UK Covid live: Andy Burnham says England’s north must not be ‘sacrificial lamb’ for flawed No 10 lockdown policy

1.21pm EDT 13:21

Early evening summary

Sir Keir Starmer has faced a series of resignations as he suffered a major rebellion over the so-called “spy cops” law. As PA Media reports, the Labour leader ordered his MPs to abstain on the third reading of the covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) bill. But 34 decided to oppose the legislation, including former leader Jeremy Corbyn, ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell and former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott. Margaret Greenwood tendered her resignation as shadow schools minister and Dan Carden quit his post as a shadow Treasury minister so they could vote against the bill.

That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.

1.03pm EDT 13:03

NHS Test and Trace getting slower at telling people to self-isolate, latest figures show

In the Commons Matt Hancock, the health secretary, had to defend the performance of NHS Test and Trace in response to repeated complaints about it from MPs. They have been infuriated by revelations that some consultants working on it have been paid as much as £6,250, despite the fact it’s not meeting its targets. A document from the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies published on Monday said test and trace was only having a “marginal impact” on reducing the spread of the virus.

Hancock stressed that the weekly performance figures published today (pdf) showed improvement or positive developments in some areas. And there are some pluses in the 45-page document. But, overall, it shows that the service is still failing to meet its key targets.

Here are the key points.

The number of people testing positive rose by 64% in the week ending 7 October, the document says. Some 89,874 people in England tested positive that week.

The proportion of people with a test who were positive was 6.3% in the week ending 7 October. The week before the figure was 4.3% and in Scotland the latest positivity rate is 17.6%.) The positivity rate for England has been rising sharply in recent weeks, as this chart shows.

Testing positivity rate Photograph: NHSTT

More than 1.4m people were tested in the week ending 7 October, an increase of 12% on the previous week.

The percentage of in-person test results received within 24 hours has gone up slightly since the previous week – but the figures are still well down on what they were in July, and nowhere near the target Boris Johnson set in June for all results to be delivered within 24 hours. Here are the figures.

% of results delivered within 24 hours Photograph: NHSTT

The median distance travelled for an in-person test has fallen from the previous week. This means people are not having to travel so far for a test, Here are the figures.

Median distance travelled for an in-person test Photograph: NHSTT

The service reached 76.8% of people who were referred to it because they tested positive. It has to speak to these people so it can get details of their close contacts and ask those contacts to self-isolate. Dido Harding, head of the test and trace, told MPs last month, that its target on this measure is 80%. The figure for the week ending 7 October is slightly up on the previous week, but below the 80% target and below the 78% average since May. Here are the figures.

Figures for positive cases reached Photograph: NHSTT

The service is failing to reach more than a third of the close contacts of people who test positive. It is supposed to reach 80% of them (a second 80% target, as Harding told MPs last month). But in the most recent week it only reached 62.6%, down from 69.5% the previous week. Here are the figures.

% of close contacts reached Photograph: NHSTT

Only 60.5% of close contacts in non-complex cases were reached by test and trace within 24 hours of the person testing positive giving their names. (Non-complex cases are ones outside an institution like a school or hospital.) There has been a “notable decrease” on this measure in the last two weeks, the report says. This metric is important because, if close contacts are not reached quickly, there is more chance of them spreading the virus. Test and trace also measures how many of these people are reached within 24 hours of the case entering the system (ie not just within 24 hours of test and trace speaking to the person who tested positive), and this number is also going down. Only 38.5% were reached this quickly in the most recent week. Here are the figures.

40% of close contacts reached within 24 hours Photograph: NHSTT

And this chart presents the data in another form.

% of close contacts reached within 24 hours Photograph: NHSTT

Updated at 1.05pm EDT

12.22pm EDT 12:22

UK records 18,980 more coronavirus cases, with English hospital admissions up 15% in a day

The UK government has just updated its coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.

The UK has recorded 18,980 further coronavirus cases. That’s down by more than 700 on yesterday, but still higher than any other figure on recorded (excluding the Sunday when the figures were inflated by the inclusion of previous figures).

The UK has recorded 138 further deaths. That is one more than yesterday (137), but lower than the figure for the day before (143). However, week on week, the numbers are rising sharply. A week ago today the equivalent figure was 77.

There are 4,379 coronavirus patients in hospital in England, up from 4,156. And the number of patients on mechanical ventilation in England is 482, up from 468 yesterday.

Hospital admissions in England have gone increased by 100 – or 15% – in a day. On Tuesday, the last day for which admissions figures are on the dashboard, there were 764 coronavirus hospital admissions in England – up from 664 the previous day.

12.02pm EDT 12:02

Simon Murphy

The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has asked scientists to examine the potential benefits of taking vitamin D to combat Covid-19.

It comes after Labour MP Rupa Huq has been pushing for the government to include vitamin D as part of its strategy to fight the coronavirus.

Huq is campaigning alongside Tory MP David Davis, with the pair last week holding talks with Hancock over the issue. A recent Spanish study has shown that a high dose of a vitamin D drug can significantly reduce the number of Covid patients needing intensive care.

