Early evening summary

  • Boris Johnson has arrived in Brussels where he is shortly due to meet Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, to discuss whether or not a UK-EU trade deal is possible. There will be a short meeting ahead of a working dinner, also attended by Lord Frost, Michel Barnier and other officials. At PMQs earlier Johnson adopted a belligerent tone, repeatedly insisting that Britain would flourish in the event of no deal and accusing the EU of wanting to “punish” the UK. He told MPs:

Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in future with which we in this country do not comply or don’t follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate.

And secondly they’re saying the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters. I don’t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept.

Johnson’s stance was warmly welcomed by Conservative MPs, and any Tory backbenchers who are fearful of the consequences of no deal have not been expressing their reservations in public. Many observers still think that ultimately both sides will negotiate a compromise, but Johnson’s performance at PMQs will have reassured the sovereignty purists on his own side for whom this would be unacceptable. Tonight’s meeting is being billed as a conversation, not a negotiation, and almost certainly it will not culminate in the announcement of a deal. There may well be an agreement to allow talks to resume at negotiator level, although if Johnson and Von der Leyen conclude that consensus is impossible, they could tell Europe to prepare for no deal.

That’s all from me for tonight.

As and when there is any news from Brussels, there will be details here. The Johnson/Von der Leyen dinner starts at 7.30pm, and so any read-out is no likely to come until after 9pm.

Updated

DUP says Northern Ireland protocol will only survive if EU can minimise its inconvenience

The DUP has issued a lengthy statement on the agreement reached with the EU on how to implement the Northern Ireland protocol. By DUP standards it is relatively positive (“some aspects of today’s statement indicates that progress has been secured”), but the DUP has raised concerns about the rules for the import of chilled meats from Britain into Northern Ireland.

We remain concerned by those elements of this ‘in principle agreement’ that are characterised by grace periods and time-limited derogations, and in particular we will want to continue to lobby the Government to ensure that at the end of the six month period Northern Ireland will not be required to switch suppliers away from GB for chilled meats. We cannot accept a situation whereby restrictions are placed on the movement of these products to any part of the United Kingdom, in this case Northern Ireland.

It also suggests that, unless the EU can minimise the inconvenience caused by the protocol, the DUP could vote to get rid of it when Northern Ireland gets a vote on its renewal in four years time. It says:

These arrangements flowing from the protocol are of course temporary, in that the Northern Ireland assembly will have the opportunity to revisit the protocol and vote upon it in four years time. We would remind all those involved, and the European Union specifically, that unless arrangements have the support of both unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland they will ultimately fail and on that basis it is imperative that on-the-ground implementation does not in any way disadvantage the people of Northern Ireland or our place within the UK market.

Under the government’s plan, the protocol will be renewed in four years time if a majority of MLAs (members of the legislative assembly in Northern Ireland) vote in favour. In many votes in the assembly unionists and nationalists both have an effective veto, because MLAs from both traditions have to agree, but in this vote a simply majority will apply.

Updated

According to ITV’s Joel Hills, the currency markets are still assuming that the UK and the EU will reach a trade deal.

Merkel warns EU will accept a no-deal Brexit, Johnson says EU demands are “unacceptable”, £ strengthens against $ and €. Investors still seem to believe leaders’ comments are all part of the negotiation and that a deal will be done. And when do the markets ever get it wrong? pic.twitter.com/5b40Qhu7hh

— Joel Hills (@ITVJoel) December 9, 2020

This is from Boris Johnson, who according to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has now just landed in Brussels.

On my way to Brussels to meet @EU_Commission President @vonderleyen.

A good deal is still there to be done. But whether we agree trading arrangements resembling those of Australia or Canada, the United Kingdom will prosper mightily as an independent nation 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/6z1Tlr1ltI

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) December 9, 2020

Ministers suffer three defeats in Lords on internal market bill as peers refuse to back down on devolution protections

Peers have been debating the internal market bill again this afternoon. The government has backed down on the main issue where the bill was originally rewritten by peers; it has now abandoned the clauses allowing the government to break international law, and they were removed from the bill today without a division (even though MPs voted for them only on Monday.)

But when the bill was originally in the Lords peers inflicted several other defeats, particularly in relation to safeguards for the devolved administrations. The government overturned those defeats when the bill was in the Commons on Monday. But, in the latest instalment of “ping pong” (the term from when a bill shuttles between the Commons and the Lords, until one side backs down and it can become law), peers have voted effectively to reinstall their original amendments.

