this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. most of england is expected to be placed in the two toughest tiers of coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends next wednesday. the plans will be set out in the commons later this morning. i'm confident that the last four weeks has made a difference, the numbers are all heading in the right direction. and of course, although christmas is not going to be normal, hopefully, after last four weeks, we can move to a better place and more testing, with some light at the end the tunnel. warnings the average pay packet in the uk could fall by more than a thousand pounds a year by 2025 — due to the impact of the pandemic. let us know your reaction to yesterday's uk spending review and what it means for you.

get in touch on twitter, it's @annita—mcveigh or #bbcyourquestions. ole, ole, ole, ole! three days of mourning begin in argentina to celebrate the life of the football legend — diego maradona. fans are paying their respects to the footballer, whose body is lying in state in the presidential palace — this is the scene live in buenos aires. donald trump pardons his former national security adviser michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about russian interference in the american elections of 2016. and coming up this hour. three months on from the disputed election in belarus, we've a special report on the leader of the opposition, svetla na ti kha novs kaya, as part of the bbc‘s 100 women series.

hello, and welcome if you're watching in the uk or around the world — and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. people living in england will soon find out what restrictions they'll be living under when the nation—wide lock down ends next week. in the next couple of hours, the uk health secretary matt hancoock is expected to announce that most of england will be placed in the two toughest tiers of new stricter coronavirus restrictions. it's thought large parts of the country, including london, will be in tier 2, while what's described as a "significant number" of areas will be in tier 3. tier three means pubs and restaurants can provide takeaway only, households can't mix unless outdoors in a public space, and being in tier 3 will mean help from the armed forces with community testing using rapid lateral flow tests which give results within an hour.

deciding which area is placed in what tier is based on the number of cases, particularly in the over—60s, pressure on hospitals, including current and projected bed capacity, and local context, such as how outbreaks are contained. the formal announcement will be made by matt hancock, at 11:30 this morning, although more details may emerge from 11. from westminster, our political correspondent helen catt sent this report. the shutters will come up on shops, gyms and hairdressers everywhere in england next week, as lockdown ends. but what else opens again will depend on where you live. the government will announce later this morning, which level of its new tier system it's decided will apply in each area. so what's likely to happen?

only a handful of areas are expected to go into tier 1, where groups of up to six people will be able to meet again, indoors or outdoors. pubs and restaurants can open, with last orders at 10:00pm and closing at 11:00 pm. most of england is likely to be in tier 2. groups of up to six people will still be able to meet outdoors, but not indoors, unless in a support bubble. pubs can only reopen if they're operating as restaurants, and alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. but some areas will be in the highest level of restrictions. pubs and restaurants will be forced to provide takeaway only, and there'll be no mixing of households, except up to six people in public outdoor spaces, like parks. london is expected to be put into tier 2. some areas of northern england have already had months of tight restrictions and fear they are headed for tier 3. i think it's more likely than not that the government will put us in tier 3, given the statements that ministers have made about the majority of people being disappointed and practically nobody being in tier1.

i think they're giving a very clear steer that they are going to err on the side of caution. other areas like lincolnshire were in the lowest tier before lockdown. cases have soared in some parts of the county, but not in others. they're among several local authorities and mps who've appealed to the government to take that into account, and not to impose higher tiers across entire counties. we've got areas on the east coast which are pretty high at the moment, although they are coming down, and we've got other areas inland which are below the national average. and it would seem very perverse to actually force businesses and families to endure the highest restrictions, when there's actually no need in those particular areas. the government says it will look at local context as a factor. that could include if an area is a commuter zone or has lots of students, for example.

rapid community testing will be offered to areas which do go into tier three. in liverpool, it's been credited with helping to cut transmission of the virus. the government says doing that is key to moving back down the tiers. it's promising to review the allocations by december 16th. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. 0ur political correpsondent chris mason is at westminster. hello chris. i wonder because lots of people have been talking about this how you get out of a tier, if you are not happy with the tier you are in, and no—one wants to be in tiers at all, if you are in a eight here tier how do you get out of that. is the government going to publish detailen that? we will get a huge amount of detail later on, but there will no doubt be a million and one questions that tumable from that detail to add to those that are reasonably being asked right now. what we are seeing is the government playing out its, if you like, its route map, plan for tackling the

virus in england that it originally set out what a month or six weeks' ago and it was knocked off course by the escalating number of cases around the country, hence this period of national restrictions and returning to the regional picture, 110w returning to the regional picture, now the big picture rationalfor a regional approach is that variation round the country but it provokes a million and one questions about exactly where you draw particular boundaries and crucially how you get out of each individual tier as cases potentially improve, and the contribute trifactors that might lead to that happen. let us hear from the chancellor who has been out and about talking about the spending review from yesterday, but also the tiers coming through england today. what i can say is that people will see a tangible change, wherever they are, compared to the last four weeks, where we have been living with these difficult restrictions. as you saw on monday, in the statement that they set out, there are significant differences, regardless to the tiers. so, more of our life can resume, more of our economic

activity can resume. i know how difficult this is, not just for families before businesses. but for businesses. we put a lot of support in to help businesses and to help local councils get through this. i am confident the last four weeks has made a difference. the numbers are heading in the right direction and, of course, although christmas is not going to be normal, hopefully, after the last four weeks, we can move to a better place, with more testing, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. after a ll after all of that talk of tiers and the detail we got the other day about what will define particular tier zones, actually, the only information that ever mattered as far as this is concerned comes this morning at round about 11.30 in a statement from matt hancock the health secretary for england to a nswer health secretary for england to answer the question which tier is the place i live in going to be in? we will get that detail, those tiers will kick in next wednesday, when

the national restrictions for england expire, and as you say, a huge number of questions to follow and what we expect to be a data dump from whitehall from the government as far as the rational for reaching its decisions is concerned to follow later this morning as well, so, stay with us because there will be a lot of information that will have significant impact on our lives and businesses coming in the next 90 minutes source. thank you. we will do our best to analyse that data dumpforyou, and do our best to analyse that data dump for you, and answer your questions. the uk chancellor has been defending his decision to freeze the pay of some public sector workers, saying that ‘tough choices' had to be made over which workers would get a pay rise because of the economic emergency the country faces. in yesterday's spending review, the chancellor announced a pay freeze that will affect 1.3 million public sector workers. staff on less than £24,000 and some nhs workers will get a wage rise. rishi sunak also warned that unemployment could rise to 2.6m by the middle of next year. and he said the economy is set to contract by 11.3% this year,

the largest fall for more than 300 years. here's the chancellor this morning outlining why some public sector workers in england won't get a pay rise this year. i have had to make tough choice and what i doesn't is justify an across the board rise in public sector pay, when we came into this crisis, there was already a disparity between public and private sector pay with a premium in the public sector, that has widened during the crisis, what we have seen in the private sector is that wages have fallen over the last six months by about a percent n the public sector wages have gone up by 4%, and people in the private sector are losing theirjob, they are being furloughed. that hasn't happened in the public sector, given that i think we need to take a more

targeted approach to what we do. the resolution foundation — a uk think tank focused on improving living standards for people on low—to—middle incomes — says the covid crisis is on track to cut average pay packets in britain by 12—hundred pounds a year by 2025. thank you for your time today, and how have you worked out this figure of around £1200 cut in pay by 2025? so that figure is based on the forecast produced by the office for budget responsibility, so it is taking their outlook for how the economy is going to develop in the next few years, which includes the market and earnings, applying to that to what we know about memphis depay and comparing that to prepandemic trends, and as you say it is really a very large figure of £1200 a year by 2025, so it is not

just the crisis having a short—term impact it is having a scarring effect, so it will be with us for some years to come. how does a cut of that order impact, do you think of that order impact, do you think of living standards if you look at average pay in the uk? so, i mean, it has already been a bad period for living standards before the cries is, we had the financial crisis and then living standards were squeezed after the brexit vote, because we had quite high inflation, and so what we find is when we do these numbers is that over the 15 year, so 15 years before 2008, the financial crisis, living standards increased by 40% napped the 15 years after that, so taking in these periods, we they have living standards, we are living through a very bad period for living through a very bad period for living standards. and fundamentally the pandemic is suppressing growth if wages, isn't it? yes, i mean that is right, so the chancellor that you heard there mention some of the effects on wages that have happened

in the middle of the crisis, and those measures are a bit unclear at the moment because they are affected by the loss of pay experienced by furloughed workers so that is volatile. it is useful to look through this short—term period into what is coming in the next few years and it's the lasting impact on they are the most worrying, this comes partly because of effects on productivity, our ability to produce per hour work but things on scarring effect on unemployment, so, yes, the crisis having a big impact right now but will continue to do so in the next few years. is so is the impact on wages you are forecasting s that baked in as people talk about, or do you think there could be some fiscal intervention by the government combined with what perhaps a better than expected bounce back that might change that? yes, of course, there is certainly more that policy could do, so the 0br said they think there

will be a negative output gap which isa will be a negative output gap which is a technical way of saying there is a technical way of saying there is more room to increase spending, so there is more the government could in an overall sense to support the economy. focussing on the labour market the 0br says it expected to rea p market the 0br says it expected to reap 7.5% themselves year. the government has announced spending to help long—term unemployed to find work but the success of those schemes will depend on the state of labour market so we think there is more that could be done to create jobs in places like social care or greenjobs. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news... most of england is expected to be placed in the two toughest tiers of coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends next wednesday. plans will be set out in the house of commons later this morning. there are warnings the average pay packet in the uk could fall by more than £1,000 a year by 2025 — due to the impact of the pandemic.

