hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. which prohibits any mixing of households indoors. other households, up to six people, the prime minister sets out a new 3 can meet in outside spaces tiered system of restrictions across england to try to get such as parks. pubs and bars will close. coronavirus back under control. these figures are flushing out is go to the press conference as soon like dashboard warnings in a as it starts, but fergus walsh is with me. we have had the passenger jet like dashboard warnings in a passengerjet and like dashboard warnings in a passenger jet and we like dashboard warnings in a passengerjet and we must act now. announcement of these three tiers, only liverpool city region is placed are they going to be enough, fergus? under the most severe restrictions pubs and bars will close. but england's chief medical officer well, that is the big question, warns even that may not be enough because we have had restrictions in to control the virus . many parts of the north of england for weeks, and in some areas for months, and yet the figures keep going the wrong way. and we have a iam not i am not confident and nor is anybody confident that the tier 3 huge number of cases, and that is proposals for the highest rates, if now feeding into hospitals, because we did the absolute base case and what matters is not so much the cases but the impact that this has nothing more, would be enough to on hospital care, and some hospitals are now almost, almost, getting to

the levels of patients with covid that they were back in march and april, and indeed we now have more patients in hospital with covid than we had on the day, march the 23rd, you will remember, that boris johnson announced a national lockdown. now, there are many different things about where we are now than then, but all the trends are going the wrong way. and there has been some surprise, perhaps, that some areas with very high infection rates, such as the north west, have not been put into this highest tier, what is your interpretation of that? a lot of discussion behind—the—scenes between leaders in those cities and indeed with the government, and things are only getting belted down right at the last minute, but as you say, it is only liverpool that is in this very high tier. i am going to stop you there, there is the prime minister, professor chris whitty and chancellor rishi sunak. minister, professor chris whitty and chancellor rishi sunakli minister, professor chris whitty and chancellor rishi sunak. i am glad that we have the chancellor, rishi sunak with us and our chief medical

officer, chris whitty. we are entering a new and crucial phase in the fight against coronavirus. the number of cases has gone up four times infour number of cases has gone up four times in four weeks, and it is once again spreading among the elderly and vulnerable. there are already more covid patients in uk hospitals today than they were on the 23rd of march, when the whole country went into lockdown, and deaths, alas, are also rising once again. these figures are flashing at us light dashboard warnings in a passenger jet, and we must act now. so we are giving local authorities across england around £1 billion so they can protect vital services as they fight the virus, nightingale hospitals across the north of england are being prepared for service, and so we can squash this virus where ever it appears, we are today simplifying, standardising and

in some places toughening local rules in england by introducing three levels of covid allowed. medium, with existing national measures, such as the rule of six, and the closure of hospitality at 10pm. high, with extra measures, including a ban on indoor social mixing between households all support bubbles stop and very high, for places where, without further action, the nhs will swiftly be under intolerable pressure. areas within the very high alert category will be reviewed every four weeks and nowhere will be shut down indefinitely. and the exact restrictions at this level, very high, will be worked out with local leaders, along with tailored packages of support. but at a minimum, ata packages of support. but at a minimum, at a minimum, packages of support. but at a minimum, ata minimum, they will sadly include a ban on all social mixing between households in private places, including gardens, and pubs and bars must close, unless they can

operate solely as a restaurant serving alcohol only as part of a main meal. we will also ask people not to travel into and out of a very high alert level areas. no—one effected by this will be left to fend for themselves, and we are going to expand our unprecedented economic support to assist those affected by these decisions, extending ourjob support scheme to cover two thirds of the wages of those in any business that is required to close, and providing those businesses with a cash grant of up to £3000 per month instead of £1500 every three weeks, and extra funding too for those in the very high category for local test and trace and enforcement. you will shortly be able to type in your

postcode to gov.uk and see what restrictions apply where you live. the majority of the country will, for now, be at medium. most areas currently under local intervention will be at high. and nottinghamshire, including nottinghamshire, including nottingham itself, east and west cheshire, and a small area of high peak, will also move to this level. over the weekend, we have been working with local leaders in areas where the data are most worrying, and from wednesday local authorities in the liverpool city region will move to the very high alert level. in addition to pubs and bars, we have agreed with liverpool city mayor steve rotherham that gymnasiums, adult betting centres and casinos will close. we are still working with other local leaders to determine how best to target the resurgence of the virus in their areas, but tackle it we will. no—one

wa nts to areas, but tackle it we will. no—one wants to impose, least of all me, these kinds of restrictions, erosions of our personal liberty, but i am as convinced as i have ever been that the british people have the resolve to beat this virus and that, together, we will dojust that. with that, i'm going to hand over to the chancellor, who has some more details on how we will be supporting these businesses, employees and areas affected by today's changes. over to you. good evening. the prime minister has set out the next stage in our health response to tackling coronavirus, andl response to tackling coronavirus, and i know people are frustrated at the prospect of further restrictions, and i want to reassure you that we have a comprehensive plan to protect jobs and businesses in every region and nation of the united kingdom. our winter economy plan has three parts. first, the job support scheme will protect jobs,