Govt defeat, as Peers vote 320-215 FOR Motion A1 to #UKIMBill from XB Lord Hope proposing amendts in lieu to preserve constitutional arrangements with #devolvedauthorities to agree regulatory consistency to enable functioning #internalmarket within UK

— LabourLordsUK (@LabourLordsUK) December 9, 2020

2nd Govt defeat on #UKIMBill today, as Peers vote 295-250 FOR @UKLabour @WilfStevenson Motion B1 - to expand exclusions from market access principles to include standards/protections re: environment, #animalwelfare, consumers, #privacyrights, #employmentrights, health, etc. https://t.co/WTJwFEBwGT

— LabourLordsUK (@LabourLordsUK) December 9, 2020

3rd Govt defeat on #UKIMBill today, as Peers vote 305-236 FOR Motion K1 from XB Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd to ensure financial assistance is spent in devolved areas with consent of relevant devolved administration - rather than just consultation as currently proposed

— LabourLordsUK (@LabourLordsUK) December 9, 2020

UK records 533 further deaths as death rate heads down while case rate edges up

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

  • The UK has recorded 16,578 new cases. That is the highest figure since Sunday (17,272) and it is higher than the average for the last seven days (15,367). The total number of cases in the last seven days is 4% up on the previous week. Yesterday the week-on-week increase was just 1.5%.
  • The UK has recorded 533 further deaths. That is lower than the total for yesterday (616) and lower than the total for last Wednesday (648). The total number of deaths in the last seven days is 9% down on the previous week. Yesterday the week-on-week fall was 7%.

The levelling off and gradual fall in the number of coronavirus deaths probably reflects the delayed impact of the lockdown in England, and similar lockdowns in other parts of the UK. And the fact that case numbers have stopped falling, and are now rising again slightly, is probably linked to the lockdown ending.

Updated

Johnson leaves No 10 on his way to Brussels for dinner with Von der Leyen

Boris Johnson has left Downing Street on his way to Brussels, where tonight he is having dinner with Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president.

He is due to have a short meeting with her before the dinner starts in the Berlaymont building at 7.30pm UK time. The two will be joined by their respective chief negotiators, Lord Frost and Michel Barnier, as well as other officials.

There are no plans for a press conference afterwards, but some sort of read-out will be issued to the media.

Northern Ireland has recorded 483 further coronavirus cases. That is higher than yesterday’s total (351) and higher than the total for last Wednesday (416).

And there have been 12 further deaths. Yesterday the total was 14, and a week ago today the total was four.

The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated with latest data.

483 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. A further 12 deaths have been reported.https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/lAp3E9Dvup

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) December 9, 2020

This chart, from the Northern Ireland Department of Health’s dashboard, shows how, after a significant fall in the first half of November, positive cases are now rising again.

Updated

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, is urging Londoners to follow the Covid rules to ensure the capital does not have to go into tier 3.

LONDON: This is important. We still have a long winter ahead. None of us want London to move into Tier 3.

Please continue to follow the rules - lives and livelihoods truly are dependent on it. https://t.co/N4zD9S1ezw

— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) December 9, 2020

Earlier this week Prof John Ashton, a former regional director of public health for north-west England, said London should go into tier 3 to avoid a “terrible situation” over Christmas.

Case rates in London.
Case rates in London.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon has denied the Scottish capital is being “punished” after her government decided not to relax lockdown restrictions in Edinburgh this week.

Yesterday, despite expectations that the city would be placed in level 2, Sturgeon told MSPs that the city would remain at level 3 – which allows non-essential shops to open but places significant restrictions on hospitality businesses – citing anxieties about a Christmas influx of shoppers and revellers.

Local business leaders expressed anger and dismay, while four local MSPs – from Scottish Labour, the Lib Dems, the Tories and the Greens – have written a joint letter to Sturgeon urging her to reconsider the decision, which they say will have a “profound impact on the wellbeing of local citizens and the health of the city’s economy”.

The MSPs claim that public health officials advised Sturgeon to lower the city to level 2 because infection rates have been “at level 2 parameters for several weeks”.

Asked about the concerns at her media briefing today, Sturgeon said:

I understand how frustrated people in Edinburgh will be, but these measures are essential to try and keep this really infectious virus under control. This is not about punishing any area. I want every part of Scotland to be living as freely as possible as quickly as possible.

Updated

NHS England has recorded 344 further coronavirus hospital deaths. There were 83 in the Midlands, 64 in the north-east and Yorkshire, 58 in the north-west, 50 in the south-east, 35 in the east of England, 30 in London and 24 in the south-west. The details are here.

That is higher than yesterday’s total (325) but lower than last Wednesday’s (372).

Updated

Scotland came close to eliminating Covid during the first nationwide lockdown, according to genomic sequencing for Sage of 5,000 samples of the virus, the Scottish government believes.

Jason Leitch, the Scottish government’s national clinical director, said analysis by scientists in Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews on the COG-UK consortium found that around 300 different strains of the virus were circulating in Scotland during the first wave.

Their report confirmed a large majority of those strains were eliminated during the first lockdown, but the upsurge in cases later in the summer were caused by new strains from outside Scotland, often other parts of the UK but also from countries far afield.

Speaking during the Scottish government’s daily briefing, Leitch said:

That allows us to say this did get us incredibly close to eliminating the virus in our communities, but as we opened up, inevitably people began to travel across the UK [and] travel abroad. New strains were imported again into Scotland.

