this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines... america on the brink, as violent protests escalate america on the brink as violent protests escalate across the country. president trump says he is prepared to take military action. i will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the problem for them. but us democratic presidential candidatejoe biden says the country is crying out for leadership to end racial divisions in america. we can be forgiven for believing the president is more interested in power than in principle. more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people

in his care. here, criticism of the way the government uses data on coronavirus test numbers by the head of the uk's statistics watchdog. people from ethnic minorities are much more likely to die from covid—19, according to a review from public health england. the health secretary promises to take action. holiday firms call on the government to consider "air bridges", and scrap quarantine plans for people arriving in the uk. in the last few minutes, mps vote not to allow remote voting in the house of commons amid a row over how commons business can take place safely. and in the next half an hour we'll be heading to downing street for today's government coronavirus briefing, this afternoon led by the health secretary matt hancock.

good afternoon and welcome to this special programme from bbc news. we'll bring you all the latest news on the coronavirus pandemic, and the downing street briefing, which will be led today by the health secretary, matt hancock. that will start at around five o'clock. but first, president trump has provoked anger for suggesting he will use federal troops to end rioting over the death of an unarmed black man, george floyd, in police custody. demonstrations have taken place for a seventh night, despite curfews. his democratic challenger, joe biden, accused mr trump of using the military against the american people. and the president has also come under attack for posing outside a church holding a bible — after the area was cleared using teargas. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins reports.

chanting: no trump, no kkk, no fascist usa! more protesters, more cities. this is philadelphia, its name promising brotherly love, and the place which is home to the liberty bell. but now, a week after the police killing of an unarmed black man in minneapolis, it's the scale and depth of america's racial divide which is most obvious. you are here trying to defend the civilians, and it's against your code, bro! like so many other protests, this one ended in confrontation with police, with tear gas and pepper spray. screaming, explosions. a wash with milk is one way to ease the burning sensation, and a warning from police to stay away. it's notjust a single thing that brought me out, it's really all the years of oppression, all the years of police brutality. i don't know, if i had to pick one word, it's injustice.

people need to realise that it's not something we are making up, it's something we live with, have to prepare with, from the day that we're born. in washington, the focus of the protest is the president himself. his demand, that security forces must get tougher, must dominate, has infuriated many. his threat to deploy heavily armed soldiers to cities where he thinks law enforcement is too lax risks drawing sharper lines in a divided country. mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled. if a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then i will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the problem for them. then the president walked out of the white house, past the security forces,

to the historic church, stjohn‘s, which was damaged by fire in sunday night's protests. donald trump held up a bible to the cameras. black lives matter! in minneapolis, where this all began, with the police killing of george floyd, they gathered again. at the site of a memorial and mural to honour him. his brother terence urged people to use their vote, not violence, to change america. new york has become a critical flashpoint in this increasingly polarised political conflict. large crowds rallied peacefully in times square and in brooklyn. the city is moving from locked down to boarded up, as some use the end of demonstrations to follow up with attempts to steal and to loot. the united states looks like a nation in turmoil and torment. its unresolved racial inequalities and discrimination pushed back to the centre stage in a critical election year.

when americans will be looking at their president, as well as themselves, before deciding in which direction they want their nation to head next. james robbins, bbc news. this afternoon, the us democratic presidential contender, joe biden, has strongly criticised presdient trump — saying that america lacks a leader who can unite the country which is currently divided by racial tensions. our country is crying out for leadership. leadership that can unite us, leadership that brings us together. leadership that can recognise pain and deep grief of communities that have had a knee on their neck for a long time. there is no place for violence, no place for looting or destroying property or burning churches or destroying businesses. many of them built by the very people of colour who, for the first time in their lives, were beginning to realise their dreams and build wealth for their families.

nor is it acceptable for our police, sworn to protect and serve all people, to escalate tension, resort to excessive violence. we need to distinguish between legitimate, peaceful protest and opportunistic, violent destruction. we have to be vigilant about the violence that is being done by this incumbent president to our economy and to the pursuit of justice. when peaceful protesters, dispersed in orderfor a president... a president, from the doorstep of the people's house, the white house, using tear gas and flash grenades in order to stage a photo op, a photo op at one of the most historic churches in the country, or at least in washington, dc. we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more

interested in power than in principle. more interested in serving the passions of his base than the needs of the people in his care. for that is what the presidency is. the duty to care. to care for all of us notjust those who vote for us, but all of us. notjust our donors, but all of us. the president held up the bible at stjohn‘s church yesterday. ijust wish he'd open it once in a while instead of brandishing it. if he opened it, he could have learned something. the call to love one another as we love ourselves. it's really hard work but it's the work of america. donald trump isn't interested in doing that work. instead, he is preening and sweeping away all the guardrails that have long protected our democracy, guardrails that have helped make possible this nation's path to a more perfect union, a union that constantly requires

reform and rededication. and, yes, protest from voices that are mistreated, ignored, left out or left behind. joe biden speaking in the last couple of hours. let's turn to coronavirus now and today's main developments. figures show the numbers of people dying each week whose deaths are linked to covid—i9 has dropped to its lowest levels in england and wales since late march. the office for national statistics review of death certificates showed 2,589 cases where the virus was mentioned in the week ending 22nd may. the uk's statistics watchdog has criticised the government today over its handling of coronavirus testing data. the chairman of the uk statistics authority says presentation of figures appeared to be aimed at showing "the largest possible number of tests, even at the expense of understanding".

public health england has released its report looking at why people from ethnic minority backgrounds are "disproportionately" dying with coronavirus. it shows once age and sex are stripped out, people of bangladeshi ethnicity have twice the risk of death than people of white british ethnicity. the risk is higherfor other asian, caribbean and black ethnicities too. and mps have voted down an amendment to restore remote voting in the house of commons amid a row over how mps can work safely. in the last few seconds we have had the latest figures from the department of health on covid—i9 deaths. the department of health saying 39,369 people have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive, up

by 32a. 324 community after testing positive, up by 324. 324 additional deaths in the uk as of five o'clock on monday. in a 24—hour period up to nine o'clock on tuesday morning, 135,643 tests we re on tuesday morning, 135,643 tests were carried out or dispatched with 4.5 million tests carried out overall. so, the health secretary matt hancock has been been criticised by the head of the uk statisitcs authority over the presentation of coronavirus test numbers. sir david norgrove described the figures as "inadequate" and said they "fall well short of expectations." he warned statistics were being presented in a way that aims to "show the largest possible number of tests. " our health correspondent richard galpin is here. talk us through a bit more about this criticism from sir david. statistics is normally quite a dry subject but in this case, this

amounts to an attack on the way the government is handling statistical data. yes, it is withering criticism, quite a bombshell from him, and he is really questioning the figures the government has put out, indicating he doesn't believe many of them are actually correct. for example he says the government figures on testing are far from com plete figures on testing are far from complete and comprehensible. they are of limited value in determining how many people have been affected. that is a crucial stat. he is saying the aim seems to be to show the largest possible number of tests even at the expense of understanding. some very strong criticism. he comes up with examples saying that the government headline total of tests carried out includes the test kits sent to people's homes, but the problem with that is there is no data on how many people actually implemented those tests, have they done them themselves so

