UK coronavirus live: London will go to level 2 restrictions on Saturday | Politics

Good Morning. Boris Johnson only announced his new three-tier system for coronavirus restrictions in England on Monday, but three days later it appears that another 4 million people in Greater Manchester and Lancashire will be reassigned to very high-risk tier 3. subject to new rules that could put some people out of work. Level 3 pubs can only serve alcohol as part of a proper meal, wedding receptions are prohibited, and people are advised not to leave the area. Here is a summary of the rules.

Here’s a preview story from my colleague. Jessica Elgot.

London is also facing an upward movement from level 1 medium risk, where the standards in force across England apply, to level 2 high risk, where mixing indoors with other homes is prohibited.

Interestingly, government ministers want to toughen the rules in Greater Manchester against the wishes of local leaders. But in London it is the mayor, Sadiq Khan, who is pushing for stricter restrictions, and the central government is reportedly less interested.

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, and their region’s council leaders are resisting the move to Level 3 not because they don’t accept the need to contain the rise of Covid, but because they believe in the support package available to businesses and workers. . affected is inappropriate. And this morning they got a mighty endorsement from Dame Louise Casey, the former high-ranking official who has served a number of high-profile welfare roles under every prime minister since Tony Blair. Poor sleep, antisocial behavior, troubled families – she’s been a “czar” for more or less everything. Today, in an interview with the BBC, Casey says the UK is facing an unprecedented outbreak of “homelessness” because the support available to people affected by local restrictions is inadequate. In an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, he said:

We are facing a period of destitution. I cannot impress you enough to think that we are heading into an unprecedented period. We’re already working on it and it’s going to get worse. And it needs a more intergovernmental response among all societies.

Do we want to go back to the days when people couldn’t put their kids on? Are we really asking people in places like Liverpool to go out and prostitute themselves so we can put food on the table?

I am not a dramatic person. I have been in Whitehall for over 20 years, I have worked in the voluntary sector. And this is unprecedented. I remember the Thatcher era until now and I have never worked in a situation where I am so worried about what is going to happen.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30 am: Helen Whately, the Health Minister, holds a private briefing with London MPs. Later, at 10.15 a.m. M., Jo Churchill, another health minister, has a briefing with the Lancashire MPs and at 10:45 a.m. M. Whately has a briefing with MPs from Greater Manchester. Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is also expected to have a call to number 10. All of these calls take place before Matt Hancock’s subsequent deposition.

9.30 am: The ONS publishes its periodic report on the coronavirus and the economy.

11am: The UK government is required to publish its latest test and trace statistics.

Around 11.30 am: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, makes a statement to MPs, and Greater Manchester and Lancashire are likely to be added to very high alert level 3, which means they would be subject to further restrictions, and London is likely to move from the middle level. level 1 to level 2 of maximum alert.

12.20 h: Nicola Sturgeon, the Prime Minister, makes a virtual statement to the Scottish Parliament on the coronavirus.

14:15 h: Simon Case, the new cabinet secretary, testifies to the Commons committee on constitutional affairs and civil service.

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.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, put “Andrew” somewhere and you’re more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of general interest I will post the question and answer above the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m in @ AndrewGorrión.