The group said:

[This] indicates that, while lockdown in Scotland is directly linked with the first wave case numbers being brought under control, travel-associated imports (mostly from Europe or other parts of the UK) following the easing of lockdown are responsible for seeding the current epidemic population.

This demonstrates that the impact of stringent public health measures can be compromised if, following this, movements from regions of high to low prevalence are not minimised.

Nicola Sturgeon, speaking at the same briefing, said Scotland could not follow the same very strict travel rules as New Zealand or Australia, which as islands effectively “sealed themselves off” by shutting-down international travel to their countries. Scotland was part of the UK and had to use other methods to suppress the pandemic.

Wales logs 2,238 further Covid cases - a new daily record

Public Health Wales has recorded 2,238 further coronavirus cases. That is a new record daily high for recorded cases. The previous daily record was 2,021, on Monday. A week ago today the figure was 1,480.

There have also been 31 further deaths. A week ago today the figure was 51.

The rapid COVID-19 surveillance dashboard has been updated.

💻https://t.co/zpWRYSUbfh
📱https://t.co/HSclxpZjBh

Read our daily statement here: https://t.co/u6SKHz0zsG pic.twitter.com/sAk8sFy5NQ

— Public Health Wales (@PublicHealthW) December 9, 2020

This chart, from the Public Health Wales dashboard, shows how case numbers have been rising over the past month. Partly this correlates with an increased number of tests being carried out, but not in recent days.

Updated

These are from Naomi O’Leary from the Irish Times on how the Northern Ireland protocol will work.

Details of how arrangements will work for NI ⬇️
- 15 EU officials who can conduct controls without notice any time
- border posts at Belfast, Larne, Warrenpoint and Foyle ports
- remote access to UK IT infrastructure so EU can monitor customs https://t.co/0bbim20OqQ

— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) December 9, 2020

- Undefined grace periods, thought to be perhaps a few months, to waive export health certificate requirements and overlook the fact that certain high risk foods like fresh meat cannot be moved from Britain to NI, to allow supermarkets to adjust their supply chains.

— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) December 9, 2020

- Trusted Trader scheme would help in the event of no deal: instead of paying tariffs on goods going Britain-NI and then claiming them back, approved importers could skip this, helped by labelling on goods for sale in NI only

— Naomi O'Leary (@NaomiOhReally) December 9, 2020

Wales could face tougher restrictions before Christmas, health chief says

Further restrictions could be introduced in Wales before the Christmas period to tackle the country’s alarming Covid rates, the country’s chief medical officer, Dr Frank Atherton, has said.

Atherton told a press conference that the question of whether new restrictions imposed last week in Wales are enough “is a really important one”. He said:

We are at risk of getting into the Christmas period with rates much higher than we had anticipated or had hoped.

Ministers are considering what further things might be possible in the run-up to Christmas, that needs to be considered.

Atherton said he was particularly concerned about people gathering for Christmas fairs and events, but he said a full lockdown over Christmas would be “unpalatable for everybody”.

Asked about warnings from some hospitals that they are close to being overwhelmed, Atherton said the NHS in Wales may have to stop providing non-essential services.

Updated

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks Gove to correct the comments he made on the Today programme this morning, when he claimed that British students would still be able to participate in the Erasmus programme and that Britons would still get free healthcare in the EU.

Gove says students currently on an Erasmus programme will be allowed to finish it, and that Britons living in the EU will continue to get free healthcare.

In the Commons the Michael Gove statement is still going on. Labour’s Stephen Timms asks what the cost will be to businesses if there is no data adequacy agreement with the EU. Gove says he does not know, but says he is confident that there will be an agreement.

Burden of unpaid childcare falling increasingly again on women, ONS figures show

Women were doing twice as much unpaid childcare as men in September and October, signalling a return to pre-Covid levels.

New data from the Office for National Statistics indicates that, although men did increase the number of minutes spent on unpaid childcare during the first lockdown (27 minutes compared with women’s 43 minutes) this has since been reversed.

Figures for March and April
Figures for March and April

Both women and men reduced the time spent on unpaid childcare in September and October as schools reopened after the first lockdown: but when that happened the burden of childcare fell disproportionately on women.

Figures for September and early October
Figures for September and early October

On average - keeping in mind that the number of minutes spent apply across the entire population and not just parents - men spent just under 16.9 minutes a day on unpaid childcare. Women spent twice that on childcare - 33.6 minutes (although this does mark an improvement on 2014/15 when women spent more than 2.5 times more time on childcare than men).

The ONS defines unpaid childcare as feeding, washing, dressing or preparing meals for children; reading to and playing with them or helping them with homework or homeschooling and supporting, comforting or cuddling. But it excludes non-supervisory care and so wouldn’t take into account hours that the child was sleeping, for example.

A similar pattern emerged for unpaid housework: in all three time periods covered by the survey (2014/15; March and April 2020; September and October 2020) women reported doing more housework than men.