that can really skew the figures. something like 43,000 home test kits have been sent out, a big number that could skew the figures, which could be completely wrong. the background is that health secretary matt hancock set himself a target of 100,000 daily tests by the end of april. the prime minister then set another target of 200,000 by the end of may. that's right. and at the moment, they put out more than 200,000, that's what borisjohnson said. at the moment than about tests being carried out is around 128,000, so being carried out is around 128,000, so you being carried out is around 128,000, so you can see being carried out is around 128,000, so you can see the gap. what have the government said? inevitably there has been a response from the government, a statement from health secretary matt hancock, who has said the department of health is continuing to work with the uk statistics authority to address their concerns. 0ne statistics authority to address their concerns. one point is that recently the government has stopped reporting the number of people who have been tested saying it is a

temporary measure to ensure consistent reporting, but it is kind of convenient it has happened recently. richard galpin, health correspondent, thank you. mps have defeated an amendment to restore remote voting in the house of commons. 0ur political correspondent nick eardleyjoins me now. we saw them voting in rather strange circumstances, it has to be said. in the end it's a victory for the government. yes, for anyone not familiar with how parliament works, mps normally have to walk up to a table and tell one of the staff in the house of commons how they want to vote when it comes to a particular motion. for the last few weeks they have been able to vote remotely online because of the coronavirus pandemic. the government wa nts to coronavirus pandemic. the government wants to get back to what it calls a physical parliament because it argues that is the best way to hold ministers to account, to make sure legislation is being done properly. but just like everyone

legislation is being done properly. butjust like everyone else, they have to maintain social distancing, so we have to maintain social distancing, so we have had this extraordinary spectacle over the last hour or so of mps queueing up throughout the parliamentary estate, two metres away from each other, to queue up and going to the commons chamber to vote. look at this tweet from one of my colleagues in the lobby, john stephen of the daily mail, that's mps queueing outside parliament waiting to get into a building where they then queue to get into a corridor to go through to the house of commons where they don't have to queue a wee bit longer to make sure they are all two metres apart before voting. the amendment they have just voted against would have kept the virtual parliament, so the virtual parliament is going and that has caused no end of controversy because there are some mps who are shielding, not allowed to leave the house asking what are they supposed to do, they can't vote in the next few weeks and potentially the next few weeks and potentially the next few months. mps from different parts of the uk, scotland, wales and

northern ireland, are saying they don't want to be a super spreader. if they catch coronavirus in london they don't want to take it back to their constituency so real concern there. at the moment mps are voting again, it is a lengthy process, the first one took around 45 minutes and this might be slightly quicker because i think fewer are voting because i think fewer are voting because they think it is a foregone conclusion this time. this one basically means things go back to normal apart from some mps who have a medical reason who will be able to contribute remotely through zoom over the next few weeks. the parliamentary arrangements we have seen over parliamentary arrangements we have seen over the last few weeks are coming to an end out the big question is whether that sight of mps queueing for what could be over a kilometre if everybody turns up and could take more than an hour, will continue and if they are outside, what happens if it starts to rain? nick eardley at westminster. public health england has published a review which has

confirmed that black, asian and minority ethnic people are more likely to die from covid—19. researchers found that people of bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death than people of white british ethnicity. 0ur health correspondent nick triggle is here. this has long been discussed since the crisis began but it is confirmation. yes, we have been anticipating this report for a while. they looked at a variety of different risk factors like age and gender and also ethnicity point of the biggest risk factor was age. people over 80 were 70 times more likely to die than those under 40 if they were infected. the risk of dying is also higher in men and higher amongst those who lived in more deprived areas. as you say, also high in black, asian and minority ethnic groups, people of bangladesh the ethnicity twice as likely to die if infected and people

of chinese, pakistani, otherasian, caribbean and other black ethnicity had between eight ten and 50% higher risk. but this analysis did not take into account comorbidities, whether people had pre—existing health conditions like heart disease and we know that these are a big factor for developing complications. it seems clear that more work is needed to unpick this and find out why some people are at greater risk of dying. we have had new figures suggesting there may have been something like 60,000 extra deaths in the uk since the start of the pandemic. there are all sorts of statistics on this so explain what we're talking about. the uk statistics agencies have been looking at where coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate. there are basically three ways of counting the number of deaths. the government's daily figures, which rely on positive infections being identified through testing, they show that 39,000 people have died

during the pandemic. if you look at death certificates at the uk statistics agencies have done, you can see that 48,000 people have died. and then, if we look at the total number of people dying and whether they are above what would normally be expected to happen, this is called excess deaths and many believe this is a better way of measuring the true impact of the pandemic because it takes into account those dying from that virus and also the indirect deaths related to maybe lock down because people cannot get health care, or through mental health problems. they show nearly 62,000 extra people have died during the pandemic. nick, many thanks. a total of 2,375 patients have died in scotland after testing positive for coronavirus, up by 12 from monday. scotland's first minister nicola sturgeon announced the figures at her daily briefing.

she also spoke about plans to give care workers more money for those looking after coronavirus patients. one of the ways in which the scottish government has already acted to support carers is by establishing a carer‘s allowance supplement. that is worth £460 a year. the supplement is paid to around 83,000 people across the country who receive carer‘s allowance. people who are on low incomes and who provide 35 hours or more of unpaid care to a child or to an adult on disability benefits. last month we announced that these carers would receive a further coronavirus supplement of £230. parliament approved our plans two weeks ago and people who are eligible will receive this payment at the end of this month, together with their normal ca rer‘s allowance supplement. the specific date of payment will be confirmed in the next few days, but let me stress now, if you are eligible, you don't need to do anything

to receive the supplement, it will be paid to you automatically at the end of the month. i know that this pandemic has been really hard for everyone, but it has been very hard for carers emotionally, you are inevitably concerned about your own health and the health of the people that you are caring for but in many cases it has also been very difficult financially. this extra payment is one way of providing you with some additional help, but is also an important way of us acknowledging the help and care that you provide to others. i also want to acknowledge that this week is volunteers' week. that is an opportunity for all of us to highlight and celebrate the service of volunteers in communities the length and breadth of the country. of course, like unpaid carers, the efforts of volunteers are important at all times. but the covid outbreak has demonstrated once again just how important they contribute.

the scotland cares campaign, which you will recall we launched at the end of march, received more than 80,000 sign—ups in total and more than 60,000 of those were from people who wanted to volunteer through the british red cross or through volunteer scotland. some have been shopping for their neighbours, making sure that people get the food and prescriptions and other essentials that they need and others have been making befriending calls or providing emotional support to isolated or lonely people. some are directly helping with the response to covid—19 and others are volunteering to long—standing community organisations. there are also, of course, some people who signed up who may not have been asked to volunteer yet, but you may well be needed in the future. for example, in supporting people who have been asked to self—isolate under the test and protect system. nicola sturgeon. nearly 9 million workers have been placed on furlough as part of the government's job retention scheme, according to new figures.

