PM announces extra £600m for care homes in England

1. Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer faced each other at PMQs
2. Labour leader questions prime minister on care home deaths
3. PM announces further £600m to help tackle virus 'epidemic' in England's care homes
4. UK economy shrank by 2% in the first three months of 2020
5. The economic decline was driven by a record fall in March
6. Chancellor Rishi Sunak says it's "very likely that the UK economy will face a significant recession this year"
7. Some people can go back to work from today as government begins to ease lockdown in England
8. Estate agents in England can now reopen and restart house viewings
9. Head teachers say reopening schools on 1 June is 'unfeasible'

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BBC News

That's all from us for now.

Thanks for following along today.

You can find the live feeds of parliament at the top of this page.

But please do join us again later for our coverage of today's daily briefing at Downing Street.

You'll find us over here on the main coronavirus page.

Starmer's letter to PM

Sir Keir Starmer

Sir Keir Starmer's letter to PM Boris Johnson

As we reported earlier in our coverage of PMQs, Sir Keir Starmer has accused the PM of misleading MPs over advice to care homes at the start of the coronavirus pandemic on controlling infections.

Sir Keir has written to the PM to ask him to return to the Commons to correct the record.

Downing Street said Sir Keir Starmer had "inaccurately and selectively" quoted from guidance for care homes.

Read more here

Rees-Mogg challenged on Commons return

House of Commons

Parliament

Shadow Commons leader Valerie Vaz says she "was alarmed" to hear Jacob Rees-Mogg say yesterday that Parliament will return physically in the next few weeks.

She says the House must "lead the way" by following public health advice "to the letter" and maintain social distancing.

"We are continuing to work - we may not be in the chamber but we still are dealing with constituents," she says.

"What the leader has done is further confuse the message... it’s like a comms hokey cokey."

Mr Rees-Mogg says the government advice is "quite clear - work from home if you can" and some House staff will continue to do so.

But, he says, holding the government to account is essential, as is other Commons' business.

He questions whether they should stay at home while the government is urging schools to return.

"We are the leaders of our nation and we have a responsibility," he says.

"We can observe social distancing.

"We, in reality, cannot [work from home] that is why we ought to be coming back."

Housing market 'back in business'

House of Commons

Parliament

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick has been making a statement to MPs following the publication of government guidance which eases restrictions on estate agents in England.

Mr Jenrick said: "We want to be clear, each of the building blocks of the buying and the selling process are now back in business, as long as they can be done safely."

He added: "This was not an easy decision to make. With few if any transactions there is no visibility and no precedent with which to accurately judge the state of the housing market.

"But I do know that in every economic recovery in modern British history the housing market has been key.

"So let me be clear to all who work in the sector, have started a business in it, have invested in it, or rely upon it, I'm doing everything I can to help the industry bounce back."

Reality Check

How transparent is the government’s scientific advice?

When questioned at PMQs by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about the transparency of the government’s scientific advice, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “all Sage advice is published in due course”.

Sage is short for the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies.

Some of the scientific evidence presented to Sage’s 57-person panel of experts has been published, the vast majority of it has not.

Only 27 of the 120 pieces of evidence reviewed by Sage over the course of more than 20 meetings up to mid-April have been published, and one of the documents released was heavily redacted.

The government has released the names of the unpublished documents – some of which date back as far back as early February - and examine topics as varied as ‘Comparing interventions in Italy and UK’ and ‘Does the use of face masks in the general population make a difference to spread of infection?’

Sage leads the UK government’s scientific response to the coronavirus pandemic and other health emergencies. Its members include the Chief Medical Officer for England Professor Chris Whitty and the Chief Scientific Advisor Sir Patrick Vallance.

Getty Images

Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance are members of Sage

Starmer accuses PM of inaccurate comments

Jonathan Blake

BBC political correspondent

The Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused the prime minister of making inaccurate comments about government guidance on care homes and asked him to “correct the record” in the House of Commons.

Sir Keir has written to Boris Johnson regarding an exchange at Prime Minister’s Questions this afternoon in which Mr Johnson said “it wasn’t true” that advice had said it was unlikely that people in care homes would become infected .

In his letter the Labour leader says “at this time of national crisis it is more important than ever that government ministers are accurate in the information they give” adding that “I expect you to come to the House of Commons at the earliest opportunity to correct the record”.

The government guidance referred to by the Labour leader, which was withdrawn on 13 March, can be found here.

Covid testing for teachers and school pupils

House of Commons

Parliament

Earlier, the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said all teachers and school pupils will be able to be tested for Covid-19 if they develop symptoms when they return to school.

Mr Williamson said new guidance for schools in England which was published on Monday will them "begin to prepare" to reopen.

He added: "This guidance sets out protective measures to minimise the risk of infection, including restricting class sizes and limiting mixing between groups.

"Crucially all children and staff will have access to testing if they develop symptoms of coronavirus.

