Boris Johnson news: Brexit deal ‘some way off’ one week ahead of PM’s deadline as Keir Starmer attacks Covid response
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A Brexit deal is “some way” away as negotiations on a key obstacle remain fraught, the UK’s chief negotiator has said.
But Lord Frost added that Britain’s door “would never be closed to a deal” even if Boris Johnson’s 15 October deadline is missed.
Meanwhile, following talks with Mr Johnson, the European Council president Charles Michel urged Britain to put its “cards on the table” because although the EU wanted a deal, it would not agree to one if the cost was too high.
As difficult as Wednesday was on the Brexit front, coronavirus threw up more challenges still for the government.
Earlier, Sir Keir Starmer challenged Mr Johnson over his government’s coronavirus testing failures at PMQs, accusing him of “messing up” his response to the crisis. The Labour leader has also demanded ministers publish scientific evidence for the 10pm pub curfew.
In the north of England, regional leaders are in revolt over how local lockdowns have affected their cities. The leaders of Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle city councils have written to the government, arguing its strategy is failing and that they should be put in control.
On a sunnier note, Grant Shapps and Matt Hancock have now created a taskforce designed to reduce the burden of the 14-day quarantine for travellers to the UK.
It will explore how a new testing regime can “facilitate more Covid-secure travel whilst protecting the population from imported cases”.
Ferrier ‘one of the best and brightest’ MPs claims top QC
Remember Margaret Ferrier? The SNP MP who travelled from London to Scotland after testing positive for Covid has steadfastly refused to quit, despite Nicola Sturgeon’s best efforts.
Human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC has claimed Ferrier “actually happens to be one of the best and brightest MPs in the House” – and argued she is entitled to have her day in court before any decisions are made about her political career.
Piers Morgan disagreed. The GMB host called her a “blithering idiot”.
Hancock: UK has ‘serious problem’ with rising infections
Matt Hancock has offered precious few clues on what new measures, local or national, the government might make as he spoke to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
But the health secretary did say Britain’s rising numbers of coronavirus infections and number of people being hospitalised show there is a “serious problem”.
“It is a challenge, and everybody will have seen, from the rising case rates and unfortunately the rising hospitalisation rates which have risen really quite sharply in the last week or so, that we have got a very serious problem on our hands,” Hancock told a CBI webinar.
“The challenge is how to deal with this second peak in a way that has as little damage as possible. Thankfully we know far more about it than first time around.”
Tories spent £16m on general election win
The Conservatives spent more than £16m on winning the last general election campaign – which works out at around £200,000 for every seat won. The Electoral Commission’s report also shows that the cost of the SNP campaign was around £1m.
Plaid Cymru spent around £184,000 and the Independent Group for Change paid out around £29,000 on the December election. UKIP? Its big push cost a mere £8,760.
We don’t know yet how much Labour or the Lib Dems spent. Figures for the other parties will be released in batches, the commission said.
Boris Johnson’s 2019 election win cost Tories more than £16m
Over £1.6m in market research and canvassing was paid to CTF Partners Limited – the firm of election strategist Sir Lynton Crosby
Missing tests blunder caused by software ‘13 years out of date’
We’re minutes away from today’s PMQs clash. Keir Starmer is surely bound to ask Boris Johnson about the test and trace failures which saw 16,000 positive tests go missing.
It has emerged the blunder was caused by failing to replace software an astonishing 13 years out of date. The version of Microsoft Excel used – known as XLS – was superseded way back in 2007, but was still being deployed by Public Health England systems.
It could handle only about 65,000 rows of data, rather than the one million-plus that the newer software XLSX is capable of – which meant any additional test results were lopped off.
More details here:
Missing coronavirus tests blunder caused by software ‘13 years out of date’
Failure to replace XLS version of Microsoft Excel - superseded in 2007 - condemned as ‘unforgiveable’
Starmer says Johnson ‘messing it up’ – accusing PM of ‘government in hindsight’
Sir Keir Starmer has asked Boris Johnson about the test and trace failures which saw16,000 positive tests go missing.
The Labour leader asked: “Does the prime minister accept this very basic mistake has put lives at risk?”
Johnson responded: “The error he refers to has been addressed … as soon as we become aware of the missing data we brought in 800 people to chase up those index cases and we continue to chase their contacts.”
Starmer said the attempt at reassurance “just doesn’t wash.”
He added: “We support measures to protect health, we want track and trace to work but the government is messing it up and it’s our duty to point it out.”
Do you support rule of six? PM challenges Starmer
Boris Johnson has challenged Sir Keir Starmer to adopt a consistent approach to the coronavirus crisis – attacking the Labour leader for abstaining on the “rule of six” vote on Tuesday night.
“He cannot even be bothered to mobile his own benches to support something as fundamental as the rule of six.”
Starmer responds: “Yes … But if the prime minister can’t see and hear local communities when they say the infection rate have gone up tenfold under restrictions, and he doesn’t realise that’s a problem – then that’s part of the problem.”
‘Is there a scientific basis for the 10pm rule,’ asks Starmer
Keir Starmer has demanded that the government publish the scientific basis for the 10pm pub curfew or review the policy – the clearest hint yet that Labour may not back its continuation in a vote next week.
“The prime minister can’t explain why an are goes into restrictions. He can’t explain what the different restrictions are. He can’t explain how restrictions end. Next week this house will vote on whether to approve the 10pm rule.
“One question is screaming out – is there a scientific basis for the 10pm rule. The public deserve to know. Parliament deserves to know.”
Make extra Universal Credit payments permanent, says SNP chief
The SNP’s Westminster chief Ian Blackford has asked Boris Johnson to make the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit permanent.
“The chancellor has so far refused … this means 16 million face losing an income equivalent of £1,040.”
Johnson replies that he is proud of “Universal Credit” and “we will continue to support people across the country” – but does not make the commitment Blackford is looking for.
Sturgeon denies ‘conspiring’ with Salmond – or ‘colluding’ against him
We turn our attention now to Scotland. It has emerged Nicola Sturgeon took three days to inform the Scottish government’s most senior official there was a “serious prospect” of Alex Salmond taking legal action over the way sexual harassment allegations against him had been handled.
The first minister said both the “tone and content” of a message she received from her predecessor on 3 June, 2018 led her “to conclude that legal action by Mr Salmond against the Scottish government was a serious prospect”.
She decided she should make permanent secretary Leslie Evans aware of the situation, and wrote to her on 6 June.
She also denied suggestions she had either conspired with Salmond, or colluded against him. “I reject in the strongest possible terms both of these suggestions,” Sturgeon said.
PMQs verdict: ‘Starmer genuinely doesn’t like Johnson’
So who got the upper hand at today’s feisty lunchtime encounter in the Commons? There was no clear victor today, according to Twitterati – but the big talking point is Keir Starmer’s suggestion Labour will vote against the government on the 10pm pub curfew next week.
The Times’ Tom Newton-Dunn said it was a “big signal Labour will vote against it next week, alongside Tory rebels – hence dooming it.”
The Guardian’s Peter Walker found Starmer’s annoyance interesting: “I increasingly get the feeling from PMQs that Keir Starmer genuinely doesn't much like Boris Johnson, or at the very least finds him hugely frustrating.”
The Mail’s Dan Hodges though the PM got the upper hand. “Boris’s strongest PMQs for a while. Poor from Starmer.”
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