Boris Johnson insisted no child would go hungry this winter due to “inattention” by his government as his government tried to quieten an ongoing backlash over its refusal to extend food aid over the school holidays. Amid increasing anger from Tory MPs forced to vote down Labour’s motion last week, the Times (paywall) reported that Downing Street figures have begun a partial climbdown from their stance against Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign and are planning to increase funding for the poorest families during the Christmas holidays. However, throughout the day, ministers continued to defend the government’s provision of welfare during the pandemic, despite pressure from local governments (including several Tory-run councils) that resources were stretched and more direct action from central government was needed.
It came on the first day of the October half-term, which saw hospitality businesses, local authorities and charities step in to provide free meals for disadvantaged children in their communities. The prime minister also confirmed he had not spoken to Rashford since the U-turn on free school meals during the summer.
Warrington will move into tier 3 restrictions at midnight tonight amid rising infection rates, the government confirmed. Pubs and bars will close unless they can operate as a restaurant and people will be largely banned from mixing with anybody outside their household or support bubble. Betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos and soft play centres will also close. The council will receive a financial support package of £1.68m to help contact tracing and enforcement as well as £4.2m in business support from the government.
The Welsh government discussed its ban on the sale of non-essential items in supermarkets with companies, after it was heavily criticised over the weekend for creating confusion among retailers over what is considered “essential”, in a bid to ensure greater clarity in how the rules are applied.
It comes as Tesco apologised after a store in Wales wrongly told a customer she couldn’t buy period products due to the government’s firebreak guidance on non-essential items. The Welsh health minister, Vaughan Gething, said he was “saddened” to hear of the incident and the Welsh government moved quickly to correct the supermarket, highlighting that hygiene products are essential items.
Boots is to roll out a new coronavirus testing service it says can return results from swab tests in just 12 minutesover the next few weeks. The price will be £120a test.
That’s it from me for today! Thank you so much for reading along and to everybody who got in touch to share tips throughout the day. To continue following our coronavirus coverage, head over to the global live blog.
In Breightmet, an area of Bolton in Greater Manchester, volunteers at a community outreach group were loading up cars with bags full of ingredients for disadvantaged families to make packed lunches with during half-term.
Set up by Dorothy Foster, 69, and Jean Barrass, 52, seven years ago, Reach Family Project would usually be helping families in the area with things like money management skills, after a referral from schools or social services.
But the team of five headed out to deliver 50 free school meals packs – including bread, cheese, crisps, bananas, pasta and beans – which will benefit 250 people, off the back of Marcus Rashford’s campaign.
“We only made the decision on Friday as a result of the government’s decision [to vote down the extension of free school meals during school holidays],” said Barrass, a former safeguarding lead at a primary school.
It’s been non-stop this weekend.
Reach Family Project in Bolton deliver food parcels to their local community to help feed children in the school holidays. Photograph: Mark Waugh/The Guardian
The effort was being run from volunteer Angela Barry’s house, which is situated in the former “red wall” seat of Bolton North East, where Mark Logan is the Conservative MP. On Wednesday, Logan voted against Labour’s motion to extend the provision of free school meals during holidays until Easter 2021.
Barry, 33, said the group were trying to stay “unpolitical” about the subject, and “that it was too early to judge if [the government] was right or wrong”. Barrass, who said she struggled financially after being widowed at 37 with two young children, said the decision had made her “blood boil”, adding:
These are children, these are the future of our generation. [MPs] get everything they want on expenses. Their expenses cover the cost of hundreds and hundreds of meals.
The government grants that usually fund the group’s work did not cover the cost of the demand they have received since posting about the free school meals, so Reach has set up a GoFundMe page instead.
But Phil Hart, 59, who became one of the group’s trustees after a 40-year career in banking, said the “generosity” of the public and local businesses alone “is probably not enough” to feed children throughout school holidays.
It shouldn’t be political. I’ve never gone to bed hungry so why should anybody else. We’re the fourth richest nation in the world, this shouldn’t be happening.
