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Good Morning. Today was meant to be the first full day of the Labor Party conference in Liverpool. Now it’s down to what effectively sounds like a long Zoom call, but a few conference accessories remain. There will be important speeches from top shadow cabinet figures, Sunday papers are more Labor than usual and Sir Keir Starmer he’s doing a series of television interviews this morning.
Of course, the coronavirus crisis dominates everything. Overnight Starmer has asked the government to prioritize children for testing. In a statement she said:
If the prime minister fails to control the testing crisis, children will be deprived of an education. We are seeing a growing avalanche of school closings.
The testing regimen is not working, nor is it appreciating the unique challenges many families face.
That is why I am urging the Prime Minister, as well as our key workers, to put children at the front of the line for testing. For this week, give parents a cast iron guarantee that they can test their child in 24 hours and receive the result 24 hours later.
In response, the Conservatives issued this statement from their co-chair, Amanda milling. She said:
We urge Sir Keir to put aside the political punctuation and work with the government to control the virus and protect lives based on clinical advice.
Ensuring that children with coronavirus symptoms are tested is already a priority for NHS Test and Trace. This helps reassure parents, protect teachers and children, and keep schools open.
Many parents who tried unsuccessfully to get tests for their children last week may be surprised to learn that they were prioritized. But there’s no question we’ll hear more about this soon from Matt Hancock, the health secretary, who is also giving interviews this morning.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30 am: Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed at Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. Matt Hancock, Health Secretary, and Len McCluskey, Unite Secretary General are also on the show.
9 am: Starmer and Hancock are also interviewed on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.
10 am: Labor, Labor Connected online conference begins. Opening remarks will be streamed here, but most events are members-only.
10 am: Starmer and Hancock are also interviewed on Times Radio.
11am: Angela Rayner, the Deputy Labor leader, speaks at the Labor conference.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
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