Boris Johnson has sought to persuade Conservative backbenchers to support his plan for a new coronavirus lockdown across England, saying that failing to act now would risk the “medical and moral disaster” of an overwhelmed NHS. In a statement to the Commons lasting almost two and a half hours, and involving questions from 100 MPs, he repeatedly stressed that the lockdown legislation would only apply until 2 December and that MPs would have to vote on what happened next. But he could not give a categorical assurance that an extension of the lockdown would not be required, as some ministers have privately been saying. (See 9.16am.) He also claimed that mass testing would be the route to a more normal future. In his opening statement he said: We now have not only much better medication and the prospect of a vaccine the immediate prospect of many millions of cheap, reliable and rapid turnaround tests – with a result in minutes. Trials have already shown that we can help suppress the disease in hospitals, schools and universities by testing large numbers of NHS workers, children, teachers and students. These tests, crucially, identify people who are infectious but do not have symptoms, allowing them immediately to self-isolate and stop the spread of the disease,and allowing those who are not infectious to continue as normal. This means that, unlike in the spring, it’s possible to keep these institutions open and still stop the spread of the disease. And so over the next few days and weeks, we plan a steady but massive expansion in the deployment of these quick turnaround tests which we will be manufacturing in this country applying them in an ever-growing number of situations, from helping women to have their partners with them in labour wards when they’re giving birth, to testing whole towns and even cities. Many Tory MPs are very unhappy about the decision to order a second lockdown but, although some of them were openly critical during the statement, overall there was less anger than might have been expected and even those Conservatives sceptical of the strategy were generally respectful. Johnson’s reception was much warmer than the one Theresa May used to get from Brexiters in the year before her resignation. This might be because reports of Tory dissent have been exaggerated, but more probably it’s because the lockdown-sceptics are having little success in persuading colleagues they have a viable alternative strategy.
Sir Keir Starmer has said Johnson’s lockdown U-turn represents “a catastrophic failure of leadership and of judgement”. (See 3.50pm.) He also said that Johnson’s decision to delay the lockdown had cost lives (see 11.58am) - a judgment shared by at least one scientist on the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee for Emergencies. (See 9.54am.) Johnson has hinted that the Treasury will fund a furlough scheme for Scotland after November if it needs one because it is in lockdown when England isn’t. (See 5.34pm.) He made the apparent concession in the Commons, telling the Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross: The furlough is a UK-wide scheme. If other parts of the UK decide to go into measures which require the furlough scheme then of course it’s available to them, that has to be right and that applies not just now but of course in the future as well. Earlier, in a TV interview, Ross said Johnson was not as good a communicator as the Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon. (See 5.13pm.) Johnson proved him right when when it became clear that no one really knew quite what the PM’s answer to Ross in the Commons actually meant. (See 5.44pm and 5.53pm.) A code error in the NHS Covid-19 app meant users had to be next to a highly infectious patient for five times as long as the NHS had decided was risky before being instructed to self-isolate, the Guardian has learned. Police may have to take action to stop residents of England “escaping” to Wales for an evening in a pub or restaurant when the month-long English lockdown comes into force from Thursday, the Welsh government has said. High-street retailers, pub chains and airlines are among the companies to warn of the impact the surprise imposition of a second lockdown in England will have on their businesses. That’s all from me for tonight. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.