where that your business is open or closed. if your business can open safely but with reduced or uncertain demand, the government will directly subsidise people's wages over the winter, giving businesses the option to bring people back to work on shorter hours, rather than making them redundant. that is the right approach for businesses who can remain open. but businesses who are being asked to close will need further support, so on friday i announced that we are expanding the job support scheme. if the closures mean you are unable to work for one week or more, your employer will still be able to pay you two thirds of your normal salary, and the uk government will cover the cost. this national programme will benefit people the same wherever they live and whatever job people the same wherever they live and whateverjob they do. the

existing furlough scheme continues throughout october, with the newjob support scheme available from november so there is no gap in support. and to give people and businesses certainty, the scheme will run for six months through to next spring. the job support scheme is in line with most other major european countries, and to support the lowest paid through this crisis, we have also made our welfare system more generous and more responsive too. second, businesses in england who are legally required to close can now claim a cash grant of up to £3000 per month, depending on the value of their business premises. those grants can be used for any business costs and will never need to be repaid. and i am guaranteeing an extra £13 billion of funding to the scottish, welsh and northern ireland administrations if they choose to do something similar.

third, the prime minister has announced today we are providing additional funding for local authorities. for local authorities entering level three, we are providing up to £500 million to fund activities, like enforcement, compliance and contact tracing. and to protect vital services, we are providing around £1 billion of additional funding for all local authorities, on top of the £3.7 billion we have already provided since march. our winter economy plan will give people and businesses flexibility and certainty over the coming months, whether they are open all required to close. all part of our plan to protect the jobs and livelihoods of the british people. thank you. thanks very much, chris. first slide, please. the slides that

follow tell a story that is relatively clear to understand. this is the first slide, from the office for national statistics, household infection survey, and it is, in our view, the most robust study of the virus, and what it shows is the prevalence, how many people had eight, in the population, from the end of april through to the beginning of october, and as you can see on this graph, the numbers of people with it went down really steadily through till the beginning ofjune, steadily through till the beginning of june, thanks to steadily through till the beginning ofjune, thanks to the remarkable efforts of the entire nation, and then continued down to low level until the beginning of september, at which point they began to rise again. and you can see on this graph that they are now really up to a level that was there at the beginning of may. next slide, please. can we go back one slide,

please? if we look at the geographical spread of covid in the uk, in england, sorry, at this point in time, on the left here we have a map which shows the current prevalence, how many people have got it, and you can see the darker colours, which is where the most transmission is occurring, are very clear on the map on the left. and on the right what we have is a map which shows the rate of change of this, and the darker colours show the more rapid change, and you can see on this map that this is now extending considerably beyond just the areas in the north west, north east and parts of the midlands, so there is already clear evidence of spread around the country, but at this point in time heavily scented

on the areas of intervention. —— centred. next slide, please. one slide back, please. the geographical spread in people over the age of 60 is, however, really important, and thatis is, however, really important, and that is what this map shows, it is the same as the last one, but as you can see, the area is much more concentrated, because you start off with transmission in younger people, and then it moves up the age bands. but the reason this is very important, andl but the reason this is very important, and i will show this really clearly in the last slide of this pack, is that the rate in people over 60 is a very good predictor, in a bad way, for the rights of people going into hospital. next slide, please. if we then use the ons data in the different regions of the country, you can see that the rates have been

going up steadily in the north—east, the north west, and yorkshire and the north west, and yorkshire and the humber. at a more moderate rate in the east and west midlands, and in london. next slide, please. and ata in london. next slide, please. and at a much lower right, currently, but i think we should not be lulled into a false sense of security, in the south—west, the east of england and the south—east. next slide, please. and i think something which has got a lot of traction over the la st has got a lot of traction over the last few days, in the press, is the fa ct last few days, in the press, is the fact that there are very variable rates by different age groups, and in blue, light blue, we have those 10-19, in in blue, light blue, we have those 10—19, in reality this is mainly people over the age of 16, and what we have in these areas is the first rapid rise is in younger people, but then you start to see rises across then you start to see rises across the entire age group, and this is

illustrated in areas of the north, but the same pattern seen at a much lower rate elsewhere in the country. next slide, please. there was a hope this would not translate into hospital admissions, but the admissions occur at the high end of age range and we have here everybody in hospital since july. a steady fall initially, but on the right, a rise which is on every age band, but in particular in those aged over 65, over 75 and in particular those over 85. and what this is translating into is an increase in hospitalise, so this is notjust increase in hospitalise, so this is not just rates increase in hospitalise, so this is notjust rates going up, but this is rates going into hospital are going up. next slide. so the final slide