"This will enable a track-and-trace approach to be taken to any confirmed cases."

Reality Check

What is the testing target for coronavirus?

Earlier at Prime Minister's Questions, Boris Johnson talked about testing for coronavirus.

He said: “We will go up to 200,000 by the end of the month.”

There has been considerable confusion about this target, which was first announced as an "ambition" on 6 May.

The prime minister sounds like he is promising 200,000 tests will be carried out per day, but the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) says that the target is actually for testing capacity, which is the number of tests that theoretically could be carried out per day.

Statistical regulator the UK Statistics Authority has written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock to ask for clarification of whether that target is for testing capacity, the number of tests administered, the number of tests completed, or the number of people tested.

This followed controversy after the government announced it had met its 100,000 tests per day target on 30 April, when it turned out that 40,000 of the tests had been sent out but not necessarily carried out on the day.

Teachers 'in fear' over safety - Labour

House of Commons

Parliament

Shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey says guidance for schools does not provide "clear assurances over safety that are needed" - and says teaching staff are "in fear" of returning.

She says instead of putting dates on when schools should reopen, ministers should instead set safety conditions to be met first.

Gavin Williamson says the government is planning for a "phased, sensible and controlled return".

He adds the government has given schools "as much forward notice as possible in order for them to get ready".

Ministers 'looking closely' at offers of teacher help

HoC

With PMQs finished, MPs have been putting questions to Education Secretary Gavin Williamson about plans to reopen English schools.

Conservative MP Robert Halfon - who chairs the Commons Education Committee - asks whether graduates, volunteers, and retired teachers could staff summer schools for vulnerable children - noting that "close to 90%" are currently not in education.

Mr Williamson says the government is looking "very closely" at how the enthusiasm of those who want to help out can be harnessed.

What happened at PMQs?

• Boris Johnson said the death of Belly Mujinga was "utterly appalling" while Labour leader Keir Starmer said the ticketing officer had died in "awful circumstances"
• The PM announced a further £600m for infection control in care homes
• The Labour leader accused the government of being to slow in protecting people in care homes
• He said that until 12 March official guidance said it was "very unlikely that people would become infected in care homes"
• The prime minister said there had been a "terrible epidemic" in care homes and that the final death rate figures in the UK would be "stark and deeply horrifying"
• He promised all Sage (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) advice to the government would be published "in due course"
• SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford attacked the government's communication saying it had created "widespread confusion"

Reality Check

Comparing the UK with other countries

UK government

The prime minister was asked about a chart comparing coronavirus deaths in the UK with those in other countries.

He repeated his assertion that it is too early to make such comparisons, although Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer pointed out that the chart had been used in daily government briefings for the past seven weeks.

Many statisticians have said that making precise comparisons between countries will not be possible until we have figures for excess deaths for all the relevant countries.

But Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, who both the prime minister and Labour leader have referred to in Prime Minister’s Questions, said it was still possible to identify “the bad countries in Europe: UK, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy”, and said: “Clearly it’s important to note that group is way above in terms of their mortality, a group like Germany, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, who have low fatality rates."

You can read more about the challenges of international comparisons here.

PMQs ends

House of Commons

Parliament

And that concludes today's PMQs.

The Education Secretary Gavin Williamson now begins his reply to an urgent question on reopening schools.

MP calls for scrapping of 'corrupt' Electoral Commission

HoC

Conservative Peter Bone attacks the Electoral Commission for investigating those involved in the Vote Leave campaign and notes that the police have now said they were "totally innocent".

"For the sake of democracy will you ensure that that politically corrupt, totally biased and morally bankrupt quango is abolished," he asks.

The PM replies that he hopes "all those who spent so much time and energy drawing attention to their supposed guilt... will spend as much ink and drawing attention to their genuine innocence".

Ministers 'washing hands' of leave-to-remain returnees

House of Commons

Parliament

Labour's John Spellar accuses the government of "washing its hands" of people with indefinite leave to remain in the UK - noting that "many" are still stranded abroad.

Boris Johnson does not engage with the specific accusation, but says 1.3 million Britons have returned since Foreign Office advice changed.

He says the government has aided this effort by providing £75m towards the cost of special charter flights.

WATCH: Starmer challenges PM over care home deaths

Help for self employed

BBC News

The PM was asked earlier about government help for the self employed.

From today, many self-employed people whose businesses have been affected by coronavirus will be able to apply for government grants under the Self Employed Income Support Scheme.

You can read more here.

WATCH: PM quizzed on childcare

Will the PM help the self-employed?

HoC

Acting Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey thanks the government for extending the furlough scheme.

He then asks if the government will do the same for the self-employed, adding that "millions of families now have no help in the future".

Boris Johnson replies that the job retention scheme has been "one of the most extraordinary features of this country collective response to the virus".

On the issue of the self-employed, he says: "We are making sure that they do get payments for over three months of up to £7,500 as well."

WATCH: Why is global virus comparison slide no longer used?