Brexit news – live: Michael Gove backs Boris Johnson as more MPs join Tory rebellion over bill

‘Stop clapping, start paying’

Frontline NHS workers, many of whom have been helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic, have protested to demand better wages.

Campaigners in central London, many wearing scrubs or other NHS uniforms, held banners which read “stop clapping, start paying,” “priceless yet penniless” and “640 healthcare workers dead, blood on their hands” alongside images of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Demonstrators began a march to Trafalgar Square after a two-minute silence in honour of 640 healthcare workers who have died during the pandemic.

The protest comes after nurses were excluded from the wage increase for around 900,000 public sector workers announced in July because they are in the final year of a three-year agreement. The pay increase does not apply to junior doctors after they agreed a four-year deal last year.

Opinion: Keir Starmer resembles an armadillo

I don’t mean it in a negative way when I say that Starmer is a well-armoured, compact, defensive unit. His political style is to give little away and to guard against attacks from natural predators such as Boris Johnson, writes John Rentoul  in this piece for Indy Voices.

Parents plead for children to be exempt from ‘rule of six’

Parents in England have urged the government to rethink its “rule of six” after it barred one family from seeing an ill 95-year-old great-grandparent, while a single mother of six has been stopped from receiving any help with childcare.

Many parents of larger families who spoke to the PA news agency felt it was unfair that people could go to pubs, play sports and commute into offices while they and their children were separated from friends and family.

Sarah Pearson, 41, from Norwich, has six children, five of whom are at school and live with her at home.

The trainee teaching assistant told PA: “It will cause tears, I am already the parent being strict and saying we play outside and no to sleepovers when others are doing them. And we are being careful. It’s another thing that separates them from friends

“These kids are all in classes together at school but can’t play in the park together on the way home from school. It’s a nonsense.”

Ms Pearson called on the government to be “sensible like Scotland and Wales” and exempt children from the rule, which can lead to fines of between £100 and £3,200 if breached.

Another parent with children aged four, six, eight and 10 now faces the prospect of being banned from spending Christmas with her ill elderly grandfather.

“He’s 95, was in great health until very recently and my Nan is 90. All they want is to be with the great-grand-children for Christmas,” said the mother, who asked not to be named.

Michael Gove has insisted England will not exempt children from the six person restrictions on social gatherings, despite both Scotland and Wales doing so, Ashley Cowburn reports.

Resisting pressure from Tory backbenchers, the Cabinet Office minister, who was reporedtly instrumental in pushing for the new rules, also signalled support for a proposal to introduce fines for those breaking self-isolation guidelines.

Unveiling the first national restrictions since the government started easing the lockdown, Boris Johnson said on Wednesday the police will have the powers to disperse groups larger than six and impose fines for those flouting the law.

Health experts question ‘enormous cost’ of Operation Moonshot

An NHS chief and other health experts have said the government should consider redirecting funds from the estimated £100bn bill for Operation Moonshot to other parts of the country’s coronavirus response.

Figures from NHS Providers and Independent Sage group have called into question the government’s new mass testing programme, which aims to increase the UK’s capacity to 10 million tests a day.

No 10 is hoping to roll out rapid-fire Covid-19 tests within the wider community that could provide a result in just 20 minutes, but critics have pointed out that the appropriate technology does not yet exist – something the government has openly acknowledged.

Samuel Lovett has more details in this piece:

PM faces four Brexit rebellions – including one from himself

The prime minister, having called a general election to secure the backing of his party and his country for his “oven-ready deal” with the EU, having purged the Tory party of almost all its moderate voices, and having won an 80-seat majority for doing it, now faces four separate rebellions over the deal, one of which is his own, writes Tom Peck in this piece for Indy Voices.

Gove backs PM in warning Brussels could break up UK

Michael Gove has joined Boris Johnson in warning Brussels could break up the UK if MPs do not approve controversial legislation to override parts of the Brexit deal.

Cabinet Office minister Mr Gove echoed the prime minister in declaring the EU could put “at threat the integrity” of the Union, and insisted the government could see off a Tory rebellion.

He told BBC Breakfast: “We’re doing our part – generously – to help protect the EU’s own single market, but we’re clear that what we can’t have even as we’re doing all that is the EU disrupting and putting at threat the integrity of the United Kingdom.”

“These steps are a safety net, they’re a long-stop in the event, which I don’t believe will come about but we do need to be ready for, that the EU follow through on what some have said they might do which is in effect to separate Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom.”

Mr Gove conceded that “we are reaching a crunch moment”, but insisted “we have got the support of our own MPs”.

Boris Johnson has urged Conservative MPs to back the UK Internal Market Bill, which the government has admitted breaches international law, to end EU threats to install a “blockade” in the Irish Sea.

Tobias Ellwood says he won’t support bill ‘unamended’

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has said he “cannot support” the new UK Internal Market Bill “unamended”.The Bournemouth East MP tweeted: “Unamended I cannot support this Bill.

“Let’s secure Brexit-but remember what we stand for.

“Already this Bill is damaging brand UK, diminishing our role-model status as defender of global standards. As we go to the wire let’s see more British statecraft-less Nixonian Madman Theory”

‘Rule of six is destroying my outdoor adventure business’

It wasn’t quite one of those “everyone remembers where they were when they heard” moments, but it was close, writes Sam Sutton in this piece for Indy Voices.

When news first came through of the UK government’s “rule of six” restrictions, my blood ran cold. Initially, it appeared the new rules would amount to a second lockdown in all but name, and I feared the worst.

During lockdown I had to close my outdoor activity centre, New Forest Activities, for two months. All our summer group bookings were cancelled, wiping out almost half of our annual turnover. The prospect of the same thing happening again scarcely bears thinking about.

Self-isolation flouters could face fines

Flouting self-isolation rules could be punishable with a fine under new rules reportedly being considered by ministers in a bid to stem rising coronavirus infections, Vincent Wood reports.

Ministers have also discussed establish a hotline for reporting breaches of requirements for people identified as at risk of carrying Covid-19, a cabinet source told The Times.  

Police forces have already been given the power to issue £1,000 fines to anyone flouts the 14-day quarantine order after arriving in the nation from a country with high rates of the virus.

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