is to show that regrettably when you start to see a rise in the rates going into hospital in people over the age of 60, that is mirrored almost exactly with some delay with rates going into hospital and those curves follow one another. so watching those rates of people over 60 rising in the community, will translate into cases in hospital. my final point is a more optimistic one. if we had not been doing all the things that everybody is doing, if there had not been in every business a real attempt to try and be covid secure and to limit the amounts of transmission, if people we re amounts of transmission, if people were not seeing fewer numbers of people, which is clearly happening across society, the rates we are seeing would be higher in my view andl seeing would be higher in my view and i think in general most people's view significantly higher across the whole country. what people are doing

now are reducing the rates compared to where they would have been, but what we can see is we need to go further on the rates will continue to rise. thank you very much. thank you, chris. very clear indeed. let's go to questions from the public. helen from derby is on the video. following the announcement that businesses who need to close will receive targeted support, wh support this for industries like the events sector who, due to government restrictions, have been shut down since march? well, i should say that all businesses that have been forced to close get the job support system that rishi has announced. why don't you say more about businesses like events, it is worth something like

90 million to the country. but there is plenty we are doing to support it. thank you, pm and thanks, helen. we have put support in across hospitality, leisure and retail so, people with physical properties are not paying business rates. many businesses have received cash grants of 10 or 25,000 pounds at that time. some sectors are not able to trade in the way that they normally would and for those who we have put in place is the job support scheme, which allows company who are opening but not trading to benefit from support from the government and they can bring employees back, although not at the same level and that wage subsidy will help and that is something we a nounlsed a few weeks —— announced a few weeks ago. some businesses are being told by government, notjust businesses are being told by government, not just now businesses are being told by government, notjust now in this localised way, that have been told to close for a while. if you're in

that category, such as nightclubs, you will be able to benefit from the expansion of the jss, if you have been told close and that continues, you will be eligible for that extra support. i'm very sympathetic to your situation and those of other businesses like yours and we are keen to find a way to get our economy going and get your businesses back to life and protect the jobs your sector has. charlotte? she asked: well, all i can say charlotte is we will do our best to try to make sure that we get life back to as close to

normal as possible for christmas, but that will depend on our success in getting this virus down and our ability as a country to follow through on the package of measures andi through on the package of measures and i have said it before and i have said it again, it will mean in those local areas that we have talked about we not only have to intensify the measures, but we are going to have to enforce generally the social distancing, the rules, hands, face, space, get a test if you have symptoms, self—isolate if you're contacted symptoms, self—isolate if you're co nta cted by symptoms, self—isolate if you're contacted by nhs test and trace. all that basic stuff is essential if we're going to come out of this and allow people to have anything like a normal christmas. chris this anything you want to add on that? thanks very much, charlotte. let's go to the media and first laura from

the bbc. thank you, prime minister. a question for each of you tonight. prime minister, you have said you wa nt prime minister, you have said you want to avoid at national lockdown, but it seems each week you bring in new rules, are you delaying the inevitable and chancellor you encouraged people to spend money when cases were higher in the north of england, how do you expect workers in pubs and bars that have to close to live on two thirds of their wages, when they cannot pay two thirds of their bills and professor whitty are you confident what is being announced now is enough to slow the spread of the disease. can i lastly ask one of you to explain what people who have been shielding should do now? we haven't heard much about them today. well first of all, laura, i hope we won't have go back into anything like a

national lockdown like in march and april and i hope that with the package of measures that we have got, if properly implemented and enforced, we can get the r down and igo enforced, we can get the r down and i go back to what chris was saying, these measures do work. don't forget these measures do work. don't forget the r was coming down in this country before we went into full lockdown in march, because people had already started to follow guidance about restricting contact and restricting transmission in the way that they needed to do. lockdown was also essential to drive that home. but you know this package depends on public support. i think what is encouraging today is we have got people like steve rotherham in liverpool stepping up with strong local leadership. i think if we can get that over the next few days that

will make a huge difference. but you know be in no doubt, it is a balanced package. we could go now for a national lockdown again. i think many people would think that is extreme. and would do a great deal of extra harm to our economy, to our ability to, we'd have to take kids out of school, it would do a lot of harm. we don't want go down that extreme route now. and there are people who say, let's... just you know learn to live with this and stop trying to fight the virus and stop trying to fight the virus and stop any measures to contain it. i can't support that approach, because all the maths is brutal it would to too many fatalities. we have to do a balanced, moderate approach and relying on the public on the co—operation of local government and

