MPs have voted by a large majority to approve the English lockdown starting tomorrow – although 34 Conservatives actively rebelled. Some 32 voted against, two acted as tellers, and around 16 others reportedly abstained as a protest, including the former prime minister Theresa May. (See 5.46pm.) May spoke in the debate, saying that one of her concerns was that the government was “making it illegal to conduct an act of public worship”. Many MPs complained about the provisions banning collective worship, and in his speech winding up the debate Matt Hancock, the health secretary, hinted that the rules on this might be relaxed. (See 3.57pm.) But, for the Tory lockdown-sceptics, their main objections related to the economic damage the measures will cause, plus the intrusion on personal freedom. Although MPs have debated coronavirus endlessly in recent months, there have been relatively view votes on the lockdown restrictions being imposed and this was probably the most passionate and angry debate yet. Much of it has already been published here, on Hansard online. The rebels included MPs from all wings of the party, although the most prominent tended to be libertarian Brexiters. (One of the ironies was that they were demanding an economic impact assessment of lockdown - despite actively resisting the idea for Brexit.) Boris Johnson won the vote with a majority of 478, but many of the Conservative MPs who did support him stressed their reluctance to do so and the debate showed that, if he were to try to extend the lockdown in December, a much more serious mutiny would erupt.
David Frost, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, has admitted that “wide divergences” remain between the two sides in the UK-EU trade talks. He made the comment on Twitter after it emerged that his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, has told EU ambassadors that the UK is holding back on holding back on making the compromises necessary for a deal. (See 4.47pm.)
The UK death toll from coronavirus has risen by 492 – almost 100 more than the previous day’s increase. The NHS in England is returning to its highest state of alert amid warnings that hospitals will continue filling up with Covid-19 patients for at least another two weeks. Care home residents in England will be able to receive visits during the national lockdown after a last minute U-turn by the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who has bowed to pressure from residents, relatives and care operators and reversed a ban in areas of high infection. The head of the Oxford University group developing one of the leading Covid vaccine contenders has played down the chances of vaccinating people by Christmas. Police chiefs have warned they will crack down harder on people who fail to show “civic responsibility” by ignoring coronavirus restrictions and fines as England heads into lockdown this week. That’s all from me for today. But our coronavirus coverage continues here on our global coronavirus live blog.
And if you fancy a change from coronavirus, our US presidential election results blog is here.