three days of mourning begin in argentina to celebrate the life of the football legend diego maradona. more on that story now. the body of the argentine football legend diego maradona is lying in state in the presidential palace in the country's capital buenos aires. hundreds of thousands of mourners are expected to file past his coffin. these are live pictures from buenos aires. crowds stayed on the streets late into the night to mourn the death of the footballing legend, who died of a heart attack at the age of 60. argentina has declared three days of national mourning. natalio cosoy reports.

you can see the emotion on the face his name known by everyone round the world whether a football fan or not. the picture his live now from buenos aires as people pay their respects to diego maradona. just to hear the sound a little bit now, you can hear the passion in the voices of people passing by. natalio cosoy reports. brought to tears and brought to his knees. a fan plays tribute to diego maradona. here at la bombonera, the home of boca juniors, an informal shrine in memory of the club's greatest player.

all across buenos aires, all across argentina they gathered, to celebrate a glorious and colourful life. if you want to know what maradona meant for argentinians, you need only to come here to the centre of buenos aires this evening, tojoin these hundreds of maradona fans dressed in argentina and boca junior kits, who came here to chant, to shout and to cry for their hero. translation: he is eternal. and here, diego will continue to be history. he made us known all over the world. translation: i want to cry. i really want to cry. argentina is gone. argentina died today. at every champions league match a minute's silence was held in his memory, the latest generation of players and coaches saying goodbye to one of the greats.

he made the world of football better. his performance in, you know, down in napoli, a team for the south, and especially the national team in argentina, mexico 86, was something unbelievable. in naples, in barcelona they grieved. but it's here in argentina where the pain is felt the deepest. world football has lost a legend. but this country has lost one of its favourite sons. natalio cosoy, bbc news, the outgoing us president donald trump has pardoned his former national security adviser michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about russian interference in the american elections of 2016. general flynn resigned from the postjust three weeks into the trump administration. president trump said it was his "great honour" to announce the pardon. our correspondent in

washington nomia iqbal reports. corn, i hereby grant you a full pardon. it is donald trump's final weeks in office and like all presidents before him, he is granting controversial pardons as he heads out the exit door. it is his former national security advisor who he fired before its prosecution that get the full pardon. lock her up! that's right! yeah, that's right — lock her up! michael flynn's problems began in 2016, after donald trump won the election. he had had private conversations with the then—russian ambassador about us sanctions over election interference and later lied to the fbi over those contacts. flynn admitted what he had done as part of a plea deal with special counsel robert mueller, who was investigating russian influence, but in the last two years he has been trying to withdraw the guilty plea while awaiting sentencing.

president trump's pardon has now taken the matter out of the courts and away from a president biden—controlled justice department. speaker of the house, the democrat nancy pelosi, called it an act of corruption and a former employer of the president backed that view. it's no surprise his loyalty to donald trump has paid off and expect to see of these types of pardons for trump loyalists, no matter how grievous their crimes were. in his tweet, trump showed his loyalty back, and wish michael flynn and his family a happy thanksgiving. it followed a different thanksgiving message from the man who beat him in the election. joe biden addressed the country on the need to quell the coronavirus pandemic. he urged americans to think twice about the traditional plan of travelling home for the holidays as cases spike across the country. you need to remember we are at war with a virus, not with one another, not with each other.

this is the moment we need to steel our spines, double our efforts and recommit ourselves to the fight. this is the moment we need to steel our spines, double our efforts and recommit ourselves to the fight. let's remember, we are all in this together. he said taking caution wasn't political, but patriotic, drawing an implicit contrast to president trump, who he replaces in eight weeks' time. nomia iqbal, bbc news, washington. a british—australian academic has expressed relief and thanks at her release from two years detention in iran for espionage. kylie moore—gilbert, who always denied wrongdoing, was freed in exchange for three unnamed iranians imprisoned abroad. mark lobel reports. the first pictures of kylie moore—gilbert, an australian academic on her way to freedom. releasing her face mask in front of the australian ambassador to iran after two years in prison. she was facing another eight years

in an iranian prison, wrongfully imprisoned and convicted. and it is incredibly essential that we did the work that was done to secure her release and see her coming home. coming the other way, state tv also reveals three arrivals, seemingly in exchange for the british—australian's release, being heralded by iran's deputy foreign minister. the melbourne university lecturer‘s exit comes after she was tried in secret on charges of spying, which she denies. she was held in a notorious prison in the desert and let it be known she had rejected an offerfrom iran to become a spy. in a statement, dr moore—gilbert thanked australian officials and said: the prison conditions would not have been good that kylie had been living through,

the prison conditions would not have been good that kylie had been living through, especially in the section with the revolutionary guard — where she had been detained because we know that ill—treatment and torture is quite prolific there. the british government has yet to secure the release of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, a british—iranian charity worker who was jailed on spying charges in 2016 and has always maintained her innocence. her husband, richard ratcliffe says this latest release shows deals are being done, but didn't know what it meant for his wife's situation. iranian state media insists they had exchanged a zionists spy but dr moore—gilbert supporters say they are over the moon, an amazing friend and colleague is on her way home. i can now speak to our diplomatic correspondent caroline hawley.

caroline, hello to you, what more insight do you have for us on the exchange, the prisoner exchange that took place to facilitate this? well, an extraordinary end to what has been an extraordinarily difficult ordealfor kylie, who been an extraordinarily difficult ordeal for kylie, who was arrested in september 2018 after she had been attending an academic conference, she was at tehran airport trying to leave the country, when she was arrested are, convicted after a secret trial, suffered a lot of abuse we here injail, letters smuggled out ofjail say that she was beaten, edrugged, she was put enkerr pressure to become a spy in return for her release, but in the end, her release appeared to have come down to a prisoner swap. now, the iranians said yesterday as we saw in mark's report, they said that the men had been detained abroad for

contravening sanctions against iraq, thatis contravening sanctions against iraq, that is all they have said. but thailand has now confirmed that it released three men who were held in bangkok, botched assassination attempt against the israeli ambassador there in 2012. and in those pictures, you saw in mark's report, you don't see the faces of the three men, you see the men scrapped in the iranian flags with towards lands of flowers round their necks, caps on their heads, but you don't see their identity, what you don't see their identity, what you do see is one man in a wheelchair, and with both his legs missing and he is seen to have been one of the men in this botched assassination attempt, so as scott morrison the prime minister said, extremely difficult and complex negotiation you can imagine, to get kylie moore gilbert out in return for those men. and you mentioned those letters that

have been smuggled out of prison, revealing some really extraordinary details about how she managed to sustain herself during this period. absolutely. she seems to have been incredibly strong, incredibly resilient. learned farsi injail and it seems from what we have heard, that she was a source of comfort to other prisoner and used to try and here them up when they came as new prisoners into the jail. we have heard that she wrote messages of support for new prisoners, on prison walls, and also that, when she was punished she was punished for instigating a kind of humming between the cell walls to cheer people up, so, an extraordinary woman, and extraordinary tale, she will have to tell when she is ready to tell it, but clearly will will be a big adjustment for her now. in the report we saw a reference to the

british iranian hearty worker nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, what is the latest on her case? well, no movement. i spoke to richard ratcliffe last night and he said whenever there is movement with any of the hostages, the families of dual nationals who are detained in iran call them hostage, whenever there is movement with the hostages there is movement with the hostages there is movement with the hostages there is hope, and he goes on to say for nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, you a lwa ys for nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, you always wonder when will bit be our turn, will our government be able to deliver? it is clear from kylie's release and others we have seen in the past, that iran is a transactional government, that it wa nts transactional government, that it wants something in return, and richard ratcliffe says it is very clear what the iranians want in return for the release of his wife, and that is payment from a long—standing tank debt owed to iran by the british government for decades, the uk government

acknowledges it owes the debt and is trying to find legal ways of repaying it, that seems to be held up repaying it, that seems to be held up in sanctions against iran so an extremely complicated case. thank you very much caroline. ethiopia's prime minister abiy ahmed has ordered the military to launch what he describes as its final offensive against dissident leaders in the northern region of tigray — in a conflict that aid groups fear could cause a humanitarian crisis. in a statement, mr abiy said there was a carefully devised strategy to defeat the tigrayan people's liberation front in the regional capital mekelle without harming civiliians. the united nations has expressed alarm at the prospect of a battle for the city, which is home to about half a million people. our correspondent, kalkidan yibeltal, is in addis ababa. since prime minister abiy ahmed announced that he would be giving a 72 hour ultimatum for fighters loyal to tigray people's liberation front, tplf, to surrender peacefully, we expected something to happen at the end of that ultimatum.