But while the gap in minutes spent on housework shrank during the first lockdown in March and April (at which time women were doing 44% more housework than their male counterparts), by September, women were spending 64% more time on household responsibilities.

Updated

The latest edition of the Guardian’s Politics Live podcast is out. Heather Stewart, Lisa O’Carroll and Daniel Boffey discuss the chances of securing a Brexit deal at this late hour. Severin Carrell updates us on the Alex Salmond inquiry in Scotland. Plus, Simon Murphy speaks to MPs after their first year in parliament.

In the Commons the DUP’s Sammy Wilson says the Irish government is spinning that the grace period is to allow supermarkets in Northern Ireland time to source goods from Ireland.

Gove says he thinks the the best place for supermarkets in Northern Ireland to source food from is from Northern Ireland itself.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

Johnson-Von der Leyen dinner tonight due to start at 7pm UK time in Brussels

— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) December 9, 2020

This is from Clodagh Rice, BBC Northern Ireland’s business correspondent, summing up the key points in Michael Gove’s statement.

Michael Gove confirms:

- No export declarations for good travelling NI to GB (except limited way for endangered species+diamonds)
- Grace period for supermarkets
- 12 month grace period for medicines
- EU officials present but not doing checks - watching UK officials do checks

— Clodagh Rice (@ClodaghLRice) December 9, 2020

Richard Drax, another Brexiter, asks Gove to confirm that EU law will still apply in Northern Ireland under this plan. He says he thought Brexit was about freeing the UK from EU law.

Gove says Drax is right. But he says the agreement will benefit Northern Ireland.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, a Tory Brexiter, said parts of the Northern Ireland protocol will remain subject to the European court of justice. He said the EU only budged because the UK threatened to block this (with the contentious clauses in the internal market bill). He asked Gove if he would maintain that threat.

Gove said the Commons is sovereign. He said the clauses were no longer needed. But he said in future the Commons could always legislate as it wanted.

Gove confirms some businesses in Northern Ireland will still be bound by EU law under new plan

Liam Fox, the Conservative former international trade secretary, if the new agreement will allow for any direct application of EU law in Northern Ireland.

Gove says, under the agreement, there will be a requirement on some businesses in Northern Ireland to follow the “acquis” (the body of EU law). He says this is necessary to prevent a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader at Westminster, says the Act of Union says there should be no barrier to trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. He says safeguarding the union is not a three-month or six-month project. It is an enduring commitment, he says. If the government has to legislate to protect this, will it do so?

Gove says the government was criticised for the provisions in the internal market bill that would have given it the sort of power Donaldson is asking for. He says those powers are no longer needed. If there are any further problems, he says he hopes they can be resolved in an “patient and pragmatic” way.

In the Commons Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, says the new agreement is full of “grace periods”. What will happen after they lapse?

Gove says he thinks three months will allow time for supermarkets to prepare for the new arrangements.

On chilled meats, he says the EU originally wanted the six-month grace period to be non-renewable. But it could be renewed, he says.

Michael Gove's statement to MPs about Northern Ireland protocol

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, is making a statement to MPs now about the agreement reached with the EU yesterday about how to implement the Northern Ireland protocol, part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Gove says the deal will protect “unfettered access” for Northern Ireland businesses to the GB market.

He says the EU has also given up plans for a default tariff regime for all goods going to Northern Ireland. If that had been implemented, there would have been a 58% tariff on a pint of milk. But that has been dropped, he says.

He says there will be a grace period for supermarket supplies, and the supply of sausages to Northern Ireland should continue.

He says there will be reciprocal agreements for agrifoods.

On state aid, he says the agreement prevents the risk of “reach back” - state aid for firms in Britain being affected by the state aid rules applying to Northern Ireland.

There will be no mini EU embassy in Belfast, he says. Instead there will be “sensible” practical arrangements for cooperation and reciprocal data sharing.

He confirms that, as a result of this agreement, the government is dropping the clauses from the internal market bill that would have allowed the government to over-rule the withdrawal agreement (in breach of international law).

Updated

Welsh chief medical officer urges people to rethink Christmas plans as Covid cases rise

The chief medical officer for Wales has called for people to think again about how they intend to celebrate Christmas as the number of cases continues to “accelerate”.

Dr Frank Atherton said despite the UK four-nation approach to the festive period, Welsh citizens should make personal choices. “We all need to think about our plans and perhaps re-think our plans,” he said.

Atherton said he had planned to visit relatives in England and Northern Ireland but now intended to stay at home and have a “small, quiet Christmas” with his own household. He said he would not be visiting pubs, restaurants, shops or Christmas fairs. “This Christmas has to be different,” he said.

Atherton said: “We are facing a very serious situation. Coronavirus is accelerating.”

He said the virus is spreading faster than “we could have anticipated”, with an increase in 21 of 22 of Wales’ local authority areas.

