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Good Morning. Later today, Boris Johnson will announce a new three-tier framework for local closings in England. This will coincide with the tightening of restrictions in some areas, because places at level three, the “very high” alert level, will face stricter rules than anything else currently in place in England.
Our overnight story is here.
And Jamie Grierson explains here how the new system can work.
Johnson is now chairing a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee to discuss the new measures.
But everything is not finalized yet, and it is quite possible that by the end of the day the exact details of what is happening in some places have not yet been worked out. Here are some signs that it is not a closed deal yet.
We make it clear [to government] We do not believe that the recently announced licensing plan is adequate and that companies in the region, especially those in the hotel sector and those that serve it, will be damaged and many will suffer long-term damage or will close permanently.
- Joe Anderson, the mayor of the city of Liverpool, posted a message on Twitter this morning accusing the government of “leveling up.” He also said that he would continue to defend local businesses.
Joe Anderson
(@mayor_anderson)Let us be clear that, having ignored my pleas for over a month, the Government is now blaming us and imposing a “block by dictation” without a complete financial package and without support for the companies that we are leveling, not leveling up. We will continue to defend our local businesses.
- Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester City Council, indicated on the Today show that Manchester still opposed measures that could lead to the closure of its pubs. Manchester was different from Liverpool, he said. (Liverpool agrees that its pubs will be closed). Leese told the show:
We have a meeting with the government on Friday. They have not been able to show us any data connecting bars and pubs in Greater Manchester to the transmission of the Covid-19 virus. They haven’t been able to provide any evidence that closing them will work. Our own data, we have detailed data collected by our own directors of public health, it seems to show that there is no connection, or not a particular connection, between bars and restaurants and the transmission of Covid-19.
- Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, told the Today show that even though the prime minister was announcing a three-tier system, local leaders in the worst-hit areas could add additional restrictions.. He said that at the very high risk level there would be “greater discretion for local leaders, in collaboration with the national government, to impose appropriate restrictions to control this virus.”
Here is the agenda for the day.
9 am: Sir Keir Starmer hosts his LBC phone call.
11am: Professor Jonathan Van Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, is due to be briefed at a coronavirus data briefing.
12:00 h: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
12:15 pm: Vaughan Gething, the Welsh Minister of Health, conducts the Welsh government’s regular coronavirus briefing.
12:15 pm: The Scottish government should hold its regular coronavirus briefing.
2.30 pm: Alex Chisholm, permanent secretary in the Cabinet Office, and Sir Chris Wormald, permanent secretary in the Department of Health, testify to the Commons public accounts committee on the supply of ventilators.
After 3:30 pm: Boris Johnson makes a statement to MPs on the new local Covid alert levels.
Around 6 pm: Johnson is scheduled to hold a press conference.
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 other than Covid.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
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