as expected today, he announced what he called a final stage of this military operation is commencing. right now, the federal government is saying that it has control of all of the major cities in the state, except for the capital, mekelle, and its environment. it looks like they are going to advance towards that. in his statement earlier today, prime minister abiy ahmed said there would be an extraction for civilians, to protect them, and also he called on residents of that area to stay at home and to avoid military convoys, to be safe. this is a crowded city, in which half a million people reside. and if this conflict, this clash continues to lingerfor some time, or even if there is an active fight going on inside the city, it will be very difficult for civilians to seek protection. that has been what humanitarian

agencies, including the un, have been saying in the past few days. hello, this is bbc news with annita mcveigh. the headlines... most of england is expected to be placed in the two toughest tiers of coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends next wednesday. plans will be set out in the house of commons later this morning. there are warnings the average pay packet in the uk could fall by more than £1,000 a year by 2025, due to the impact of the pandemic. three days of mourning begin in argentina to celebrate the life of the football legend diego maradona. donald trump has pardoned his former national security adviser michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about russian interference in the american elections of 2016.

scientists at the university of bristol are working to enable people to heal after surgery without scarring in the first research project of its kind in the world. brexit talks are approaching the final straight, with the transition period ending on december 31st. the eu's chief negotiator michel barnier is expected to travel to london later on for more discussions with his british counterpart, david frost, if there is a chance of a breakthrough. we can speak now with professor anand menon, who is the director of the uk in a changing europe. whether or not michel barnier arrives in london, we are going to be trying to read the runes on that. whether he does or doesn't may indicate on how things are shaping

up. it also points to the fundamentalfact up. it also points to the fundamental fact about brexit, it is not what happens in the room between david frost and michel barnier that matters, it is whether back in brussels, the eu capitals a number 10 downing street, political leaders on both sides are willing to make the compromises that are necessary to get that deal. we all know what a deal is going to look like. the only issue at the moment is a degree of doubt as to whether the two sides are willing to take that final step to get it signed. just remind our viewers, there are essentially three big points to be worked out. remind our viewers what they are. one is fish. they initially said they wa nted fish. they initially said they wanted the same access as before, the british cup and said no. we are estimating how much the eu will get and how long adr will last. —— a deal. the eu are very keen to tie

the uk into not dropping its standards below their level, because they are worried if we did, we could sell into their market with an unfair advantage. we have to come up with a mechanism for ensuring standards are equivalent or roughly. finally, subsidies. the eu don't wa nt finally, subsidies. the eu don't want the british government ploughing millions of pounds into certain sectors to give them unexpected bear advantage, so they wa nt unexpected bear advantage, so they want rules to prevent us from doing that without approval. and i noticed that without approval. and i noticed that colleagues of yours had posted comments on an article, in an area that you said was very important but not focused on as much as it should become a data exchange. explain why thatis become a data exchange. explain why that is so significant. in two ways. firstly in terms of business. if uk businesses who want to trade with the eu want to access digital records or keep in touch with consumers in the european union, we need to have what is called an

adequacy decision from the eu that means our data standards are at the same standard as theirs. secondly, even less talked about, when it comes to security. police, counterintelligence, counterterrorism operations rely on shared data. again, without an adequacy decision, we lose access to eu databases, adequacy decision, we lose access to eu data bases, which adequacy decision, we lose access to eu databases, which will undermine our ability to work with eu member states and know about who might be entering the country. let talk deadlines. issues to be sorted out, but deadlines are deadlines. well, yes and no. throughout the process to have been so many deadlines that have been flexible or stretched. but this is the mother of all deadlines coming up on the 31st of december. what do you think is the absolute point at which the two size run out of time to say, yes, a deal has been done, if the ratification process that takes place can take place in time? something needs to be agreed

in terms of the text, by the end of december. even then, we assume that the european parliament will be flexible enough to hold that. you are right, we have had deadline after deadline. this one is real, will be at there might be a degree of flexibility to allow us to go into the new year, but no further. good to talk to you. thank you very much. a former porter at great ormond street hospital in london has been charged with dozens of child sexual abuse offences. paul farrell is believed to have worked at the specialist children's hospital from the mid 19805 until his arrest injanuary. charlotte gallagher reports. great ormond street is one of britain's leading children's hospitals. paul farrell, who is 55 and from camden in north london, is

understood to have worked there as a porter from the mid—1980s until his arrest injanuary. he is facing 84 charges, including rape, attempted rape and sexual assault. he is accused of assaulting seven victims between 1985 and 2018. in a statement, great ormond street said: paul farrell will appear at wood green crown court tomorrow. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. people living in england will find out what restrictions will apply to where they live later this morning when the health secretary makes an announcement in the commons.

actually come in about an actually, in an hour, we will bring that to you live. most of england is expected to be placed in the two toughest tiers when the lockdown ends in england next wednesday. the government has already revealed details of the three—tier system, which will be stricter than the previous one. here's our health correspondent laura foster with the details. the new three—tier system in england is tougher than it was last time. tier 1, that's medium risk. here, you have to stick to the rule of six and keep your distance from everyone, unless you live with them, you are in a bubble with them, or you are in a serious relationship with them. you should continue to work from home where you can. you can do an exercise class or play sport outdoors, but indoors the rule of six applies. gyms, shops and things like beauty salons and hair dressrs can be open. up to 4000 fans can gather and watch a match or a competitive event, whether indoors or outdoors. at pubs, restaurants

and hospitality venues, last orders will be 10pm, but you have until 11 to finish your drinks. in tier 2, that's a high risk area, the same rules as tier 1, but you are no longer allowed to mix indoors with other households unless they are in your bubble. but you can still meet people outdoors while sticking to that rule of six. you can only exercise indoors with other people if you are in the same household or bubble, and only 2000 fans can gather to watch any live event or sports match. pubs and bars must close completely unless they can operate as restaurants. tier 3 is for very high risk areas. the same rules as tier 2 apply, but you are still not allowed to mix indoors with other households unless you are in your social bubble. when meeting people outdoors, you can see them in a public space like a park or at the beach, but you cannot meet in private gardens. pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues can only be opened as takeaways. indoor entertainment, including hotels, have to close. mass testing will be used to help stop covid from spreading. when the new tier—based restrictions come into force next week, in some parts of england pubs may not reopen and some

business could stay shut. our correspondent graham satchell has been hearing from people in liverpool and in kent about their hopes and fears ahead of the announcement. at home in liverpool, the eagleston family have been keeping their spirits up in lockdown, playing games — table tennis and a bit of chess. like the rest of england, the family here will find out later today what tier they'll be put into next week, when lockdown ends. my hope is that the numbers have come down significantly enough that normal life can resume a bit. having said that, it concerns me that there'll be a lot more movement around the city and around the country as we head towards christmas. and how terrible would it be that you pass on coronavirus to somebody that then goes and sadly dies, when actually we could be a matter of weeks away from a vaccine that would mean that lives could be saved and we could celebrate after that? liverpool was the first place in the country to have mass testing, and infection rates here have come

down, now the lowest they've been for two months. i actually get like, a rash over my skin through stress, but that doesn't mean that i can't balance that with a healthy, positive approach, where we tackle a problem head on. conor foley is also trying to keep his spirits up. but there've been empty chairs at empty tables at his pub for much of the year. he says he needs good news from the government today. i hope for tier 1, but that's a big, big, big ask, because at the minute we're still over 100 cases per 100,000 in liverpool. i expect we'll get tier 2. i expect the government wants a success story out of the mass testing in liverpool. but because of the harsher restrictions of the tiers, almost every single tier hurts this industry. as conor locks up his pub, at the other end of england in kent, jenny is getting her craft shop ready to reopen. it's been hard. it keeps me awake at night. or it doesn't let me sleep in the mornings, i should say!

