Boris Johnson news – live: Government to offer votes on ‘significant coronavirus measures’ after PM accused of ‘confusion’

Follow all the latest developments

Starmer accuses Johnson of creating 'widespread confusion' over coronavirus restrictions

The government is set to offer a vote to MPs on any “significant national measures” introduced to stem the spread of the coronavirus in a bid to see off a Commons rebellion from backbench Tories.

Meanwhile Boris Johnson has been accused of creating mass confusion over coronavirus restrictions by Sir Keir Starmer. The Labour leader said at PMQs: “If the prime minister doesn’t understand the rules … How does [he] expect the rest of the country to follow?

And there has been a furious response to reports Priti Patel considering building a centre for asylum seekers on Ascension Island – a volcanic outcrop in the Atlantic Ocean. Labour said the idea was “inhumane”, while a UN official called it “extremely inappropriate”.

Key Points

• Government promises to hold votes ‘wherever possible’ on nationwide virus measures
• Speaker says No 10 has treated parliament with ‘contempt’
• Starmer accuses PM of creating confusion over Covid rules
• No 10 suggests ‘compromise’ agreed with Tory rebels on rules
• Labour leader brands asylum seeker island idea ‘ludicrous’

[30 September 2020 08:28 · Adam Forrest]

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.

[30 September 2020 08:36 · Adam Forrest]

No 10 in talks with Tory rebels over ‘compromise’ deal on Covid rules

Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 committee of backbenchers, held talks with Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg last night over a possible “compromise” deal. But it feels like the rebels hold all the cards.

Former chief whip Mark Harper said over 100 Conservative MPs are ready to back the rebel amendment to give parliament a say in debating and approving restrictions. The Commons’ liaison committee added to the pressure by saying it was concerned about No 10’s use of emergency powers to curb our freedoms.  

Will there be a vote on the amendment today? No 10 officials were hoping Speaker Lindsay Hoyle would refuse to select it and give them more time. But time only seems to add more names to the rebel list. One “red wall” Tory MP from the north east said Johnson’s big Tuesday gaffe had “strengthened the argument” for parliamentary scrutiny.

[30 September 2020 08:38 · Adam Forrest]

Priti Patel ‘explored sending asylum seekers to island in the Atlantic’

Priti Patel and her Home Office officials reportedly considered a plan to build a processing centre for asylum seekers on Ascension Island – a tiny UK territory 4,000 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean.

She asked her team to look at “offshoring” options on the island and nearby St Helena, according to the Financial Times.

Apparently it only was “dropped” after the Foreign Office briefed them on the sheer impracticality of sending people to a rock half-way between West Africa and Brazil.  

Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “This ludicrous idea is inhumane, completely impractical and wildly expensive – so it seems entirely plausible this Tory government came up with it.” 

[30 September 2020 09:32 · Adam Forrest]

Liverpool mayor says ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown days away

A government decision on whether Merseyside will join the north east with measures banning households from mixing indoors could come on Wednesday, according to The Times.

And the Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has said it is “only a matter of days” until a more severe “circuit breaker” lockdown would be introduced in his city.

“For me, it is only a matter of time because the virus isn’t able to be controlled in the city with the restrictions we have now,” he told The Telegraph. “We need a circuit breaker or stricter lockdown to try to stop the virus spreading … so that in the lead up to Christmas we can get some normality.”

The prime minister will lead a Downing Street press conference later, alongside chief medical officer for England professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

[30 September 2020 09:35 · Adam Forrest]

Minister suggests media to blame for PM’s blunder on Covid rules

Business secretary Alok Sharma has defended Boris Johnson after the prime minister forgot his own coronavirus rules – suggesting the media was trying to catch him and other government ministers out.  

It comes after Mr Johnson and a junior minister could not properly explain what the latest restrictions were for the north east of England. Mr Sharma said the PM had done the right thing by apologising and “correcting” his mistake.    

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mr Sharma said: “There is an element of slightly ‘gotcha’ about this in terms of this line of questioning. You are a flagship programme when it comes to serious news and it’s not a quiz show.”

Asked whether he thought explaining vital Covid regulations was as “trivial as a quiz question”, he said: “No, absolutely not.  

[30 September 2020 09:43 · Adam Forrest]

No 10 must stop ‘playing games’ on Brexit, says Germany

Germany’s Europe minister Michael Roth has penned an open letter to the UK government, asking No 10 not to “play games” during the little time left for trade deal negotiations.

“It is really high time we reached agreement” Roth said, adding that it was possible for both sides to “make a clean, fair break and then remain friends”.  

It comes as the Internal Market Bill passed its third reading in the Commons with a government majority of 84, and now moves to the Lords.  

Labour’s shadow business minister Lucy Powell reminded the House: “It’s a bill that breaks the law and could break up the United Kingdom.” 

[30 September 2020 09:48 · Adam Forrest]

Even PM cannot keep up with rules, says leading rebel Tory

Steve Baker MP – one of the Tory rebels backing an amendment demanding more scrutiny of coronavirus restrictions – said the backbenchers would not be backing down.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Baker said even if Sir Graham Brady’s amendment was not put to a vote on Wednesday, disgruntled backbenchers would not be silenced without a concession.

“Either later today we will face a reasonable offer which we can accept, back down - and gladly - or we will end up that these members of parliament are not going to go away and we will keep battling on.”

Baker also said Boris Johnson forgetting the new rules in the north east showed the confusion the lack of debate was causing. “When you get such a large and shifting body of law, you find even ministers and the prime minister cannot keep up with it.”

[30 September 2020 10:09 · Adam Forrest]

‘Not gotcha – just basic government competence’

So what’s the reaction to the business secretary’s suggestion the media was responsible for the PM getting his own Covid rules wrong?

Labour’s shadow health minister Alex Norris criticised Alok Sharma’s for blaming “gotcha” questioning. “The prime minister should understand the rules he is asking huge numbers of people to follow. That’s not a gotcha, that’s just basic government competence.”

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy added: “This government has descended into pure farce.”

[30 September 2020 10:20 · Adam Forrest]

Asylum plan would be “logistical nightmare’, says Ascension Island official

What do people on Ascension Island make of reports Priti Patel has considered sending asylum seekers to the British overseas territory?

Alan Nicholls, a member of the Ascension Island council, said it be a “logistical nightmare” and very badly received by islanders.

He said: “We are some 4,000-plus miles away from the UK, I would have thought it would be extremely expensive and a bit of a logistical nightmare to get asylum seekers here to Ascension because of the fact we are very isolated.

“I don’t think the whole thing would be very feasible, to be quite truthful.” Nicholls added that the presence of two military bases on the island could make the concept “prohibitive” due to security concerns.

Asked about what the local reaction would be if an asylum centre were to be built, he said: “I don’t think that anybody would be very receptive to that.”

[30 September 2020 10:44 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson is ‘sozzled, bonking cad’, says Piers Morgan

The Good Morning Britain host hurled a series of insults at the prime minister this morning when he was told 40 per cent of people young people have “no idea” what a “cad” is.

“Actually, if you think about it – every one of the words which are going out of fashion, apply directly to our nincompoop, sozzled, bonking, cad prime minister,” said Morgan.

He added: “He doesn’t deserve any respect. He’s lost the respect of the people because he’s a bumbling fool who isn’t taking this seriously, And I’m afraid it’s a very serious situation. We need serious leadership.”