about £17.5 billion has been claimed by more than a million employers as part of the the government's coronavirus job retention scheme. it was set up to protectjobs during the coronavirus crisis, with the government paying 80% of the salaries, up to £2,500, of staff sent home because their workplaces had to close. the government is working on plans to allow air travel from certain low—risk countries. from monday, most people arriving by plane, ferry or train — including uk nationals — must self—isolate for 14 days. but some mps and businesses have expressed concern at the restrictions, warning it will damage the travel industry. tom burridge reports. departures at manchester. eerily quiet of late. but the travel sector fears this will continue, if the government's blanket travel quarantine comes in next week. even the threat of quarantine has created so much uncertainty, that nobody wants to book.

and so within the industry, we've had almost four months, now, of 100% cancellations. if the government go ahead and introduce quarantine next monday, we are going to see an industry on the verge of catastrophe. more than 100 bosses in the travel and hospitality sector, who oppose the quarantine, say, if it goes ahead, they will have to lay off 60% of their staff. we are told ministers are now working hard to negotiate so—called air bridges, so that people arriving from countries with a low infection rate of covid will not have to self—isolate for two weeks. a growing number of senior conservatives say that has to happen. there are plenty of ways we can introduce a targeted system which could reassure people and mitigate the health risks, but allow people to travel round and also show that britain is open for business.

there is some level of normality now in spain. but british tourists will not be allowed to travel here until the infection rate in the uk falls more significantly. holidays, if they happen, will be different this year. and the government insists a travel quarantine for people returning home will, in the short term at least, help control the virus. this is a proportionate step that we are putting in place to make sure that we minimise that risk of new cases of coronavirus coming into society, just at a time that we are getting a grip on it within the uk. testing centres for the virus, like this one in burnley, are dotted across the uk. i'm told rapid tests at airports could be used in the future, so people don't have to self—isolate when they fly in. tom burridge, bbc news. three former british prime ministers — john major, tony blair, and gordon brown —

are among leading world figures who havejoined a call for an urgent g20 summit to help fight the pandemic, especially in poorer countries. the g20 is not due to meet until november, but the leaders say quicker action is needed to prevent an even deeper worldwide recession and health crisis. speaking to the bbc, gordon brown said it was vital that global action was taken. this could go down as one of the greatest global social and economic policy failures of our generation because there is a common enemy — the virus — there is a common challenge — we are all facing economic recession. there is a ready—made vehicle for acting, which is the g20, which was created in 2009, and it seems surprising, astonishing, i mean, quite reprehensible, that it's not going to meet until six months from now to discuss issues that have got to be dealt with now. now, people at home will be wondering, how does it affect their lives. if we don't prevent a second wave coming out of africa and the developing countries,

if we can't unite to get a vaccine which is available in every country to eradicate the disease, and if we can't get world trade and the world economy going again, then all of us individually, in our communities, in ourfamilies, suffer, so it's in every country's self interest that we can bring the world together to deal with these problems. gordon brown there, former prime minister. the downing street press conference is coming up in two or three minutes, with health secretary matt hancock and otto john three minutes, with health secretary matt hancock and 0ttojohn newton comedy testing coordinator for england. we have already heard that the youth take that uk death toll are people dying with coronavirus has risen to 39,369, up in the last 24 hours by a 324 —— and john newton, the testing coordinatorfor england. with me now is our political correspondent iain watson.

the government is under more pressure on testing this time from the head of the uk statistics watchdog and normally statistics is quite a watchdog and normally statistics is quitea dry watchdog and normally statistics is quite a dry subject but this was quite a dry subject but this was quite a dry subject but this was quite a powerful attack on the way the government are presenting statistics on testing. it was very powerful, lies, damned lies and statistics is the old phrase but perhaps lies, damned lies and statistics is what worries the authority. david law grove, who chairs the authority, wrote in no uncertain terms to health secretary matt hancock that the figures he produces are farfrom matt hancock that the figures he produces are far from complete, far from comprehensible and also said the way the data was being analysed and presented was of limited value and presented was of limited value and it seems to be aimed at showing the largest possible number of tests, even at the expense of understanding those statistics. to put some flesh on the bones, we will be told to a number of how many testing kits were sent out but what

we will not have is how many people we re we will not have is how many people were tested because some people were tested more than once per the authority has been criticising that. elsewhere, we will have no statistics so far on how many people have actually been contacted traced since the system was set up in england towards the end of last week. in the house of commons earlier matt hancock said thousands of people had and it was very successful but he did not come out with any specific statistics and again, at the press briefing i was at, downing street was asked about this and they said they did not have the figures to hand. it was their intention to provide them in due course. there is also criticism from the statistics authority about how the statistics authority about how the statistics authority about how the statistics will be useful in terms of tracking who has got the disease. where is it most prevalent and in which occupation is it most prevalent? they want to see more statistics and statistics presented ina much statistics and statistics presented in a much more coherent way. i would

be astonished if matt hancock was not asked to provide some of those a nswe i’s , not asked to provide some of those answers, some of the questions asked of downing street and the department of downing street and the department of health and social care. we have been told it is two minutes until the briefing start so let me ask you about the contact tracing scheme. some of the army of compact tracers have been talking to the media and saying that they are sitting around a day after day doing absolutely nothing. but matt hancock has been saying that it's a good thing that there is excess capacity. that's right. essentially with infection rates falling, matt hancock is essentially saying, look, this is quite positive news. if fewer people have the disease and fewer people have the disease and fewer people have the disease and fewer people are passing it on and people are maintaining social distancing are not staying in close contact with others up to 15 minutes there is less chance of spreading and therefore it is better to have the capacity for contact racing to get on top of the virus but if the capacity is not used then don't worry about it. the labour

opposition said earlier in the commons, how can we trust you on this, if you can't provide the figures for how many people are being contacted traced relative to the number of people who have the infection, how do we know the system is working as it should. the app that was meant to accompany this, seen as an that was meant to accompany this, seen as an optional extra subsequently by some advisers, but that app has been tested on the isle of wight apparently successfully. let's cross to downing street... good afternoon and welcome to downing street for the daily coronavirus briefing. in keeping with the format i will go through slides now and then we will take questions from members of the public and journalists. we can go to the first slide which shows the testing capacity and the number of new cases. the top chart in slide shows the number of tests and that the number of tests as of the 2nd of

june was 135,643. this is different to testing capacity, which stands at just over 200,000. as i said yesterday, this demonstrates that there is spare capacity in testing and so if you have symptoms of coronavirus, that is a fever, or a new, dry cough or a change in your sense of taste or smell, then please do get a test from nhs dot uk coronavirus or by phoning 119. it's incredibly important we can trace the virus by ensuring anyone with symptoms has a test, and we are rolling out testing across care homes and making sure staff in hospitals have the opportunity to get tested as well. the bottom chart shows the number of confirmed cases.

