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UK may have up to 55,000 cases of coronavirus already, says chief scientific adviser – politics live
Coronavirus UK: £330bn of guaranteed loans to be made available for businesses – politics live
(32 minutes later)
The day’s politics as they happen, including Rishi Sunak at the daily coronavirus press conference and MPs questioning the chief scientific adviser
Chancellor Rishi Sunak says he will do whatever it takes to protect jobs and incomes as Boris Johnson says ‘we must act like wartime government’. The day’s political developments as they happen
Here is the latest statement from NHS England on coronavirus deaths.
They are now taking questions.
Peter Foster, the Telegraph’s Europe editor, says that, despite No 10 claiming the Brexit transition has to end on 31 December (see 4.22pm), there is now an acceptance at the top of government that the UK will have to agree to an extension. He has explained why in a Twitter thread. It starts here.
Q: Can you guarantee that firms who need to pay wages now, and people who need to pay rent now, will not lose out?
And here is one of his conclusions.
Johnson says the state is asking people to make considerable changes to their lives. And so it is only right that the state should stand behind them, he says.
According to Dawn Butler, a candidate for Labour’s deputy leadership, the government’s decision to announce an abrupt escalation of its anti-coronavirus strategy yesterday was prompted by Labour demanding to see the modelling used to justify the original strategy.
Sunak says people need this support as quickly as possible. With all these interventions, he has born in mind the need to operationalise them as soon as possible.
Downing Street has confirmed that the UK-EU trade talks that were scheduled to take place this week have been cancelled. Originally they were due to take place face-to-face in London, from tomorrow until Friday. The plan for the two teams to meet in person was abandoned last week, but at the time both sides said there was a chance of the talks going ahead via video conferencing. Now they have been shelved for good.
Anyone who urgently needs help should speak to the local authority. They have got emergency funds, he says.
Significantly, No 10 is also ruling out extending the Brexit transition – echoing what Dominic Raab told MPs earlier. (See 1.48pm.)
And he says they could talk to the banks. He says the banks have assured him that they will be supportive.
A government spokesperson said:
Sunak says these are only the first steps.
The final sentence in the statement refers to the fact that the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Act contains a provision saying ministers must not extend the transition.
He is willing to do whatever it takes, he says.
Back in the health committee, Simon Stevens, the NHS England chief executive, says he wants to ban all but essential visits to hospitals during the coronavirus crisis to help hospitals cope.
Sunak says mortgage lenders will give a three-month mortgage holiday to people who need help.
He says there would be exceptions for parents with children in hospital, or for patients facing end-of-life care. He goes on:
And he says he will be working on more measures to help people in employment.
Boris Johnson has set up a new set of government committees to coordinate the response to coronavirus, or Covid-19. He will continue to chair the Cobra emergency committee regularly, No 10 says. There is also a C-19 meeting taking place daily.
Sunak says he announced last week that some firms would have to pay no business rates this year.
And there will be four implementation committees: healthcare, chaired by Matt Hancock, the health secretary; general public sector, chaired by Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister; economic and business, chaired by Rishi Sunak, the chancellor; and international, chaired by Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary. The chairs of those committees will attend the daily C-19 meeting.
Those business will now get grants of up to £25,000, he says.
Schools across England are struggling to stay open, with some forced to partially or fully close as staff and students stay at home, while the UK remains one of only two European countries – alongside Belarus – with a policy of keeping them open, my colleagues Richard Adams, Sally Weale and Caroline Bannock report.
And he says the business rates holiday will apply to all firms in the hospitality or retail sector.
Here is an extract from the letter sent to hospitals telling them to cancel non-urgent elective surgery by 15 April. Simon Stevens mentioned it in his evidence to the committee earlier. (See 3.06pm.)
He says he is also making grants worth £10,000 available to the smallest firms.
This is from the Health Service Journal’s James Illman.
