Matt Hancock says Britons SHOULD grass on their neighbours if they break new self-isolation laws

The Health Secretary said people should ‘absolutely’ tell police if they see rule breakers as he warned he could not rule out a second national lockdown if rules continued to be flouted

Matt Hancock today told Britons to grass up their neighbours if they break tough new coronavirus laws that could see them fined £10,000 – and admitted he would do it himself.

The Health Secretary said people should ‘absolutely’ tell police if they see rule breakers as he warned he could not rule out a second national lockdown if rules continued to be flouted.

But the Government appears to be at sixes and seven over whether Britain should become a nation of narks with contradictory views around the Cabinet.

Mr Hancock’s comments were at odds with Boris Johnson’s position, after the Prime Minister said last week that he did not like ‘sneak culture’ and urged people to inform on neighbours as a last resort, ‘if there is some huge kind of Animal House party taking place … hot tubs and so forth, and there is a serious threat to public health’.

However Home Secretary Priti Patel had earlier backed people informing on their neighbours if they were breaking the new rules, adding: ‘It’s not dobbing in neighbours, it’s all about us taking personal responsibility.’ 

Mr Hancock spoke today as ministers unveiled plans to fine Covid sufferers up to £10,000 if they leave their house when they are meant to be self-isolating under draconian new rules being brought in to tackle a sharp up-spike in Covid-19 cases across the UK. 

With his ministers locked in debate this weekend over whether to introduce a second lockdown that would devastate the economy, the Prime Minister announced that he was creating a new legal duty for people to self-isolate if they test positive for the virus or are told to do so by Test and Trace staff.

Asked this morning on Sky’s Ridge on Sunday if he would report a neighbour he said: ‘Yes, and everybody should. And the reason for that is that the way we control this virus is by breaking the chains of transmission.’

Repeating this view later on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show he added: ‘I’m not in this for a popularity contest. I’m in this to keep the country safe.’  

Large groups of walkers enjoy the warm sunshine as Police patrol Hyde Park in London on the first weekend of the Rule of Six being in place

Large groups of walkers enjoy the warm sunshine as Police patrol Hyde Park in London on the first weekend of the Rule of Six being in place

Drinkers hit the town ahead of Boris Johnson's potential plan to close pubs in England. Nottingham was packed with revellers all enjoying a night out on Saturday September 19.

Drinkers hit the town ahead of Boris Johnson’s potential plan to close pubs in England. Nottingham was packed with revellers all enjoying a night out on Saturday September 19.

Make children the priority for coronavirus tests to keep schools open, says Labour 

Sir Keir Starmer is urging ministers to put children ‘at the front of the queue’ for coronavirus tests.

The Labour leader warned of a ‘flood’ of school closures unless pupils were able to get the tests they needed.

His call came amid reports that 350 schools in England and Wales were forced to close completely or to send children home last week following positive Covid-19 tests.

Sir Keir said it was essential that children whose schooling was disrupted by the lockdown did not lose out even more because a shortage of tests meant they were unable to return to the classroom.

‘If the Prime Minister does not get a grip of the testing crisis, children will be robbed of an education. We are seeing a growing flood of schools closures,’ he said.

‘The testing regime is not working, nor does it appreciate the unique challenges many families are having to cope with.

‘That is why I’m urging the Prime Minister, like our key workers, to put children at the front of the queue for testing. To this week give parents a cast iron guarantee that they can get their child a test within 24 hours and the result back 24 hours later.’

 

He added: ‘If everybody follows the rules then we can avoid further national lockdowns, but we, of course, have to be prepared to take action if that’s what’s necessary. I don’t rule it out, I don’t want to see it.’

Under a ‘carrot and stick’ approach, four million people on low incomes who cannot work from home will receive a £500 lump sum if forced to self-isolate. 

But fines for those breaching the rules, which come into effect a week tomorrow, will start at £1,000 – rising to £10,000 for repeat offenders and ‘the most egregious breaches’, which would include business owners who threaten self-isolating staff with redundancy if they do not come to work.

Mr Hancock this morning told Sky’s Ridge on Sunday the nation was at a ‘tipping point’ and there was a choice between following the current rules like the Rule of Six and self-isolation ‘or we will have to take more measures’.

‘I don’t want to see more measures, more restrictive measures. But unfortunately if people don’t follow the rules that is how the virus spreads,’ he added.