The rate for Wales is now almost 350 cases per 100,000 people with 10 areas having rates over 400. Atherton said there was “widespread community transmission” and “huge pressure on the system.”

He denied the Welsh government had “lost control” of the situation and said the government alone could not tackle the situation. “Everyone has to think about what their role is,” he said.

He said Wales was not reconsidering changing the rules around Christmas. “That would just confuse everybody.”

Updated

Johnson claims Brussels wants to be able to 'punish' UK if it does not implement future EU laws

This is what Boris Johnson said at the start of PMQs about the trade talks with the EU. (See 12.06pm.) He said:

Our friends in the EU are currently insisting that if they pass a new law in the future with which we in this country do not comply or don’t follow suit, then they want the automatic right to punish us and to retaliate.

Secondly, they are saying that the UK should be the only country in the world not to have sovereign control over its fishing waters.

I don’t believe that those are terms that any prime minister of this country should accept.

Updated

The total number of deaths in Scotland linked to Covid-19 has edged closer to 6,000 after the National Records of Scotland disclosed that 5,868 people have died with Covid mentioned on their death certificate.

NRS said 232 Covid-linked deaths were registered last week, 20 fewer than the previous week, with nearly 75% of those deaths amongst people aged 75 or over and only 9% under 65. There have been an average of 243 deaths a week in Scotland over the last five weeks, suggested the total will surpass 6,000 in next week’s figures.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, announced that another 39 people with positive Covid tests had died over the last 24 hours. That was 11 fewer than Tuesday’s figure but meant the total number of fatalities under that measure was 3,989, with 972 people in hospital.

She said 897 people had tested positive, taking the Scottish total to 102,372.

At the end of PMQs Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, tells Boris Johnson he will expect an update on the inquiry into who leaked details of the second lockdown (given to the media before parliament) next week at the last PMQs of the year.

Richard Burgon (Lab) says the government wants to pay for this crisis on the backs of the working class. Wouldn’t a windfall tax on the rich be fairer, including on people who have won contracts from Tory links?

Johnson does not accept this. He cites policies like the national living wage.

Stephen McCabe (Lab) asks why tier 3 Birmingham is not a priority area for getting the vaccine.

Johnson says he does not accept that. Birmingham will of course get the vaccine.

Derek Twigg (Lab) says fishing exports from the Falkland Islands could be subject to EU tariffs. That would be a serious problem for its economy. Will the PM raise this with Ursula von der Leyen?

Johnson says he will raise this.

Feryal Clark (Lab) says the government is at risk of failing a generation of children. Why are we in this dire situation?

Johnson says he is worried about the impact of differential learning. He says it is essential to keep children in schools, even if that leads to restrictions on other areas of the economy.

Pete Wishart (SNP) says Johnson did not answer David Linden’s question earlier. (See 12.28pm.) He says it is Johnson himself who has helped increase support for Scottish independence.

Johnson says the SNP has failed to explain what independence would mean.

(It was Linden who asked the earlier question, no Wishart. I have corrected the earlier post.)

Updated

David Linden (SNP) asks why polls show a consistent support for independence.

Johnson says he thinks, if there were another vote, people would vote to stay in the UK. But it was a once in a generation vote, he says.

Updated

Johnson says he was “astounded” to see that 42 Labour MPs wrote to the home secretary opposing the deportation of foreign dangerous criminals. Sir Keir Starmer maintained his “Delphic silence” on the matter, he says.

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, says the government’s export finance department will back the East Africa pipeline. This undermines the government’s credibility on climate change, she says. Does the PM approve, or is the department going rogue?

Johnson says hydrocarbons remain an important industry. He says Lucas has actually supported the government’s stance.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says Northern Ireland is getting access to the EU single market, and the UK market. That is good news for them. But why can’t Scotland get the same?

Johnson says Scotland will benefit from new powers. And it will take back control of colossal quantities of fish.

Blackford says Johnson has shown total contempt for Scotland. Members of the PM’s branch office (ie, Scottish Tories) warned Johnson how bad it would be for Scotland if it did not have access to the single market. Will Scottish Conservatives resign over this?

Johnson says he does not expect that. Despite the “slight negativity” Blackford is showing, he expects Scotland to benefit from Brexit.

Starmer says Johnson’s incompetence has held Britain back.

Johnson says the government is getting on with delivering on the people’s priorities. He says whether the outcome is Australia or Canada, the UK will be taking back control.

Starmer says national interest will decide how Labour votes on any Brexit deal

Starmer says the PM cannot criticise him for saying how he will vote on a deal that does not exist yet. Labour will vote in the national interest, not in the party interest, he says. How many of the 50,000 more customs agents the UK will need will be in place by the end of December.

Johnson avoids the question about customs agents, but says he welcomes the hint that Labour would vote for a deal.

Johnson claims Brexit will create jobs

Starmer says Johnson is stuck between the deal he knows the UK needs and the compromises that he knows his backbenchers will not accept. He says Ineos said yesterday it was building its new car in France, not Bridgend in south Wales. How many more jobs are at risk?