Dorothy with her load about to leave to deliver free school meal packs. Photograph: Mark Waugh/The Guardian
Warrington will move to tier 3 at midnight, government confirms
The UK government has confirmed that Warrington will move to the highest tier of coronavirus restrictions from 00:01 on Tuesday.
The tier 3 rules mean pubs and bars will close unless they can operate as a restaurant and people are largely banned from mixing with anybody outside their household or support bubble.
Betting shops, adult gaming centres, casinos and soft play centres will also close.
The council will receive a financial support package of £1.68m to help contact tracing and enforcement as well as £4.2m in business support from the government.
The health and social care secretary, Matt Hancock, said:
Infection rates are rising in Warrington, and we have agreed with local leaders that it’s time to take action.
I know that these new measures will mean sacrifices must be made by the people in Warrington, and I want to extend my thanks to each and every one of them for recognising the severity of the situation and sticking to the rules.
We have agreed a support package designed to help businesses while boosting efforts to control the virus locally, and will not hesitate to take similar action in any area of the country if infection rates continue to rise. Please remember - now is the time for us all to work together to get this virus under control.
My colleague Aamna Mohdin has spent the day at Hillingdon foodbank, which supports families in the prime minister Boris Johnson’s constituency. They saw a record number of donations over the weekend off the back of Marcus Rashford’s campaign. Here is her report.
The volunteers at Hillingdon Crisis Support Service in north-west London haven’t had much sleep this weekend. The team of 10 have been working around the clock to get a week’s worth of lunches ready for children over half-term.
The team at Hillingdon crisis support service serve families in Boris Johnson’s constituency. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
The widespread anger at the government’s decision to refuse to provide 1.4 million disadvantaged children in England with £15 a week in food vouchers during holidays is particularly acute here: many of the families being supported by the centre live in prime minister Boris Johnson’s constituency.
“Where is Boris?” 55-year-old Kim Brigdale, the food bank manger asked.
Have you seen any of them in a food bank? Can you see any of them trying to sort out free school meals for the kids?
She points to receipts posted on the fridge for goods that the team of volunteers have bought with their own money.
Over the weekend, the Hillingdon Crisis Support Service had a record number of donations to provide children with free lunch meals following a call for help posted on Facebook.
One brown bag has five days’ worth of the government recommended lunches for a single child. It contains half a loaf of bread; the option of jam, chocolate spread or ham; cheese; 100g pasta with sauce; two packets of biscuits; one jelly; two french fries; three types of fruit; and two yoghurts. There is a vegan and gluten free option. Each bag costs around £4, which a volunteer pointed out is a fraction of the cost of what MPs’ can expense on food a day.
Brown bags, each holding five days worth of the government recommended lunches for a single child. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian
For co-founder Joanna Murphy, food poverty is an issue she personally understands. When her partner was unable to work after an accident, she was forced to go to a local food bank to feed her children. She said the experience was so horrible, she left crying. She vowed to create a welcoming, non-judgmental space for the families who slip through the crack.
If we don’t look after each other, these children are not going to be fed, there are going to be parents that feel like they’re failures.
She described Johnson as the opposite of Robin Hood.
He takes away from the people when he is supposed to work for the people. He is supposed to better this nation.
In the early afternoon, community champions from the supermarket Morrisons responded to the Facebook callout with 30 lunches that they would deliver every day this week. The centre was delighted. Murphy said:
He’s [Johnson] not doing his job for the people. We are doing his job as communities, businesses, and volunteers.
Throughout the day, families turned up to pick up the free school meal bags, including a 16-year-old who picked up lunches for himself and his sibling.
Gemma Pugh, a 26-year-old mother of three, said Murphy and the centre provided an essential service, giving them food, blankets, and pillows for her family. She is deeply frustrated by the vote against providing free school meals.
How much does it cost to give a child a school meal? It’s a couple of pound a child and he [Johnson] can’t provide it, but he can provide these high pays for other people, but forget about the children that will be the next generation that is coming up in society. If we don’t provide for them, then what is going to be left in this world?
