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| UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson faces Keir Starmer at PMQs ahead of Sunak's summer statement | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Follow live updates on the latest on the coronavirus crisis in the UK and chancellor Rishi Sunak’s summer statement | Follow live updates on the latest on the coronavirus crisis in the UK and chancellor Rishi Sunak’s summer statement |
| Mark Pawsey, a Conservative, asks about funding for hospices. | |
| Johnson thanks hospices for the work they do. | |
| Starmer asks about free hospital parking for NHS staff. If they lose this, NHS staff may have to pay hundreds of pounds more a month. | |
| Johnson says hospital car parks are free now for NHS staff. And the government will make them free for patients. That never happened under Labour. Starmer should take his latest bandwagon and park it somewhere else. He says Starmer takes one brief one week, one brief another. He is “consistent only in his opportunism”, he says. | |
| Starmer says the PM continues to insult people in this sector by not taking this issue seriously. He says he raised concerns about care homes several weeks ago. Johnson denied what had happened. | |
| Johnson says the understanding of the disease changed “dramatically” over time. Government measures have helped get the incidence down to record levels, he says. | |
| He says the country needs a “steady, stable approach”. | |
| Starmer says of course he will join in plans for reform. But this government has been in power for 10 years. | |
| He says one in 20 care home residents died. Will the PM accept that his government is responsible. | |
| Johnson says this government takes responsibility for everything it has done. But it also put forward a care homes action plan that got the incidence right down. There is now weekly testing for every care home worker. | |
| Starmer says by refusing to apologise the PM is rubbing salt in the wounds for people they clap. He quotes a care worker saying she was livid with what he said. What would the PM say to her? | |
| Johnson says he would like to say he appreciates the incredible work care workers have done. | |
| He says he hopes there will be cross-party support for social care reform. | |
| Starmer says that was not an apology. It “just won’t wash”, he says. He quotes a care home boss saying what the PM said was appalling. Will the PM apologise to care workers, yes or no? | |
| Johnson says it is “simply not the case” that he tried to blame care workers. He says it is just the case that people did not know about asymptomatic transmission. The procedures had to be changed, he says. He says he wants to thank care workers. | |
| Sir Keir Starmer says the PM’s comment on care homes on Monday caused huge offence. Will the PM apologise? | |
| Johnson says the last thing he wanted to do was to blame care workers, or for them to think he was. He says he takes full responsibility for what happened. | |
| But early on no one knew that the virus was being passed asymptomatically in the way it was. That is why the guidance changed. Thanks to the hard work of care workers, the incidence has come down. | |
| Johnson says Lichfield will benefit from the arts bailout. | |
| Labour’s Anna McMorrin says she is shocked by how a firm like Boohoo can treat their workers. What will the PM do about it? | |
| Boris Johnson says the government has introduced protections for workers. He says the Labour mayor of Leicester should be protecting workers in the city. | |
| PMQs is starting soon | |
| Here is the call list (pdf) showing which MPs are down to ask a question. | |
| Hillingdon hospital, which is in Boris Johnson’s west London constituency, has had to close for emergency admissions after an outbreak of coronavirus amongst staff, the Evening Standard has revealed. | |
| A spokesman for Hillingdon hospitals NHS foundation trust said: | |
| Ombudsman services are bracing themselves to be inundated with complaints as a result of Covid-19, MPs have heard. As PA Media reports, Anthony Arter, who is the pensions ombudsman and pension protection fund ombudsman, told the Commons work and pensions committee: | Ombudsman services are bracing themselves to be inundated with complaints as a result of Covid-19, MPs have heard. As PA Media reports, Anthony Arter, who is the pensions ombudsman and pension protection fund ombudsman, told the Commons work and pensions committee: |
| As my colleague Kate Proctor reports, quite what is going to happen to free hospital parking for NHS staff in England remains unclear, but we have had one bona fide Treasury U-turn today. | As my colleague Kate Proctor reports, quite what is going to happen to free hospital parking for NHS staff in England remains unclear, but we have had one bona fide Treasury U-turn today. |
| Yesterday it emerged that the Treasury was planning to make workers pay income tax on Covid-19 tests purchased by their employers. | Yesterday it emerged that the Treasury was planning to make workers pay income tax on Covid-19 tests purchased by their employers. |
| Now, in response to protests from Mel Stride, the Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury committee and others, Rishi Sunak has granted an exemption, meaning coronavirus tests will no longer be treated as a benefit in kind for tax purposes. Sunak confirmed this in a letter to Stride sent last night. | Now, in response to protests from Mel Stride, the Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury committee and others, Rishi Sunak has granted an exemption, meaning coronavirus tests will no longer be treated as a benefit in kind for tax purposes. Sunak confirmed this in a letter to Stride sent last night. |
| Stride said: | Stride said: |
| Here is the Mirror’s Dan Bloom on the similarities between Labour’s future jobs fund from 2009 and the “kickstart scheme” being announced by Rishi Sunak this afternoon. | Here is the Mirror’s Dan Bloom on the similarities between Labour’s future jobs fund from 2009 and the “kickstart scheme” being announced by Rishi Sunak this afternoon. |