before lockdown, kent was in tier 1. it now has the highest infection rates in the uk. i don't know what's going on in kent. people have got tired. they can't be bothered. and i think that is the problem. they really can't be bothered. they're fed up with it all, and they just want life to go back to normal. this is canterbury high street. quite busy, isn't it? you wouldn't even know it's lockdown. it doesn't really feel anything like a lockdown. the roads and everything like that still seem as busy as it would normally. local leaders in kent say the rise in cases here is down to "a wilful disregard of the rules". on the seafront on the isle of sheppey, albert and tonina are having their daily walk. albert has a heart condition, and says whatever tier kent ends up in, he'll be staying vigilant. listen, we're going to be tier 3. if we're not, great. even the kids don't want us near them, cos they don't want the headache if, like janine, she had it, our youngest daughter, and she gives it to us too, and then i'm on a slab.

so, we don't want that, do we? i've lost enough friends in this world recently, some with covid, some with other diseases. so it's been a horrible, terrible year. ring in the new year! come on, january 1. with vaccines on the way, there is hope for 2021. but the worry, as england ends its lockdown, is how many will pay close attention to the new tiered restrictions about to be introduced. graham satchell, bbc news. today marks thanksgiving in the united states, but the coronavirus pandemic means many of the usual celebrations won't be taking place. with coronavirus cases continuing to rise, people have been advised to avoid travel and to only celebrate with those they live with. for one man, the situation has highlighted even further the importance of reaching out to those less fortunate. when rob adams was 11 years old,

he and his family experienced homelessness and lived in the back of a pick—up truck. he went on to start thanksgiving heroes with the aim of feeding families in need. tell us about thanksgiving heroes, it is born out of the experience that you went through as a child?m is. thanksgiving heroes came from service that was done to me as a boy, a family came and served my family, they took care of us. it meant we could celebrate christmas, actually. i thought, meant we could celebrate christmas, actually. ithought, if meant we could celebrate christmas, actually. i thought, if there was ever a time i could pay it forward, i would do that. as i grew up, the time came and it turned into an amazing event. when you were a child, you are homeless. those with the circumstances your family was living in that led to you being helped by other people. that's right. we were sleeping on the back ofa right. we were sleeping on the back of a truck, there were six of us in the family, i was the oldest four kids.

tell us how you came up with the idea of thanks giving heroes, and it is spreading wider, isn't it? it really is growing. my family was watched over by another family, they took us into their home, out of the cold, out of our truck. and we had food provided for us. they let us stay in the home. as i said, as i fast forwarded, i wanted to pay that forward , fast forwarded, i wanted to pay that forward, so i had a goal to feed ten families. i told a friend of mine and he decided he wanted to feed ten families, and we fed 755 families locally. it has continued to grow across the united states. the need is greater than it has ever been before. absolutely, during a pandemic, people in dire straits, for so many reasons, because of the virus, because of the economic difficulty caused by the virus. what problems are you having? what challenges are we having in

providing the service we normally do because of covid—19? providing the service we normally do because of covid-19? it is a great question. we were unable to raise funds like we normally did, so we had to rely on the charity and goodwill of people to donate without coming to any kind of special event. we had a lot of generous people showing up. i was very surprised at how many people were available to donate their time and resources. on the big day, when we deliver the food, we deliver 63 pounds of food to each family. we have to take covid precautions to make sure the volu nteers covid precautions to make sure the volunteers that are driving are safe, and the volunteers that are dropping the food off to the nominated families are safe. it's a com pletely nominated families are safe. it's a completely different year this year. iam sure completely different year this year. i am sure the service is appreciated more than ever. how many families are you predicting you will be feeding, this thanksgiving? we fed 2500 families here locally, and we

fed about 700 families outside of the state this year. when you think about the original ambition of you feeding ten families, and your friend feeding ten, this has just grown and grown. it symbolises the spirit of thanksgiving, ultimately. it does. it is my favourite holiday, it's about gratitude, good food and family. there is no awkward gift dynamic. it is just about being grateful for one another. the dynamic. it is just about being gratefulfor one another. the real thing about thanksgiving heroes is that the families, those that serve them, giving each other hope. it is about hope, serving one another and about hope, serving one another and about love. the food is important, but when you are in that place, that dark place where you feel like there is nothing happening, nobody cares, someone shows up, a stranger, and loves on you and your family, can bring you out of that spot and put you into a place or maybe even improving your life. i know it sounds corny to say it, but i believe we are changing the world,

making a difference through loving one another and serving one another. very good to talk to you. rob adams, from thanksgiving heroes, in utah, we wish you well. it's been more than three months since the disputed election in belarus, which saw the country's long—standing leader alexander lu kashenko hold onto power. the protests which erupted after the vote are continuing every day. but with mr lukashenko showing no sign of stepping down, authorities in belarus are becoming increasingly violent in their attempts to suppress the dissent. countries in europe are now considering further sanctions against the regime in an attempt to break the stalemate. our europe correspondent jean mackenzie, has been following the leader of the opposition, svetlana tikhanovskaya as part of the bbc‘s 100 women series. now one of the world's most guarded women, svetlana tikhanovskaya is exiled and wanted. this is where she and her team now plot the downfall of belarus's regime.

i have to make it extremely difficult decisions every day. decisions that will make the moment of our victory closer. here, she's shown a video of a protester in belarus being beaten by secret police. how are you this morning? horrible. horrible? why? i think he will die. as lukashenko clings to power, his grip on his security forces is holding firm. these violent crackdowns are no longer a surprise, yet still they have the ability to shock. this regime, it seems that they don't have borders at all. as soon as he doesn't have money to pay riot police, they will refuse to serve him, they will come to our side. it's widely believed that tikhanovskaya won the election in belarus and european leaders see her as the legitimate president.

she spent the past months persuading them to starve the regime with targeted economic sanctions. she is on the way to meet the prime minister of latvia when she finds out the protester who was beaten has died — 31—year—old roman bondarenko. now we're going to insist on more help from european countries because we see that our authorities there are escalating their violence. and only 40 people on the sanction list? are you joking? you have to expand this list to hundreds of names. the prime minister agrees to help and in the days that follow, so does the eu. finally, a moment to pause and a vigilfor roman. this grief is felt painfully back in belarus where people have been protesting against the regime for more than 100 days. all of these people in belarus going out every sunday, knowing that maybe they will not

come home this evening. this is really hard news. underneath the fatigue of her attritional fight is sober determination to keep the rest of the world with her. she knows this is the only hope she has. jean mckenzie, bbc news. as we wait for an announcement in the house of commons from the uk health secretary on which parts of england will be placed in which tier, we have the latest figures on the people in england testing positive for covid—19. what is the detail on this? well, the number of people testing positive is a little bit down in england. but it is a mixed picture within the country as well. so, in the north of england,

thatis well. so, in the north of england, that is where infection rates have been consistently highest in this survey. the north west has been falling, and now it is yorkshire and the humber that has the highest infection rate in england. most of the rest of england are starting to see falling rates of infection now, with the exception of the north east, and yorkshire, where it is flat. some levelling off, but not everywhere? in scotland, the most recent estimate is that the positivity rate is rising slightly. it has been falling for some time in wales and northern ireland. a mixed picture across the country. thank you very much. those statistics, alongside 696 deaths yesterday, recorded yesterday, as the result of a positive covid test in the last 28 days. the news that the nightingale hospital in exeter is opening up to deal with covid patients. we will keep you up—to—date with that tier announcement on bbc news when it happens in the next hour.

one in three children who have some form of scarring say they feel sad, depressed or anxious because of having a physical difference. that's according to the charity changing faces. now scientists at the university of bristol are launching the first research project of its kind, to find a way for people to heal without leaving a scar. our reporterjohn maguire has been to meet delilah, who was severely burnt as a baby. when delilah was just 17 months old, she suffered extensive and severe burns in an accident. she spent two months in intensive care and has had numerous operations ever since. my scars, they don't grow with me, so if my didn't have skin grafts then they would just be really tight and extremely painful. the biggest concern is how her injuries and scar tissue restrict her physical activities. i can't play with my friends the way that i would want to, and i can't alwaysjoin in in stuff, and after a while it does really hurt.

