The UK recorded 49,298 new Covid cases on Friday and a further 180 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, the latest government figures show.
The seven-day average shows that cases have risen by 18.1% in the last week, while deaths are up by 15.8%.
Boris Johnson said that the government sees “absolutely nothing to indicate that [a full lockdown] is on the cards at all” when asked to rule out a shutdown with ““stay at home” advice and shops closing this winter.
Johnson refused to commit to wearing a face mask in parliament following a call by health secretary Sajid Javid for MPs to do so.
Former Labour MP Frank Field asked peers to back efforts to relax the law on assisted dying as it was announced he is terminally ill.
That’s all from me for today after a slightly stop-start afternoon. You can follow the latest UK Covid developments over on our global blog – that’s here:
Some 5.3 million booster Covid shots administered across UK
An estimated 5.3 million booster Covid shots have been administered in the UK, new figures show.
A total of 4,524,517 doses have been delivered in England, along with 429,801 in Scotland, 322,591 in Wales and 43,536 in Northern Ireland.
The figures means about one in nine double-vaccinated people in the UK are likely to have also received a booster.
Wales has the highest proportion of double-jabbed people who have had a booster, at 14.4%, analysis by PA shows. The figure for England is 11.9%, with 11.1% for Scotland and 3.5% for Northern Ireland.
Here’s a breakdown in England and Wales by age group (this data is not yet available for Scotland and Northern Ireland):
More than half (53.6%) of double-jabbed people aged 80 and over in England, compared with 47.2% in Wales.
Some 39.8% of eligible 75 to 79-year-olds in England have had a booster, along with 30.6% in Wales.
The UK has recorded 49,298 new Covid cases and a further 180 deaths within 28 days of a positive test, the latest government figures show.
This is a fall from yesterday, when daily infections surpassed 50,000 for the first time since July to reach 52,009.
The seven-day average shows that cases have risen by 18.1% in the last week, while deaths are up by 15.8%.
The latest rise comes as Boris Johnson told there was “absolutely nothing” to suggest a winter lockdown was on the cards this afternoon, following similar statements on Thursday when he told broadcasters that he would not be switching to “plan B”.
The British Medical Association accused the government of being “wilfully negligent” on Wednesday for not reintroducing rules including mandatory face masks, and while health secretary, Sajid Javid encouraged their use he said no further restrictions would not be introduced “at this point”.
Apologies for the lack of updates over the last couple of hours – we’ve been having some technical difficulties updating the blog this afternoon.
Here’s a quick summary of today’s main developments.
Boris Johnson has said that the government sees “absolutely nothing to indicate that [a full lockdown] is on the cards at all” when asked to rule out a shutdown with ““stay at home” advice and shops closing this winter.
Johnson said the question of whether to reduce the length of time between the second jab and booster from six months to five months was an “important” and was being looked into.
Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s fire-and-rehire reform bill ran out of time on Friday failed to progress beyond second reading. MPs rejected the closure motion by 251 votes to 188, and then business minister Paul Scully “talked it out” by speaking for 40 minutes.
Former Labour MP Frank Field has revealed that he is terminally ill as he backed a law that would allow assisted dying.
A two minute silence was held in memory of Sir David Amess in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex on Friday, a week after the MP was killed while meeting constituents.
Mortality rates in England and Wales in September have risen “significantly” compared with the same period last year.
Johnson says 'absolutely nothing to indicate' winter lockdown is likely
Rachel Hall
Boris Johnson has spoken to reporters as part of a 40-minute visit to the Covid-19 vaccine centre at the Little Venice Sports Centre in west London.
He said the question of whether to reduce the length of time between the second jab and booster from six months to five months was an “important” one, adding that “a lot of people” are looking at the issue.
Johnson, who was wearing a mask, added: “I think that people should be coming forward with the same spirit of determination to get their boosters as we saw earlier on this year.