government at all levels, to make it work. laura, you're right, this is very difficult for people who are not able to be at work. all of us have had that in our heads and we have had that in our heads and we have tried to protect as manyjobs as possible. with regard to the exact level of support, i make two points if i may. the first is at two thirds we are in line with large other european economies, who provide similar support schemes, france is 60% or 70%. germany's scheme starts at 60%. i could go on. but the broad picture is we are in line with peers. that might not be comforting if you're the person on the other end of that and you need to make ends meet. we have invested

in improving the generosity of our welfare system, through the increase in universal credit and housing allowa nce. in universal credit and housing allowance. not only is that system more generous, it is responsive to people's needs. as people who are the lowest paid that you talked about see that their earnings are going down, the way universal credit works, the payments will go up to compensate for a good chunk of that. if you look at someone in their late 20s, privately renting, working 35 hours at the minimum wage, let's say living in a city like manchester, what they would see on an after tax and after benefits change would mean they're probably just and after benefits change would mean they‘ re probably just about and after benefits change would mean they're probablyjust about over 90% of their previous income once the changes had worked through. so our system is designed to help those who are system is designed to help those who a re lowest pa id system is designed to help those who are lowest paid and help get through are lowest paid and help get through

a temporary, but difficult period. on the two you asked me, i am very confident that the measures that are in place are helping to slow the virus and these measures will help to slow it further. i am not confident and nor is anybody confident and nor is anybody confident that the tier 3 proposals for the highest rates, if we did the absolute base case and nothing more, would be enough to get on top of it. that is why there are flexibility for local authorities, guided by the directors of public health who, are superb around the country, to go up that range so, they can do more than the base, because the base will not be sufficient. i think that is clearly the professional view. there are a lot more things that could be done within that. with local guidance. the central thing about this is these only work if people buy into them. i don'tjust mean the

political leaders, although it is essential they do and there is consensus essential they do and there is consensus and everybody has got to buy into them. that is how it works. everybody doing their bit within this and that is important that we have local as well as national agreement. this is what we need to do. in terms of your fourth question, on shielding, jenny harris is going to give a longer discussion, but people who were previously in the shielding group are at greater risk and we would advise them to take greater precautions, but we recognise there was precautions, but we recognise there was significant difficulties and often mental distress and loneliness for people put into shielding as they perceived it. i think we are trying to deal with that in the way we approach shielding over the next phase. it is something where we want people to take extra precautions where they can. thank you, laura.

now to robert peston. you are listening to the prime minister, joined by england's chief medical officer and the chancellor, they we re officer and the chancellor, they were outlining this new three tier restrictions that will be coming into force in england on wednesday, but what impact is that all going to have on scotland our chief news correspondentjoins me. james have on scotland our chief news correspondent joins me. james cooke, a lot was directed at england, liverpool will see the toughest of the restrictions. but what does this mean for scotland ? this mean for scotland? first, robert, it is correct to say that we are working with local authorities across the country, but particularly

with those badly affected regions that everybody knows about in the north—west in the north—east. yorkshire and so on, trying to work with them to support a collective package of measures. i was pleased that steve rotherham of the liverpool city region came forward with a package, we are helping him and the offer is that to all local leaders who are facing problems, big increases in the infection rates will help to support local, more local test and trace, more local enforcement and so on. we stand ready to work with local government at all levels. but clearly we also have, as a national government, we have, as a national government, we have to think about our primary duty to save life, and to protect the nhs

and we will do whatever we think is necessary over the next few days and weeks. experience as a doctor has been that people in britain do not tend to get scared, what they want is for people to give them very straight news and now the worst, and then discuss what we should do and get on a plan for how to do it. in terms of lockdown, as people put it, lockdown now means as people put it, lockdown now means a whole bunch of different things in different areas, and we are not talking about the kinds of lockdown they were at the end of march and they were at the end of march and the beginning of april, but it is the beginning of april, but it is the case we are going to have to do more ‘ the case we are going to have to do more — that is the whole point of what the prime minister hasjust announced and, probably in some areas, significantly more, and the balancing act here, and that is reflected by the fact that the chancellor and i am standing here, is doing things which do the things which pull down the virus to the point where the r goes below one,

but with a minimal impact on the economy that you can get away with with that, but none of us have any illusions about this, and i would like to be really clear about this, because we should not have any illusions — the idea we can do this without causing harm is an illusion, and every country in the world is struggling with this. you know, i am confident we will get through it, but it is a balancing act between two homes — a harmful society and the economy on the one hand, and for health on the other hand, and if we damage the economy, we damaged long—term health, and if we damage health, we damage the economy and confidence in the economy. so getting these right is critical, and we're all trying to find the balance, a middle way, a narrow path between these two harms, accepting whatever we do is not going to be easy. rigby, sky news. thank you, prime minister. you just said the latest data is like dashboard

