From members of the house of commons, i merrily on the governments response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Ministers selfisolating our home after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for covid19. This runs 40 minutes. We now go to questions for the Prime Minister. I will then call Prime Minister. P. M. Johnson thank you, mr. Speaker. The investigation youve referred to in the house on the second of november. You have been updated on the leak investigation you referred to on the second of november and i take this matter seriously and return to update the house in due course. Mr. Speaker, this morning, i had Virtual Meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my virtue duties and i have other duties later today. This morning i have Virtual Meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my virtue duties and i have other duties later today. The pandemic has shown how vulnerable we are to global challenges, we are grappling with covid19, the Climate Emergency and hunger why is this government breaking its own manifesto commitment and cutting the age the budget that saves lives, will the Prime Minister stop this on the global stage retreat and take this opportunity to rule that out here and now . Thank you, everybody can be immensely proud of the massive commitment this country has made and will continue to make around the world, but the commitment we are now making leading the world to tackle the threat of Climate Change in the investment in tackling that problem is second to none across the world, the uk leading the world, the greatest problems with those stages. Returning to romford. Reporter thank you, mister speaker. My constituency in romford put up with dangerous junction at gallows corner which is a temporary structure that has been there for 50 years. He was with me when mayor of london. Part of the governments plan to build back better, will the Prime Minister commit today to stepping in, bankrupting tf by have the tune of 10 billion and guarantees unnecessary funding through place and restraint at this junction especially as it will follow major route. Back to the Prime Minister. My honorable friend is right, in remarkably Good Condition by tweeting the mayor of london before the pandemic struck and i can assure my honorable friend we are working with tfl to see what we can do to resolve the problem and we will update you. The leader of the opposition. I send my best wishes to the Prime Minister and all those across the country for doing the right thing by following the rules and self isolating. It is one of the proudest achievements of the last labor government. Until now there has been a broad consensus about the evolution so why tell the centerpiece the scottish evolution is in his words a disaster . Thank you. What has unquestionably been a disaster is the way the nationalist party has taken it as a means not to improve the lives of their constituents, not to address their self Health Concerns or education in scotland but constantly a chair by the right honorable gentleman as the opposition but constantly to campaign the breakup of the country and the sound policy that i personally benefited, but into a mission to break up the uk and let me remind you that would be a disaster and he can say so now. Can i just say the Scottish National party, not the nationalist party. The national or nonnational. Mister speaker, the single biggest threat to the future of the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister when he opens his mouth, when the Prime Minister said he wants to take back control, the scottish people, the Prime Minister ads very clear, it is a disaster north of the border. This isnt an isolated incident whether it is the internal market, and the covid19 response, the Prime Minister, instead of talking down the evolution does he agree we need greater d evolution of resources across the United Kingdom. Prime minister. The leader conceded he did not foresee the the rise of a separatist party or the collapse of scottish labor, can be a great advantage in devolution and i was proud when i was doing this in london to do things in which i passionately believe Like Fighting crime, improving housing and a new success and what disappoints me is the Scottish National party by ruling, the Scottish National party is not engaging. Instead they are campaigning to break up the union, and objective i hope the leader of the opposition will repudiate in the United Kingdom. Its not a ruling. I dont want the breakup of the United Kingdom been anything fueling that breakup is the Prime Minister. Turning to the handling of the pandemic, the Prime Minister is doing the right thing by self isolating after being notified by track and trace but his he think he could have done so its like so many other people across the country all he had to rely on for the next 14 days was either statutory a, 13 pounds a day or a 1off payment of 500 pounds which was 35 pounds a day. It is good finally to have something from the right honorable gentleman to secure these in person. What i can say to him is i believe the package we have to protect people throughout the crisis has been outstanding, the uk as i said many times, 200 billion pound packages increasing the living wage by a record amount, uplifting universal credit, many loans and grants to businesses of all kinds and support the people who are self isolating in addition to all the other benefits and support we give. It is a reasonable package and i am glad that after a long time, simply attacked test and trace and he is coming around to support it. Im not going to take lectures on supporting, the lockdown measures were passed the other week with labor votes. 