BBC Politics

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As we close our coverage of this week's PMQs, we're switching over to the BBC Coronavirus live page to bring you the prime minister's statement on England's lockdown measures.

Thanks for following along with us here today.

Updates were brought to you by Gavin Stamp, Jennifer Scott and Sinead Wilson, with Johanna Howitt in the editor's chair.

We hope you can join us again next week.

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• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called for teachers and school staff to be vaccinated during half term in February.
• Sir Keir said the PM should bring forward plans to vaccinate all key workers.
• Pushed on why the UK has the highest death toll in Europe, the PM said his government "truly did everything" it could but now is not the time for a public inquiry.
• Boris Johnson said the focus now is on the vaccination programme.
• The PM was asked about regulations for people travelling in to the UK, he said "we have one of the toughest regimes in the world".
• SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said it was "simply not true" the UK government had done everything to reduce the death toll from coronavirus. The PM said there are "no easy solutions" and he is proud of the NHS.

Reality Check

The Prime Minister said “I know how frustrated teachers are with…remote learning as well. That's why we provided one point three million laptops.”

However, the latest published figures show that 876,000 laptops and tablets had been delivered to schools in England as of January 24, according to the Department for Education.

These statistics are updated every Tuesday.

The government plans to deliver 1.3m in total.

The scheme is targeted at helping disadvantaged children with remote learning.

Communications regulator Ofcom has previously estimated that between 1.1m and 1.8m children do not have access to a laptop or tablet.

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer said the government should use the window of the February half-term to vaccinate all teachers and school staff.

It’s a new line from Labour and comes as the issue of who should be prioritised for the vaccine continues to be much discussed.

Vaccinating teachers could, of course, form part of a drive to get children back into school.

Boris Johnson is expected to update the house on this matter this afternoon - you can follow our live page on the statement here.

Interestingly, one suggestion doing the rounds among MPs is for a re-opening of schools on a phased, regional basis.

Regardless, the clamour for a clear plan is loud and the view that getting kids back into the classroom should be the number one priority is widely shared.

Reality Check

Asked about the regulations for people entering the UK, the prime minister said: “We have one of the toughest regimes in the world.”

The UK’s rules were tightened last week to require a negative Covid test in the past three days for arrivals, and to exclude most foreign nationals coming from Brazil, Portugal and most of Southern Africa.

But many countries have had tighter rules for a long time, excluding almost everyone except their own nationals and foreign residents. Some have completely closed their borders.

Countries with tighter rules include Algeria, Australia, Argentina, Finland, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Vietnam and Venezuela.

You can read about the UK’s existing travel rules here

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Speaker Lindsay Hoyle brings PMQs to a close. And as has become routine in the Commons during the pandemic, he asks MPs to take a short break so that the chamber can be cleared and cleaned ahead of the next item of business.

As we mentioned earlier, the prime minister will return at 13:30 GMT make a further statement on the government's coronavirus response.

And then immediately after that, Home Secretary Priti Patel will make a statement on government plans for British travellers to quarantine in hotels when they return from Covid-19 'hotspot' countries.

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Tory MP for Peterborough, Paul Bristow, says his constituents are "increasingly concerned about mental health" during lockdown.

He says children at one of his local schools had held a mental health summit to raise the issue with him.

He asks: "Does the prime minister agree the country's mental health is suffering and this should be a factor on when to end specific lockdown measures?"

Mr Johnson says: "I know the stress that people are under, not just school children, but particularly NHS workers - it has been really gruelling the last few weeks and months."

He says the government is "investing hugely in mental health support", with a further £2.3bn a year going in by 2023, which will help 380,000 adults and 345,000 children.

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Labour's Bill Esterson raises the case of a constituent, Alison, who has not received any government support during the pandemic, saying there are 1.8 million self-employed workers and 700,000 "owner managers" who are in the same boat as her.

When will the government intervene, he adds, to help the financially "excluded" and give them the assistance they need to be able to stay at home and reduce the spread of the virus.

The PM says he is aware that there have been "difficult cases" of people who may have fallen through the cracks and that the MP should raise the details of Alison's case with ministers.

But he says £18bn in financial help has been given to the self-employed since March and that the government will continue to "put its arms" around the population in 2021.

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Tory MP Sally-Ann Hart brings up the issue of one of the fishing companies in her constituency of Hastings and Rye.

She says exporting fish has become "extremely challenging, expensive and time consuming", and setting up a hub in the costal area has been "burdened with red tape".

She asks what step the PM is going to take to improve things for the community.

Mr Johnson acknowledges there has "been an issue for many fishing businesses" and "too much red tape".

But he says the government has provided £23m to the industry to deal with "immediate" problems, and will invest £100m for a longer-term programme.

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Tory backbencher Geoffrey Clifton-Brown urges the PM to give as much details as possible as how and when Covid-19 restrictions in England will be eased.