Johnson says Starmer cannot attack his Brexit policy when he is unable to say whether he will back a deal. He says he finds it hard to take Starmer’s criticisms seriously. There will be jobs created “not just in spite of Brexit but because of Brexit”, he claims.

Updated

Starmer says “Get Brexit done” just meant the easy bit. He says Johnson himself said failure to get a deal would be a failure of statecraft. Does the PM agree with the OBR that no deal will mean a smaller economy and higher unemployment.

Johnson says Starmer is referring to a deal on Australian terms. He says Labour has not said what its position is on this.

Updated

Starmer says Johnson said the chances of no deal were zero. And Rishi Sunak said the government did not have to prepare for no deal because it had a deal.

Johnson says the government secured a withdrawal agreement. Whatever happens, the government will be able to get on with its new immigration system, with free ports, with higher animal welfare, with new trade deals, and it will get its money back too.

Sir Keir Starmer, who is self-isolating at home and participating remotely, asks what happened to the PM’s promise to ensure that people would no longer have to keep talking about Brexit. What happened to that?

Johnson says Brexit happened in January.

Johnson says conditions imposed by EU for trade deal are unacceptable

Sir Edward Leigh (Con) says the Vote Leave campaign told people a trade deal was achievable. Will he make one last effort? But if a deal cannot be achieved, the parliamentary Conservative party will back him to the hilt.

Johnson says the EU want the right to punish the UK if the EU passes a new law and the UK does not match it. And they do not want the UK to have sovereign control of its fishing waters. Those conditions are unacceptable, he says.

Boris Johnson says he visited Guys and St Thomas’s hospital in London yesterday to see the vaccine being administered. He thanks all the scientists and volunteers and staff who made this possible.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

Here are some more quotes from the science/health committee hearing.

  • Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, said it would be wrong to relax restrictions now. He said:

I think very few people would recommend starting to really remove things during a high-risk period of the year, which the winter always will be for respiratory infections, until you have [vaccinated the 20m most vulnerable set out in the list drawn up by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.]

If you only were to vaccinate those 20 million people, the numbers are rough but for the sake of argument, you are still going to have a lot of people who are susceptible.

That will not produce population immunity even if it prevents transmission. So what that will do is substantially reduce mortality, significantly reduce the impact on the NHS, but it will still leave a lot of people who could become ill with this, and could in some cases have serious outcomes.

  • Whitty said at some point the government would have to decide how much risk it would tolerate. He said:

At a certain point, society, through political leaders, through elected ministers and through parliament, will say this level of risk is a level of risk that we think it is appropriate to tolerate.

Just as we accept that in an average year 7,000 people die of flu, and in a bad flu year, 20,000 people die of flu. We accept that as that is what happens biologically.

At a certain point you say, ‘actually, the risk is now low enough that we can largely do away with certainly the most onerous things that we have to deal with’.

This will be a kind of gradual retreat from that, but it is a de-risking process rather than it’s just going to go away.

We will de-risk hopefully to a very low level of risk, but I think it’s very unlikely we’ll get to zero level of risk.

Johnson may compromise on single market because instinctively he's more liberal than Tory Brexiters, Varadkar claims

Turning back to Brexit for a moment, Leo Vardakar, the Irish tánaiste (deputy prime minister), has said that he thinks Boris Johnson will compromise in the UK-EU trade talks because instinctively he is more of a metropolitan liberal than a Tory Brexiter. Varadkar told RTE’s Morning Ireland.

For us to have access to our single market and for us to have free trade with the UK, we need to know that the UK isn’t going to undercut us on standards, whether it’s workers’ rights or health and safety, the environment, product standards, all of those things.

Is Boris Johnson willing to make concessions in those areas? I think he probably is.

If I know him, and I don’t know him that well, but I know him a bit, I think his natural instincts are much closer to the more liberal London mayor that he was than the more conservative Brexiteer.

I think he wants Britain to be part of the world, and I think he wants Britain to be seen as a country that is a first actor, one with high standards.

Varadkar was taioseach (prime minister) until June and he and Johnson personally negotiated the Northern Ireland solution (which ended up becoming the Northern Ireland protocol) that replaced the backstop and led to the UK and the EU being able to sign a Brexit withdrawal agreement.

Whitty says Covid health messaging to ethnic minority groups was flawed

Whitty says, looking back at the pandemic, there are a lot of things that worked, and a lot of things where the government could have done “a lot better”.

On communication, he says there was a particular problem with the way health messages were given to ethnic minority communities. He says:

One thing which I think we really, really need to look at again is, I don’t think they got our messaging to some of the ethnic minority British groups right early on, and indeed some other smaller groups.

We just didn’t actually have a clear campaign in those areas. And I think that is something which we need to look at fairly self-critically and work out how we could do that better next time round.