32 of his own broke the 3 line width and 50 join that group to work out how to oppose it next time around. He should be thanking, not criticizing and only one in eight solidify that seat and talk about the number of people hes helping but ignoring those falling through the gap. Members may be able to afford to self isolate but not for many who send us here. Only 11 of people self isolate when asked to do so. It isnt because they dont want to but many dont feel they can afford to. A construction worker, a photographer and dont qualify for Social Security benefits or run a Small Business and cant work from home number you will see a significant cut your income if you have to self isolate. This affect many families across the country. Does the Prime Minister want to recognize that we need to make it easier and affordable for people to do so . Mister speaker, it is extraordinary about test and trace, the numbers he gives to the self isolation, way too low but we continue to encourage people to break the chain of transmission. After the selfemployed groups he mentioned to support the selfemployed people, universal credit in the way i described, what he wants to do is get the virus under control, which is below one which is the current measures and encourage people to start isolating the way i am and the firm, the businesses he talks about can get back to close to normality as soon as possible. In the meantime we are taking every possible support. The Prime Minister must understand is a gap in the system. There is little point of being tested or traced. If there is not enough to isolate properly, we learned there can be 25 Million Pounds of taxpayer money to pay a gobetween, i remind the Prime Minister that a few weeks ago he couldnt find is that amount of money. Does the Prime Minister think 21 Million Pounds for middle man was an acceptable use of taxpayer money . Prime minister. When the crisis began, the right honorable gentleman term blockages and procurements and he will remember a situation where across the world there were not adequate supplies. We shifted heaven and earth to get 52 billion items. I am proud of what has been achieved, at the beginning of the pandemic and this is typical of hindsight. Attacked our efforts to secure it and it went too fast. To say we are not going fast enough and then we went too far. He should make his mind up. Talks about hindsight i say catch up. I call for a circuit breaker. The Prime Minister said it was a disaster and caught up and did that a view weeks later. It was hard to lockdown because of his delays. The Prime Minister couldnt explain how his government paid 150 Million Pounds on contracts that didnt deliver a single piece of usable ppes affecting 21 Million Pounds on a contract with no oversight. National audit office, the government approach was in her words diminished public transparency. Contracts related to the pandemic totaling 10. 5 billion pounds and suppliers with political connections were more likely. We are 8 months into the crisis. From now on, all government contracts are subject to proper process with full transparency and accountability. All government contracts will be published in a do way and it is extraordinary he attacks the government for securing ppe in huge quantities. I thank the people who are involved in those efforts, thousands of others who built up a mountain of ppe against any further crisis. He talks about transparency, moving to secure the contract. The shadow chancellor, attacking or failing to approach a softball agent offering to supply ventilators, they currently make 170 pounds per week and it includes 16thcentury film policies. At the time he bashed the government for not knowing fast enough, it is absurd that captain hindsight is not once again trying to restore political points by attacking us from moving too fast. I am proud of what we did during a pandemic, any government would do the same. We now go to paul mccartney. I am sure my honorable friend of some successes, the pride of my constituency have enjoyed. The cabinet colleagues review these outlining matters of all levels of the game as i requested. It has been a while since the Prime Minister visited lincoln. Prime minister. I can tell you, as a result of this pandemic, everything we can. I stand in operation of thousands and get to that as soon as possible and to do whatever i can to oblige. We come to the leader of the s p, ian blackburn. Can i wish the Prime Minister, over the past 20 years westminster has imposed extreme brexit, and the bedroom tax, and at the same time the Scottish Parliament delivered the, tuition fees, not clear. And does the Prime Minister understand. Prime minister. He referred to the right honorable gentleman. Will i do think his policies, and on health and taxing crime. And with that is what we focused on. And the breakup of the uk. Im not sure the Prime Minister was listening because i touted the achievements of the Scottish Government on behalf of the people of scotland. No apology and no regrets from the Prime Minister, it wasnt a slip of the tongue. The chasm has never been bigger. These were not flippant remarks, the biggest threat was the bill, the fact is scotland has been completely ignored by westminster. We see an extreme brexit and another round of tory cuts imposed, what we didnt vote for. s into the case that the real disaster is another 20 years of westminster government. Is a clear as another the only way to protect scotland interests is for scotland to become an independent country. I could not disagree with the honorable gentleman more. He is totally wrong. What the uk does as a whole is far bigger, better and more important than what we can do is individual nations. The uk pulling together during