and there are emotional consequences, although her positivity is extraordinary. when i was younger i used to be seen differently, because when i was younger they were a lot more visible and also a lot of my friends when i was younger, they didn't really understand because we were so young. but now my classmates understand that i'm just the same as them. so, here at the university of bristol, scientists are working to eradicate scarring. they're studying zebrafish, native to rivers in india, and more like us than you might think. because we share a lot of the same genes, we think around 80% of disease—causing genes in humans, the zebrafish also have an equivalent. but they are not exactly the same, so there are some differences in how that gene functions in a fish compared to how it might function in us. they have an amazing ability to repair and regenerate

their own bodies, crucially, without leaving scars. so is there something in the fish's genetics that could be replicated in humans? they are able to regenerate many different tissues, including their tail, so their skin, essentially. also their retina, their heart, any kind of damage that they get that's similar to damage we might get. so we might be able to reduce a certain type of white blood cell or promote the function of another type of white blood cell and the combination of that might be the way to reduce scarring in human patients in the future. the scientists will also consider how various skin colours scar differently. this is the first research project of its kind in the world and the charity funding it has a bold ambition, to achieve scar—free healing within a generation. scarring is common, there's lots of people affected, it's costly, it costs the nhs billions of pounds a year to treat bad wounds

and hard to heal scars. but what a lot of people don't appreciate is the the deep emotional problems caused by scarring, people who are afraid to go out, children who are bullied at school, for example, and of course the ultimate solution, in due course, is to eradicate scarring. these days, we often talk about mental scars and by treating people in a way that leaves no physical markings, that may go a long way to reducing those mental scars also. the run—up to christmas is often a time for surprises — and happy endings — and here's a story from new york with both. when workers erected the rockefeller centre's christmas tree earlier this month, they came across this unexpected extra — an owl hiding among the branches. the bird, which they named rocky, was taken to a wildlife centre to rehabilitate. and this week, she was released

back into the wild. the centre later confirmed the operation to get rocky back home had been a success. you're watching bbc news. martine croxall is with you next to ta ke martine croxall is with you next to take you through to one o'clock. now, it's time for a look at the weather with carol kirkwood. hello again. for many of us, following on from a cold start to the day, it's not going to be a particularly warm day. temperatures are a bit disappointing for the time of year. over the next few days, what you'll find as it will remain rather chilly, both by day and night. there will be some frost, and we will also see some fog forming as well. some of that will be dense and slow to clear. we have this weather front draped across southern england and in through the channel islands. that is still producing thicker cloud and also some spots of rain. so it's so it's not as cold here. but some of the fog will only lift into low cloud, for instance, the midlands, lincolnshire, it will hang around

for much of the day. if that happens, it will hold back the temperatures. you can see a lot of dry weather, a fair bit of sunshine. some showers affecting some western areas, also in the north. and at times, down the north sea coastline. these are our maximum temperatures. six, to about 10 degrees. but under thicker cloud, in st helier, for example, we could hit 13. through this evening and overnight, we still have a weather front and a self producing cloud and, again, some rain. a new one coming in across the north west will do exactly the same. in between, its going to be cold and we will see some fog patches forming. some of those will be dense, particularly so across england and wales. these temperatures represent towns and cities in rural areas, and they will be closer to freezing or just below. so, once again, there will also be some frost. that fog will be slow to clear tomorrow. some of it lingering for much of the day across lincolnshire, potentially yorkshire as well. our rain in the south moving a little bit further north, and our rain in the north moving a little bit further south. some of us only seeing top temperatures of four degrees. so, you get the drift, it will feel cold. into the weekend, high—pressure exerting its influence from the east.

not much in the way of wind. the weather fronts coming into the north—west at times will produce some rain. the other thing that is going to happen as it will turn a little bit milder from the south. so, we start on saturday, some of us having some frost, some fog, some slow to clear. brighter skies coming in later in the south and also the north, and look at the temperatures. in the south, we are back into double figures, 10s and 11s. and then for sunday itself, again, we start off in some places with frost. but not as widespread. also some fog. quite a bit of cloud around, and this is the potential for a weather front coming into the north—west, introducing some rain.

this is bbc news. the headlines at 11... most of england is expected to be placed in the two toughest tiers of coronavirus restrictions when the national lockdown ends next wednesday. the plans will be set out in the house of commons shortly. we'll bring it to you live. warnings the average pay packet in the uk could fall by more than £1000 a year by 2025 due to the impact of the pandemic. three days of mourning begin in argentina to celebrate the life of the football legend diego maradona. fans are paying their respects to the footballer, whose body is lying in state in the presidential palace, this is the scene live in buenos aires. donald trump pardons his former national security adviser, michael flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi

about russian interference in the american elections of 2016. people living in england will find out shortly what restrictions they'll be living under when the nation—wide lock down ends next week. in the next hour, the uk health secretary matt hancoock is expected to announce that most of england will be placed in the two toughest tiers of new stricter coronavirus restrictions. it's thought large parts of the country, including london, will be in tier 2, while what‘s described as a ‘significant number‘ of areas will be in tier 3. tier 3 means pubs and restaurants can provide takeaway only, households can‘t mix unless outdoors in a public space, and being

in tier 3 will mean help from the armed forces with community testing using rapid lateral flow tests, which give results within an hour. deciding which area is placed in what tier is based on the number of cases, particularly in the over—60s, pressure on hospitals, including current and projected bed capacity, and local context, such as how outbreaks are contained. the formal announcement will be made by matt hancock at around 11:30 this morning. from westminster, our political correspondent helen catt sent this report. the shutters will come up on shops, gyms and hairdressers everywhere in england next week, as lockdown ends. but what else opens again will depend on where you live. the government will announce later this morning which level of its new tier system it‘s decided will apply in each area. so what‘s likely to happen? only a handful of areas are expected to go into tier 1, where groups of up to six people will be able to meet again, indoors or outdoors. pubs and restaurants can open,

with last orders at 10:00pm and closing at 11:00 pm. most of england is likely to be in tier 2. groups of up to six people will still be able to meet outdoors, but not indoors, unless in a support bubble. pubs can only reopen if they‘re operating as restaurants, and alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. but some areas will be in the highest level of restrictions. pubs and restaurants will be forced to provide takeaway only, and there‘ll be no mixing of households, except up to six people in public outdoor spaces, like parks. london is expected to be put into tier 2. some areas of northern england have already had months of tight restrictions and fear they are headed for tier 3. i think it‘s more likely than not that the government will put us in tier 3, given the statements that ministers have made about the majority of people being disappointed and practically nobody being in tier1. i think they‘re giving a very clear steer that they are going to err on the side of caution.

other areas like lincolnshire were in the lowest tier before lockdown. cases have soared in some parts of the county, but not in others. they‘re among several local authorities and mps who‘ve appealed to the government to take that into account, and not to impose higher tiers across entire counties. we've got areas on the east coast which are pretty high at the moment, although they are coming down, and we've got other areas inland which are below the national average. and it would seem very perverse to actually force businesses and families to endure the highest restrictions, when there's actually no need in those particular areas. the government says it will look at local context as a factor. that could include if an area is a commuter zone or has lots of students, for example. rapid community testing will be offered to areas which do go into tier 3. in liverpool, it‘s been credited with helping to cut transmission of the virus. the government says doing that is key to moving back down the tiers.

it‘s promising to review the allocations by december 16th. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. our political correpsondent chris mason is at westminster. i heard the chancellor say this morning that we will notice a marked difference in england from the national lockdown, but for some people it is still going to be pretty tough it seems. yes, i think that‘s right, and i think for all of the noise and we have had over the last couple of days of returning england to the regionalized model and the detail about the criteria and the detail about the criteria and the detail about the criteria and the restrictions of our lives in the different tiers. bluntly, all of that has been exactly that, exactly noise, and until we get to the only question that matters this morning, what happens around our way. in other words, what restrictions are imposed where you live and where you work. and of course the challenge of having a regionalized approach is that by definition, you have to draw

relatively arbitrary lines. and we have seen an argument over the last couple of days from some mps and council leaders, as we are seeing there, about people making the argument, what about my county or my area where there might be a pocket, but not elsewhere, and can the restrictions in some way recognise that? and then the government having to work out people‘s commuting patterns and how they draw those lines on the map. the argument the government was making, expended a lot of political capital making this argument and the tussle with andy burnham, the regionalized model makes sense, there is variation in caseload and risk profile around the country. but with that comes arguments that you will see, you will see this in the next 20 minutes and you will see play out, perhaps for the remainder restrictions remaining in place for this pandemic, with different regions or

gearing —— arguing that other areas have done better or worse in them and cannot tweaked. that is an inevitability of this regionalized model and that will kick in next wednesday. and the nations that make up wednesday. and the nations that make up the uk can be different again. indeed, yes, it is a complex picture we needed a helicopter thing looking around the whole uk and seeing what applies where. the argument that is made by political leaders, whether they be in england or the other nations around the uk, is that all that really matters is that you understand the rules where you are. and for most people, that is the only concern. i guess for us reporting on it, you have the helicopter perspective and i can look complicated. and the argument thatis look complicated. and the argument that is made as well, the restrictions on the limitations, the easing of the restrictions that are coming for the window over the christmas period are uk—wide, so at least in that window there‘s a complexity of daring at some