this is 1613 as of the 2nd ofjune. it brings the total number of cases confirmed in the uk to 277,985. although the 1613 figure is slightly higher than yesterday we can see the seven day rolling average continues to fall. 0n the second slide, the data from hospitals showed that those new admissions to hospitals in england has fallen to 436. this is down from 471 on the 24th of may, just over one week ago, and down from a high of 3121 on the 2nd of april. this figure of 436 admissions to hospitals in england with

covid—19 is the lowest figure since the 28th march and it demonstrates once again that we are making progress against this disease. again, as yesterday, the proportion of mechanical ventilators, ventilated beds, that are occupied by patients with coronavirus remains at 9%. the next slide, just like yesterday, the number of people in hospital continues to fall, 7607 now in hospital with coronavirus, and thatis in hospital with coronavirus, and that is falling, broadly falling, in each part of the country, but for a little bit of day to day movement in some areas, for instance, as you see at the end of the chart, for the north—east and yorkshire, but we keep that very closely under review. the overriding trend is downwards.

the overriding trend is downwards. the next slide is the number of deaths. sadly, on the 2nd ofjune, yesterday, 324 deaths with coronavirus were recorded, taking the total to 39,369. we mourn each one of these and we try to keep these data as accurate as possible, including where we find in the past that in some cases there are deaths where we discover that there has been a connection to coronavirus, we add those into those data, so we can see that again the trend is broadly down, but there is still some way to go and after the weekend effect, which we have seen each weekend in terms of the number of deaths

recorded, because this is according to the date recorded, we have seen that rise on most mondays, and sadly the figure is 324 today. the final slide, this reports on data from the office for national statistics reported this morning, reporting a total of 48,106 deaths in the uk where covid—19 was mentioned on the death certificate. you can see again that this number is falling. the top chart shows those data and showed us where we were on the recorded daily deaths data for the period that corresponded to these data coming from the ons. on the bottom chart we can see the place of occurrence of those deaths and you can see both the number of deaths and the

proportion of deaths that are in ca re proportion of deaths that are in care homes, both of those are falling. 27.3% of deaths occurred in ca re falling. 27.3% of deaths occurred in care homes in the latest ons data to the week of may 22, bringing the proportion overall of deaths in care homes down to 32.5%. we don't ca ptu re homes down to 32.5%. we don't capture in these charts, but we do ca ptu re capture in these charts, but we do capture in these charts, but we do capture ina capture in these charts, but we do capture in a report published by public health england today further data, some of which are much more troubling. the phc investigation into the way in which the virus targets people unequally and disproportionately has been put on the website. and this is a particularly timely publication. because right across the world people are angry about racial injustice. and i get that. black

lives matter. and i want to say this to everyone who works in the nhs and in social care, i value the contribution that you make, everybody, equally. and i want to say it right across society too. i wa nt to say it right across society too. i want to thank you and i want you to know our whole country cares about your well—being. i value too those who come to our country to work in the nhs and in social care and i love that this country is one of the most welcoming and tolerant and diverse. that goes for the whole country and it goes especially for the health and care system. as i said in the house of commons earlier, the phd investigation found age is the biggest risk factor for coronavirus. next, gender. living in a city is a risk, and being black or being from a minority ethnic background is also a significant risk factor. there is much more walk

to do to understand what is driving these disparities and how the different risk factors interact and we are absolutely determined to get to the bottom of this and find ways to the bottom of this and find ways to close that gap. —— much more work to close that gap. —— much more work to do. i am delighted the minister for equalities will take this work forward working with php and many others. we value the contribution of eve ryo ne others. we value the contribution of everyone in fighting the virus and eve ryo ne everyone in fighting the virus and everyone has a contribution to make. the thing every single person can do is make their personal contribution to fighting this virus. in the first instance, things as simple as washing your hands, following social distancing rules and if you have symptoms, please self isolated immediately and get tested to protect your friends and family. let's keep going to get through this. we will now turn to questions, and the first from members of the public, and the first one is from

danny in huddersfield. over the last week, a numberof danny in huddersfield. over the last week, a number of measures have been relaxed. if the r now begins to increase because of this, how will you identify which measures need to be introduced to bring it back under control? that's a really important question and i will askjohn to come in in a second. the package of measures we have taken, we judge to be safe, but of course it depends on how people behave, so it's important people follow the social distancing guidelines, even as they are changed. we will keep it under review. and then if we need to make changes we can either make them at a national or local level and that will be determined by where we see any outbreaks, if we see them. and ata any outbreaks, if we see them. and at a national level we can look right across the board. and of course we have been clear from the

start that if we need to we can bring in further measures but we have chosen these measures in order to be able to relax some of the most stringent parts of the lockdown whilst also keeping people safe. john. thank you, secretary of state. i think the answer, danny, is it depends on how the virus is coming back. key to any public health control, and also this virus is the surveillance information we have, including special surveys but also routine surveillance for example from general practice. if the virus came back in a particular setting, whether it was in health care or perhaps in a prison or whatever then you can undertake a lot of testing and infection control in that setting. if it comes back more widely and for particular groups then there are different measures that can be taken, so it would be in response to the way in which the epidemiology, the council of the numbers of cases were increasing. ——

the counts. it seems unlikely, from the counts. it seems unlikely, from the example of different countries, that if we get a recurrence of the virus it would be patchy and in local areas so that's why we are keeping that under control. —— it seems likely. next we have a written question from barbara in bridport who asks... this is another great question, and the answer is in the first instance antibody tests are being used by those in the health and social care sector. we are delivering around 40,000 per day across the nhs and social care, just over 40,000 per day on the latest figures. then we will roll them out across the country. we haven't yet been able to

pin down the science of weather having antibodies means that you are at lower risk of getting the infection again, and critically, at lower risk of transmitting the virus. we have tests in the field to find that out, so we will roll out antibody tests more broadly. we have bought a huge number of them to be able to do that. they involve a phlebotomist being able to take blood so you can analyse that blood which means we have to roll it out at the pace we are and we are trying to expand the rate of roll—out and i entirely understand your yearning to know. thank you. questions from the media, we can go to rhianna crocs ford from the bbc. thank you, secretary of state. many people from bame backgrounds will be confused why it has taken six weeks for the government to simply confirm what

studies have already shown, that they are dying of covid—19 at significantly higher rates. death from all causes in this period have been up to four times higher on average from people from these backgrounds and it has not been fully explained by the review today. firstly, how do you explain this disparity which hasn'tjust been caused by the virus, and why haven't you done more to protect and support these communities. and if i could also have a response from professor newton. secondly, on behalf of a colleague, you have been criticised from the statistics watchdog for the presentation of virus testing figures and isn't that embarrassing in such an important policy area. thank you. if i address the second question first and then bothjohn andi question first and then bothjohn and i will answer on the first, which is so important. on the second question, the way in which we present the stats is the best we can. in having built the testing programme so

can. in having built the testing programme so rapidly, in such a short period of time, we are working with the stats authority is to present these statistics in a way they are happy with and to make sure we are as transparent as possible. i spoke to sir david norgrove today, the head of uk statistics authority, and we will be working with them to make sure the statistics are co nsta ntly im proved. make sure the statistics are constantly improved. but the way we present them is the simplest way of presenting a very complex picture of the overall five different pillars of testing, and that is the approach we have taken. on the first part of your question about the report from public health england, i think this is an incredibly important area. i have been really struck by the clear difference in the proportion of people who are dying with covid—19 from ethnic minority backgrounds,