warning is in a passengerjet and we must act now. and yet the only part of the country today put under these much stricter rules is the liverpool city region. why is your rhetoric on this outstripping the reality of the measures you are actually introducing, and is it because you are struggling to take regional leaders with you? and, chris whitty, some areas, like bradford, where i am now, have been living under restrictions throughout the summer and into the autumn, and analysis from the labour party last week showed 19 out of 20 of those areas put into local lockdowns have still not come out of them. what is going on? were they the wrong restrictions, or are people not following the rules? first of all, just to repeat what i said to robert, we want to take local authorities with us, obviously a

local approach can be immensely valuable in enforcement, there is the local knowledge of the area, the places where the virus may be transmitted, local activity in closing down people who are breaking, transparently breaking the rules, local enforcement, local test and tries — these can be fa ntastically and tries — these can be fantastically powerful, and we want to work with local authorities to deliver this, and that is why we are offering the deals and the solutions that we are, butjust offering the deals and the solutions that we are, but just to offering the deals and the solutions that we are, butjust to repeat offering the deals and the solutions that we are, but just to repeat the point i madejust now, if we that we are, but just to repeat the point i made just now, if we can't get agreement, then clearly it is the duty of national government to ta ke the duty of national government to take the necessary action to protect the public and protect public health, and we will. on bradford specifically, i mean, bradford has shown superb leadership. the local authority, the director is a public health, the local nhs, in the way

they have tackled this. if they had not done so, consistently, working with the communities of bradford, we would be in a substantially worse place than we are at the moment. in terms of what bradford is trying to do, as every town and city and area of the country is trying to do, is to find this balance between keeping the rates down without doing unnecessary harm to society and the economy and all the other things that, in the long run, have major implications. and i think they have done a large number of very imaginative things. i see no evidence that this is because the people of bradford are flouting the rules, i think inevitably very occasionally people will, but evidence over the country as a whole is that the great majority of people intend to follow the rules and do follow the rules, because the great majority of people want to protect their neighbours, to protect their family, and to improve the situation over, once we get through the winter, which is going to be difficult, and everybody knows that.

thanks very much, gordon rayner... for those of you watching on bbc one, that is it from downing street. andy street, the west midlands mayor, has pointed out that his area is in tiertwo mayor, has pointed out that his area is in tier two although it only has a quarter of the level of infection that manchester does, what is on the same tier. the knowledge that there are huge inconsistencies in the decisions over which area is in which tier? well, gordon, first of all, on the variations in the tiers, thatis all, on the variations in the tiers, that is inevitably going to happen ina that is inevitably going to happen in a complex campaign against a pandemic like this. i don't want to put the west midlands or anywhere

into the measures that we have to do, but as you have heard from chris, we have to get that virus down. i'm afraid it is going up in the west midlands, as it is across the west midlands, as it is across the whole country. there is no area where it isn't going up alas. that is why we have to take especially dynamic measures in those areas which are particularly badly affected. on your big a point about what happens if there is no vaccine, well, that doesn't mean there is not going to be the kind of scientific and technological progress that will start to make a real difference. already, you are seeing how drugs are changing for the better the mortality rates in icu. treatment and understanding of the disease is helping reduce the number of people who go from hospital admission into icu. we are making progress in fighting this disease and we will continue to make progress. i have

high hopes that we will get much further on types of mass testing. but for now, i will hand over to chris to give a longer term prognosis, but for now this is the best utensil we have to fight the virus collectively, strong local or national measures combined. virus collectively, strong local or national measures combinedlj virus collectively, strong local or national measures combined. i am just going to reiterate even more strongly what the prime minister has said. we collectively, humanity has a enormous capacity to tackle infectious diseases, sometimes with a vaccine, sometimes by drugs, sometimes with other measures. but our track record on this collectively has been remarkable in the uk has been one of the leaders on this. in the uk is one of the leaders in a lot of the science that is going on at the moment. this does not depend on a vaccine. science will support us from many directions. no one can predict what

are the combinations of treatments, vaccines, diagnostics and other interventions that we will have available to us. but i am extremely confident that when we go into the next winter, we will do so in a remarkably better place than we do today. thanks, chrisann gordon. helen pitt of the guardian. that's my thanks to chris and gordon. helen pitt of the guardian. that's my thanks to chris and gordonlj have a question for the prime minister. the deputy medical officer jonathan van tam said earlier that the epidemic hit the north of england earlier than the first wave, and that relates to the fact that the disease levels in the north—west never dropped as far as they did in the south. do you accept that the lockdown was too early for the north of england and was taken to suit the south? and chris whitty more

