Boris Johnson was grilled over the government’s failure to do enough coronavirus testing in care homes by Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs. The Labour leader said 10 weeks without any community contact tracing in the UK has left a “huge hole in our defences”.
Mr Johnson insisted foreign NHS staff must continue to pay surcharge fees to use the health service – despite admitting they “frankly saved my life”. The PM also claimed the government’s “test, track and trace” scheme will be in place by 1 June.
It comes as justice secretary Robert Buckland admitted he does not know if schools will reopen on 1 June as planned, amid a huge backlash from local authorities and teaching unions.
Grand Central trains extends suspension of services
Train operator Grand Central has extended the suspension of its services throughout June.
Managing director Richard McClean said: "Being an open access train operator means, unlike franchised operators, we must sell enough tickets to cover our operating costs.
"The safety of our staff and passengers is essential but social distancing rules mean we cannot yet welcome the number of customers needed to run the service sustainably.
"I think over the coming month we'll get a really informative picture of passenger attitude, government intentions and how the industry is dealing with social distancing, but for now the most sensible course of action for us is to monitor all this and use the time to plan our return."
Government remains committed to children returning to school from 1 June
The government remains committed to more children returning to school "as soon as we can", Number 10 said, despite opposition from a number of councils and union leaders.
The PM's spokesman said: "The Department for Education continues to meet with head teachers, teachers and the unions, and we continue to listen to their concerns.
"We have a plan for a cautious phased opening from 1 June and we do want to get more children back into school as soon as we can, but when it's safe."
Nigel Farage condemned for boat trip into English Channel to report migrant ‘invasion’
Nigel Farage has been condemned as "callous and heartless" for making a boat trip into the Channel to monitor migrants arriving in the UK.
The Brexit Party leader posted on Twitter that he had "just hit dry land in Dover" after an early morning foray to track migrants arriving on British shores.
His latest move comes after he was reprimanded by the police for making several trips to the south coast during lockdown to produce videos on what he describes as an “illegal migrant scandal”.
After a complaint from the public, Mr Farage was visited by officers from Kent Police, who advised him on the restrictions on travel in place to tackle coronavirus.
Number of transport passengers 'fairly low' despite lockdown easing
Downing Street said the number of passengers using the transport network remained "fairly low" despite some easing in the lockdown restrictions.
The PM's spokesman said: "The information we've had from TfL is that they haven't been reporting significant increases on the London network and that passenger numbers on the domestic transport network remain fairly low, and that the rail network as a whole is performing well."
Government admits NHS app will not be ready for launch of contract tracing scheme
A smartphone app for tracking people who have been in contact with Covid-19 patients will not be ready for 1 June, when the next stage of the government’s relaxation of lockdown is due to begin, Downing Street has confirmed.
“I haven’t slept a night since I came here,” says Hazir, 38, who has been in Harmondsworth removal centre for the last three months, writes May Bulman.
The Albanian national says he has shed 17kg in that time and developed rashes on his arms that he believes are from stress. “I don’t know why I’m still here. I feel like I’m being held hostage,” he adds. “I feel scared.”
Hazir is one of hundreds of people who remain in immigration centres during the coronavirus pandemic, despite a commitment from the Home Office to review all detention cases in response to a legal challenge in March. The case had challenged the lawfulness of continued detention while conditions in removal centres present a high risk and global travel restrictions prevent deportations.
It has led to nearly 1,000 people being released, reducing UK immigration detention to its lowest level for 10 years. But many remain locked up – and it is unclear why.
It appears the government has won.
Labour has confirmed that it is considering a ‘virtual’ conference this year, writes Kate Devlin. Yesterday the party announced it had scrapped the annual event.
Within hours the Liberal Democrats have announced that their conference would be online-only this year.
Labour have accused the government of failing to give an “honest explanation” why MPs will no longer be be able to work from home next month, writes Kate Devlin.
Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said the government’s own advice was that those who could work from home should.
Tommy Shepherd, of the SNP, accuses the government of "throwing its toys out of the pram". Mr Rees-Mogg should seek consensus among MPs, he adds.
The government's behaviour is "absurd" given the current crisis, he adds.
"This is a matter for the House. The House needs to be in agreement," says Conservative MP Karen Bradley, and asks Mr Rees-Mogg to consider that.
Virtual parliament, real-life argument
Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, is asking Jacob Rees-Mogg why the government is trying to end the virtual parliament and bring MPs back to the chamber.
Ministers are allowing the hybrid Commons system and remote voting to lapse, she said. This shouldn't happen until there are "robust safeguards backed by medical evidence and consultation with other parties", she says.
All that is required to strike a Brexit deal is "goodwill on all sides", Michael Gove has insisted. An extension to the transition period is not needed, he added.
Businesses have "their backs to the wall" because of the coronavirus pandemic and so seven months may not be a true representation of how much time remains to fix Brexit, Julian Smith has said.
No, is the short answer to Wendy Chamberlain's question.
Plunging prices for petrol, diesel, gas, electricity and clothes sent inflation to a four-year low of just 0.8 per cent in April, prompting fears that the economy is being battered more than expected by coronavirus, writes Ben Chapman.
Consumer price inflation, which tracks the movement in costs of a “basket” of goods that the average shopper tends to buy, almost halved from 1.5 per cent in March to 0.8 per cent in April. The consensus among economists was for a 0.9 per cent fall.
The sharp drop was primarily driven by declining oil prices which have in turn been caused by an unprecedented drop in demand for fuel as businesses shut down, people stay at home and airline fleets remain largely grounded. Oil prices have recovered to some degree after dropping rapidly in April.
The former PM, on a less-than-brilliant video connection from home (and apparently under the stairs) asks Mr Gove to confirm that NI will have to abide by EU regulations until at least 2024 despite being a part of the UK, and "potentially indefinitely".
"It is the case that there will be EU regulations, as there will also be a fee that will apply in Northern Ireland to 2024," Mr Gove responds.
"If the workings of the protocol are viewed by the people and the parties of Northern Ireland as onerous, too much, intrusive and unacceptable, then they have the opportunity to vote them down in 2024."
The UK government could choose to reimburse businesses for the cost of tariffs imposed on goods moving from GB to NI, even in cases where they are destined for the EU single market, in the event of no tariff-excluding free trade deal being agreed with the bloc, Mr Gove says.
"We will of course exercise any new checks on agri-food products in a proportionate way, but by doing so we imagine that the proportion of goods that will need to be checked will be very minimal," Mr Gove says.
Labour's Rachel Reeves is peppering Michael Gove with questions on checks of goods shipped from GB to NI.
