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

Concession ‘not worth the paper it isn’t written on’ - Chris Bryant

Some MPs are less than convinced by the government’s concession - with Labour’s Chris Bryant telling the Commons parliament needed to see some details on how parliament will be consulted on future legislation.

Here he is on Twitter:

Mental health safeguard legislation to be returned to norm - Hancock

Matt Hancock has announced modifications to mental health legislation which meant a person can be detained under the opinion of just one doctor will be removed from the Coronavirus Act.

He told MPs: "Now I also want to come to a measure that we will not be renewing, because I said that we will only keep measures in place for as long as necessary.

"And I can tell the House that there is one area where we will revoke a power which was part of the original Act.

"When creating the Act, we included provisions to modify mental health legislation to reduce from two to one the number of doctors opinions needed to detain someone under the Mental Health Act and to extend legal time limits to the detention of mental health patients.

"These were always powers of last resort and I was not persuaded, even in the peak, that they were necessary because our mental health services have shown incredible resilience and ingenuity.

"So I've decided that these powers are no longer required in England and will not remain part of the Act and will bring forward the necessary secondary legislation to sunset these provisions."

24-hour-up-close-and-personal-party-people

The government has come out strongly against “up close and personal partying”.

It comes after students at Coventry University were seen attending a large flat party, with Tory Marco Longhi decrying that “some students were behaving in a shameful way” with their "up-close-and-personal partying".

Mr Hancock replied in the Commons: "The need for all of us, all of us, to exercise responsibility in a world where a virus can pass asymptomatically without anybody knowing that they have it is sadly a feature of life during this pandemic that I hope will be over sooner rather than later.

"And so I agree with (Mr Longhi)."

Government urged to publish monthly review on virus impact in different communities

Nick Thomas-Symonds said the Government should publish a monthly review of the impact of coronavirus on different groups across the community.

The shadow home secretary said: "Some of the most vulnerable people have borne the brunt of this virus and this government's failings and we've also seen that across our communities that the impact has not been evenly felt. Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities have been some of the worst hit by the virus itself and the economic fallout, and disabled people and those with underlying health conditions have made up 59% of the Covid deaths to date.

"In spite of this, the government has not done enough work on equality impact assessments, on measures or made the necessary evidence available so we can openly debate and vote to address these deep inequalities. And this is an all or nothing motion today that we're faced with.

"But let me put the Government on notice that we will not tolerate any discrimination in our society as a consequence of the implementation of these measures. And that's why I say to the Government today they should not be waiting another six months. They should publish a monthly review on the impact of this virus on individuals and groups together with those detailed impact assessments."

Tory MP issues furious response to length of government debate

Tory Sir Charles Walker has let loose his fury over the government’s allowance for just 90 minutes to hear response on the coronavirus bill

Earlier in the debate Matt Hancock had said he was bound by the timings of the debate - with the speaker promptly responding that he would have been given more time had he asked for it.

MPs vote on the coronavirus bill

While Boris Johnson is leading a press conference on the virus from number 10, MPs are currently voting to renew the coronavirus bill, a vote which is expected to pass with some dissent from MPs angry over the lack of scrutiny applied to the government’s measures.

To check out what Mr Johnson is up to, head over to our coronavirus liveblog via the link below:

MPs approve renewal of emergency coronavirus powers

After days of agitation from the Commons, MPs have approved a motion to renew emergency coronavirus powers by 330 votes to 24, majority 306.

Hancock heralds renewal of coronavirus powers

Search continues for offshore asylum centre location, after Priti Patel’s Ascension Island suggestion rejected

The government has not ruled out using remote islands to process asylum seekers and illegal migrants offshore, despite concluding that the Atlantic Ocean outposts of Ascension and St Helena are too far away.

On repeated questioning from reporters over whether ministers were still considering the plan – potentially using islands in the English Channel or off the coast of Scotland – Boris Johnson’s official spokesman would say only that the UK was looking at systems which have been used elsewhere in the world.

His comments have fuelled suspicions that the UK may follow in the footsteps of Australia, where asylum seekers attempting to cross into the country were held in detention centres on Nauru and Manus Islands in Papua New Guinea.

More below:

Public support exists for off-shore asylum centre - poll

Priti Patel’s consideration of an offshore asylum centre has drawn outrage and anger from opposition politicians - but it appears to be quite popular with Conservative voters and the public in general, according to a snap YouGov poll.

YouGov asked 2109 British adults “It has been reported that the UK government were considering building a new asylum processing centre (a place where asylum seekers stay while claims are processed) on Ascension Island, a UK territory around 5,000 miles from the UK. Do you think this is a good or bad idea?”

Some 40 per cent of all adults were in favour, compared to 35 per cent who said it was a bad idea. Among Tory voters that rose to 62 per cent in favour and 21 per cent opposed. 

Only 25 per cent of 18-24 year olds were in favour, compared to 51 per cent of the over 65s.