evidence is there that hospitality isa evidence is there that hospitality is a key setting for infections? helen, i don't accept that at all. i think the difference between this bout of the pandemic and the first one is how much more localised it is. we took measures on a national basis then at every stage and on the basis then at every stage and on the basis of the scientific advice. on the evidence for hospitality, to go back to the first bit of your question, jonathan van tam put it extremely well today. we have a group of things, all of which contribute to people mixing. and the ones that are most likely to lead to transmission events are indoors with households that are not your household, in relatively crowded environments, without masks and so on. this is true for hospitality and other sectors as well. but it is one

of the areas where, around the world, there is a view that this is one of the contributors. not the only one, but one of the contributors to this. that is why the hospitality sector has been involved in restrictions, in some places very significant restrictions, in multiple countries across europe and the world. this is across europe and the world. this is a professional judgment. we across europe and the world. this is a professionaljudgment. we will not have randomised evidence for some time for any intervention. currently, we have two poles we are confident of. a full lockdown works, and letting it go will lead to very substantial numbers. between those, what every country is trying to do is to find, for any society, the right balance between the various things, all of which cause harm, all of which we would not want to do, which but which can collectively, if you do them together, pull the numbers down. if you look at what the uk has decided to do for good

reasons in terms of protecting education in particular, but other things as well, then you have to look at all the things that remain. that is the situation we have with hospitality. and don't forget, helen, we are not an outlier in this. they have closed the bars in paris. in berlin, they have got the first cu rfews paris. in berlin, they have got the first curfews since 1919. so across europe and elsewhere, you can see people tackling this in similar ways. let's go finally to liam thorpe of the liverpool echo. initially to the chancellor, back in spring, you deemed it appropriate to pay 80% of the wages of those who could no longer work because of the lockdown. are you now saying that the jobs, the lives and prospects of the jobs, the lives and prospects of the thousands of people in the liverpool city region, many of whom we re liverpool city region, many of whom were now liverpool city region, many of whom we re now earn liverpool city region, many of whom were now earn less than the minimum wage and be unable to pay their bills, some may even be forced into

destitution, are they valued less now? and to the prime minister, you have tried to strike a chord of agreement and cooperation with the leaders of the liverpool city region. we are getting very different idea locally. the first that anybody heard, including the leaders, about your plans to shut pubs etc i was in the papers of the national newspapers. today at the very la st national newspapers. today at the very last minute, matt hancock called a meeting with the region's mps, with ten minutes one, meaning that several of them missed the briefing. some of them were trying to connect on a train. they described it as a total lack of respect for a region where you potentially will not win any votes. is it that, or is itjust the chaos of trying to organise a lockdown? rishi, do you want to go first? liam, it's wrong to say that any particular area has been treated differently to any other. we value alljobs and livelihoods equally. the schemes we have put in place are

national. so wherever you happen to live and whateverjob you have, not just in england but in the uk, you will be treated the same. this is a national scheme, so if your business happens to be told to close and you work for that business, wherever it is, you will be treated the same, there is no difference between liverpool or elsewhere. secondly, in terms of the level of support, you had my answer previously about our levels of support being in line with most other major countries. for those on the lowest paid, you talked about those on the minimum wage, it is precisely those people who benefit most from the responsiveness of our universal credit system. the example i gave you would show that someone in that situation will end up someone in that situation will end up on over 90% of their post—tax, post benefits income after this situation. that shows that the system is working. more broadly, we are ina system is working. more broadly, we are in a different phase of this now. the original furlough scheme was meant to last three months and has ended up going on for eight

months. we are now putting in place to put that we believe is both sustainable and affordable for the long—term. thejob sustainable and affordable for the long—term. the job support scheme will start on the 1st of november and it will run all the way through to the spring. we want to provide businesses and individuals with the certainty and flexibility to manage through the period, and that is a level of support which i think will protect a lot of people's incomes and livelihoods, but is also sustainable over the medium term. liam, on your point about cooperation with the liverpool city region, i talked to steve rotherham yesterday about what we were doing and he was at the cobra meeting today to green light the proposals. my today to green light the proposals. my team has been talking to local government across the country for days and days, and we will continue to do so because i do think the

package of measures, if we implement them all, as chris has said, very effectively, if we implement to three properly, i do believe we can drive the r down in the way we need to do. but it will take a combination of local and national government working together to get this done. and it will also take all of us to play our part and do our bit and follow the guidance. thanks, liam. thank you all very much and see you next time. studio: so that is where the press conference draws to an end. some a0 minutes with the prime minister, the chief medical officer and the chancellor, the chancellor outlining the financial deals and arrangements on offer for the various businesses affected. specifically in tier three, the very serious risk, and also for the other

