UK coronavirus: Hancock announces local lockdown for Leicester — as it happened

A streamlined application process will enable pubs and restaurants to get permission for on-street dining in around 10 days, a measure forming part of the government’s Covid recovery plan.

Outlining reforms aimed at boosting the hospitality sector as it prepares to reopen on 4 July, business secretary Alok Sharma stressed there were safeguards for local councils to refuse applications if they block the highway, the Press Association reports.

Former Tory minister Caroline Nokes criticised the recovery plan,
which has cross-party support, as being “designed by men for men” as she questioned why barbers could open but not beauty bars.

Speaking during the second reading of the Business and Planning Bill, Sharma said: “Public safety and access for disabled people using pavements is of course absolutely vital, so I can confirm that local authorities will be able to refuse or revoke licences where appropriate.”

He added: “There are safeguards in place. This extension will not include premises that have been denied off-sale permission, or had it removed, within the last three years.”

The Bill also seeks to reduce the planning appeal process from almost a year to around six months, extend the hours construction sites can operate to stagger working times and also allow bus and lorry drivers to extend their driving licences for a year without the requirement for a medical review, to free up time for GPs to deal with Covid-19.

I will wrap this blog up now, many thanks for reading and commenting as always.

A number of people have criticised the health secretary on social media for not having clarified which areas surrounding Leicester will also be affected by the lockdown.

BBC Radio Leicester reports that Oadby, Birstall and Glenfield will also be locked down, and that no travel into the city will be allowed unless it is essential.

Nick Rushton, the leader of Leicestershire County Council, appeared supportive of the new restrictions for Leicester and surrounding areas:

Protecting residents is our main concern and we’re working closely with Leicester City Council and the Government to bring down the number of cases.

Clearly coronavirus does not adhere to lines on a map. And although county rates are below the national and regional averages, we can’t be complacent and it makes sense to step up restrictions in areas closer to the city.

This is the first localised lockdown on this scale and undoubtedly there will be issues to iron out.

I understand this is disappointing news for residents, parents of schoolchildren and businesses when most of the country is opening back up but it’s crucial that people follow the latest advice.

Observing social distancing, hand-washing, wearing a face mask where required and getting tested if you have symptoms remain vital.

Our actions play a key role in shaping what happens next and I encourage people to heed the advice and play their part in helping to save lives and livelihoods.

Reacting to the new lockdown restrictions set to be imposed on Leicester, the city’s mayor Peter Soulsby told BBC Radio Leicester:

They’ve gone further than we anticipated they might.

They are clearly determined to start with the maximum, as it were, to see how it works and then perhaps to use the learning from this in other areas I have no doubt will follow.

I can understand it from their perspective - they are entirely convinced that the level of the transmission of the disease in Leicester is at a higher level than I think the figures show.

Nonetheless I can understand why they want to err on the safe side... I can see where they’re coming from even thought I still have some scepticism about the figures that led them to this.

This from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg:

Here a part of Matt Hancock’s statement on the new measures for Leicester:

Given the growing outbreak in Leicester, we cannot recommend that the easing of the national lockdown set to take place on July 4 happens in Leicester.

Having taken clinical advice on the actions necessary and discussed them with the local team in Leicester and Leicestershire, we have made some difficult but important decisions.

We’ve decided that from tomorrow, non-essential retail will have to close and as children have been particularly impacted by this outbreak, schools will also need to close from Thursday, staying open for vulnerable children and children of critical workers as they did throughout.

Unfortunately, the clinical advice is that the relaxation of shielding measures due on July 6 cannot now take place in Leicester.

We recommend to people in Leicester, stay at home as much as you can, and we recommend against all but essential travel to, from and within Leicester.

We’ll monitor closely adhering to social distancing rules and we’ll take further steps if that is what’s necessary.

This from Liz Kendall, the Labour MP for Leicester West:

My colleagues Simon Murphy and Amy Walker have written up a piece on the announcement that Leicester will endure England’s first local lockdown, after a surge in coronavirus infections led the health secretary Matt Hancock to strengthen and extend restrictions in the city.

Hancock said there are many potential reasons why the outbreak has occurred in the way it has in Leicester, but that he would ensure that other directors of public health understand those reasons.

Imposing a local lockdown on Leicester with additional measures to those already in place is in the local as well as national interest, he said, and stressed the citizens of Leicester would receive the government’s full support.

Extra funding would go to Leicester and Leicestershire councils to enhance communications and ensure they are translated into all the locally relevant languages, the health secretary said.

Rakesh Parmar, who owns Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe in Leicester city centre, told the Press Association that the further restrictions will affect him “financially very, very badly”.

He said: “The impact of coronavirus hit us on March 23, we closed for 10 weeks, and then opened again on June 15 - it’s been one long slog.