“It’s a very good thing to do. It gets you a huge amount of protection and we always expected that we would see numbers rise right about now. That is happening.”
Asked whether a full lockdown with “stay at home” advice and shops closing is out of the question this winter, he replied: “I’ve got to tell you at the moment that we see absolutely nothing to indicate that that’s on the cards at all.”
MPs defeated a closure motion designed to stop the fire and rehire bill from being blocked.MPs have voted on a closure motion on the debate on the employment and trade union rights (dismissal and re-engagement) bill.
188 ayes
251 noes
The bill will now be read a second time, the deputy speaker says.
Demonstrators calling for reform to assisted dying legislation have gathered outside parliament as the bill has its second reading in the House of Lords.
Campaigners and peers backing the proposed assisted dying bill gathered in Westminster holding placards reading “Yes to dignity” and “Yes to choice”.
They were joined by Molly Meacher, who sponsored the bill.
Meacher joins demonstrators, including Humanists UK’s members and supporters, during a protest outside the Houses of Parliament in London to call for reform. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
Richard Fuller, Conservative MP for Bedfordshire North East, is now extolling the virtues of capitalism in his opposition to the bill.
“Capitalism is good, capitalism creates higher wages, better skills, stronger businesses, a more global Britain,” he says. “It is through capitalism that this country has grown to provide the public services for so many of our people.” He says it has allowed the country to have “the highest wages for the lowest pay” in decades.
He argues that we should be entrusting the “captains of capitalism ... the women and men who lead our businesses” with the “responsibility to act ethically and responsibly”. He says that is best done by a “code of practice that works with the grain of business rather than against it”.
Richard Fuller, Conservative MP Bedfordshire North East, is arguing that the UK “already is the best place to work”, emphasising the government’s furlough scheme in particular.
Fuller says the “nub” of the difference of approach between the Tories and the opposition on the issue is to do with regulation. “Our approach is not about making better regulation, it is about making better business. There are a variety of tactics that can be taken to achieve a shared objective,” Fuller says.
He says the debate relates to “an exceptional time and an exceptional practice ... which remains exceptionally rare”.
Fuller then asks whether the Labour party supports ending the tactic or not – Gardiner had said earlier that the bill would not want to ban it entirely. Gardiner clarifies the bill would not ban it, but supporting members want to end it as a tactic – “as a bad practice used by disreputable employers to do the wrong thing”.
Gavin Newlands, SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North, is speaking in support of Barry Gardiner’s employment and trade union rights bill.
He accuses the government of “[wringing] their hands over how horribly these companies are behaving and sympathising with the workers being blackmailed” before “proceeding to do absolutely nothing to address it legislation”.
“This issue is not going to go away, it certainly won’t go away with guidelines,” Newlands says.
Echoing Gardiner’s argument from earlier, Newlands is making the economic case for changing fire and rehire legislation, saying that employment insecurity is a “surefire” way to “depress spending, demand and ultimately hinder economic recovery”.
Former Labour minister Lord Adonis has opposed changing the law on assisted dying over concerns regarding abuse.
Lord Adonis said it would risk allowing abuse of vulnerable people:
The problem with the Bill is it’s simply not possible to guard adequately against the abuse of the very elderly and very ill by greedy and manipulative relations and friends. The idea that brief consultations with two doctors are adequate is simply not credible.”
Meanwhile, crossbencher Lord Hogan-Howe spoke about having changed his mind on the issue, which he said was one that “can divide reasonable people”, adding that he now supports the Bill “in a way I wouldn’t have supported it a few years ago”.
Lord Hogan-Howe said “choice” was now the main reason he supported the Bill, adding he could “only imagine the torment or hopelessness of a person who knows they’re dying” and questioned how the state or parliament could “deny individuals the option of a controlled death”.
In the House of Lords, Conservative peer Lord Dobbs of Wylye has spoken in favour of changing the law on assisted dying, speaking about his family history of prostate cancer, which he has also been diagnosed with.