andi from ethnic minority backgrounds, and i want to get to the bottom of it, so i asked public health england to do this work by the end of may and they have done that. you are absolutely right that there is much more work that needs to be done and this report shows that. so we are asking, i have asked the equalities minister to take this forward to explore the causes and what further can be done. professor newton has been involved in the work from the start. on the reporting of statistics, the object objective of the testing programme was to build the capacity to respond to the pandemic and it's what we do with a test rather than the numbers which matter. at the moment we have a falling number of infections and what we are keen to do is have high quality testing delivered quickly and to be very available. just the numbers of tests is not a measure of how effective the programme is, it is whether we

are testing the right people, testing them quickly and getting results back put it we are happy to report the numbers in any way that we are asked to. the review is an important piece of work, there was a great deal in it, a lot of different factors a re great deal in it, a lot of different factors are looked at and normally a report like this would take a good six months so we have produced the analysis in a relatively short time. some of these data were already available so the office for national statistics and other research studies have published them we have confirmed that. is important to have confirmation in the number of sources. as you say, we confirmation in the number of sources. as you say, we were confirmation in the number of sources. as you say, we were not able to look at all the potential explanations but you mentioned the all—cause mortality being four times higher, actually 3.9 times how in —— higher, actually 3.9 times how in —— higher in black men than in normal times and it is raised by a 1.7 times and it is raised by a 1.7 times in white men and i think 2.9 in asian men. there are a number of

statistics in their. is quite a long report and there is a great deal of background information and detailed information we think will be helpful. what we would like to do is get a lot of discussion about all these elements in particular with a lot of the people involved and the various groups involved in responding to it. we think the report will be helpful. some of it was available before but there is quite a lot of new information and it is not easy to go directly from the analysis to making recommendations and we need to get the report widely disseminated and discussed before deciding what needs to be done but clearly there are some fairly obvious conclusions that can be drawn, even from the data we have. can i follow up on that? firstly, thank you for acknowledging that black lives matter in your opening speech but a lot of people are already going back to work scared they are not being a protected product measures announced

today, as expected, to be in place today, as expected, to be in place to protect them but can you say anything to these communities and if not can you give us a timeframe or deadline when they will get recommendations about how to protect themselves going forward considering this risk will not be going away? absolutely. the number one thing i would say is that for anybody in a higher risk group, the most important thing to do is stringently follow the social distancing guidelines, including the work on social distancing at work that has been published. there is specific guidance for social distancing in the workplace. for all of the different high risk categories that the data demonstrate, it is really important that people follow those social distancing guidelines very stringently. we have been very clear about this from the start, about those who either have a medical condition and, as the phd reporter

says, age is the number one risk factor —— the phe report. around 90% of deaths are in the over 65s. di direct answer to the question is the same as to everybody but with more emphasis, which is that social distancing is the best way to keep yourself safe and others are safe, alongside the hygiene and washing your hands and making sure that if your hands and making sure that if you have symptoms, get a test. i totally understand the concerns that people have and i understand the anger that people feel about racial injustice more broadly and i share it. we want to tackle it i fully acknowledge that, and it's very important that we address that, as i am trying to do within the nhs and social care that i am responsible for, and i think we need to do across society as a whole. and q very much.

emily morgan from itv. if i can pick up emily morgan from itv. if i can pick up on something rhianna said, you launched this review published with a huge fanfare, to look at how covid—19 was affecting ethnic minorities put it one of the objectives of the review was to make recommendations. where are those recommendations. where are those recommendations and will you be publishing any any time soon? absolutely, we need to go through the next stage of work to make sure that we take into account all of the different considerations. for instance, the phe report sets out it does not take into account comorbidities, different occupations because different people in different occupations have different risk factors, and of course... other health factors like obesity point that we have to make sure all those are taken into account. and

scientifically and rigorously understand the causes behind the data that are clearly shown today and take the lessons from that. yes, the recommendations, there are recommendations there but perhaps they are more to do with the fact that these are important data for people to be aware of. as the secretary of state said, even understanding the levels of risk associated with different factors is itself important in designing programmes to protect people. impact, the nhs has already started a process of risk assessment for staff using these data are. —— in fa ct. staff using these data are. —— in fact. there are recommendations but there are still some questions. what we do show is that there is no simple... there was a lot more than just the ethnic differences in the report, there are differences to do with levels of deprivation and where people live an occupation and so on and all these causes are the causes of health inequalities anyway. what the report emphasises that what

covid—19 has done is to emphasise the existing health inequalities in the existing health inequalities in the country, and it shows us again that we need to address those inequalities were that they are to do with deprivation or people's background. in fact, to some extent, the recommendations that have been made before about similar issues still apply. what we have put forward is some data that can be used, the secretary of state mentioned the relevant minister and the race disparities that have looked at the data and i think we will be seeing some recommendations coming out but it is important those recommendations are widely discussed with a lot of other groups, notjust from public health england. but we think the data will be important for those processes. you mentioned risk assessment and obviously they are now happening for ethnic minority members of staff in health care but what about the rest

of the population? given that we know that ethnic minorities are being disproportionately affected by covid—19, shouldn't all ethnic minorities be put in an at—risk category to protect them?“ minorities be put in an at—risk category to protect them? if i may, the key point of the study is it showed that although clearly outcomes are worse for people in black and minority ethnic groups, it is not necessarily because of their ethnicity. exactly as you say, it might be related to occupation or other reasons why there might be a higher level of exposure put that one has to be a little bit careful in doing that risk assessment. one has to look at the causes of increased risk, which may be as much to do with other factors, not necessarily someone's background per se. although there is probably an element of that as well. the report, if nothing else, emphasises the complexity of what we are seeing. we

are urging people not tojump to conclusions and institute measures which are not reallyjustified by the data. there is an element of caution in our results as well as obviously pointing out these obvious inequalities. thank you, emily. next question from ben kentish at lbc. good afternoon, i wanted to ask about the ons figures this morning because two months or so ago at the start of lockdown the government predicted a death toll between 7000 and 20,000 to. the onus the total excess mortality since the end of march is three times that —— the ons. it is around 62,000. i wondered if you have a sense of why you thought that was and therefore what lessons we could learn about that for the future. and one for professor newton, a testing capacity has increased significantly but still about a third each day is going unused. i wondered how you

planned to use that spare capacity and whether it could be used for people who have been told to isolate by the track and trace, test and trace system without symptoms to decide whether or not they do indeed have the virus. thank you. on the first question, i will take that and ask professor newton to answer the second. on the first question, we did not make a prediction of the impact of this disease other than right at the start when there were scientific predictions made which have been published showing that unmitigated, with no measures, the death toll would have been around half a million. and that led to a whole series of changes, including the social distancing and effectively the lockdown. because that was unacceptably high. and we are completely and fully transparent about the impact of the disease, and