Questioned by Huq in the Commons on Thursday, Hancock told the Commons:

On the point about Vitamin D, I have asked the scientists to look once again at the impact of vitamin D … There has been some updated evidence that’s come to light in the last few weeks and I want to make sure this is fully taken account.

And I can also tell her that we will be increasing the public messaging around vitamin D to make sure that people get the message that vitamin D can help with your broad health and that there is no downside to taking it.

11.57am EDT 11:57

Andy Burnham’s press conference – Summary and analysis

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is one of the relatively few UK politicians who has seen their reputation enhanced during the coronavirus crisis. The Economist recently claimed that he had had “a bigger impact on the government’s Covid policy than any other Labour politician, including Sir Keir Starmer”. Now Burnham has taken things one step further, putting himself at the front of a full-on regional/northern revolt against Boris Johnson’s Covid strategy.

The analysis he set out in his new conference this afternoon was much the same as Starmer’s. But he delivered it with a rhetorical passion probably beyond Starmer’s range. It was impressive to watch, although whether it will make any difference or not remains to be seen. No 10 says it might just impose tier 3 restrictions on Greater Manchester unilaterally and if it does, it is not obvious what Burnham can do to stop them. (He has threatened legal action on the grounds of discrimination, but the prospects of this succeeding are are from guaranteed.)

Here are the main points from the press conference.

Burnham accused No 10 of treating the north of England as a “sacrificial lamb” for a flawed regional lockdown policy. He said that the UK government knew that regional lockdowns, involving places like Greater Manchester going facing tier 3 restrictions, would not work. The only thing that would work was a national lockdown, he said. In his opening statement he said:

But the government told us this morning it is unwilling to do that because of the damage it will do to the national economy.

And yet that is what they want to impose on the North West.

So that was our conclusion from the No10 meeting this morning: they are willing to sacrifice jobs and businesses here to try and save them elsewhere.

Greater Manchester, the Liverpool City-Region and Lancashire are being set up as the canaries in the coalmine for an experimental regional lockdown strategy as an attempt to prevent the expense of what is truly needed.

In the Q&A he said:

We have to protect the health the nation. But let’s do it as one nation, and not make the north of England the sacrificial lamb for an ill-thought-through Downing Street policy which doesn’t make sense in the real world.

And he also accused the government of treating the north “with contempt”. He said:

People are fed up of being treated in this way, the north is fed up of being pushed around. We aren’t going to be pushed around any more.

He said Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer (DCMO) for England, told Greater Manchester leaders on a call last night that the baseline tier 3 restrictions proposed for the region would not bring the virus down. He said the only thing that would work, according to Van-Tam, was a national lockdown. He said:

Last night, the deputy chief medical officer told Greater Manchester Leaders that to bring the infection rates down any regional lockdown would require widespread closures way beyond pubs to stand any chance of working and would have to be done in tandem with other neighbouring regions. And, even then, it would not be certain to work …

While this is not necessarily Greater Manchester’s view, the only thing certain to work, as the DCMO told us last night, is a national lockdown.

Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester city council, went even further. He said:

What we were told last night by the deputy chief medical officer – and I will go a bit further than Andy – was that what we’re asked to do is accept a proposal which the Government’s own advisers say won’t work. Why would we accept a proposal that their own advisers say won’t work?

Burnham said that he personally favoured a national circuit break (ie, a short, hard lockdown – the plan backed by Sage and Keir Starmer). Burnham said:

I’ve said it may be that we need to look at a national circuit-break as preferable to this unfunded, risky regional lockdown strategy.

He said that that the financial support offered to Greater Manchester if it went into tier 3 was not enough. As an example, he said it would not do anything for freelance workers. So tier 3 would result in “certain hardship, job losses and business failure”.

He set out the level of support he was demanding if Greater Manchester were to go into tier 3. He said:

The very least they should be offering the people of Greater Manchester who will be affected by these closures is: a full and fair 80% furlough for all affected workers; 80% income support for people who are self-employed; and a proper compensation scheme for businesses.

He said Greater Manchester would “stand firm” against the government. He said:

This is an important moment. Greater Manchester will stand firm.

We are fighting back – for fairness and for the health of our people in the broadest sense.

Andy Burnham speaking to the media outside the Central Library in Manchester. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Updated at 12.01pm EDT

11.02am EDT 11:02

Q: Are new restrictions for Greater Manchester a matter of when not if?

Burnham says he does not know. The ball is in their court, he says.

But the government is trying something that its own expert say will not work.

Leese says there is no need for tier 3 restrictions to be imposed on Greater Manchester.

But what should be introduced are the package of measures proposed by local leaders, he says.

And that’s it. The press conference is over.

Updated at 11.24am EDT

10.57am EDT 10:57

Burnham says north mustn’t be ‘sacrificial lamb’ for flawed No 10 lockdown policy

Burnham says freelance workers will get nothing from the package offered by the government. What happens to them? Who is speaking for them?

He says he and Richard Leese and Bev Hughes are speaking for them. Lives are on the line, he says.

