NHS England has recorded a further 14 coronavirus hospital deaths. The people who died were aged between 62 and 94 and they all had underlying health conditions. The full details are here.
Almost nine in 10 pupils have attended schools in England since their full reopening this month, government figures show. Around 92% of state schools were fully open on Thursday 10 September , and approximately 88% of students were back in class on the same day, the Department for Education analysis suggests.
There have been a further 110 cases of Covid-19 in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 19,681. Public Health Wales said no further deaths had been reported, with the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic remaining at 1,597.
No 10 claims internal market bill covered by Salisbury convention, meaning peers must accept it
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the No 10 spokesman also claimed that the Salisbury convention – a non-statutory but widely respected rule saying the House of Lords does not vote down policies in a governing party’s election manifesto – applies to the internal market bill. The spokesman said:
We would expect the Lords to abide by the Salisbury convention.
Guaranteeing the full economic benefit of leaving the EU to all parts of the United Kingdom and ensuring Northern Ireland’s businesses and producers enjoy unfettered access to the rest of the UK were clear Conservative manifesto commitments which this legislation delivers.
This will be a contentious interpretation of the convention because the 2019 Conservative election manifesto said the party would implement the “great new deal” Boris Johnson had negotiated with the EU. But the internal market bill would give ministers powers to override key features of that deal relating to Northern Ireland. It has also been argued (eg, here) that, even if those powers were never used, passing the bill alone would constitute a breach of the withdrawal agreement.
People queuing today for a coronavirus test in Bury. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters
1h ago 13:58
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the No 10 spokesman adopted the same line as Priti Patel (see 10.43am) when asked about people not being able to get coronavirus tests in particular areas. The spokesman said:
We would say that it is wrong to say that testing is not available in these areas. Our capacity continues to be targeted to where it is most needed, which is why booking slots and home testing kits are made available daily for people with symptoms.
Jason McCartney (Con) asks about parents in his constituency would could not get tests. He urges Hancock, “before we talk about the moon”, to get more testing available locally.
Hancock says that, as well as focusing on local testing, they do need to develop new technologies, so that these problems can be addressed in the long term.
The Commons UQ is now over. It was more illuminating than some of these sessions have been. I’ll post a summary soon.
Alicia Kearns (Con) asks Hancock if he will support her campaign for partners to be allowed to support pregnant women at all stage of labour.
Hancock says he will. He congratulates Kearns – hesitating when he says he does not know if her pregnancy is public knowledge. It is now, he says. (He seems to have had an assurance that it was.)
Hancock says he is “optimistic” about the chances of rapid-result testing becoming available. He says he is optimistic about lots of things. He needs to be in this job, he says.
Addressing the Speaker, Hancock also acknowledges that Sir Lindsay Hoyle has raised his own concerns about testing. (See 11.12am.) Hancock suggests it was legitimate for Hoyle to raise this.
Labour’s Debbie Abrahams asks Hancock to make sure that directors of public health are getting timely information about infections. Hancock says he will do this. He says he is working on “innovative solutions” to make this data sharing work better.
Hancock says the problems are caused by processing capacity in laboratories. But more machines are being brought in all the time to address this, he says.
Here is another extract from the opening statement from Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, at the start of the UQ.
Imperial College estimates the virus is doubling every seven to eight days.
We all want to avoid further restrictions or another national lockdown.
But when testing breaks down, contact tracing breaks down, and the growth of this virus cannot be tracked.
The prime minister promised us whack-a-mole but instead his mallet is broken.
The secretary of state is losing control of this virus;
Andrew Selous (Con) asks if the UK can learn from what happened in Sweden.
Hancock says he has looked closely at Sweden. He says in Sweden people followed social distancing guidance more closely than in many other places, even though the rules did not require that.
Back in the Commons Hancock says the case rate in Cornwall has stayed very low, even though many holidaymakers visited the county during the summer. He pays tribute to people in Cornwall for taking steps to keep people Covid secure.