the pandemic the way the Armed Services test throughout the whole of the uk, the way the scheme was deployed across the uk but millions that have been found to help people across the whole of the uk, uk will continue to show this value. Into the european union, what the people of scotland should understand is that a massive surrender by the people of scotland straight back to brussels just as the people of scotland have taken it back again, many aspects of their lives and controlling that as well and all that would be lost under his program and i do not believe it will commit itself to the scottish people in the program that was discussed and rejected. Something they would almost certainly reject again. As he said thank you, mister speaker, tens of thousands of been lost in aviation, hundreds of thousands more hang in the balance. Will my right honorable friend make sure the Government Task force reports for testing regime of the arrangements on the third of december. Certainly working fast to see if we can replace the arrangements in every category, i will keep my right honorable friend informed of the development. Jeffrey donaldson. The people of Northern Ireland, with 165 Million Pounds invested in that across Northern Ireland as a result of agreement with this during the last parliament. Following the current Testing Initiative in liverpool. Northern irelands 1. 8 million population. It would prove ideal for the next years of the governments ongoing program, work on largescale covert covid19 testing. I think him for his excellent proposal and he is right that kind is very powerful and talking to the Northern Ireland executive about how to proceed. I have been contacted by many constituents, 18 meters in height which has not replaced the planning for the s number one form. Some of these residents are desperate to be valueless without reform. What progress is being made and canceled to develop the urgently needed risk prioritization matrix to move on with their lives. I have deep sympathy for those who face this problem. It is not right or fair, in one form, you hope lenders would understand, make sure all the buildings in question, wherever it is necessary for assurances where necessary too. Scrapping the learning union fund, thousands of workers a year, for that opportunity, will the Prime Minister back the commitment to offer a lifetime skills guarantee in their lives and reversed the decision to ensure working people can access education, training and skills for the future. Only a few weeks ago the lifetime guarantee, it is not eligible, getting a new skill or qualification, we want people to help train and retrain people to drive their lives to make a good point. Thank you, to level up constituency, and to help us pay for new infrastructure investment. Will the Prime Minister consider launching a new Financial Institution like a national developing bank to achieve this . I am grateful to the campaign for that. We are putting that into the growth deal, to bring further measures. For firm measures to boost investments in uk infrastructure in due course. James murray. In march the government is keeping covid19 deaths, a good outcome but still an enormous number of deaths. With gdp, 10 in the last year. Why didnt the Prime Minister think the deepest recession and the highest number of covid19 deaths. Minister. A global pandemic, one in which the uk as he rightly says assess, every life that has been lost and supporting businesses in every part of the uk, no doubt we can get through this strongly, scientific advisors, tools of doing that with scientific weaponry, that is why we are engaged in the current restrictions, to try to get the economy moving the way we would like. Most of our independence retailers are close to 2 covid19 restrictions and they welcomed the report by the government, their concerns that supermarkets and multiple retailers sell the same products. This enables them to generate substantial profits while at the same time that a holiday on the payment of business rates. The Prime Minister will agree with me there should be fairness between retailers and the Government Spending 200 billion pounds to support businesses and people in these tough times. It would be a welcome gesture for those who continue to trade to pay their business rate. The feeling of unfairness that he talks about, what we are trying to do with all the measures we have announced for all retailers, the best thing we can do is get through this period as well as we can and allow all retailers to reopen and give them our support. We are going to scotland with audio only. My constituent applies to the scheme in september of 2019, 15 months on her application, with a few short weeks away, their constituents application and all others standing applications through the scheme will be concluded by 2020. Prime minister. I understand the case is under urgent review. Debbie collins. Fantastic the we will soon have the covid19 vaccine, but in a recent survey one in 5 people say they wont take it. Does the primus to agree that social Media Companies should be doing more to remove antivaccine disinformation and conspiracy theories and will he consider including requirements to do that with the governments online bill . Prime minister. I am pleased facebook and google committed no profit no company should profit from vaccine disinformation and respond very quickly. We are going to be publishing a response to the white paper consultation setting out plans for politicization. Child poverty as usual evil. The northeast child commitment, our region, the countrys biggest increase in poverty from 20152019 when half of children were growing poor and that is before covid19. 