i welcome the ons's vigilance in measuring it. the good news from the ons stats this morning are that the number of cases, the number of deaths, sorry, is coming down, and also the fact that the proportion of deaths in care homes is coming down, given that has been a very big focus of attention. professor newton. it's a very good question about what are the priorities for the testing programme. there are three priorities. the first is to support the test and trace programme and the secretary of state has said we are really keen for anybody with symptoms that might be too unwise to come forward and be tested so we can give a definitive answer and if they are positive, they can be entered into the test and trace programme. i should say, we were asked yesterday about some statistics but there are thousands of people already who have tested positive who have been successfully fed into the test and

trace programme and using the online tool and identifying contacts, there are thousands of contacts who have been successfully identified and agreed to sell to isolate. that programme is going well. we don't recommend testing for people who don't have symptoms because if you don't have symptoms because if you don't have symptoms because if you don't have symptoms, it is unlikely to be positive and even if somebody who is incubating the virus, the test may well be negative. if you have a test, if you are a compact and during the 14 days of self—isolation you have a test and its negative, you still have to com plete its negative, you still have to complete the 14 days isolation. there is little utility in offering tests to people who are compact u nless tests to people who are compact unless they develop symptoms when of course it is worthwhile. the second priority is to support the nhs in infection control and other settings like care homes so we are doing a lot of testing of staff to make sure that it lot of testing of staff to make sure thatitis lot of testing of staff to make sure that it is safe for people to be in a care setting or the nhs. that is a

substantial requirement. the numbers are positive tests and particularly asymptomatic positive tests in those settings are coming down. we are learning from those results to design infection—control programmes for the future. thirdly, we are using the test to support large—scale surveys. every now and again it will see a blip in the number of test done when we do a lot of tests for a survey, whether for the office for national statistics or one of the other imperial college surveys. those are the three priorities for testing but we are using a good proportion of the test, and there are of course the antibody tests which are being rolled out personally for health and care staff to understand how the infection has spread. can i come back on your answer, secretary of state? there we re answer, secretary of state? there were forecast published by members of the sage, neil ferguson for example, and he said today that the uk have been much more heavily affected by the buyer was than expected so i wondered if there was any analysis going on —— by the virus. and if you could share as to

why that might be and how we could avoid if there was a second peak or avoid if there was a second peak or a future epidemic, those same things happening again? it's undoubtedly true that we have had a very significant impact from this virus. there is no doubt about that. we have been learning all the way through it how best to deal with that. impact the test and trace system that we have built over the past few weeks that has been up and running for the past five days is one of the lessons that comes out of it. the absolute vital importance of having a system that is big enough to be able to trace as many of those who have tested positive as possible. is in fact ties in with an additional answer i was going to give your second question which is that professor newton gave the long a nswer that professor newton gave the long answer if you like but the short a nswer to answer if you like but the short answer to the question of the gap between tests done and capacity is that we have spare capacity. this is a good thing but i would urge lbc

listeners and everybody else in the country to use the capacity if they need it. if you need a test, you can get one straightforwardly by going on the website and you are not only protecting yourself but also helping us protecting yourself but also helping us to trace the virus and control it. and therefore keep the country safe. thank you. georgia parkerfrom the financial times. a question about the government's plan for a blanket 14 day quarantine on people arriving from overseas. a question to professor newton, what is the scientific rationale of having a quarantine from having people coming in from a country like greece which has lower levels of coronavirus infection and would do you support the idea of a air bridge between countries of low infection rates and into the uk? secretary of state, you said on may 12 that people wouldn't ta ke said on may 12 that people wouldn't take overseas holidays this year. is still your advice? i shouldst first

of all say that i am not a member of sage and it will be there advice which are the basis for this. just like in this country, if somebody might be at risk of having the virus, we need them to be isolated during any period when they might be infectious. if people are coming into the country then they really have to be treated as an unknown and therefore there is a quarantine. there are two reasons why we might not do that. that would be if the risk of them having the virus when they come to the country is so low that we would just take the chance, that we would just take the chance, that the chances of them becoming infectious are very low. i think at the moment the judgment is infectious are very low. i think at the moment thejudgment is it is infectious are very low. i think at the moment the judgment is it is too early to say that so it is better to be cautious for people travelling. secondly, if we were able to respond very quickly with a test and trace programme then we could cover it in

that way. so if travellers are able to be tested and self isolated in response to contact tracing, just like a domestic new case then that would also be a way of dealing with it. at the moment i think caution has won the day and the sage advice is that quarantine it is appropriate. it's not my direct responsibility but i am sure those are the principles on which is being given. on the specifics, i was asked this late last week and i said i was more optimistic than previously, but clearly the number one priority is to keep the public safe and that is the overriding principle, and it has been throughout this, hence many of the changes we have brought in. and you want to come back? a quick

follow—up. given the uk has one of the highest infection rates in europe, can you give an indication of which other european countries are interested in the idea of an of which other european countries are interested in the idea ofan air bridge with the uk? the air bridge idea has been floated and i know there has been a lot of discussion about it and i know some countries have been mentioned in the media but thatis have been mentioned in the media but that is a piece of work that's being done by the home office and dft and iam not done by the home office and dft and i am not going to tread on the toes of my colleagues, no matter how tempting it is. thank you, george. the next question from sarah o'grady from the daily express. my question to the secretary of state, the spotlight has shone on the pressures faced by our social care system through this coronavirus pandemic like never before. i would like to know, please, so i can tell readers

of the daily express, what are your plans and what is your timeframe for the long promised radical reform of social care? i am glad to say that we absolutely need to make those reforms to social care that have been, in my view, pushed to the side for too long. we make clear commitments in their manifesto, which was only back in december, and we have been working on that, on that piece of work, even during the coronavirus crisis. it is incredibly important to me that we put social ca re important to me that we put social care on a sustainable footing. i think one of the positive things, amid the terrible things that have happened during this crisis, is that people have recognised social care forjust people have recognised social care for just how important people have recognised social care forjust how important it is, and i think everyone who works in the social care has seen the whole country value them. we need to follow that up with reforms to the

way social care is supported to make sure more people get that dignity in their older age, and the people in working age who work in social care get the support they need. i am very keen to... i am determined to push forward the social care reforms that i know so many readers of the daily express a re i know so many readers of the daily express are interested in. can you give me an example of one of those reforms, please? give me an example of one of those reforms, please ? could give me an example of one of those reforms, please? could you give an idea perhaps of a timeframe? the timeframe has been clear, which is we have to get these reforms done in this parliament and the prime minister has previously said we would get them set out this year. that was before coronavirus and we will still try to do that but it is not straightforward. what i can say is that the crisis itself has demonstrated many of the reforms that are needed, like closer working

collaboration between health and social care. like increased financial support, which we had already committed to for social care, and then we put more in during the crisis. and making sure some of the crisis. and making sure some of the injustices in social care are taken away, especially about how it is paid for. thank you. the final question is from the voice. many thanks, secretary of state. i would like to ask two questions and address them also to mr newton. given the disproportionate way in which covid—19 has affected from bame communities, there is understandably a of concern about the public health england report and it might say. however, the disappointing lack of recommendations is going to affect many. we have already had a number

