Scientific advisers to the government have warned that pub curfews and other new measures in England will fail to stop the exponential spread of Covid-19, as sources confirmed that ministers have departed from their “follow the science” mantra. Rishi Sunak has scrapped this autumn’s budget before the announcement of a revamped support package to protect jobs and the economy through a looming winter Covid-19 crisis. The UK has recorded 6,178 new coronavirus cases, which is close to the highest ever daily total, recorded in early May. (See 4.22pm.) A pledge to hit 500,000 coronavirus tests a day in the UK by the end of next month could be missed as vital chemicals and analysing machines needed to hit the target are “a few weeks” behind schedule, the body representing their manufacturers has said. Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “pretending there isn’t a problem” with the test-and-trace system, as he claimed the prime minister had lost control of the coronavirus crisis. HSBC and Goldman Sachs have postponed plans to bring staff back to the office in England after the government’s U-turn on its back-to-work drive. A de-facto Brexit border is to be introduced for lorry drivers entering Kent to travel on to the EU, Michael Gove has confirmed. Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed that, if the SNP win a majority in the Holyrood elections next year, he would accept that they have a mandate for another independence referendum. He said this in January, before he was Labour leader, but recently he has refused to commit himself on this point in interviews, just stressing his opposition to a second referendum. But Sky’s political editor Beth Rigby eventually got an answer from him after persisting in an interview. Starmer has been anxious to avoid addressing this point now because many in the Scottish Labour party think the party should oppose a second referendum on principle, regardless of what happens in the election next year.
The economic cost of a no-deal Brexit could be two or three times as bad as the impact of Covid, a report has concluded. That’s all from me for today. But our coverage continue on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.