Sunak says the total package of help being given to businesses worth £20bn.
Q: Will the four-hour A&E target still apply during this crisis?
Sunak says he is making available £330bn of loan guarantees to businesses.
Stevens says he would expect NHS trusts to do the right thing. That normally involves seeing patients promptly anyway, he says. But he says coronavirus will be the priority.
Any business that needs it will be able to access a loan on attractive terms.
Stevens says, as there is a slow down in elective surgery, more anaesthetists will be available to help with patients on ventilators.
If he needs to go further, he will, he says.
Q: How many ventilators are in use now?
To support liquidity amongst larger firms, he has agreed a facility with the the Bank of England.
Stevens says it is not just a question of using the machine. It involves a complicated procedure, with someone being being monitored all the time for 10 days. Staff have to be trained.
And for smaller firms he will extend the business interruption loan scheme, which will offer loans of up to £5m,
Powis says the number of people on ventilators changes hour by hour.
He says both schemes will be up and running by next week.
Q: Will you give guidance to intensive care doctors if they have to prioritise between particular patients?
And there will be special help for airlines.
Powis says he understands the issue. He will be working with colleagues to address this point.
Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, says we have never in peacetime faced a fight like this one.
Q: But doctors want guidance?
In the budget he promised to do whatever it took, he says. He says he said he would be willing to do more than the measures he announced last week, and he says he will begin that process.
Powis says he wants to work with colleagues on this.
This is not a time for ideology or orthodoxy, he says. This is a time to be bold.
But he stresses that he hopes the NHS will not have to get to the point where people make these choices.
He says he will do whatever it takes to protect jobs and incomes.
Q: But if you do, will that guidance be available?
Johnson says we have the resolve and the resources to win this fight.
Powis says he would work on that guidance.
The government will do “whatever it takes”, he says.
Q: Should all staff be wearing masks, in case they come into contact with a coronavirus patient?
Johnson says a combination of measures will be needed to beat this disease.
Stevens says staff have a right to expect proper protection.
While we need national unity, we also need international cooperation.
Prof Steve Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, says guidance on this has been evolving as the coronavirus outbreak has developed.
Johnson says the government must boost the NHS, and research the disease.
Stevens says the NHS has 28m masks.
But it also has to take a wartime approach and boost the economy, he says. He says Rishi Sunak will say more in a moment.
Hunt says there is a story about masks having a use-by date of 2016, with a sticker on top giving an alternative 2020 use-by date.
And the government has to protect public services too, he says.
Prof Keith Willett, NHS England’s director of acute care, says he knows about that case. The masks were tested, he says, and so the new use-by date was accurate.
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
Jeremy Hunt, the former health secretary who chairs the committee, reads out a letter from an A&E doctor. He says it is “absolute carnage”. Doctors do not have the protective equipment, the doctors says. The doctor says the only protection he has had has been a piece of paper (ie, a mask) over his face. The doctor says he thinks medical staff will die as a result.
He says the government’s plan starts with fighting coronavirus.
Hunt says he would like a date for when these localised distribution problems will be sorted out.
The measures announced yesterday will have an effect on the spread of the disease, he says.
Pritchard says these problems are being sorted out right now.
Johnson says the government may have to “go further” in terms of announcing measures to fight the disease, even though yesterday’s proposals were extreme.
Q: Do we have enough protective equipment?
Amanda Pritchard, NHS England’s chief operating officer, says nationally the NHS has the supply it needs. But there are some distributional problems. It is not all in the right place, she says.
Stevens says the NHS will need more equipment. This problem will not be resolved quickly, so there will be a need to “ramp up domestic production” of this equipment, he says. More stock will be needed in the coming months.
Q: Does the modelling show that, if all goes according to plan, we will have enough ventilators?
Stevens says it will be easier to say once we have seen what impact the changes announced yesterday will have.
He says, less than 24 hours after those measures was announced, there is still a degree of uncertainty.