complicated coded map and trying to work out if you‘re allowed to spend your christmas dinner in lincolnshire or whatever. so that is the argument that is made in terms of the merits of the regionalized approach, but it does make for a complicate a picture. and as i say, an argument about lines on a map is the essence of what we‘re going here in the comments when matt hancock stands up and 20 minute or so and mps who respond, council leaders who respond, we all respond to this new flavour of restriction in england that will be living within or under in less than a week‘s time. that will be living within or under in less than a week's time. if you can‘t have sprouts in lincolnshire in that county of all counties are christmas, there will be questions in house. thank you very much. our health correspondent, nick triggle is here. let‘s deal with tiers first, people will be forgiven for feeling confused, because everything has changed every few weeks, but there

is quite a significant differentiation between the tiers for england as far as we know. yes, there is, i think this comes back to before lockdown when we had a regional tier approach from mid—october to the start of november. then half of local authority areas, more than half, where in the bottom tier where there was a most restrictions —— the most relaxed restrictions, but what we will see as very few remaining and at bottom tier. more in tier 2 and more into your three. tiers two and three have been beefed up, that is a case for hospitality particularly in tier 2, pubs will only be able to stay open if they serve a meal. and in tier3, pubs stay open if they serve a meal. and in tier 3, pubs and restaurants will have to close for everything but ta ke have to close for everything but take away. so in that area, it is only a small step from lockdown, and places that find themselves in that talk to tiers will only find it

slight relaxing of those restrictions. i think the government, what the research has shown is that they were too slow to move areas up to high tiers, so i think the government is erring on the side of caution. they are starting off in higher tiers with the hope, as winter progresses, they will be able to move areas into lower tiers and begin to ease those restrictions. the office for national statistics have put out some figures about infection rates in england today. yes, this is a government surveillance programme, so it does rely on people coming forward , so it does rely on people coming forward, —— doesn‘t rely on people coming forward, he picks a random sample of the population. it shows that one in 85 people were infected last week, that is a slight improvement on the week before where it was one and 80, and we can deftly say the rise and infection rates has started leveling off. it is falling the fastest in the northwest, but it is rising in the east midlands,

which is interesting. when we come to the government, when the government comes to announce the tiers, what they do for those places in the east midlands because one of the key factors for determining tiers is not just the key factors for determining tiers is notjust the infection levels, but the direction of travel. elsewhere in england, rates are generally falling or leveling off. scotla nd generally falling or leveling off. scotland has seen a small increase, and wales and northern ireland are falling, so a bit of a mixed picture. at the rises we saw in september and october have on the whole stopped. and questions are being asked now about the way that data has been presented by oxford university and astrazeneca regarding the vaccine for which we had information about earlier in the week. what is happened? this was monday‘s announcement, there were three figures presented for the effectiveness of this vaccine. there we re effectiveness of this vaccine. there were 62%, 70% and 90%. and that is because trial participants were given different doses. this wasn‘t

planned, it was a mistake because the vials that the vaccine got delivered and, some of those only contain half doses, so one group going to have dose first followed by a full dose. where‘s the rest of those involved got two full doses. this was spotted undeclared to the regulator and the trial continued, and the group that received the lower doses first time showed more effectiveness. 90%, that is where that figure comes from. the 62% relates to the group that received the two full doses, and 70% is the average. none of this, and i must stress this, is related to safety, it‘s about the effectiveness of the vaccine. the full data is being cemented to the regulator and able decide which is the best dose regimen for this vaccine to be rolled out, if it indeed gets approved. busy day, thank you very much. as we‘ve been hearing, the new tier system will be stricter

than the previous one and more local authorities will be in higher tiers. here‘s our health correspondent laura foster with the details. the new three tier system in england is tougher than it was last time. tier 1, that‘s medium risk. here, you have to stick to the rule of six and keep your distance from everyone, unless you live with them, you are in a bubble with them, or you are in a serious relationship with them. you should continue to work from home where you can. you can do an exercise class or play sport outdoors, but indoors the rule of six applies. gyms, shops and things like beauty salons and hair dressrs can be open. up to 4000 fans can gather and watch a match or a competitive event, whether indoors or outdoors. and pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues, last orders will be 10pm, but you have until 11 to finish your drinks. in tier 2, that‘s a high risk area, the same rules as tier 1, but you are no longer allowed to mix indoors with other households unless they are in your bubble. but you can still meet people outdoors while sticking to that rule of six. you can only exercise indoors with other people

if you are in the same household or bubble, and only 2000 fans can gather to watch any live event or sports match. pubs and bars must close completely unless they can operate as restaurants. tier 3 is for very high risk areas. the same rules as tier 2 apply, but you are still not allowed to mix indoors with other households unless you are in your social bubble. when meeting people outdoors, you can see them in a public space like a park or at the beach, but you cannot meet in private gardens. pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues can only be opened as takeaways. indoor entertainment, including hotels, have to close. mass testing will be used to help stop covid from spreading. laura foster reporting, we are expecting that statement from the health secretary. he is due to appear at half past 11, but we know that this can be a little fluid, so we will keep our eye on the house of commons. and we will go straight there when he appears. the uk chancellor has been defending his decision to freeze

the pay of some public sector workers, saying that ‘tough choices‘ had to be made over which workers would get a pay rise because of the economic emergency the country faces. in yesterday‘s spending review, the chancellor announced a pay freeze that will affect 1.3 million public sector workers. staff on less than £24,000 and some nhs workers will get a wage rise. rishi sunak also warned that unemployment could rise to 2.6m by the middle of next year. and he said the economy is set to contract by 11.3% this year, the largest fall for more than 300 years. here‘s the chancellor a little earlier outlining why some public sector workers in england won‘t get a pay rise this year. i‘ve had to make some tough choices, and what i couldn‘t do is justify an across—the—boa rd rise in public sector pay. when we came into this crisis, there was already a disparity between public and private sector pay, with a premium in the public sector. that disparity has widened during this crisis. what we have seen in the private

sector is that wages have fallen over the last six months by about 1%, and the public sector, wages have gone up by 4%. and people in the private sector are losing theirjobs, hours being cut, they are being furloughed, and that hasn‘t happened in the public sector. so given that, i think we need to take a more targeted approach to what we do. in the spending review, the chancellor said government borrowing is at record levels. the director of the institute for fiscal studies, pauljohnson, says the government will probably have to borrow even more money than it has forecast and that could lead to tax rises. it‘s important to say that for next year, the government‘s spending plans were cut. really quite substantially, actually, other than the amount they are allocating to deal with covid. and that means the numbers they got penciled in after next year involve cuts of more than £10 billion, relative to the plans set out in march.

because there is no additional spending for covid after next year. so the government is basically saying, compared with what we thought was needed back in march, we actually think we need to spend quite a lot less going forward than we thought. i‘m not at all sure that is remotely plausible, the idea that we will need no more money in the nhs after next year than we thought at the beginning of this year, the idea that we will need no money to deal with covid, the idea that we will want to spend less on public services, and social care and education and so on. i‘m not sure that stacks up. the government is also saying that it is going to get rid of the supposedly temporary increase in universal credit introduced this year. i‘m not sure it will do that either, so i reckon that there are some spending increases down the road which are not accounted for. if that‘s the case, then we won‘t have just the hundred billion pounds

of borrowing by the middle of this decade that the office for budget responsibility was suggesting, but rather more than that. and not the sort of 20 billion or so of tax rises required just to stabilise the public finances, but maybe 40 billion of tax rises. so i think there‘s still a lot of really tough decisions to be made. we are starting to get news of which cities in which parts of the country are going to be and which of the new tiers after the new national lockdown in england ends on the 2nd of december. and as we know, they‘re going to be three different tiers. the chancellor has had this morning that we will feel a marked difference between the new tiers and what we have been living under in england for the last four weeks, however, if you are in tier 3, you will still notice some quite serious restrictions to what you can and can‘t do. so we are hearing that

manchester, whole, newcastle, birmingham and wolverhampton will be in tier 3. birmingham and wolverhampton will be in tier3. —— birmingham and wolverhampton will be in tier 3. —— hole, birmingham and wolverhampton will be in tier3. —— hole, london will remain in tier2, in tier3. —— hole, london will remain in tier 2, liverpool will be in tier2, remain in tier 2, liverpool will be in tier 2, that is down from the tier 3 restrictions that we saw liverpool was in before the national lockdown. and of course, there was a lot of discussion and argument between certain politicians in certain parts of the english regions over which tier they should be put in because of the impact it was going to have on people and businesses in particular. newcastle had avoided tier 3 before the national lockdown, but we are now seeing that it will be in tier 3 from next wednesday. there is a website that you can putting your postcode to find out which tier are going to be in. i think we can show it to you, but it‘s very difficult to get on, i think a lot of people are trying to