‘It comes down to individual choices of the 60million people who live in this country as to whether we can keep it there with a local lockdown approach or whether we have to take further national action.’ 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party supported the action that would target ‘a small number’ of people.

‘There are a few people that are breaking the rules and something has to be done about that,’ he told Ridge on Sunday.

‘But it’s not going to be the silver bullet … we have a testing system that, when we need it to be effective, is barely serviceable.’ 

He also warned the Prime Minister that he needed to take immediate and hard-hitting action to avoid a miserable Christmas for millions of British families.

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, the opposition leader said: ‘He has to act swiftly and decisively now to get infections under control so that Christmas is not lost.

‘We were promised world-beating testing, but we haven’t even got a serviceable system.

‘It is astonishing that the Government didn’t anticipate that we would need to boost testing when children went back to school and people went back to work.’

Party animals in Nottingham seemed to shake off concerns about the coronavirus and social distancing as they gathered for a night out on Saturday.

Party animals in Nottingham seemed to shake off concerns about the coronavirus and social distancing as they gathered for a night out on Saturday.

Plenty of people were seen in on Saturday in large crowds at Stables Market in Camden, London, and in Nottingham, where people hit the pubs before they potentially close their doors again.

Long queues were seen around Nottingham, with security having to step in and ask people to space out more due to zero social distancing going on. Police and community protection were doing patrols. 

A sharp rise in the number of cases over recent weeks has triggered alarm in Downing Street, with the Government’s scientific advisers pushing for a ‘circuit breaking’ second lockdown – but Ministers led by Chancellor Rishi Sunak are warning of the devastating economic impact.

A No 10 source admitted last night: ‘It’s not looking good.’

In a carefully choreographed move, the advisers, including Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, are expected to release data showing the rise in cases at a public event tomorrow.

Mr Johnson could then make a televised appearance on Tuesday to set out new measures.

The extent, and the duration, of the new rules are still being discussed by Ministers, but are likely to include a nationwide curfew on pubs and a ban on the mixing of households.

The development came as:

  • The number of daily cases reached 4,422, the highest level since early May, with scientists fearing that infections are growing between two and seven per cent each day, with a national R rate between 1.1 and 1.4;
  • Sources said that Mr Whitty was on ‘resignation watch’ over fears he may quit if Ministers resist his calls for tougher restrictions – but Mr Johnson is said to be in Whitty’s ‘grip’;
  • Supermarkets ran out of online delivery slots as the spectre of a second national lockdown prompted fears of panic buying, as Morrisons introduced limits on the number of shoppers across its 500 supermarkets for the first time since the height of the pandemic in March;
  • Hospitality industry leaders warned they faced ‘economic disaster’ from a second lockdown with one in five of their venues – rising to a third in London – still closed and 900,000 employees on the Treasury furlough scheme which runs out at the end of October;
  • No 10 reacted angrily to a ‘brutal and personal’ report in The Times claiming that Mr Johnson was miserable and short of money;
  • Mr Sunak called for tough measures to balance the Treasury’s books in the wake of the Covid crisis, including a freeze on benefits and public sector pay, as officials mocked Mr Johnson’s ‘Operation Moonshot’ plan for mass testing as ‘Operation Moonf***’;
  • Anti-vaccine protesters clashed with police in London; leading to 32 arrests;
  • A third of the people recorded to have died from Covid in July and August may actually have passed away due to other causes, researchers at Oxford University suggested;
  • The British Medical Association called on the Government to consider further tightening rules about who can meet, in the wake of the rise in daily cases.
Under a 'carrot and stick' approach, 4 million people on low incomes who cannot work from home will receive a £500 lump sum if forced to self-isolate. Pictured: People sit on a terrace enjoying the weather in London

Under a ‘carrot and stick’ approach, 4 million people on low incomes who cannot work from home will receive a £500 lump sum if forced to self-isolate. Pictured: People sit on a terrace enjoying the weather in London

The Prime Minister said last night: ‘The best way we can fight this virus is by everyone following the rules and self-isolating if they’re at risk of passing on coronavirus. And so nobody underestimates just how important this is, new regulations will mean you are legally obliged to do so if you have the virus or have been asked to do so by NHS Test and Trace.

‘People who choose to ignore the rules will face significant fines. We need to do all we can to control the spread of this virus, to prevent the most vulnerable people from becoming infected, and to protect the NHS and save lives’.