stages. professor chris whitty, the chief medical officer, pointed out the number of hospital admissions and the number of dead as we go into the autumn and winter period. and the autumn and winter period. and the prime minister was talking about how he hopes this will address the second wave as it appears to be hitting the uk. let's catch up with our medical editor fergus walsh, who has been listening. fergus, when they structured these three tiers, a lot of people seem to be asking what evidence that is based on. is it the r number, the number of people per 100,000 or what? it is a number of different things. in liverpool, the hospitals are seeing a huge increase over the past month in admissions. some are now saying they are only a

couple of weeks away from having the same number of covid patients as they had in their peak in april. so thatis they had in their peak in april. so that is very worrying. as of yesterday, liverpool's rates were around 600 per 100,000 population. let's ta ke around 600 per 100,000 population. let's take the area with the highest level, nottingham, which yesterday was 761 cases, so higher than liverpool, and yet that is in tier two. and the leader of the city council said he thought there were a couple of reasons why it was in a lower tier. it is notjust on the numbers per 100,000, it is because their hospitals are not seeing the influx that they have seen in parts of the north west —like liverpool. and there is evidence that the virus hasn't yet spread so far among the older population. we can hopefully bring on a graph that looks at hospital admission rates in england by age group. this is very

interesting. it is one of the slides that chris whitty showed. at the bottom, you can see the age, zero to four, five to 1a and even up to aa, it is very flat. very few people in those age groups get admitted to hospital. and this is sincejuly. but as you go up through the age levels, if you look at 65 to 7a and 75 to sa and 85 plus, levels, if you look at 65 to 7a and 75 to 8a and 85 plus, they are the people who are being hospitalised. this is a virus that primarily affects the elderly is that we can of course have long covered, especially among younger people, where you can have a very lingering and fatiguing disease. but the pressure point on the nhs is when this spreads from the young to the elderly. that is what has been happening and that was one of the key m essa g es happening and that was one of the key messages from chris whitty and other medical advisor to the government. the idea that you could just keep it among the young and let

them carry on with their lives and not expect a consequence for the elderly simply doesn't wash because it eventually spreads to those older age groups. the prime minister and other political leaders have talked about hoping to get a vaccine running as soon as possible. chris whitty thought it was perhaps six months away or further. other experts have as well. this evening, he was talking about this time next year, science would have found a way of putting us in a better position. there are several dozen vaccines in clinical trials and there are about a dozen which are at the advanced stage. pretty soon in the next couple of months, i would hope that we will have strong signals about whether any of those has some impact on reducing the chances of people being ill and may be reducing the chances of people catching the disease in the first place. but we

have to wait and we may see if they are deemed to be safe and effective. some emergency authorisation for front line health workers and those most at risk may come into play but until then, we have to live with the virus. it looks like restrictions at some level are going to be seen for the next six months, because winter is the time when respiratory viruses, things like flow, and this is the first winter we have had with coronavirus, spread the most as we spend more time indoors, which is why so many of these restrictions depend on whether you are indoors or outdoors. fergus walsh, thank you. let's speak to a deputy political editor vicki young, who has been listening to that press conference from westminster. vicki, it seems clear that the prime minister and the government haven't been able to carry or the local councils they wa nted carry or the local councils they wanted to go into tier three. when do we think they might be persuaded?

i think there is an interesting power struggle going on here. for quite some time, local leaders including some of the mayors have said they want to be more involved. they felt like although they were occasionally included in meetings, they didn't have any say over what was going on, certainly not over what restrictions would be brought in. in the last few days, that has changed. there has been a lot more talking, dialogue and decision—making with some of these leaders. the standout moment for me from that press conference was chris whitty, who talks about the restrictions that have been laid out for tier three, which is the highest level of severe restrictions. the government has centrally laid out a baseline, saying, these are the things you would need to do. but local leaders can choose to go further. it is striking when chris whitty said he wasn't confident that

those baseline measures would be enough to suppress the virus in the worst hit areas. he said he wasn't confident about that and he thought that significantly more would need to be done in some areas. so he was clear that this is not the end of it when it comes to restrictions. so the big question — who makes those decisions? is it there is local leaders? these could be quite unpopular decisions. if you look at the tier three areas, at the moment you are still not closing restau ra nts. you are still not closing restaurants. still not closing all pubs because if they do serve food, they can stay open. shops and offices are remaining open, and of course schools. so there is a lot more that can be done but centrally, the government is not making that decision. it is saying that is going to be up to local leaders, which is interesting. i think the travel restrictions were also advisory, but thatis

restrictions were also advisory, but that is not in your briefing. previously at the beginning of the lockdown, a lot of the measures were advisory. they were guidance but we re advisory. they were guidance but were not actually in law. that changed more recently. what is happening here with those tier three restrictions is that you are advised not to travel into or leave those areas, but it is guidance as opposed to law. so that could leave some wriggle room. people may choose to go against it. the clear message when listening to chris whitty and the prime minister was that this is only going to work if people follow the guidelines the same way that people did back in march. do people feel they could do that again? it seems that if they don't, the prime minister is saying that this transmission is going to continue. he wants to get that r rate below one. and here's hoping he has got the balance right, that you open as much as you can while also getting

