MPs to make another urgent return to parliament after PM unveils new rules

MPs are set to make their second urgent return to parliament in a week after Boris Johnson tonight unveils new restrictions in England designed to address the rising number of coronavirus cases.

Announcing the latest development this afternoon, a No 10 spokesman said: “The spread of the new variant of Covid-19 has led to rapidly escalating case numbers across the country.

“The Prime Minister is clear that further steps must now be taken to arrest this rise and to protect the NHS and save lives. He will set those out this evening.”

It is understood that Johnson will deliver a televised address tonight at 8pm in which he will update the country on the government’s next steps in tackling coronavirus, and that the House of Commons will sit on Wednesday.

Although the House of Lords returned today, the government decided to extend recess for the Commons until January 11th as parliament had been urgently recalled on December 30th to consider the Brexit deal.

MPs are being urged by the Speaker not to return to parliament in person “unless absolutely necessary”. Arrangements will be made, as they were last week, to allow MPs to contribute to the debate over Zoom and use proxy voting.

The Prime Minister hinted over the weekend that tougher measures were on their way, but suggested to the BBC that these further restrictions would be implemented “in the next few weeks” rather than the coming days.

The government has now been forced to revise its plans. It comes after Labour leader Keir Starmer called on Sunday afternoon for a fresh national lockdown in England to tackle the virus that he said was “out of control”.

Although Labour is understood to have been demanding that the government “consider all the measures that were in place in the March lockdown”, the party leadership has refused to back calls for school closures.

Kate Green, the Shadow Education Secretary, said the Labour-proposed lockdown would “try to get this virus under control and to keep children in class” as the party has argued that “schools should be the very last place to close”.

The SNP administration in Scotland has seen Nicola Sturgeon announce this afternoon that there will be a legal requirement to stay at home from midnight tonight and throughout January across the devolved nation.

“We must return for a period to a situation much closer to the lockdown of last March,” the First Minister of Scotland said. “I am more concerned about the situation we face now than I have been at any time since March last year.”

The lockdown in Scotland will see schools stay closed until February 1st, rather than January 18th as had been planned before today. “We need to get community transmission down before schools can safely reopen,” Sturgeon said.

It has been reported by ITV’s Robert Peston that the new lockdown in England will see the following: “Tier 4 restrictions will be imposed everywhere. Schools closed. No more team games in parks. But outdoor exercise will still be allowed.”