UK Covid live: No 10 not ruling out lockdown lasting until summer as PM says 'tough weeks ahead'

Ministers from the Northern Ireland executive have been meeting today and, according to the BBC’s Jayne McCormack, they are considering a recommendation to extend their lockdown until 5 March, with the possibility that it could be extended until Easter.

According to a report in today’s Telegraph (paywall), hotel groups have begun talks with the government about the possibility of their facilities being used as quarantine centres for people arriving in the UK.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was not against the idea, but that what mattered most was that checks are carried out to ensure people are complying with quarantine, not where people stay. He said:

The most important thing is not where somebody is located but are we checking? Is the system really working? That’s been the structural flaw since the start.

It would be easier to monitor [in hotels] but the central question for the government is why have you been so slow with borders.

I’m not against hotels but I don’t think that’s the answer.

Wherever people go are they being checked on, that’s the critical question. If that works better in hotels, then so be it. I don’t stand or fall on hotels, I stand or fall on how well the system works.

Vaccine supplies to the north-east and Yorkshire will be halved next week, mainly to allow other regions to catch up with the progress it has been making, the Health Service Journal reports.

In its story, which it attributes to well-placed sources, the HSJ says this will mean around 100,000 doses will be available for vaccination centres in the region run by GPs, where most vaccinations are taking place – down from around 200,000 this week.

The HSJ says people have been told “the main reason is that large parts of the north-east and Yorkshire have vaccinated a greater percentage of their population than other regions, including very many of the over 80s, meaning they are more quickly moving on to groups under 80”.

One in 10 major hospital trusts had no spare adult critical care beds last week, NHS England figures show. The report from PA Media goes on:

Some 15 out of 140 acute trusts reported 100% occupancy of all “open” beds each day from January 11 to 17.

These included University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of the largest trusts in England, along with Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust and Dartford & Gravesham NHS Trust, both in south-east England.

The figure is up slightly on 12 out of 140 acute trusts that reported 100% occupancy of beds each day from January 4 to 10.

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre confirmed it has abandoned plans to stage 101 Dalmations this year, PA Media reports. The central London venue said it appears likely that coronavirus restrictions will be in place when rehearsals are scheduled to begin in March and that social distancing will remain in force during the performance period.

NHS England has recorded 789 further coronavirus hospital deaths. That is lower than the total for yesterday (1,027 – a record high) and lower than the total for Thursday last week (884). The details are here.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing there was an attempt – sadly, unsuccessful – to get some clarification from the prime minister’s spokesman as to whether or not Boris Johnson sees himself as “woke”. This followed last night’s surprising “woke U-turn”. Since the general election Tory ministers have generally been all too happy to condemn all things “woke” (in what seems to be a fairly transparent attempt to goad Labour into a culture war) and this reached its apotheosis on Sunday, when Robert Jenrick, the communities secretary, used an article in the Sunday Telegraph to protect statues from “town hall militants and woke worthies”. Amanda Milling, the Conservative party co-chairman, was at it again today.

But last night Johnson declared “there’s nothing wrong with being ‘woke’”. He made the comment in an interview with Sky’s Sam Coates, who asked him if he thought President Biden was “woke”. It was a brilliant question that left Johnson improvising desperately as he tried to come up with an answer acceptable to both the White House and the diehards at Telegraph Towers and CCHQ.

But when asked at the lobby briefing if Johnson saw himself as “woke”, the spokesman said the journalists would have to define the term because he (the spokesman) was not sure what it meant.

But the spokesman did say Johnson was committed to levelling up – prompted complaints that that has nothing to do with “wokeness”. The spokesman replied:

The prime minister is clear of his belief that we need to ensure that everybody has the same opportunity up and down the country. I’m not sure what you mean specifically by being ‘woke’ but, as I say, you’ve got what the prime minister said on issues like this previously.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman refused to rule out the possibility of the lockdown in England lasting until the summer.

Asked directly whether he could rule out the lockdown lasting into the summer, the spokesman said:

We will continue to keep all of the scientific evidence and data under review. It remains our position that we want to ease restrictions as soon as it is safe to do so, but in order for us to do that we need to see the transmission rates of the virus come down and we need to see the pressure on the NHS reduce.

In 2016, when Boris Johnson was mayor of London, he infuriated Barack Obama by writing an article in the Sun implying the Obama’s anti-Britishness helped to explain why a bust of Winston Churchill had been removed from the Oval office. Obama responded at a press conference, saying that in fact he loved Churchill.

Now Joe Biden has also marked his arrival in the Oval Office by removing a bust of Churchill. But, at the Downing Street lobby briefing, the prime minister’s spokesman refused to offer any criticism. Asked about Biden’s decision, the spokesman said:

The Oval Office is the president’s private office and it’s up to the president to decorate it as he wishes.

I would point you back to what the prime minister has said previously about looking forward to working closely with Joe Biden.

We’re in no doubt of the importance that president Biden places on the UK and US relationship, and the prime minister looks forward to having a close relationship with him.

Tax Justice UK says today’s inequality figures from the ONS (see 12.46pm) show why, when taxes have to rise after the pandemic, the rich should pay most. Robert Palmer, its executive director, said:

We know that the economic impact of Covid has not been equal. During the pandemic people on lower incomes have seen a massive hit to their finances. However, these stats show that inequality was at a 10-year high, even before the pandemic struck.

But in financial terms 2020 was a bumper year for many in the middle classes, with record levels of savings for those able to work from home. We need to make sure that those with the broadest shoulders bear the lion’s share when taxes rise.