We have to protect the health the nation. But let’s do it as one nation, and not make the north of England the sacrificial lamb for an ill-thought-through Downing Street policy which doesn’t make sense in the real world.

Updated at 11.12am EDT

10.54am EDT 10:54

Sir Richard Leese, the leader of Manchester city council, and Bev Hughes, the deputy mayor of Greater Manchester, have also been speaking alongside Andy Burnham at his press conference.

They are now taking questions.

Q: What else will you do about the Covid crisis?

Burnham says they cannot accept the way the government wants to treat Greater Manchester. If there is a lockdown without support, people will suffer.

He says the authorities are already working to protect people. “We will take every step necessary,” he says.

But they cannot be treated like second-class citizens, he says.

Leese says there is a risk of the hospitals being overwhelmed. The elderly are most at risk.

If they want to stop hospitals being overwhelmed, there are things you can do to support the elderly, he says.

Burnham says: if the government are calling for a lockdown, they have to finance it properly. They cannot do it on the cheap.

Q: Did they say why they could not?

Burnham says the government said money was not available.

But he does not believe that, he says. He says just look at the amount of money being spent on consultants.

He says it will cost less to support people now than it would to let people struggle.

Updated at 11.01am EDT

10.47am EDT 10:47

Burnham accuses government of treating northern areas as ‘canaries in mine’ for regional lockdowns

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, is making a statement now about Covid regulations.

He says it would be wrong to take measures that would push people into poverty.

Last night Greater Manchester leaders were told by the government’s health experts that Greater Manchester would need to introduce measures going beyond the closure of pubs.

But there would be no government support to support the businesses affected.

Burnham says the deputy chief medical officer told Greater Manchester leaders last night that the only thing that would definitely work would be a full lockdown.

But the government is not willing to do that, he says.

Instead it wants to treat Greater Manchester, Liverpool city region and Lancashire as the “canaries in the coal mine” for regional lockdowns.

He says a regional lockdown would only work if it were accompanied by proper compensation, including an 80% furlough scheme.

He says Greater Manchester will stand firm. It is fighting back for its people, he says.

Updated at 11.17am EDT

10.39am EDT 10:39

Scotland Yard says SNP MP Margaret Ferrier won’t be fined over Covid train trip because law not then in force

Scotland Yard says it will not impose a fine on the MP Margaret Ferrier (now suspended from the SNP) for breaking coronavirus rules when she travelled on a train after testing positive because her test took place before the relevant law came into force. In a statement today:

Detectives tested the MP’s account including obtaining and reviewing CCTV and undertaking inquiries to establish the dates of the tests, results and travel arrangements.

Officers considered possible offences including those under Reg 11(2) of the Health Protection Regulations 2020 which relates to self-isolation requirement.

However, on detailed examination of this new legislation, and following legal advice, it was concluded that this regulation is applicable only after the 28th September 2020.

In this case the test occurred prior to the 29th September 2020 and therefore the regulation does not apply.

The force said it was taking no further action but has referred the matter to Police Scotland for consideration.

Under the rules that came into force in England on 28 September people ignoring a legal duty to self-isolate can be subject to a £1,000 fine.

Updated at 12.29pm EDT

9.53am EDT 09:53

This is from Charles Michel, president of the European council, on the UK-EU trade talks.

9.36am EDT 09:36

Richard Adams

The University of Durham became the sixth higher education institution in England with more than 1,000 Covid-19 infections, after it reported 964 new cases in the last seven days.

The university said in the week until Wednesday 958 students and six staff had been infected, adding to the 222 recorded the previous week.

Durham joins Nottingham, Manchester, Northumbria, Sheffield and Newcastle universities with an estimated 1,000 or more cases, while Leeds has around 900.

9.27am EDT 09:27

These are from Katya Adler, the BBC’s Europe editor, who is covering the EU summit in Brussels. She says the French president, Emmanuel Macron, arrived sounding uncompromising on fisheries (which now seems to be the key obstacle to a UK-EU trade deal).

8.55am EDT 08:55

Downing Street has rejected claims from Dame Louise Casey that people face “destitution” because its coronavirus support schemes are not generous enough. (See 9.30am.) Asked about her comments, a No 10 spokesman said:

We’ve made sure the most vulnerable in our society are the ones that are being protected the most and that’s something we will continue to do. The job support scheme is generous by international standards and that scheme is one element of our package of support for low earners who will be supported with two-thirds of their salary but also the drop of earnings will be covered by the welfare system.

8.52am EDT 08:52

Moving up to tier 2 won’t be enough to stop spread of Covid in York, says local MP

In the Commons the Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, said that moving York up to tier 2, from tier 1, would not be enough. She said:

While we’re in tier 1, there are areas of the country in tier 3 with a lower infection rate.

And certainly I do not believe the measures in tier 2 are going to be sufficient to stop the spread of the virus in our city which, as he will know, is rising incredibly sharply and in the older population as well.

York experiences real challenges every single winter because of the capacity issues at our hospital, and without taking more acute action now, I am concerned we’re going to be in serious difficulty in just a few weeks’ time.