He says the public need certainty about when they can "get on with their daily lives" rather than being told about changes "with 24 hours notice" and then seeing them reversed.

The PM says the MP should wait for his statement later, adding that he hopes to set out a "detailed roadmap" in the coming weeks, factoring in all the variables, such as the threat from new variants.

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Labour's Seema Malhotra raises the issue of people trapped in properties they can not sell because of new rules on cladding.

Four years on from Grenfell, will the prime minister finally act to end injustice, she asks, and come up with a plan that doesn't put the burden on leaseholders?

The PM says yes he will and a plan is coming shortly.

But he says mortgage companies must not unreasonably refuse to lend on properties that are safe.

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The SNP's Christine Jardine points to a statement made by the PM last year over "punitive tariffs" on scotch whisky when it is sold to the US.

But she says the industry has lost half a billion pounds on the charges since then, and the government had "failed" to address it.

She calls on the PM to "work urgently" on a deal with the US and for the chancellor to "take steps to support this vital industry" in the upcoming budget.

Johnson says the chancellor "habitually does things to support industries" like scotch whisky.

But he says having left the EU, the UK will be able to do a free trade deal with the US and address this point.

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Next up is Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, who says there is a "yawning gulf" between the government's rhetoric on the environment and its action,

She cites the recent approval of a new deep coal mine in Cumbria and the fact that plastic waste is still being shipped to developing countries.

She asks whether the PM backs a petition created by a nine-year old school girl calling for an end to this "unethical practice".

The PM says he "absolutely contests" the MP's critique, saying the UK's energy supply from coal and other dirty fossil fuels has fallen from more than 90% in the 1980s to about 5% now.

He says the government has an active and technologically optimitic approach to tackling climate change and it will honour its manifesto commitment to ban the export of plastic waste overseas.

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Tory MP Peter Aldous praises the government's "extensive system" in supporting people economically through the pandemic.

But he says "a group that have been overlooked - many of whom are struggling" are the self-employed who set up their businesses after April 2019.

Mr Aldous says now they have submitted a tax return, can the government look again to help - perhaps emulating a scheme introduced in Northern Ireland.

The PM says he is "right to raise the concerns," adding there are some self-employed groups who have been "hard to reach".

But he says the idea will be looked at by the chancellor, and he can expect to hear more when the Budget is delivered on 3 March.

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SNP Westminster leader, Iain Blackford says it is "simply not true " that the government did everything it could to deal with the pandemic.

He accuses the PM of "mixed messaging" and "devastating polices" and asks if he is still following the advice of scientists.

Boris Johnson says he has followed the scientific advice throughout but there are "no easy solutions when facing dilemmas as tragic as these"

Blackford uses his second question to push the PM on whether he will extend furlough, keep the £20 uplift to universal credit and give support to those excluded for help from government schemes.

The prime minister says he "doesn't think anybody can deny" that the government has given "unprecedented" support to people.

He vows that the government will "continue to put its arms around" families and individuals.

Jessica Parker
BBC political correspondent

Why does the UK have one of the worst death rates in the world from Covid-19?

That was the thrust of Sir Keir Starmer’s opening questions today and an issue that Boris Johnson appears reluctant to delve into.

Ministers will argue that the time to examine what 'lessons' should be learned is not now, but later. So, is it just a question of timing?

If there was a more open conversation in government now about what mistakes may have been made, would it – for example – help improve the response in the coming weeks?

The Labour leader certainly seems to be suggesting as much, but the government’s backers may argue that any effort to examine these issues in detail at this time would be distracting – even inadequate – when governments across the UK are still preoccupied with tackling Covid19.

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In his last of six questions to the PM, Labour leader says the UK finds itself in a situation where its "schools are closed and its borders are open", saying unless this is rectified and lessons learned he fears there will be "more grim milestones" in the coming months.

Sir Keir says he is meeting bereaved families this afternoon and asks what message the PM would give to them.

The PM says he is grateful that Sir Keir is meeting the families who have lost loved ones, saying this is important and he has done too.

He says his message would be that he "deeply personally regrets the loss of life and their suffering". But he goes on to attack Sir Keir's conduct during the pandemic, saying he has "twisted and turned" and engaged in political point scoring.

He urges the Labour leader to apologise for attacking the vaccine taskforce and says the country needs to pull together.

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Sir Keir says he is "no wiser" over where the PM stands on vaccinating teachers.

But he moves on to the supplies of technology for children at home.

"The government has got a duty to make sure every single child can learn at home," says the Labour leader.

But he says a third of families say they don't have enough laptops or home computers, and over 400,000 children are still not able to get online at home.

He asks if the PM understands the anger of families that the government "still haven't got to grips with this".

Johnson says he "fully understands the frustration and impatience across the country."

He says the government has provided 1.3 million laptops to children and a £1bn catch up fund, but he promises more details in his statement this afternoon on "what more we propose to do on reopening of schools".