“At the end of the day, it’s got to be done for everyone’s safety. It’s got to be done.”

Parmar said he “completely” understood why a further lockdown would be needed.

Asked how his customers were feeling, he said: “Very, very scared, because it’s closer to home than we realised. Then it’s the uncertainty of who the carrier is.”

The Government’s extension of Leicester’s lockdown has been criticised by businesses, saying the measures “won’t make a difference”, the Press Association reports.

The health secretary said the national lockdown easing would not be happening in the city, meaning pubs, hairdressers and restaurants would not be able to open alongside other areas of the UK.

Robin Dignall, the owner of Hair1RD hairdressers in the city centre, said that from a business point of view, he “needs to get the customers back in”.

He said:

We were all geared up ready to open on July 4 but, from reading the Government guidelines, they clearly haven’t consulted anybody in our profession.

The furthest we can work away from someone is 0.5 metres and they are telling us our clients don’t have to wear masks and we don’t have to wear masks - just a visor.

Obviously money’s going out but there’s nothing coming in at the moment so from a business point of view yes, we do need to get the customers back in.

But I’m not willing to put my health or anybody else’s health and safety at risk.We’ve got around 300 clients and we didn’t start booking in until we had a vague date of when we can open.

Now we’ve started booking in, if we’re going to close for another two weeks then we’re going to have to push everybody back two more weeks.

So some may have to wait four, five, six weeks, maybe more before we can fit them in.

This from the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire on the announcement:

Non-essential shops in Leicester will close from Tuesday, and Hancock warns against any non-essential travel to and from the city of more than 300,000 people, after nearly 900 new infections were recorded in a fortnight.

The new measures agreed for the city of Leicester will be reviewed after two weeks, Hancock said.

Hancock has begun making his statement in the House of Commons., and has confirmed the lockdown in Leicester will be extended.

When many cases are found in one setting, such as a hospital or care home, the government has the statutory powers to close down a particular locality, he says.

Leicester has an infection rate of 135 per 100,000 people, which is three times higher than the next highest local area, he says.

Hospital admissions are between 6 and ten a day, he says, which is also higher than in other places.

Schools in Leicester will have to close on Thursday, except for keyworker and vulnerable children, and those shielding will continue to do so beyond 6 July.

Everyone with symptoms in Leicester needs to come forward, Hancock says, and extra funding will be made available to increase testing.

29 Jun 202015.58 EDT

Jedidajah Otte

Hello, I’m briefly taking over to cover health secretary Matt Hancock’s announcement about a possible localised lockdown extension in Leicester, which he is expected to be making shortly.

• Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has delayed an announcement to MPs about the measures planned by the government for Leicester, where there have been fresh outbreaks of coronavirus. Overnight the city’s mayor was told that the government wanted to respond by delaying the relaxation of the lockdown in the city for two weeks. (See 10.28am.) Sir Peter Soulsby, the mayor, has said he’s opposed to this idea. (See 3.31pm.) Hancock and Soulsby spoke about what will happen next earlier this afternoon, but the decision to delay Hancock’s statement until after 9pm (it had been due at about 5pm) suggests they may have had difficulty reaching an agreement. The outcome is important because ministers say their entire coronavirus strategy now depends on being able to clamp down hard on local outbreaks (“cluster-busting”, Boris Johnson called it). If local opposition makes this impossible in Leicester, then potentially the approach could fail in other places too.

• Nicola Sturgeon has said she cannot rule out introducing quarantining or screening for travellers coming from England if infection rates rise south of the border.

• Former senior civil servants and opposition parties have condemned the departure of Sir Mark Sedwill as a sign the government is undermining the impartiality of the civil service, as Downing Street defended its decision to install a political appointee to one of his former jobs.

• Parents in England who fail to send their children back to school in September will face fines unless they have a good reason for them not attending, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, has said.

• The work and pensions secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has indicated benefit sanctions will be reintroduced this week as UK jobcentres start to reopen after lockdown, saying it is “important” claimant rules are reinstated.

We are pausing the blog now, but hope to be able to reactivate it in time for the Hancock statement later, at around 9.15pm.

In the Commons the two urgent questions are now over.

We were expecting Matt Hancock, the health secretary, to be making a statement now about the outbreak in Leicester. But it has been postponed until after the debate on the business and planning bill.

This is from the shadow health minister Justin Madders.

Given that the mayor of Leicester, Sir Peter Soulsby, has said he is opposed to the measure being proposed earlier by Hancock (an extension of the lockdown by two weeks in the city - see 3.31pm ), there may be some sort of stand-off still ongoing.

The government has published its latest UK coronavirus statistics on its new dashboard. Here are the figures for hospital admissions.

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