Health News at Your Fingertips

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is launching legal action against the imposition of tier 3 restrictions on the hospitality sector in the region. This is from Sacha Lord, his night-time economy adviser.

MPs are now debating a Labour motion calling for “fair” economic support for areas under Covid restrictions.

It says:

That this house calls on the government to publish clear and fair national criteria for financial support for jobs and businesses in areas facing additional restrictions, to be voted on in parliament; and calls on the government to make good on its claim that workers faced with hardship who are subject to the job support scheme extension will receive at least 80% of their previous incomes.

Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, is opening the debate.

She says people in Greater Manchester have been offered support worth the equivalent of just £8 per head. She says that is just what a test and trace consultant earns in 30 seconds.

And now the government is seeking to play councils in the area off against each other, she says. (See 1.36pm and 1.43pm.)

She says people in the city have been “dismayed” by how the democratically elected mayor has been treated by the government.

The latest episode of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast is out. Heather Stewart and Peter Walker run through a cantankerous week in Westminster. Rajeev Syal speaks to the chair of the women and equalities committee, Caroline Nokes. Plus, Heather chats to the comedian and former Labour party member Matt Forde, about his new book, Politically Homeless.

Here is the quote from Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs where he claimed that Boris Johnson’s treatment of Greater Manchester was a defining moment for the government. He said

This is a prime minister who can pay £7,000 a day for consultants on track and trace, which isn’t working, can find £43m for a garden bridge that was never built but he can’t find £5m for the people of Greater Manchester.

I really think the prime minister has crossed a Rubicon here, not just with the miserly way that he’s treated Greater Manchester, but the grubby take-it-or-leave-it way these local deals are being done.

It’s corrosive to public trust to pit region against region, mayor against mayor, council against council, asking them to trade away their businesses and jobs.

My colleague Helen Pidd, the Guardian’s north of England editor, came up with a similar analysis in a tweet posted this morning.

Downing Street clearly thinks Michel Barnier’s comments to the European parliament this morning (see 10.55am) were significant. In response a No 10 spokesperson said:

We note with interest that the EU’s negotiator, speaking to the [European parliament] this morning, has commented in a significant way on the issues behind the current difficulties in our talks.

We are studying carefully what was said.

David Frost will discuss the situation when he speaks to Michel Barnier later today.

That may be a hint that the trade talks will formally resume soon.

Who won? is the standard question after PMQs. Sometimes it’s obvious, sometimes it isn’t, but Westminster conventional wisdom normally demands an answer more or less immediately. Today Boris Johnson and Sir Keir Starmer both seemed happy to leave it for a month or two. They are both auditioning for the role of “Captain Foresight”, betting their credibility and authority on an assumption about whether or not the government’s tier 3 strategy will work.

Neither of them committed to a firm timetable, but the gist of it was clear. Starmer was saying that areas going into tier 3 would be stuck there for months. He said:

There’s a stark choice: carry on with the prime minister’s approach, which will lead to weeks and weeks and months and months of prolonged agony in all your constituencies for millions of people in tier 2 and tier 3, with no exit, or put in place a two to three week time-limited circuit-break to break the cycle and bring the virus back under control.

And Johnson insisted tier 3 measures would work, implying areas could be out within a month or so. He said:

I made it absolutely clear that part of the country going into tier 3 is only in there for 28 days, we will review it after 28 days and areas that have gone into tier 3, I believe, are already making progress. Areas where there are restrictions in place are also showing signs of progress. We are pursuing a local, a regional approach, which is the sensible approach for this country.

Ultimately, of course, time will tell – or at least up to a point, because it may well be the case that within a month or so the tier 3 framework has been revised. Most other government Covid strategies end up being rewritten within weeks. Starmer’s forecasts sounded considerably more plausible than Johnson’s. But he should also remember that being proved right is not a sufficient, or even perhaps a necessary, key to electoral victory. It probably counts less than pundits assume.

As for who “won” this afternoon, it was more even than in most recent weeks. Starmer’s question about what regions have to go to get out of tier 3 was very good because it was a real question, pertinent to millions, and not just a clever, gotcha trap. But it was that too, because Johnson did not have a very good answer, and Starmer was entitled to say his response sounded confused. Starmer also produced a reasonable hit on the £7,000-per-day consultants and the garden bridge.

But Johnson, although probably losing on points, had a vivid turn-of-phrase as he rounded on Labour’s plan for a short, national lockdown. He told MPs:

I think it’s the height of absurdity that [Starmer] stands up and attacks the economic consequences of the measures we’re obliged to take across some parts of the country when he wants to turn the lights out with a full national lockdown.

Although polls, like this one, suggest that the voters clearly back Starmer on this issue, none of these decisions and there must be a good chunk of people listening to Johnson minded to agree.

Helen Hayes (Lab) asks why consultants are getting £7,000 a day to work on test and trace.

Johnson says NHS Test and Trace has tested more people than any other system in Europe.

He says we need to get through this without going back into the social, psychological and economic disaster of further lockdowns.

And that’s it. PMQs is over.

Julian Sturdy (Con) asks what can be done to get the infection rate down in York.

Johnson says the guidance is having an effect. If it were not for the restrictions, R would be at three, he says. He says it won’t take much to get it below one. It would not be sensible to have a sustained series of national lockdowns.

Lilian Greenwood (Lab) asks for more help for Nottingham businesses.

Johnson says he sympathises with businesses. But in Nottingham the infection rate is running at 815 per 100,000. We must get that down, he says.

Johnson says the UK will use its Cop26 presidency to promote female education around the world.

Sarah Olney (Lib Dem) asks about reports that the congestion charge in London is going to be extended. That is unfair on Barnes residents who cannot use Hammersmith Bridge because it’s closed, she says.

Johnson says the bridge is closed because of Sadiq Khan’s incompetence. He says the Tory candidate for mayor, Shaun Bailey, would reopen it.

Stephen Metcalfe (Con) calls for suitable enforcement against people who flout the rules.

Johnson agrees. He says people must follow the guidance.

Sir George Howarth (Lab) says extending free school meals (over the holidays) to Easter is the moral thing to do.

Johnson says free school meals will continue during term.