Thread by @Telegraph

🔴 Boris Johnson to give update as pressure mounts on him to say when schools will reopen

Sources have told the Telegraph that the Prime Minister will set out the criteria for lifting lockdown next month.

Follow our liveblog for all the crucial updates: telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…

Boris Johnson starts his address to the Commons by offering condolences to all those who have lost loved ones and says the most important thing we can do is to persevere in our efforts against the virus

He says the bet way to honour their memory is to persevere with the vaccine rollout, with more than 6.8 m people - 13 per cent of the adult population - vaccinated.

Follow our liveblog for all the key updates: telegraph.co.uk/politics/2021/…

Now he turns to the border question

▶️ All arrivals from high risk countries who cannot be refused entry to isolate in "Government provided accommodation, such as hotels, for 10 days, without exception."

▶️ "They will be met at the airport and transported there".

Boris Johnson then turns to schools.

The R-rate appears to have dropped, but we do not have enough data "to judge the full effect of vaccines in blocking transmission," he says.

The overall picture should be clearer by mid-February

Schools will not reopen immediately after February half-term.

When Parliament returns after February recess, in the week starting 22 Feb, the PM will publish the results of a review "and our plan for taking the country out of lockdown"

Two weeks' notice will be given

Boris Johnson says a long-term plan will be developed to help students catch up.

It is "disappointing for all of us" that schools cannot open, but as more people are vaccinated "hour by hour" we must "hold our nerve in the end game"

Sir Keir Starmer notes:

📌 The UK is the first country in Europe to suffer 100,000 deaths

📌 Great Britain has the deepest recession of any major economy

📌 Some 20% of deaths are from care home residents

The Labour leader says, "The truth is, this was not inevitable. It was the result of a huge number of mistakes by the Prime Minister"

Boris Johnson attacks Sir Keir Starmer.

He says it is a "great pity" that the Labour leader hasn't been more collaborative, and that his proposal to add teachers to the vaccine priority list would take supply from vulnerable groups

More than 30,000 people are contracting Covid-19 in the UK every day.

Jeremy Hunt asks if a "blanket" financial offer to anyone who is asked to self isolate "could be cheaper" than any alternatives

Ian Blackford says poverty is a growing crisis, and it can't wait until the Budget. He asks for certainty on furlough, self-employed support schemes and the Universal Credit uplift.

The PM says, "I hope he will abandon his narrow nationalist position"

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey notes the UK has the worst per-capita death rate in the world.

He asks if the PM will launch an inquiry this year.

Boris Johnson says, "The entire British state is working flat out to bring that virus under control.. now is not the right time"

Richard Drax asks if the PM agrees that "lives and livelihoods" now depend on "a more proportionate response" to the pandemic.

Boris Johnson says the vaccination programme will continue and on Feb 15 they "will look at where we are, and a roadmap will be set out on February 26

Jim Shannon asks if teachers will be a priority for the vaccination, and about the UK's supplies.

Boris Johnson dodges the question

Do you think teachers should be prioritised for the vaccine? 💉

Jane Stevenson says many of her constituents are worried they will miss out on the vaccine because they can't get to a hub.

Boris Johnson says "they need have no anxiety about that" - they will be able to go to GPs or even be vaccinated "in their own home"