of e—mails from readers of the voice citing this as another example of government indifference to the kind of inequalities you mentioned earlier in your address. how will the government address and reassure members of those communities that this isn'tjust members of those communities that this isn't just another members of those communities that this isn'tjust another report? the second question i would like to ask, as you know the statistics show a clear link between people working in public front line jobs and in the community, and also the chances of contracting covid—19. many people from bame communities are in front line jobs like health, health care, transport and social care, but local authorities around the country have been very quick to protect bame employees through things like risk assessments. how will the government follow their lead? thank you very

much. in a way, the second question a nswe rs much. in a way, the second question answers the first, in that we have already taken action, because it has been clear right from the start. i remember the first four deaths of doctors were all people from black and asian minority ethnic backgrounds. i think three of the four had come to the uk to serve in the nhs and it really struck me, and this was right at the start, that there was clearly a disparity, and we have seen that disparity. in your second question you touched on some of the reasons, and we need to do more work, which is why we have published this and we are saying we are taking it further, because the link to the occupations that people do is an important part of this conundrum. and putting in place risk assessments for people in higher risk occupations has been something we have already been doing the work

on. what we need to find out and we don't yet know from this report is over and above the impact of being ina certain over and above the impact of being in a certain occupation, as you say, for instance being more on the front line, and one of the biggest impact is on people who work in transport where you can't isolate, people like taxi drivers. and how much of the disproportionate number of deaths we have seen from people from bame communities are due to the fact that there is a higher proportion of people from those communities who work in the sorts of occupations where the risk is greater and how much is down to, for instance, the differences in housing, because we know are urban areas are more badly hit than rural areas, so it is those wider co—determinants we need to get to the bottom of, and that's the work, along with phd, that kemi

badenoch will be leading in the next stage so we can look as broadly as possible. all the way through this we have been putting in place the actions we think are needed from the evidence we have got and we need to keep doing that. john? the purpose of the report was to try to get every bit of information we could from the existing data and try to understand how the different factors work together, so notjust ethnicity but other factors which often work alongside ethnicity. many people often suffer from multiple disadvantages so we are trying to put all that in context and really present it as clearly as we could. it is complicated, even after we have done the analyses it is still a complicated picture, so trying to get that absolutely clear so people can then take it forward and adopt the right recommendations. the way we would do this is in such a way

that the people who do not adopt we are trying to put the information into hands of people who can use it to make a difference. often that is not us as the public health authority. it's more often the people who you will work with and know who know how to use these data to make a difference to people's lives so a whole range of people need to contribute to the recommendations, certainly not just us recommendations, certainly not just us at public health england. we have presented it and done the best we can to tell what the data tells us already. there are still things we don't know, and a research programme has been kicked off to try to look at some of the genetic analyses and so on at some of the genetic analyses and so on that we haven't done yet. but we have done the best we can to make the data available to people, so really good recommendations can be developed to make a difference to the outcome. thank you. do you have a follow—up question blue i may ask, you have mentioned there will be a follow—up you have mentioned there will be a follow-up on the enquiry so do you

have any timeline on when the follow—up report from kemi badenoch, do you have a timeline on when that might be? the concern on the issue, given the scale of the issue, it is report after report and obviously there are many people in bame communities who really want to see some serious action and recommendations. i get that yearning. we will put action in place as soon as yearning. we will put action in place as soon as we can. yearning. we will put action in place as soon as we can. we won't wait for a report. i have to talk about kemi badenoch about a timeline for it so i will have to get back to you on that one, but i totally understand the urgency, the importance and the sensitivity of getting this right. thank you very much indeed. that ends today's downing street coronavirus daily briefing. studio: matt hancock,

health secretary, and professorjohn newton. let's take a look at the key points made during today's downing street briefing. 324 more people have died with coronavirus in the uk, according to figures from the department of health and social care. this takes the total number of deaths in the uk from the virus to 39,369. in response to the publication of a report today which confirmed that people from black, asian and minority ethnic communities have been hit harder by coronavirus, the health secretary said, "black lives matter". matt hancock said the report was particularly timely given that people across the world are angry about racial injustice following the death in the us of george floyd. he also praised the role played by ethnic minority medical and care workers in the nhs. following criticism of the government's testing data

by the uk statistics authority, the health secretary said he was looking at ways in which the information could be "improved." he insisted the data is the "simplest way of presenting what is a complicated picture." and on the topic of a second wave, professorjohn newton, england's testing coordinator, said it was likely to be patchy and in local areas. with me now is our health correspondent nick triggle. one of the other figures they mentioned was that new admissions with the virus to hospitals in england has fallen to 436. matt hancock said that was the lowest since march 28. on the face of it thatis since march 28. on the face of it that is pretty encouraging. it is, we hear about the picture improving, with about the new numbers on admissions or infections or sadly the new number of deaths announced but the figures are

significant. 436 new admissions, 324 new deaths announced today and over 1600 new infections. it is why health secretary matt hancock said there was still some way to go but it begs the question why we are not actually lower, in a better position. if you look at spain and italy, both countries badly affected as we have been, they are seeing better figures, lower as we have been, they are seeing betterfigures, lowerfigures. as we are easing out of lockdown, i think we will be carefully watching what is happening with them. will they stay the same or come down? of course the concern will be if they go course the concern will be if they 9° up course the concern will be if they goupa course the concern will be if they go up a bit and we could be in a precarious position. quite a few questions about the report that says, and no surprise, more or less confirmation of what was widely known already, that people from black, asian, minority ethnic backgrounds are more likely to die of coronavirus and matt hancock addressed that. that were a lot of questions about this and it followed

the report published by public health england and the findings were that people of bangladeshi ethnicity we re that people of bangladeshi ethnicity were twice as likely to die if infected. people from chinese, pakistani, other asian and black backgrounds were up to 50% more likely to die. matt hancock and professorjohn newton talked about the complexity of the underlying causes of this. one of the things the report was not able to do was unpick what role pre—existing health conditions were playing in the increased risk these groups were facing. of course we know that people with health conditions can develop complications that increase the risk of death. the health secretary was clear that they would keep looking into this and follow it up keep looking into this and follow it up but the question is will not go away until they get to the bottom of exactly why some people are at higher risk. thank you, nick. iain watson is at westminster for us. questions were put to matt hancock

about the testing statistics and the government has come under some criticism today from it may be an unlikely source, the uk statistics authority, which has accused them of not exactly massaging the figures but using them perhaps to their advantage? that's right, effectively what they said was that the figures produced by the government were incomplete, difficult to understand, and the aim seems to be to try to get the highest number possible out there when it came to testing. for example, there was a specific criticism that the figures we here at the press conferences were about the number of tests carried out and testing kits sent out, not the number of testing kits that are returned. and the number of tests carried out, some people need to be tested more than once. sir david norgrove, who chairs the uk statistics authority, says he wants clearer statistics including the number of people actually tested. matt hancock was not at all keen to

get into a war of words with the statistics authority and said they we re statistics authority and said they were working with them and the statistics were presented at the best way they could at the moment. they have ratcheted up the testing regime quickly and he said he would work with them to try to give them the information they want. john newton, the government testing guru, said he was quite happy to provide statistics in whichever way they we re statistics in whichever way they were required to predict that we used to get a figures for the number of tests carried out and then this expanded hugely, and we were getting testing capacity rather than the number of people actually tested, and the statistics authority say that if you want to get the virus under control, that is the kind of information you need. you also need to know where people are being tested to look at the prevalence of the virus and what kind ofjobs they do which is also relevant to the other point about public health england and ethnic minority communities. there was criticism in the report that the recommendations for black and ethnic minority

