Good morning. Today we’re expecting coronavirus restrictions to be imposed on Merseyside, with around 1.5m people likely to find themselves banned from mixing in pubs and restaurants. Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, told BBC Breakfast this morning:
We’ve already been told there will be restrictions and regulations put in place similar to Newcastle and the north-east, so we expect that, but potentially also the government might introduce even stricter measures so we’ve just got to wait now and see what they announce.
My colleague Josh Halliday has the story here.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, has been doing the morning interview round for the government and he told the BBC that “no decisions have yet been taken” about Liverpool.
He also confirmed that, despite ministers offering backbenchers what was billed by some as an important concession over MPs getting votes on lockdown measures, any measures for Merseyside are not likely to be subject to a Commons vote. When asked if they would be, he told the Today programme:
What the prime minister said yesterday is that if there are any other further major changes to the approach that we are taking then, yes, there will be debates and votes in parliament on that. But when it comes to the local lockdowns, there’s powers there in the Coronavirus Act that was passed earlier this year to enable those targeted measures to happen, and to happen quickly.
This is not surprise if you read the detail of what was on offer yesterday. But it may lead some MPs to conclude that what the government has conceded very little.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, takes questions in the Common.
9.30am: The ONS publishes its latest survey about coronavirus and the economy.
10am: Matthew Rycroft and Shona Dunn, who are both permanent secretaries at the Home Office, as well as the department’s director of immigration and protection, Sean Palmer, give evidence to the public accounts committee about asylum accommodation.
10.30am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, answers a Commons urgent question about the 10pm compulsory closing time for pubs.
Morning: NHS Test and Trace publishes its weekly performance figures.
12pm: Downing Street is due to hold its regular lobby briefing.
12.20pm: Nicola Sturgeon takes first minister’s questions in the Scottish parliament.
12:30pm: Sir David Spiegelhalter, chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at the University of Cambridge, Prof Devi Sridhar, chair of Global Public Health at the University of Edinburgh, and Prof Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, take part in a Royal Society of Medicine briefing on coronavirus.
Politics Live has been doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog for some time and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, and where they seem more important and interesting, they will take precedence.
Here is our global coronavirus live blog.
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