use it so it has crashed. but if you go to the government website... it will be very useful if you can find out which tier you‘re going to end up out which tier you‘re going to end up in because it will obviously make a big difference if you are between tier 2 and three. so the professor of health psychology and director of the centre for behaviour change at university of college at london and she is a member of sage, scientific and pfizer for emergencies. she she is a member of sage, scientific and pfizerfor emergencies. she said she understood the frustrations of living —— scientific adviser for emergencies. because people move around where they move around to go to work, they move around to see people and go shopping, it means that going from one community into another community is a risky business. and if one begins to have different tiers within a locality,

it practically is really going to be very difficult to organise. it is going to be very confusing, and i think itjust muddies the waters. i think itjust muddies the waters. i think the only way we are going to defeat this pandemic is as a country. and so people need to realise that, yes, it may see that this tier is too high for the particular area i live in, but we are all in this together. we are not going to be able to defeat this virus area by area, so we need to see that not only do we have to think in regions, but also, whilst r is above one, these numbers are going up and up. so whatever tier you are in, you‘re likely to go up to another one, unless we can get those r numbers down. the only way we are getting that number down is to separate those people who are infected, or may be infected, from those who are not. and this is why

good test, trace and isolate system is absolutely essential, because vaccine is going to do no good to this current wave. it will hopefully prevent a third wave. meanwhile, we really do need to get testing, tracing and isolating working so that we can avoid any future lockdowns. professor susan mickey from university college london and a member of sage. let‘s show you this website. as you can see, you can‘t use it at the moment, but there should be a box into which you can put your postcode, and that should help you find information about the restrictions that will be in place after december two in england. i‘m sure wales, scotland and northern ireland have their own information as well, but at the moment, this is an accessible, probably just as well, but at the moment, this is an accessible, probablyjust because so many people are trying to use it. our political correspondent chris

mason is in westminster. chris, we have some indication now of which cities are going to be in tier 3. good news for some and not others stop yeah, i think you have a bad computer it is working fine in my phone. you have the power, the inside track. some people are having difficulties due to volume of interests of people putting in their postcode, so gov .uk, the main government website, is now attempting to provide an online website to answer your question about which tier and a glenn un. you have to punch your postcode and then it tells you, it points out the different restrictions in scotland, northern ireland and wales, and as i scroll down and remind me they‘re only 36 days ago before the brexit transition period ends. it never rains but it pours when it comes to news at the moment. yes, we are beginning to get those headlines as to which tier you are in, and the

ramifications that that will have four lives and livelihoods and restrictions. and stepping back towards a more liberal regime, i guess, and the vast majority of cases around england, and some less so as what the people frantically find out where they are. and then no doubt, as i was saying earlier, when we hear from matt hancock, doubt, as i was saying earlier, when we hearfrom matt hancock, health secretary for england, a pretty noisy and passionate argument about the extent to which some perceive the extent to which some perceive the lines on the map to be arbitrary. because inevitably come if you‘re gonna have a regionalized approach, you have to put lines on the map. an extent, you therefore have to decide who is one side of it and who isn‘t. and that is bound to cause a little bit of anxiety and tension and query and question, there will be plenty of those they come in the goemon shortly. yes -- commons shortly. yes, but evidence,

as to why tier 3 will be necessary, and is not an arbitrary thing, but clearly local politicians in particular who are worried about local economy and the people who live there will question the decisions. yes, i think the good news and bad news label is a little bit like weather forecasters who might be adverse to suggesting that it is sunshine or rain is good news or bad news depending on your own inclination on what you might desire. and as you say, in this context, between risk and virus oppression and hope that that, in those tier 3 areas, will allow places to bounce back to a lower level restriction and a lower level of virus sooner than might be the case if the tier restriction was more liberal and they were in a lower classification. the government is arguing that it has seven different sorts of metrics to measure the particular risk profile

ofa measure the particular risk profile of a particular area and what tiers they should go in, but we‘re going to get as a whole lot of questions about those lines on the map. and also the timeframe by which people might be able to and areas might be able to get out of particular tiers and the factors that will contribute towards that. chris, we don't know yet the sort of detail of what tier 3 means for which particular parts of liverpool or manchester. we have to say that at the moment it is pretty difficult to be very certain about whether days map is a greater manchester, liverpool city centre, ora manchester, liverpool city centre, or a bigger part of merseyside? so there‘s not a lot of clarity at the moment. at the moment we sit between a website that has just been put online and is encountering some difficulties, no doubt due to volume of demand. and we are waiting in the next couple of minutes for the health secretary and his statement.

and effectively, the emergence, perhaps in the next hour or so, of a compilation of lots of us doing the punching the postcode thing in so that we can drop a definitive of england to determine who is in which tier. and until we have done that, there is clearly a danger that there isa there is clearly a danger that there is a whole lot of noise, which i am contributing a little bit to, and a lack of clear information. but that is going to emerge now in the coming minutes, and if your phone or laptop is feeling lucky, you might get through to be able to put your postcode in. and if you‘re using a dud like yours, maybe he won‘t. but relatively soon, that england wide picture should emerge. the basis of all of the argument seven conversations they come in the next couple of weeks. i will try not to ta ke couple of weeks. i will try not to take that personally, thank you.

honestly... theatres and pantomime producers have been waiting anxiously to hear which tier of restrictions they will be in, because theatres which fall into tier 3 won‘t be able to open their doors for their pantomimes and christmas shows. we can now speak to emily wood, a pantomime producer from evolution productions, who is working with various theatres across england, and jon woodley from the theatre royal windsor. how is windsor looking? have you figured out which tier your end, but you will be hoping for one or two right? really hoping for that, i have been frantically trying to get on the website and haven‘t been able to get through yet, so keeping my fingers crossed. yes, that's right, lots of other people having a problem. emily, in the idf are you? no, i don‘t know. problem. emily, in the idf are you? no, i don't know. it sounds like kinte is tier3, no, i don't know. it sounds like kinte is tier 3, it seems like it will affect our show, so that is devastating. what have you been preparing in the hope of doing some

sort of christmas season? we were working on the basis that last time theatres where find to be open in tier3, and theatres where find to be open in tier 3, and actually, there's not a single case of covid that has been traced to any of the theatres that we re traced to any of the theatres that were open. so that is what we were working on, and it has changed now, so working on, and it has changed now, so the frustration for us. we were going with one act shows so there is no interval for audience to mix and mingle too much, we were going for reduce audience participation, much smaller sets and cast to try and limit the numberof smaller sets and cast to try and limit the number of people backstage, limit the risks. so we are looking at all of our options, we are creative people and we will find ways around it. we will find solutions. i think the biggest thing for us is actually going to be getting some advance knowledge of what the next two week block will be, because i believe we find out around the 11th what the next lock will be. if we get down into tier 2, all systems go again.|j

will be. if we get down into tier 2, all systems go again. i don't know if this affects any of your productions, but leeds, sheffield, chesterfield us go into tier 3. john, how important do you think pantomime christmas shows are going to be this year, particularly for people? we all need a bit of christmas cheer. absolutely, and for many children it‘s their first experience of life theatre, it‘s that occasion where you have multiple generations of families getting together, and as you say, we could all deal with something positive at the end of what has been a pretty rubbish year. something in lifting and nice to look forward to coming for theatres it is often the lifeblood for us and it is the thing that keeps us going and allows us to ta ke that keeps us going and allows us to take risks during the year, more artistic decisions. suffer us, it‘s absolutely vital that we try and find a way make penn fine happen —— so for us, it is vital that we make pantomime happen. so for us, it is vital that we make pantomime happenlj so for us, it is vital that we make pantomime happen. i don't think you be likely there will be many

audiences this year at all. even going through the audition process, we have thousands of people applying for a small number of roles, and it was an emotional thing for them to be coming back to a theatre for the first time after many months. and i have a cast of actors rehearsing on stage as we speak, and they are so excited and so wanting this to happen. so the employment impacts that we can have with the pantomime, not just actors, but technicians and props and costumes and marketing and print companies and all the different suppliers we work with, including elution productions. so it is vital, and has such an impact on the theatre economy and we need to try and find a way to keep going if we can. emily, more than any other type of performance, pantomimes are very much about audience interaction, participation. some of the ways in which we normally do that are risky, aren‘t they, in the current climate. so how do you create that same atmosphere without

taking those risks? i would argue that the most important thing is the community, coming together, being with your family and being in a space, albeit totally safe, we have very safe theatres with lots of measures in place. so for me, that is actually more key than the things like the shouting out, although we found those of creative ways around that. there's a lot of foot stamping, handclapping, waving that we can do to get that, to recreate that feel. so we were confident that we can get around those limitations. for us, isjust getting together, it's not communal feeling, which was the most important thing. and they have spent so much time and energy on money “— have spent so much time and energy on money “ energy have spent so much time and energy on money —— energy and money, sorting out public seating. this kind of things he would normally never have to consider, butjohn, how viable is a production when he can have as many people in the

theatre and you‘re having to bring in all of these extra measures that emily hasjust in all of these extra measures that emily has just described is not —— described? it emily has just described is not —— described ? it is emily has just described is not —— described? it is a really difficult thing theatre windsor has been airing pantomime for 82 years and we are one of the few completely unsubsidized producing theatresm the uk, so luckily, we are able to and have quite a lot of experience and have quite a lot of experience and support around it. and itjust about works, but it is really tight andl about works, but it is really tight and i fully understand why it is very sadly taken the decision to go ahead because i can't make it work. well, keep ourfingers ahead because i can't make it work. well, keep our fingers crossed for you and you will find out which tier you and you will find out which tier you are going to be in. and safe pantomime season, if it goes ahead for you both, emily and john, thank you very much for talking to us.

