government buildings in Britain. In a statement Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader at Westminster, said:
Many will see it as bizarre that the UK government is only deciding in 2021 to fly the Union Flag, the flag of our nation, on all government buildings every day. When I visit other nations around the world, flying the national flag on government buildings is commonplace.
The decision to exclude Northern Ireland, at this stage is wrong and runs contrary to New Decade New Approach which sought to align us with the rest of the UK when it came to the Union Flag being flown on government buildings. This is a matter we will be pressing the government to address.
The rules are different for Northern Ireland because nationalist/unionist divisions make flags extremely contentious in the region. In the past decisions about flags in Belfast have triggered rioting.
'It depends what you mean by "end"' - Hancock on crisis being over, and how Covid will become 'more like flu'
In an interview with the Financial Times (paywall) published today, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, delivered a classic politician’s answer when asked if he could see an end to the Covid crisis. He replied:
It depends what you mean by ‘end’. I see an end where Covid is managed more like flu: we repeatedly vaccinate, we update the vaccines according to mutations and we manage the challenges, especially around transmissions over winter.
I’m confident that’s where we can get to. I want to get to a position where we can have an updated vaccine in weeks or months, not a year.
Hancock also provided fresh evidence that will allow care homes to require staff to be vaccinated, telling the FT: “We will get to the point where it’s reasonable to ask people to get vaccinated.”
And he said new research suggests that, by the end of February, 6,600 lives had been saved in the UK by the vaccination programme.
EU leaders push back against bloc's plans to halt Covid vaccine export
EU leaders are likely to shy away from supporting the use of new powers to block Covid vaccine shipments to countries such as the UK with better jab coverage than the bloc, according to a draft statement ahead of a meeting of EU leaders today. My colleague Daniel Boffey has the story here.
Labour has moved the writ for the Hartlepool byelection to take place, as expected, on 6 May, when there are also local, mayoral and police and crime commissioner elections in England, as well as elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.
The Opposition Chief Whip, Rt Hon Nicholas Brown moves the writ for the Hartlepool By-election to be held on Thurs 6 May. pic.twitter.com/OwED8In4b3
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) March 25, 2021
Mark Harper, the Conservative MP who chairs the lockdown-sceptic Covid Recovery Group, told Sky News that there would be “very significant problems” with allowing pubs to exclude people without Covid status documentation. He said:
I actually agree with the prime minister - that is the Prime Minister of February when he said that he didn’t think there was a case for expecting people to show papers to go to the pub and said there were very significant problems with ethical, moral questions about this issue.
I’ve heard some heads of pub chains this morning set out some of those significant problems.
The key way we are going to deal with this issue is by vaccinating people, and we’ve already almost finished vaccinating, with their first doses, the top nine groups who are most vulnerable, who account for 99% of those who died of Covid and over 80% of the hospitalisations. That’s how we get out of this.
Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Shepherd Neame pub group, told the Today programme that making vaccination a mandatory prerequisite for attend a pub was “a fairly poorly thought-out idea” which could lead to young staff having to deal with intimidation from customers. He said:
I’m very concerned about the pressure we put on our young people - 50% of people (working) in pubs are under 25 - you’re going to force them to make some very challenging judgments, because they’re not qualified or trained as door staff, as they might be in the nightclub sector ...
This is a fraught with difficulty I think, and it is, in my view, a fairly poorly thought-out idea at this stage.
In fact, when Boris Johnson was speaking to the liaison committee last night, he floated the idea of letting publicans decide whether they wanted to impose these conditions, not making them mandatory. And aides made it clear that he meant Covid-status certificates, not Covid vaccine certificates. (See 9.04am.)
Labour expresses concern about PM's proposal to allow pubs to exclude those without Covid status proof
Good morning. When the government published details of its review of the case for Covid-status certificates earlier this month, it did not attract a huge amount of attention. Partly that was because Boris Johnson was already on record as sounding sceptical. And partly that was because there has been a lot of confusion about what is being proposed anyway. At one stage the media just talked about “vaccine passports”. Then people began to differentiate between a vaccine document for use for international travel, and another for use domestically, when applying for a job, or access to a venue. And then these “vaccine passports” were rebranded “Covid-status certificates”, as ministers made it clear that they wanted people who have no not been vaccinated to get the same benefits by being apply to prove a recent negative test.
But yesterday, in a newsy session with the Commons liaison committee, Johnson sent the idea soaring to the top of the news agenda by appearing to suggest that he would be happy to see pubs exclude people who have not been vaccinated.
Later aides suggested that what he meant was that pubs would be able to exclude people without Covid-status certificates, but his comment still amounted to the clearest proof yet that we are heading for a world where access to many events or venues is likely to depend on being able to produce the right piece of paper, or the appropriate notification on your phone. As my colleague Jessica Elgot reports, the government may encourage this by allowing pubs that impose these conditions to ignore social distancing rules.
Later MPs are debating the extension of Covid restrictions and this issue is bound to come up in the debate. This is what Steve Baker, one of the most lockdown-sceptic Tories, posted on Twitter last night.
🚷 Domestic Covid Certificates – vaccine passports with testing – create a two-tier society.
— Steve Baker MP FRSA (@SteveBakerHW) March 24, 2021
Pregnant women & groups with more vaccine hesitancy won’t be able to live ordinary lives without great difficulty.
🐇 We are so far down the rabbit hole, we have forgotten we fell in.
This morning Ed Miliband, the shadow business secretary, revealed Labour also had concerns about the PM’s plan. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:
If the government has got evidence that this is necessary for people to go to hospitality venues, let’s look at that evidence ...
And indeed if it was necessary, why would you be leaving it up to individual landlords? If this was really a public health measure, you wouldn’t be saying, ‘Well, it is going to be a landlord discretion’ - you’d be saying, ‘This is the government’s view, this is what’s safe’. So there are many, many unanswered questions about this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The Department for Work and Pensions publishes annual poverty figures.
9.30am: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, delivers an election campaign statement.
10am: Department for Education officials give evidence to the Commons public accounts committee about Covid and education.
10.30am: Labour asks an urgent question in the Commons about the Greensill Capital affair.
11am: Ed Miliband, the shadow business secretary, delivers a speech on jobs and the green economy. As my colleague Heather Stewart reports, he will say interest-free government loans should be made available to help up to a million households buy electric cars over the next two years.
12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its lobby briefing.
After 12.30pm: MPs are expected to start their debate on extending the Coronavirus Act and Covid restrictions. Voting on the five related motions (pdf) will start at 5pm.
Afternoon: EU leaders hold a virtual meeting where vaccine export rules will be discussed.
2pm: Public Health England publishes its weekly Covid surveillance report.
2.30pm: George Eustice, the environment secretary, gives evidence to the Commons environment committee.
Politics Live has been mostly about Covid for the last year and I will be covering UK coronavirus developments today, as well as non-coronavirus Westminster politics. For global coronavirus news, do read our global 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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