Lord Dobbs told the House of Lords that his father and eldest brother both died of prostate cancer, while his other brother has been told he “won’t survive it” and he himself was diagnosed earlier this year.
“So, for the men in the Dobbs family this isn’t a matter of surmise, this is a matter of profound practicality, and believe me, my lords, it focuses the mind,” he said.“My life, my body, my character belong to no-one but myself. Of course, others have an interest in my life and my death but I have the ultimate right to decide what happens to me, not the state, not the Church, not any court.”
He said that he understood some people’s reservations but a law “which says myself and my loved ones must suffer in agony and without hope” is one of “utmost cruelty” and must be changed.
Two-minute silence held for Sir David Amess in Leigh-on-Sea
A two minute silence is being held in memory of Sir David Amess in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex, a week after the MP was killed while meeting constituents.
Local shopkeepers and residents in Eastwood Road stood in silence which was broken with applause and the release of blue balloons to pay respect to the MP.
James Duddridge, the MP for Rochford and Southend East, said: “It is going to be very difficult not just for the family but for the whole community.”
Back to the Commons, where MPs are debating fire and rehire again.
Shadow employment rights minister, Imran Hussain, calls the tactic “nothing more than a form of legalised blackmail where all the power is in the hands of bad bosses”.
“Let there be no doubt that fire and rehire is abhorrent, morally bankrupt, and a stain on our economy,” he says.
He says the tactic is being employed “not by small companies” but big nationals, including Tesco and Argos, adding “many of these companies have seen bumper sales during lockdown”.
Mortality rates in England and Wales rise 'significantly' from last September
Mortality rates in England and Wales in September were “significantly” higher this year compared with 2020, new figures show.
Some 966.2 deaths per 100,000 people were registered in England last month, up from 885.5 in September 2020.
In Wales the rate was 1,056.4 per 100,000, up from 946.2 in 2020.
Excess deaths are up by 9.4% above the pre-pandemic average in England, with 7,215 extra deaths registered last month.
In Wales, this figure is 9.4% above the pre-pandemic average (489 extra deaths).
The figures out of 100,000 are age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs),which are used for comparisons over time rather than numbers of deaths, as ASMRs account for changes to the population size and age structure.
However, not all of these deaths can be linked to coronavirus. In England, 41.0% of the total number of excess deaths were due to Covid-19, while in Wales it was 51.7%.
Covid-19 was the third leading cause of death in both England and Wales in September, unchanged from August in England, but up from seventh in Wales.
The leading cause of death in England was dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, while in Wales the leading cause was ischaemic heart disease.
(13.57: A note has been added to this post to clarify the use of ASMRs.)
Former Labour MP Frank Field announces he is terminally ill
Former Labour MP Frank Field has asked peers to back efforts to relax the law on assisted dying as it was announced he is terminally ill.
Baroness Meacher read out a statement from Lord Field of Birkenhead as his illness meant he was unable to take part in the assisted dying bill at second reading. Peers heard Lord Field said:
I’ve just spent a short period in a hospice and I’m not well enough to participate in today’s debate. If I had been, I’d have spoken strongly in favour of the second reading. I changed my mind on assisted dying when an MP friend dying of cancer wanted to die early before the full horror effects set in, but was denied this opportunity.
He described a key argument against the bill – that people would be pressured into ending their lives – as “unfounded”. Lord Field drew on figures from US and Australia, saying assisted deaths remain below 1% there, adding that a former supreme court judge of Victoria, Australia, said pressure from relatives “just hasn’t been an issue”.
Nine in 10 university students in England have received at least one Covid-19 vaccination, according to an Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey.
Just 7% of 980 students polled said they have not been vaccinated. Of these, more than half (58%) said they are “fairly or very” unlikely to get it.
Almost eight in 10 (78%) of students have received both doses, with 12% having only had one. The poll also found that more than half (53%) who have been vaccinated think Covid-19 poses a major or significant risk to them.