15,000 of the poorest households, 1000 pounds a year because of planned cuts to universal credit in april. Will the Prime Minister now commitment to universal credit at the current rate . Prime minister. What she says about the impact of child poverty, the government worked so hard to combat child poverty, that is why we had universal credit, for the exceptional circumstances, 300,000 pounds through household and support people throughout the country. The most important thing we can do is to ensure the we get people to work and support families and get the jobs in creating jobs, new jobs in particular, 400,000 children out of poverty in the past 10 years and that is something that is not enough but it is progress. Christopher. More than 1 million fellow citizens recovered after testing positive for covid19. On the second of november the british medical journal reported that all those people have protection that would ensure they cannot be reinfected for six months. In light of that will my right honorable friend follow the example of sweden, exempt from all the covid19 regulations those who tested positive in the last six months and show that he is following the science and common sense . Prime minister. I think my honorable friend for the suggestion but there is evidence both ways on that and anybody who does get contacted should follow the rules. During this pandemic. And struggle to isolate without sufficient support excluded from communication. As you start it is three months, tell the house why they have been so lets down by this government. Grateful for the question and the campaigning the honorable gentlemen does, but i must reject what he said, doing what he can to reach out to groups of all kinds to get all the advice we need for the support we possibly can. I knew it would be tough to people. And rightly said, what they need to do, in support to nhs. The current measures on december 2nd and allow the economy to start moving again and to use testing and vaccination next year, to get the disease under control. City and region, benefits from the scottish and uk government with another local deal. The benefit could be even greater if the uk government contribution in the coming 15 years, that is something, this campaign, raised this idea with me before and what he said. With 30 Million Pounds, thank him. Ian byrne. Thank you, mister speaker. The hospital in liverpool recently stated that the environment the child develops in even before being born can affect its dna detrimentally by 10 . This government is responsible for creating an environment pushing millions of families into poverty which will be shaping this terrifying outcome. I asked Prime Minister for the second time for other groups to address this. To raise the issue of food poverty, the point that weve been successful in championing families out of poverty, and that is what we are going to do, 170 Million Pounds. No child will go hungry for the winter season drawing attention from this government but a great initiative. The cashmere and whiskey industry has been found by this house imposed by the United States at a trade dispute with the european union. There is serious harm to the product, jobs and scottish borrowers. We the primus reassured me that the government is doing what it can to find a resolution to this dispute. My honorable friend is entirely right to raise that issue and cause great concern with american friends, to reach negotiated solution as much as we can. A recent study, and and intensive care. They are the key differential. How does the Prime Minister address structural inequality as the vaccine is rolled out. What he knows in response to the early days of the impact on ethnic groups, for enhanced testing procedures for viral loads for their work, their other factors that he knows. I am sure the point he makes will be among the consideration for vaccination and immunization to take into account deciding how making an important point. A big thank you on record they are making today. Honorable members participating with those participating, suspending the house for 3 minutes, order. Journals washington every day taking your calls live on of news of the day. We discussed policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, the latest on the 2020 president ial Election Results in the Senate Runoff elections in georgia with Georgia Republican congressman, buddy carter and Georgia Democratic congressman, hank johnson. Of wall street journal talks about businesses amid the pandemic. Watch wall street journal live at 7 00 eastern this morning. Join theudge conversation. Coming up thursday on cspan, the house makes general speeches at 10 00 followed by legislative business at noon for work on a bill to create more apprenticeship opportunities by 2025. Denispan2 at 9 00, mcdonough talks about the incoming biden administration. That is followed by a House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on efforts to create a federal pandemic Risk Insurance program. At 5 00, the u. S. Chamber of commerce speaks with cdc director dr. Robert redfield about the state of the coronavirus pandemic. On cspan [no audio] at 9 00, medical experts on treatments for covid19. Cspan, yourtching unfiltered view of government, created by americas Cable Television company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Servicesh and human secretary alex azar provides an update on covid19 Vaccine Development and distribution. He was joined by other officials who outlined the process for and distributing the vaccine for those who need it across the country. Thank you for joining this update on operation warp speed. Because of president trumps founding and leadership of operation warp speed, even as we face daunting e. P. A. Deem