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

V signif warning from Whitty re making tiered areas smaller. It's a political decision, but "if you make it too small, you're asking for trouble".
In v small low rate area surrounded by high rate area, we've "tried that experiment several times + it always ends up the same way"

— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 9, 2020

Whitty says having limited testing capacity was a problem at the start of the pandemic. As an example, he cites the failure to impose restrictions on people arriving in the UK. He says if they had been able to do more testing, they would have realised how extensive coronavirus was in Spain and France. They knew it was a problem in Italy, he says, but they did not realise it was entering the UK from other EU countries in the way it was too, he says.

And Vallance says it would have been better if they had had a contact tracing capability in place. He says contact tracers need to be trained in advance.

Whitty says he's 'very nervous' about January and February, because it's highest risk time for NHS

Whitty praises the altruism of the British public. He says many people who are not particularly at risk themselves have been willing to put up with considerable restrictions for the sake of other people. He says many lives have been saved as a result.

But he says it would be “disastrous” to give up now.

We’re heading into spring of 2021 in much better shape than we were three or four months ago.

The first response is to say: ‘Well that’s, it it’s done.’ That would be disastrous because then it [the virus] would come back again incredibly quickly, and we’re all very nervous about January and February, which is the highest risk period for the NHS in particular, March as well.

Updated

Back in the committee Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, told MPs that he did not yet know if re-vaccinating people would be necessary, but that health services should be in a position to do so. He said:

We know that these are very good vaccines to provide short to medium-term protection.

We don’t know how long that lasts, it might last for a very long time, it might last for nine months.

I think it’s more likely to be somewhere in between those two, in which case we may have to be in a position to re-vaccinate people, especially the most vulnerable.

Here is the new MHRA advice relating to the Pfizer vaccine and people with a significant history of allergic reactions. It says:

Any person with a history of a significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food (such as previous history of anaphylactoid reaction or those who have been advised to carry an adrenaline autoinjector) should not receive the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine.

Resuscitation facilities should be available at all times for all vaccinations. Vaccination should only be carried out in facilities where resuscitation measures are available.

Pfizer has said that its coronavirus vaccine was “well tolerated” during trials. Commenting on the news that people with a significant history of allergic reactions have been told not to get the vaccine for now because two people suffered adverse reactions yesterday (see 9.50am and 10.02am), a Pfizer spokewoman said:

We have been advised by MHRA of two yellow card reports that may be associated with allergic reaction due to administration of the Covid-19 BNT162b2 vaccine.

As a precautionary measure, the MHRA has issued temporary guidance to the NHS while it conducts an investigation in order to fully understand each case and its causes. Pfizer and BioNTech are supporting the MHRA in the investigation.

In the pivotal phase three clinical trial, this vaccine was generally well tolerated with no serious safety concerns reported by the independent data monitoring committee. The trial has enrolled over 44,000 participants to date, over 42,000 of whom have received a second vaccination.

Whitty told the the committee he had been discussing the allergy reaction issue to the Pfizer vaccine (see 9.50am) with Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), at 11.30pm last night.

He said the MHRA was in a “very good position” to pick up issues with any vaccine. He said:

Dr Raine talked about identifying things once a vaccine is in use.

The initial process, very importantly, picks up common side effects, that’s what the big phase two and then subsequently, if they are safe, phase three clinical trials allow to happen.

But extremely rare but important issues, inevitably you accrue more information over time.

The NHS through to the MHRA is in a very good position to make sure that we can pick things up quickly, identifying them, communicate them widely, ensure that we improve practice.

Updated

Back at the committee hearing Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, is now giving evidence.

He said that by the middle of next year he expected the UK to have three or four vaccines it could use. He said that for the next few months restrictions would have to stay in place, but that after that there would be a gradual loosening of the rules.

Chris Whitty: "We expect by the middle of the year probably to have a portfolio of three or four vaccines which we can actually use.”

— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) December 9, 2020

Whitty on lockdown:

"For the next three months we will not have sufficient protection ... the idea that we can suddenly stop now because the vaccine's here, that would be premature."

Putting distance between science and politics. "It's a science-informed political decision"

— Luke McGee (@lukemcgee) December 9, 2020

Chris Whitty predicts a "gradual retreat" from social distancing rules once 20 million or so high risk people have been vaccinated.

As risk of NHS being overwhelmed recedes, it will be come a political decision of how many ongoing Covid deaths we will tolerate, he says.

— Chris Smyth (@Smyth_Chris) December 9, 2020

Updated

And here is my colleague Daniel Boffey’s story on Angela Merkel’s comments this morning.

Merkel says EU should not compromise on integrity of single market in deal with UK

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, told the German parliament this morning that, although she thought there was still a chance of the EU and the UK agreeing a trade deal, the EU should not compromise on the integrity of the single market. She said:

There is still the chance of an agreement ... We are continuing to work on it, but we are also prepared for conditions which we cannot accept.

One thing is clear: the integrity of the internal market must be preserved.