Under the new rules, Test and Trace call handlers will make regular contact with those self-isolating and will pass on suspicions about those breaking the rules to local authorities and the police. 

But one Government adviser, Professor Robert Dingwall, argued that it would be premature to reintroduce tougher measures, especially as existing rules have become ‘unenforceable’ because people do not buy into the spirit of the restrictions.

Under the new rules, Test and Trace call handlers will make regular contact with those self-isolating and will pass on suspicions about those breaking the rules to local authorities and the police. Pictured: Members of the public sit outside a cafe in southwest London today

Under the new rules, Test and Trace call handlers will make regular contact with those self-isolating and will pass on suspicions about those breaking the rules to local authorities and the police. Pictured: Members of the public sit outside a cafe in southwest London today

People in southwest London made the most of the good weather today to visit cafes and sit outside in the sun

People in southwest London made the most of the good weather today to visit cafes and sit outside in the sun

‘There is a sense among some of the scientific advisers that the Government is perhaps jumping the gun,’ he said. 

‘It’s a bit premature to say that we’re on this exponential growth curve when we may just be drifting up to a stable situation at a slightly higher level than we were a few weeks ago, which you would expect with the re-opening of the economy.’

Prof Dingwall also asked whether ‘we are drifting towards a situation where people are quite comfortable with the idea that 20,000 people will die every year from Covid as we are comfortable with the idea that 20,000 people will die every year from influenza. And we shrug our shoulders and get on with our lives.

‘We need to be having more of a national conversation that starts from the lives of ordinary people and what is practical to achieve, and what the costs of these measures are.’ 

Rishi gets tough: Chancellor plans to FREEZE benefits and state pay 

Rishi Sunak is considering a freeze on benefits and public sector pay as he tries to get a grip on the spiralling cost of the coronavirus pandemic – and boost his own political ambitions.

With unemployment projected to rise to more than four million as a result of the crisis, the Chancellor has told fellow Ministers that he is deeply concerned about the long-term damage to the Treasury’s balance sheet.

In an attempt to claw back billions of pounds in economic bailouts, Mr Sunak has discussed scrapping inflation-linked increases to both welfare payments and public sector salaries – and is trying to persuade Boris Johnson to rip up the ‘triple lock’ which protects the income of pensioners.

It comes as Mr Sunak – whose public poll ratings during the pandemic have outstripped his colleagues, including the Prime Minister – has been making increasingly energetic efforts to meet ‘Red Wall’ MPs who entered Parliament in the 2019 Election to set out his political priorities.

This has led to mutterings on the Tory backbenches about the growing strength – and independence – of Mr Sunak’s operation.

Treasury staff are becoming increasingly outspoken about Downing Street’s grip on the Covid crisis, with Boris Johnson’s ‘Operation Moonshot’ plan to mass test ten million people a day by 2021 dismissively referred to in the department as a ‘Moonf***’ moneypit.

Mr Sunak has been the most hawkish Minister in the Government over the need to reopen the economy as quickly as possible, in the face of opposition from Health Secretary Matt Hancock and Government scientific advisers, led by Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty.

 

Has the second wave of panic-buying begun? Ocado and Sainsbury’s warn delivery slots are booking up fast as Britain braces for second lockdown 

By EMER SCULLY for MailOnline 

Ocado and Sainsbury’s have warned customers that delivery slots are booking up fast – as fears of a second wave appear to be fuelling the return of panic-buying.

The online supermarkets pasted notices on their ‘pick a slot’ page warning customers the sites were experiencing high demand.

Ocado’s read: ‘Delivery slots are selling out faster than usual. If you can’t find a slot now, please use the ‘Next 3 days’ button to see available slots further in advance.’

It comes as Government scientists spooked Boris Johnson with warnings of hundreds of daily coronavirus deaths ‘within weeks’ as they said: ‘There is no alternative to a second national lockdown’. 

A senior citizen gets the last pack of toilet rolls at a Sainsbury's Supermarket on March 19, 2020, in Northwich. A spate of panic buying in March saw supermarket shelves stripped bare

A senior citizen gets the last pack of toilet rolls at a Sainsbury’s Supermarket on March 19, 2020, in Northwich. A spate of panic buying in March saw supermarket shelves stripped bare

A notice on Sainsbury’s delivery slots page said: ‘Slots are still in high demand. We have been working hard to expand our service.  More slots are now available and we are able to offer some of them to other customers. 

