Sorry, PMQs really isn't about me - I just wasn't expecting that.
KS notes that rates have risen tenfold in some places under restrictions; yet the PM says it's 'too early to say' whether they're working.
PM: We're continuing to provide £5bn of support for the NW and NE under restrictions.
[Anyone recognise that number? It doesn't immediately seem familiar.]
KS goes through the rates in eg Bury, Bolton when measures came in, vs now. Will he 'level' with ppl there: what's the problem there?
PM: The problem is the disease continues to spread. We're doing a combo of local/national measures. Sometimes KS seems to support; sometimes not
PM: Does he support rule of 6, yes or no?
KS: Yes. [heckling]. But if he doesn't listen to communities saying rates have risen tenfold under restrictions then that's a problem.
Pretty fractious PMQs this, unsurprisingly.
KS notes that in Kirklees had measures brought in when rates were 22/100k. In others, like Hillingdon, not so much. Why?
PM: We're working on a new framework on this.
KS: What's the basis for the 10pm rule? If there's evidence, why not publish it? Will he do so before the House votes on it on Mon?
PM: You accepted this measure two weeks ago; it was designed to reduce the spread of the virus.
PM is going for Labour as flip floppers.
"That's not new leadership; that's no leadership."
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More than half the new cases in Manchester are among students, many in halls. Huge frustration in the system here that this was foreseeable; a feeling that there wasn’t and still isn’t a national plan for student return and that lockdown might end up being the price.
Should add that Manchester, politically, remains fiercely opposed to an economic lockdown, largely for that reason (although I imagine that would have always been the case). Suspect we’ll see a swift move towards the north lobbying with one voice, as per recent letters to govt.
That’s not to say that universities themselves have escaped criticism either and the situation with MMU’s lockdown was frankly a PR disaster. But the problem is, the students are back now, paying 9k a year to sit in a flat watching lectures, many self isolating. It’s a mess.
Starting to understand this a bit better. Pillar one labs talk direct to PHE’s database. Pillar two don’t, hence the ridiculous spreadsheet workaround. But surely the bigger q is: why don’t pillar 2 labs talk to PHE’s database (still)? news.sky.com/story/coronavi…
And yes I am being a nerd about this, but it matters. That statement yesterday didn’t feel like it gave the full picture. DHSC are the data controllers here; they also commissioned the Lighthouse Labs. Blaming PHE solely provides ministerial distance
It also feels like a function of the same/similar issues that were seen with Pillar 2 data earlier in the pandemic, as I think @EdConwaySky is alluding to. Which explains partly why local officials are *just so mad* about this.
Worth reiterating from my thread yesterday that some of these contact tracing delays don’t sound insignificant. Have heard of one case in Oldham that took almost fortnight to reach local teams; yesterday’s data release apparently included Bolton cases dating back to Sept 19.
Both areas have very high infection rates, obviously.
At the same time there’s this: the mystery of ‘local by default’ contact tracing, announced by govt over the summer. Hasn’t happened. Councils are proactively setting up their own systems, but the national one doesn’t seem to have changed (computer glitch aside).
The concerns I’m getting so far re this massive anomaly/backlog in Covid statistics relates to contact tracing as much as anything else. The ‘computer problem’ the PM referred to this morning appears to have resulted in massive delays in positive cases getting to contact tracers
And particularly local contact tracing teams.
This sounds pretty bad, from the messages I’ve been getting here.
One v well placed local source: ‘Basically it was clear last week the national computer systems weren’t working.’ 😬
New: Sounds like Bolton is being taken out of its extra pub restrictions, after Matt Hancock announced it is being brought it in line with the rest of GM. No extra restrictions for GM atm. This is what GM leaders had wanted
(And Tory MPs in Bolton.)
Extra measures for other NW places though: Liverpool city region and Warrington