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Good Morning. Today we expect coronavirus restrictions to be imposed on Merseyside, and around 1.5 million people are likely to be banned from mingling in pubs and restaurants. Joe Anderson, the mayor of Liverpool, told BBC Breakfast this morning:
We have already been told that there will be similar restrictions and regulations to Newcastle and the Northeast, so we expect that, but potentially the government could introduce even more stringent measures as well, so we have to wait now and see. what they advertise.
My colleague Josh halliday has the story here.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, has been doing the morning round of government interviews and told the BBC that “no decisions have yet been made” on Liverpool.
He also confirmed that even though ministers offer MPs what some announced as a major concession for MPs to get votes on lockdown measures, any measure for Merseyside is likely not subject to a Commons vote. When asked if they would be, he told the Today show:
What the prime minister said yesterday is that if there are other major changes in the approach we are taking, yes, there will be debates and votes in parliament on this. But when it comes to local closures, there are powers in the Coronavirus Act that was passed earlier this year to allow those specific measures to happen and happen quickly.
No wonder if you read the detail of what was offered yesterday. But it may lead some MPs to conclude that the government has conceded very little.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30 am: Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, answers questions in the Commons.
9.30 am: The ONS publishes its latest survey on the coronavirus and the economy.
10 am: Matthew Rycroft and Shona Dunn, who are permanent secretaries at the Home Office, as well as the department’s director of immigration and protection, Sean Palmer, testify to the public accounts committee on asylum accommodation.
10.30 am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, responds to an urgent question from Commons about mandatory pub closing times at 10pm.
Morning: NHS Test and Trace publishes its weekly performance figures.
12:00 h: Downing Street plans to hold its regular briefing in the lobby.
12.20 h: Nicola Sturgeon answers the Prime Minister’s questions in the Scottish Parliament.
12:30 pm: Sir David Spiegelhalter, President of the Winton Center for Risk and Evidence Communication, University of Cambridge, Professor Devi Sridhar, President of Global Public Health, University of Edinburgh, and Professor Andrew Goddard, President of the Royal College of Physicians, participate in a Royal Society of Medicine briefing on coronavirus.
Politics Live has doubled as the UK’s coronavirus live blog for some time and given the way the Covid crisis overshadows everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will also cover political stories that do not belong to Covid, and where they seem most important and interesting, they will take precedence.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
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