community did not come alongside the analysis that did not take into account, for example, perhaps the jobs people coming to this country or in this country were doing perhaps more than others from different backgrounds. for example, in the caring professions or perhaps working on public transport where they may also be at greater risk than the population as a whole. many thanks. iain watson, our political correspondent. mps have approved the government's motion to only allow them to vote in person and not remotely, by 261 votes to 163 — a majority of 98. the commons leader, jacob rees—mogg, has said he will put forward a proposal tomorrow that would allow some mps to participate remotely. the vote is quite different to what we usually see in the houses of parliament. of this image was taken by labourmp ben parliament. of this image was taken by labour mp ben bradshaw inside portcullis house, saying on twitter there was no social distancing and

called it an absolute disgrace. the queue stretched through portcullis house. here we can see mps queueing up, socially distanced their. it even stretched outside with mps queueing throughout the parliamentary estate. let's get some reaction to that and speak now to conservative mp robert halfon who has been shielding at home during the coronavirus pandemic. how do you feel about this vote going through and what will it mean for you personally? are you not going to be able to participate? for you personally? are you not going to be able to participate7m isa going to be able to participate7m is a sad day for the house of commons because what the leader of the house has done effectively is to disenfranchise hundreds of mps who genuinely cannot come in because of covid related issues. they might be sick or isolating, they might need special care. and they will not be able to vote at all, whether online

or even via proxy. and it's quite extraordinary that mps who are on maternity or paternity leave are able to vote by proxy, something i strongly agree with, yet those genuinely affected by covid—19 are denied the chance to vote on legislation and private members bills and backbench debates. jacob rees—mogg, the leader of the house, said the stopgap of a hybrid parliament was a necessary compromise during the peak of the virus but by not being here, the house has not worked effectively on behalf of constituents. surely that is true? mps have to be there?” strongly believe that parliament should return and it should set an example to the nation, especially at a time when government has suggested schools should have a paste and deliberate return as well. but the issueis deliberate return as well. but the issue is or not whether or not mps

should go to parliament but whether or notjacob should go to parliament but whether or not jacob rees—mogg should go to parliament but whether or notjacob rees—mogg and others should slip away at our democratic rights to vote and in essence turn us rights to vote and in essence turn us into parliamentary eunuchs. he has said he would table a motion tomorrow that would allow mps who cannot attend parliament, presumably like you, on medical grounds, that they can take part in certain proceedings. that sounds like a bit ofa proceedings. that sounds like a bit of a compromise. are you interested in that? first of all, it should not be seen as a compromise or concession, it should not be —— it should be seen as our democratic right to participate properly in parliament when all we're doing is following government regulations. you have one branch of government are saying do this another branch saying the complete opposite. but absolutely, i'm pleased i will be able to participate in some parliamentary proceedings. i am delighted that as a elected chair of the education committee in the house of commons i'm still able to do that online via video and the like. but

the fundamental purpose of an mp with the duty of an mp, is to vote in the house of commons. and not only will i and hundreds of others of mps be disenfranchised but our constituents will be as well. why do you think the government, your government, are so you think the government, your government, are so keen to push this through and get all the mps back and effectively meaning people like you are, as you say, disenfranchised?” understand why they want parliament to return to the reasons i set out earlier and i'm absolutely with them on that, but it's a mystery to me why they will not even allow proxy votes, ie me giving my vote to another mp to vote on my behalf, if they will not accept the online voting. i do think there is an arch traditionalist view that is rather stern and unbending to any change whatsoever. i think some of them ta ke whatsoever. i think some of them take a whatsoever. i think some of them takea similar whatsoever. i think some of them take a similar view to president bolsonaro in brazil who described

the covid is just the sniffles, and i think that all mps should be their. if you can't get in, tough luck. they don't seem to care. and thatis luck. they don't seem to care. and that is what is fundamentally wrong and unjust as well and i hope that over the coming weeks we can overturn that. yes, i can participate hopefully in questions and statements and my committee, the education committee, but i will be denied any vote as long as i am out of parliament. injust denied any vote as long as i am out of parliament. in just a few seconds, are you going to keep fighting this? of course, it is not just me, there are many other mps i have messages from ministers, backbench mps, opposition mps, i worked closely with a labour mp called vicky foxcroft who's done a greatjob in getting a statement from the equalities rights commission saying this is disco military against those mps. we will continue to do what we can to make sure all mps have the vote democrat

this is discriminatory. thank you for being with us this evening on bbc news. we had in the coronavirus daily briefing that the death toll has risen by 324 in the last day, up to 39,369. sophie raworth will be hit with the news at six in minutes but first the latest weather prospects for you from tomasz schafernaker. hello. we had a dose of summer and i'm quite sure it will be back, but in the short term the wind of change upon us and in fact this change is already taking place across scotland. rain clouds have been moving in and the temperature is dropping and the outlook is looking distinctly chilly right across the country over the next few days. in fact, weather fronts coming in from the north already spreading

across the uk and behind it a current of much cooler air all the way from the arctic will set in, and the winds will strengthen as well and it really will become quite windy across some northern areas. as far as tuesday afternoon is concerned, still very warm in many areas, certainly across england and wales, and northern ireland and even the lowlands of scotland, but later on this evening and into tonight, that persistent rain across eastern scotland spreads further south. rain on the way for newcastle, carlisle, certainly the lake district and into the pennines and possibly more patchy rain there into the midlands and wales as well. it looks as though the south—east and east anglia just about stays dry through the course of the night. the rain through tomorrow, as it moves further south, tends to become a little more patchy. you can see blobs of blue rather than one large coherent band of rain, so as far as the gardeners and growers are concerned, i wouldn't get too excited. we are certainly not going to see yet enough rainfall. it has been so dry, we need more,

and the rain will be hit and miss, but there is the chance of one or two downpours, even thundery ones occurring across the south later on in the afternoon. much, much cooler, temperatures of 12 in newcastle. mostly into the teens across the country right across the board. if anything, those temperatures will drop even further as we head into thursday. you can see the wind coming straight out of the north, out of the norwegian sea, viking winds there keeping things cool around the north sea coast. temperatures of only 12 in newcastle, and a 30—40 mph wind in gusts and it will feel chilly. and patchy rain again in places on thursday. low pressure quite close to the uk on friday and that low pressure will probably hang around through the weekend, so again the weather will be changeable, unsettled and temperatures in london down to 14 at one point. that's it from me, bye—bye.

america on the brink — president trump threatens to deploy the army as protests continue over the death of a black man in police custody. this was the scene outside the white house last night as protests continued to escalate after george floyd's death last week. if a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then i will deploy the united states military and quickly solve the problem for them. protests have now swept more than 75 cities across america — despite curfews to try to stop them. we'll have the latest from washington — also tonight. president trump faces growing criticism over his handling of the situation. an empty coronavirus test centre at gatwick today —