‘Customers who are vulnerable will get priority access and are able to book slots in advance of anyone else. We’re releasing new slots regularly so please check back if you can’t see any available.’

Meanwhile Tesco was fully booked until Wednesday with an available slots all priced at £5.50 – and there were no available spaces until Monday at Asda. 

Tesco (pictured) was fully booked until Wednesday with an available slots all priced at £5.50

Tesco (pictured) was fully booked until Wednesday with an available slots all priced at £5.50

The Prime Minister is now threatening to ‘intensify’ coronavirus restrictions as he blames the British public for the rise in cases – despite his repeated pleas for people to return to their desks and eat out at pubs and restaurants in a bid to resuscitate Britain’s economy. 

It has led to concerns the nation could return to the days of panic shopping seen at the beginning of the pandemic in March. 

On March 19 shoppers formed queues outside supermarkets up and down the country from 6am and stripped shelves bare by 9am.

And Ocado was forced to shut down its website and app on March 18 after being swamped with orders. 

Customers were not be able to book a new delivery or edit existing orders. 

It comes as the Prime Minister looks to ditch his Rule of Six and introduce fortnight-long ‘circuit breakers’ nationwide for six months, following claims that it was ‘inevitable’ that a second wave would hit the country last night.  

Senior citizens walk past empty shelves as they shop at Sainsbury's Supermarket on March 19, 2020 in Northwich, United Kingdom

Senior citizens walk past empty shelves as they shop at Sainsbury’s Supermarket on March 19, 2020 in Northwich, United Kingdom

Hundreds of customers queued for more than an hour with empty trollys zig-zaging through the car park at Costco wholesale warehouse, Sunbury-on-Thames, on March 19

Hundreds of customers queued for more than an hour with empty trollys zig-zaging through the car park at Costco wholesale warehouse, Sunbury-on-Thames, on March 19

The new approach to get the UK through winter would see it alternate periods of stricter measures, including bans on all social contact between households and shutting down hospitality and leisure venues like bars and restaurants, with intervals of relaxation. Schools will be shut as a ‘last resort’, a Whitehall source claimed.

It is understood that the new ‘circuit break’ shutdown could be announced via television press conference on Tuesday, in a move reminiscent of the Government’s behaviour during the peak of the pandemic.  

Visiting the Vaccines Manufacturing Innovation Centre construction site near Oxford, Mr Johnson said: ‘What I can certainly say about parents and schools is we want to keep the schools open, that is going to happen.

‘We want to try and keep all parts of the economy open as far as we possibly can – I don’t think anybody wants to go into a second lockdown but clearly when you look at what is happening, you have got to wonder whether we need to go further than the rule of six that we have brought in on Monday, so we will be looking at the local lockdowns we have got in large parts of the country now, looking at what we can do to intensify things that help bring the rate of infection down there, but also looking at other measures as well.’ 

Officials, including England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty and chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance, are thought to be arguing for tough restrictions as panic within official circles grows. 

Today the Government’s original lockdown architect, Professor Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London, recommended ‘rolling back’ freedoms ‘sooner rather than later’ by ‘reducing contact rates between people’.  

The epidemiologist, who was sacked from SAGE for flouting his own lockdown rules, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘Right now we’re at about the levels of infections that we were seeing in late February, if we leave it at another two to four weeks we will be back at levels we were seeing more like mid March. 

Customers were seen shopping as shelves sat empty amid a nationwide panic on March 20

Customers were seen shopping as shelves sat empty amid a nationwide panic on March 20

‘That’s going to clearly cause deaths… I think some additional measures are likely to be needed sooner rather than later, the timing of any more intensive policy, temporary policy, is open to question’. 

But the measures are thought to have been met with protests from Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who has warned against introducing new blanket restrictions by pointing to huge damage already inflicted to the economy.

Government sources claim that Mr Sunak gave ‘sombre warnings’ to the Prime Minister as he highlighted the severity of the damage caused to the UK economy as a result of the March lockdown – while Mr Johnson shrugged off the ‘grim’ economic forecasts, claiming that ‘he was confident it will all be OK in the end’.  

Business leaders echoed the Chancellor’s concerns and warned that a second lockdown would tank the economy, with the British Chambers of Commerce saying: ‘Uncertainty and speculation around future national restrictions will sap business and consumer confidence at a delicate moment for the economy’.   

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