The defence secretary Ben Wallace insisted the UK government had been “incredibly generous” during the pandemic.
He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme:
People have access to universal credit and in response to this issue of Covid, we’ve increased that by over £1,000 a year. At the same time we’ve given local authorities £63m in England and Wales to be able to focus specifically on families in need.
He added:
The government will always look at cases as they come in front of them, that is part of the function of the government, which is to problem-solve as we see something.
If there is still need or if this Covid crisis continues to kick in and more lockdowns happen, of course the government will look at other alternatives, or other solutions. We’re not going to sit there in a static environment.
He went on:
Overall this government has been, from everything from business rate relief, to wages subsidies, to increase in benefits, has been incredibly generous with tax receipts to make sure we get through this crisis.
I don’t think anyone can say - our schemes are some of the most generous in Europe - and I think as a result people will understand that we’re always trying to make sure that when we help, we help those most in need, but at the same time balance the other requirements of the economy and indeed of public spending.
The debate over the government’s provision of free school meals during the holidays sounds like it is from Victorian times, according to GeorgeThe Poet.
The spoken word artist, whose real name is George Mpanga, added that it is “weird” the cause had to be taken up by footballer Marcus Rashford before it became an issue that is widely discussed.
The Manchester United player has been campaigning for pupils who normally receive free meals during term time to be fed for no charge during school holidays.
Mpanga told the PA news agency:
It’s weird that we are having conversations that sound like they are from the Victorian era in 2020.
It is weird that Marcus Rashford, as much as I love and respect what he’s about and what he’s chosen to represent, it is weird that it falls on his shoulders, or he’s had to take up the mantle.
The Liberal Democrats have said the prime minister’s promises about feeding children through the winter (see 12.22pm.) do “not ring true”. The party’s education spokeswoman Daisy Cooper MP said:
Boris Johnson’s claim does not ring true given his hard-hearted refusal to U-turn on free school meals.
The idea that other measures will make up for the lack of provision just won’t wash - people know the real struggles that families are enduring.
That is why so many communities and businesses have stepped in to provide support while this callous government stands by.
The Liberal Democrats want to see a firm commitment from the Conservatives not only to extending free school meals through holiday periods, but also expanding eligibility to ensure any child from a family receiving universal credit can access this lifeline.
There have been a further 1,158 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Wales, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 43,839. Public Health Wales said six further deaths had been reported, with the total rising to 1,783.
The Conservative MP Danny Kruger, who voted against the extension of the free schools meal scheme, has just spoken on Sky News.
“We’re all in agreement that we’ve got to stop children going hungry this half-term and through holidays, but the question is how best to do that,” he says. “For years everybody who’s worked with children and young people and the disadvantaged as I have and the Labour party have agreed that supermarket vouchers are the wrong way to do that.”
He argues that vouchers are stigmatising and that cash is more helpful for those who need money in their pocket, while other families need more support and human contact.
Danny Kruger. Composite: UK Parliament
Kruger is challenged about councils where allocated money has already run out because they were told to spend it in 12 weeks. “There’s a lot of money that they get that’s un-ringfenced,” he says. “Money is tight ... hundreds of billions of pounds are being spent to shore up the economy and put money into people’s pockets.”
He accuses Labour of being “quite cynical” and “jumping on a bandwagon” to back a policy he claims they previously opposed. The thrust of his argument is that local support is more useful than a centralised system - but he is unable to point to any new money available for hungry children.
He does acknowledge that the government has “definitely lost” the debate that Marcus Rashford started and “been slow to get our argument over”. He adds: “I think we have a lot of explaining to do about why our approach is the right one.”
NHS England has published its latest figures on the number of deaths in hospitals in England. It says that 91 more people have died, bringing the total reported in hospitals there to 21,910.
The patients were aged between 44 and 95. All had known underlying health conditions.
The deaths were between 24 September and 25 October, with the majority being on or after 23 October. Three other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.
NHS must take over test and trace, scientists warn
Robert Booth
Leading scientists have called for an urgent change in control of the UK’s struggling test and trace system warning it will fail to prevent a third wave of infection unless it is taken over by the NHS.