| Turning away from the summer statement for a moment, Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has apologised to the black athlete Bianca Williams for the way she was handcuffed during a stop and search. | Turning away from the summer statement for a moment, Dame Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has apologised to the black athlete Bianca Williams for the way she was handcuffed during a stop and search. |
| Giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee, Dick said: | Giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee, Dick said: |
| As PA Media reports, the commissioner said reviews of the evidence by two separate teams have found there was no apparent misconduct, but she explained a referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because of “the level of public concern”. She said: | As PA Media reports, the commissioner said reviews of the evidence by two separate teams have found there was no apparent misconduct, but she explained a referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) because of “the level of public concern”. She said: |
| Dick said she has asked a senior officer to review the Met’s handcuffing practices to make sure it hasn’t become a “default”, and has set up an “oversight group” looking at the use of force. She added: | Dick said she has asked a senior officer to review the Met’s handcuffing practices to make sure it hasn’t become a “default”, and has set up an “oversight group” looking at the use of force. She added: |
| Downing Street has just sent out its read-out from this morning’s cabinet, where Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, briefed ministers on what would be in the summer economic update. It is not at all revealing but, for the record, here it is anyway. | Downing Street has just sent out its read-out from this morning’s cabinet, where Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, briefed ministers on what would be in the summer economic update. It is not at all revealing but, for the record, here it is anyway. |
| Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, has used an overnight statement about the summer economic update to clarify that Labour is not proposing a wealth tax, or indeed any sort of tax increase, now. | Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, has used an overnight statement about the summer economic update to clarify that Labour is not proposing a wealth tax, or indeed any sort of tax increase, now. |
| The issue has arisen because, at the end of last week, Dodds said that the government should be considering the case of a wealth tax. She confirmed this again in weekend TV interviews, and on Monday Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said she was right to raise the idea. After the Dodds interviews on Sunday the Conservative party issued a critical press release, with co-chairman Amanda Milling saying: | The issue has arisen because, at the end of last week, Dodds said that the government should be considering the case of a wealth tax. She confirmed this again in weekend TV interviews, and on Monday Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, said she was right to raise the idea. After the Dodds interviews on Sunday the Conservative party issued a critical press release, with co-chairman Amanda Milling saying: |
| Milling issued another press release this morning, saying more or less exactly the same thing, only with an added reference to the Starmer LBC phone-in. | Milling issued another press release this morning, saying more or less exactly the same thing, only with an added reference to the Starmer LBC phone-in. |
| But Labour is saying it is emphatically not calling for tax increases now. This is from the statement Dodds issued overnight. | But Labour is saying it is emphatically not calling for tax increases now. This is from the statement Dodds issued overnight. |
| Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is not expected to raise taxes now, or any time soon, and so in one respect Labour is just swiping at a straw man. But there will be suspicions that this also provides a clue into what Starmer’s long-term instincts are in relation to tax policy. | Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, is not expected to raise taxes now, or any time soon, and so in one respect Labour is just swiping at a straw man. But there will be suspicions that this also provides a clue into what Starmer’s long-term instincts are in relation to tax policy. |
| Paul Waugh at HuffPost wrote a good article on Monday looking at exactly what the Labour thinking is on this. And yesterday my colleague Polly Toynbee published an even more intriguing column, revealing that the Treasury is taking a close interest in an Institute for Fiscal Studies project looking at how a wealth tax could be made to work. | Paul Waugh at HuffPost wrote a good article on Monday looking at exactly what the Labour thinking is on this. And yesterday my colleague Polly Toynbee published an even more intriguing column, revealing that the Treasury is taking a close interest in an Institute for Fiscal Studies project looking at how a wealth tax could be made to work. |
| More than 100,000 people have now signed a petition started by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group calling for an immediate inquiry into the coronavirus crisis. “People are still being infected and still dying every day,” Matt Fowler, a co-founder of the group said. “It is critically important that this is thoroughly investigated and stopped now.” | More than 100,000 people have now signed a petition started by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group calling for an immediate inquiry into the coronavirus crisis. “People are still being infected and still dying every day,” Matt Fowler, a co-founder of the group said. “It is critically important that this is thoroughly investigated and stopped now.” |
| Petitions on the parliamentary website that attract more than 100,000 signatures are considered for a debate in parliament, but this is a change.org petition. | Petitions on the parliamentary website that attract more than 100,000 signatures are considered for a debate in parliament, but this is a change.org petition. |