the transmission rate down so it stops spreading rapidly. that is why a lot of this has been a bit of testing the water and that is what they are doing. thank you. we can speak to the lib dem leader sir ed davey. sir keir starmer said he was sceptical about these plans and whether they will work. where do you stand? i share that scepticism. many will be confused at the prime minister? statement today, and some will be angry. last march, the prime minister said, if you obey these rules, it will buy us time to sort things out. but the government has been pretty incompetent, with failures of a test, trace and isolate. and they failed to communicate, which is so important ina public communicate, which is so important in a public health crisis. and we are back here. people have made huge sacrifices in recent months and it looks like all those sacrifices have

been squandered and we are back here with a government frankly not getting a grip of it. isn't it clear from what the chief medical officer said that everyone has a duty to support what the government is doing now because of the high numbers of people per 100,000 not only in liverpool, but around the country. that is the scientific advice, which you subscribe to? we do, we really wa nt you subscribe to? we do, we really want these measures to work. the liberal democrats have been constructive throughout this, supporting the government even when we haven't had doubts about whether they are getting things right. but i'm afraid we are now voicing what many are saying, particularly in the north of england. they are worried that not only did the government mess up the test, trace and isolate system and mess up the communication, they are now not giving people the they need. forgive me, but that is the past. looking forward , me, but that is the past. looking forward, rishi sunak was outlining the new funding coming into place. are you saying that is not enough?

no, it is not. if you take someone on the national minimum wage working ina on the national minimum wage working in a liverpool workplace and they can't work now, the average rent in liverpool is £800. people on the lowest incomes a re liverpool is £800. people on the lowest incomes are being betrayed by this government. they are not supporting them properly and it is not good enough. sir ed davey, thank you. iam not good enough. sir ed davey, thank you. i am sorry we didn't have long. ijust want you. i am sorry we didn't have long. i just want to catch up with the funding from the chancellor for tier three and other areas. he said he had a comprehensive plan. let's speak to our business respondent sarah caulker. talk us through the level of support. sir ed davey says it is not enough. how did businesses react? the government is grappling with those conflicting demands of protecting public health, but also trying to keep the economy open. as

you heard, businesses in liverpool in those tier three areas that have been told by the government to shut, i'm talking about pubs, casinos and gyms, they can access that additionalfinancial gyms, they can access that additional financial support. so the government has said they were pay two thirds of the wages of staff up toa two thirds of the wages of staff up to a maximum of £2100 a month. there are also additional grants available for businesses of up to £3000 a month. some businesses have welcomed this as an extra safety net. but others have said this compensation doesn't go far enough because trade has already fallen off a cliff and we must remember that this compensation is only available for businesses in tier three, which have been told by law to close. concern is emerging about the lack of support for businesses in tier two areas, those areas were household mixing indoors is not allowed, areas

like greater manchester and the north—east, where restrictions have beenin north—east, where restrictions have been in place for weeks and in some cases months. business leaders there are saying they are under tighter restrictions. they are seeing fewer customers, but they are seeing no extra financial support. some businesses have told me changes already down around 60%. uk hospitality have said tonight that for businesses in the tier two areas in hospitality, they are seeing the worst of both worlds. we are also getting reaction from other business groups tonight. the british chambers of commerce said businesses cannot be subjected to a roller—coaster of stop—sta rt be subjected to a roller—coaster of stop—start restrictions with no end in sight. a lot of people are saying, what is the exit strategy? businesses hate uncertainty. they don't know whether there will be new rules next week, next month, and they don't know how long these extra

curbs will last. thank you very much. much more coming up in the next hour. let's see if the weather will cheer us up. today brought brain in —— rain in eastern parts of the uk. we will see more dry weatherfor eastern parts of the uk. we will see more dry weather for the rest of the week, but it is going to stay on the chilly site. we will see outbreaks of rain tonight across the east of england. a bit chilly for south—west scotla nd england. a bit chilly for south—west scotland and parts of northern england. we kids me showers towards the west. they were pushed southwards through wales and the southwards through wales and the south of england tomorrow. outbreaks of rain continue to affect parts of england and wales through the afternoon. drying up and brightening up afternoon. drying up and brightening up across scotland and northern ireland, but here it will be particularly windy and it's going to feel very cool indeed. as we get towards the end of the week, things

look increasingly dry. fairly bright, but with quite a lot of clout and it was they were the 00:59:08,385 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 chilly. —— it will stay chilly.