Independent Sage, a group of scientists set up to scrutinise the government’s coronavirus response, said the £12bn system should be removed from the control of Dido Harding and the private companies Deloitte and Serco. They want laboratories to be taken over by the NHS and tracing to be run by local directors of public health with the money currently going into private contracts redirected.
It follows a call at the weekend by the leading Conservative backbencher Bernard Jenkin for Harding to quit after last week’s test and trace data showed its performance was getting worse not better. Less than 60% of close contacts are being reached, while test turnaround times rose to nearly 48 hours.
The government’s own scientific advisers warned last month the system was having only “a marginal impact on transmission”. Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said on Thursday rising caseloads are “diminishing its effectiveness”.
“We argue strongly now is the time to come up with a structure that allows test and trace to be assimilated into the existing [health] infrastructure,” said Deenan Pillay, professor of virology at University College London and a leading member of Independent Sage. “This is important because when infections come down, that is the time we need really well-functioning test and trace to prevent further lockdowns and surges”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said on Monday that he “continues to have full confidence in Dido Harding”.
“NHS test and trace has built a testing capacity of over 360,000-a-day from a starting point of 2,000-a-day in March – that is a bigger figure per head than in France, Germany, Italy and Spain. 1.1 million have been contacted and told to self-isolate,” they said. “But as you’ve also heard the prime minister say, the system does need to improve especially in terms of the turnaround times for tests and we expect that to happen.”
My colleague Mattha Busby has interviewed frontline workers about their experiences of the pandemic.
An intensive care nurse in central London says:
The first time round there was a sense of we’re all in this, let’s sort it out, but now there’s a sense of real frustration. It’s very difficult to maintain the same level of working and motivation as before, and NHSstaff across the capital are increasingly exhibiting PTSD symptoms.
And this is from a paramedic in the north-west:
The demand for ambulances for patients with a variety of conditions is worse than at the peak of the pandemic. Staff are exhausted, we’ve not had the opportunity to stop and hospitals are filling up. Back in March and April, we had additional support from students and medical professionals in administrative roles – along with extra vehicles, but none of this is available any more, and we have people going off sick. PPE is still not the best, it’s nothing more than what you see people wearing to make a bacon sandwich.
This is Archie Bland, covering UK coronavirus live for the next hour.
Labour’s Kate Green has issued a statement on the free school meals row:
Warm words from Boris Johnson will do nothing for the over 1.4 million children at risk of going hungry this half term that he and his MPs refused to help last week.
Labour will not give up on the children and families let down by this government and we will hold the prime minister to his word, forcing another vote in parliament if necessary.
The government must now make children a national priority, and ensure that no child goes hungry.
The UK government’s own advisory committee on social mobility has backed Marcus Rashford’s campaign on free school meals.
The Social Mobility Commission urged the government to extend free school meals during school holidays until Covid-19 restrictions are lifted.
A commission spokesman said:
We know that the current pandemic is having its greatest impact on the poorest regions in Britain where people are already struggling to afford food for their families.
Our recent report - The Long Shadow of Deprivation - identified some of the ‘coldest’ social mobility spots in the country and many of these are now in the higher tiers of Covid restrictions.
Our earlier research this year showed that 600,000 more children are in poverty than in 2012.
We believe the government should do all it can to start reversing that trend. It should begin by ensuring that all children are properly fed.
But it needs to go much further. We now need a much more ambitious programme to combat child poverty.
In this Guardian video, Boris Johnson claims that no child will go hungry this winter and says he “salutes” Marcus Rashford. The prime minister defended the government’s position saying that councils had been given extra cash and universal credit had increased.
Boris Johnson claims no child will go hungry as he 'salutes' Marcus Rashford – video
A petition demanding an end to “subsidised” meals for MPs on the parliamentary estate has attracted more than 900,000 signatures.
It comes after the government whipped MPs to vote against extending food aid for children from low-income backgrounds during school holidays until Easter 2021. The vote followed a campaign by Marcus Rashford.
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