We must have a level playing field, not just for today but for tomorrow and beyond ... Otherwise, unfair competition conditions arise to which we cannot subject our companies. This is the really big question.

This is from the Economist’s Berlin correspondent, Tom Nuttall.

Merkel talking Brexit in the Bundestag: taking a notably tough line on level playing field and "fair competition".

— Tom Nuttall (@tom_nuttall) December 9, 2020

Prof Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, has issued this statement about the advice that people with a significant history of allergic reaction should not get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, the one that the NHS started administering yesterday. Powis said:

As is common with new vaccines the MHRA have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic reactions do not receive this vaccination after two people with a history of significant allergic reactions responded adversely yesterday. Both are recovering well.

In the committee hearing Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, has just mentioned the issue with the Pfizer vaccine generating a reaction in two people with significant allergies. (See 9.50am.) She said:

Even last evening we were looking at two case reports of allergic reactions. We know from the very extensive clinical trials that this wasn’t a feature, that if we need to strengthen our advice now that we’ve had this experience in the vulnerable populations - the groups have been selected as a priority - we get that advice to the field immediately.

People with 'significant' allergic reactions advised not to get Pfizer vaccine for now

UK regulators have issued a warning that people who have a history of “significant” allergic reactions should not currently receive the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine after two people who had the jab on Tuesday had allergic reactions, PA Media is reporting.

Updated

MHRA chief tells MPs she cannot give date for when Oxford vaccine might get approval

Q: When do you expect to complete your work on the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine?

Raine says says the data packages have been arriving, and more are expected. She says she cannot give a date for when the work will be complete. But work is proceeding “intensively”.

I would not be able to give the committees a firm date, because the review is clearly a very active review. There will be questions and deliberations that we will be pursuing in exactly the same way as we have done for Pfizer/BioNTech. So, not able to give a firm date, but to assure the committees that work is proceeding intensively and with great scientific rigour.

Q: Do you look at the evidence for two full doses, or a half dose and a full dose?

Raine says the MHRA will look at all the data. She says licence approval would be for a particular dosage.

Q: The US regulator says the Pfizer vaccine offers good protection after one dose. Is that what you found?

Raine says the MHRA did find that. But it has been looking at how to get optimal protection.

There is immune protection after one dose, but we are looking to optimal protection.

That is why the authorisation in the UK for use of this vaccine looks at the two doses, 21 days apart, because we know that there is a very good level of protection seven days after the second dose.

Q: And what is happening with the Moderna vaccine?

Raine says the MHRA expects to get the full data package for this vaccine in the next week or two. It will make a decision on whether it can be approved as soon as possible.

Updated

Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance give evidence to MPs

The joint Commons science/health committee hearing into coronavirus has just started.

The main witnesses are Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser.

But the committee is also taking evidence from Dr Jenny Harries, the deputy chief medical officer for England, and Dr June Raine, the chief executive of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

Gove plays down prospect of trade deal being finalised at PM's Brussels dinner with Von der Leyen

Good morning. Boris Johnson will have dinner with Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, in Brussels tonight in what is seen as a make-or-break moment for the UK-EU trade talks. If they conclude that compromise will not be possible, then they could emerge with the news that both side have to prepare for no deal.

But if, as they hope, the dinner isn’t a failure, the opposite does not seem to be the case; we shouldn’t be expecting an announcement that a deal has been clinched. In an interview this morning Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, suggested the best he was hoping for was “further political momentum”. He told Times Radio:

I’m hopeful that the prime minister will be able to lay out, over the course of dinner, where movement is required. The conversation between the prime minister and the president tonight, I hope, will create further political momentum, which will make sure that we do reach an agreement.

His language is very similar to this statement on the prospects for the Johnson/Von der Leyen dinner released to the media last night from a UK government source.

It’s clear that some political impetus will be required for the talks to make any more progress. If we can make progress at a political level it may allow Lord Frost and his team to resume negotiations over the coming days. But we must be realistic that an agreement may not be possible as we will not compromise on reclaiming UK sovereignty.

In Brussels too officials have been stressing that tonight’s meeting will not result in a deal. The European commission’s spokesperson said yesterday the two leaders would be trying to find a reason to “move forward hopefully with negotiations, which could hopefully continue after that”.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, its chief scientific adviser, give evidence to the joint science/health committee inquiry into lessons to be learnt from coronavirus.

12pm: Boris Johnson faces Sir Keir Starmer at PMQs.

12.15pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is holding a coronavirus briefing.

12.15pm: The Welsh government is expected to hold a coronavirus briefing.

12.30pm: Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, makes a statement to MPs about the agreement with the EU on how to implement the Brexit withdrawal agreement and its Northern Ireland protocol.

Evening: Boris Johnson has dinner with Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, in Brussels.

Politics Live is now doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we are covering non-Covid political stories here too, and for much of today I will be focusing on Brexit.

Here is our global coronavirus live blog.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Updated

Contributors

Andrew Sparrow

The GuardianTramp

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