Starmer calls for England-wide circuit breaker after most daily Covid deaths since June – as it happened
Labour leader says government is no longer following advice of scientists; MPs debate Covid restrictions
- Full story: Starmer urges PM to impose circuit breaker' on England
- UK's coronavirus deaths rises by 143 in a day, official figures show
- Hancock turns on Tory lockdown sceptics
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- Global coronavirus updates - live
6.23pm BST
The Bolton lockdown has clearly not worked, and I believe that the cure is worse than the disease, so I have stepped down from my role as Parliamentary Private Secretary. pic.twitter.com/HdEm4hw8Rh
6.02pm BST
Conventional wisdom would have it that that proposing to close all pubs and restaurants for two or three weeks, banning household mixing and shutting non-essential offices would not be popular, but one of the perhaps surprising features of Covid has been that the public has regularly backed more restrictive policies rather than more liberal policies, at least according to the polls. Sir Keir Starmer's initiative this afternoon may have sounded bold, but it was not electorally risky.
According to a YouGov snap poll released today, voters say by a margin of two to one that the government should have followed Sage's recommendation and opted for a three-week national lockdown in September.
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