we will be heading to the house of commons in a moment as soon as we see the health secretary matt hancock arrived, he will make a statement about those tears we are beginning to hear about. a health correspondent is here. we have obviously got three tiers and very few will be in tier 1, we are told, but it will be tier 3 that will bring the greatest restrictions? yes, t3 has been beefed up, the big difference is pubs and restaurants. pubs and distance will only be able to open for takeaway, so there restrictions will only seem a little step down from lockdown as it currently stands. in tier 2, that has currently been beefed up, and pubs that serve meals will be allowed to open, but pubs that don‘t will have to close. the government has set up a website which lists

which areas are in which tears, but that unfortunately has crashed. there must be huge demand for it. what we know is that london is in tier 2, the liverpool city region is also in tier 2, but manchester remains in tier3, also in tier 2, but manchester remains in tier 3, that was in the highest one before lockdown. other areas, black and birmingham are also in the top one, t3, it seems. so we have had some going up on some going down. how much lobbying well ab, do you think, from local politicians and business leaders who are concerned about being put into tier 3are concerned about being put into tier 3 are kept in tier 3? i think there has been a huge amount of lobbying behind—the—scenes. one of the problems the government faces is they want to introduce these tiers onafairly they want to introduce these tiers on a fairly wide regional footprint, a countywide level, but within a county, you can have some areas with really high rates and some with really high rates and some with really low rates. if you take kent, for example, the swale and thanet areas have amongst the highest rates

in the country. the rest of kent has quite low rates. so it will be interesting to see if they split the cou nty interesting to see if they split the county there and have different tiers for different parts of the county. the problem with that is you can find yourself walking from one street to the next and finding yourself being in a completely different tier, which is confusing for businesses in the public. so there is some delicate balancing here. i think the government will airon the here. i think the government will air on the side of caution. there was criticism, and research showed they were too slow to put areas in higher tiers, so i think we will see areas put in quite high tiers with the hope after christmas, as we get into the new year, that they can be dropped down a tier, and the restrictions can gradually be eased. i suppose what will perplex people is that they find themselves coming out of national lockdown into tier 3, for example, but then there is a period of five days over christmas where that gets suspended again.

indeed, indeed. it is all change, and it will be change again in a few weeks‘ time. christmas has really divided opinion, and i have been speaking to scientists and experts in human behaviour about what the logic is behind this, because in one respect, relaxing the restrictions at christmas, which will see three households being allowed to mix together indoors, will of course lead to an increase in infections, and perhaps in january, lead to an increase in infections, and perhaps injanuary, hospital cases and maybe, sadly, deaths. but talking to those experts in human behaviour, one argument they put is that what the government is doing is moving from paternalism to partnership. instead of lecturing, they are putting the responsibility on people to weigh up their own risk, and by doing that, you are more likely, they argue, to engage people in that process, and they say that trust in that partnership will be crucial next year as we ease restrictions, and as we start

rolling out a vaccine. it will be more up to the public to assess their risk and what they need to do to keep them and their families say. there is some logic to it, but of course, there is a risk. i would also say, the uk is not alone in iuggbng also say, the uk is not alone in juggling with this. france is also relaxing restrictions, and we might see other parts of europe do that as well, to allow people to come together after what has been a very difficult year. for the moment, thank you very much. as we have said, greater manchester will be in tier 3 from next wednesday. sasha lord is the night—time economy advisor, and gave his reaction to that news. we are in tier 3, and we are not surprised. it was fully expected we would be in tier 3. the r rate is dropping rapidly. two of our boroughs are well below the national average already, so it feels like,

if we carry on like this, we could be in tier2 if we carry on like this, we could be in tier 2 shortly, and what a good job the people of greater manchester and our leaders, and our mayor andy burnham have done to actually create that and get the r rate down. so, yes, it does feel slightly hopeful if we continue on like this, but again, the community led pubs, those wet pubs that have to wait until tier 1, that could be many, to wait until tier 1, that could be any to wait until tier 1, that could be many, many months away, and they will not make spring. they simply will not make spring. they simply will not make it, so this could be devastating for the high street, the traditional pub as we know it. the night—time economy adviser for greater manchester, which will stay in tier3 greater manchester, which will stay in tier 3 after the national lockdown restrictions in england are lifted next wednesday. let‘s show you the government website which lists those parts of england that are going to be in tier 3. the highest level of alert, very high.

if we scroll down, we can see those parts of the country, the north—east, quite large areas of the country there. in the north—west, we have already mentioned greater manchester, lancashire. we must go to the house of commons. we will come back to that. matt hancock, the health secretary. ... come back to that. matt hancock, the health secretary. approaching the end of the year when we have asked so much of the british people, and in response to this unprecedented threat to lives and livelihoods, the british people have well and truly risen to the challenge by coming together to slow the spread and support each other. i know how difficult this has been, especially for those areas that have beenin especially for those areas that have been in restrictions for so long. the national measures have successfully turned the curve and begun to ease pressure on the nhs. cases are down by 19% from a week ago, and daily hospital admissions have fallen 7% in the last week. january and february are always difficult months for the nhs, so it

is vital we safeguard the gains we have made. we must protect our nhs this winter. we have invested in expanded capacity, not just this winter. we have invested in expanded capacity, notjust in the nightingales, but in hospitals across the land, and we have welcomed thousands of new staff. mr speaker, this morning‘s figures show the number of nurses in the nhs is up the number of nurses in the nhs is up 14,800 compared to just the number of nurses in the nhs is up 14,800 compared tojust a year ago. well on our way to delivering on our manifesto commitment of 50,000 more nurses. together, while we invest in our nhs, we must also protect our nhs. so it will always be there for all of us during this pandemic and beyond. i am so grateful for the resolve that people have shown throughout the crisis. thanks to this shared sacrifice, we‘ve been able to announce that we will not be renewing our national restrictions in england, and we‘ve

been able to announce uk wide arrangements for christmas, allowing friends and loved ones to reunite and form a five day christmas bubble. and i know that this news provides hope for so many. but we must remain vigilant. there are still today 16,570 people in hospital with coronavirus across the uk. and 696 deaths were reported yesterday. that means 696 more families mourning the loss of a loved one, and the house mourns with them. so, as tempting as it may be, we cannot simply flick a switch and try to return life straight to normal, because if we did this, we wouldn‘t do the hard work of so many, and see the nhs overwhelmed, with all that that would entail. we must keep suppressing the virus while supporting education, the

economy, and of course, the nhs, until a vaccine can make us safe, and that is our plan. we will do this by returning to a tiered approach, applying the toughest measures to the part of the country where cases and pressure on the nhs are highest in allowing greater freedom in areas where prevalence is lower. while the strategy remains the same, the current epidemiological evidence and clinical advice says that we must make the tea is tougher than they we re make the tea is tougher than they were before to through the winter and avert another national lockdown. we have looked at each of the tears and strengthened them as the prime minister set out on monday. in tier 1. minister set out on monday. in tier 1, if you can work from home, you should do so. in tier 2, alcohol may only be served in hospitality settings as part of a substantial meal. and in tier 3, settings as part of a substantial meal. and in tier3, indoor entertainment, hotels and other accommodation will have to close, along with other forms of hospitality except for delivery and

takeaway. i know that people want certainty about the rules they want to follow in their area. these decisions are not easy, but they are necessary. we have listened to local experts and been guided by the best public health advice, including from thejoint public health advice, including from the joint security advice centre. we set out the criteria in the covid—19 went to plan and publish the data on which the decisions are made. as the winter plan sets out, the five indicators are a case rate in all age groups, in particular cases among the over 60s, the rate at which cases are rising orfalling, the positivity rate, and the pressures on the local nhs. when setting the boundaries for these tiers, we have looked notjust at geographical areas but the human geographies which influence how the virus spreads, like travel patterns and the epidemiological situation in neighbouring areas. while all three

tiers are less stringent than the national lockdown that we are all living in now, to keep people safe and to keep the gains that have been made, more areas than before will be in the top two tiers. this is necessary to protect our nhs and keep the virus under control. turning to the tiers specifically, the lowest case rates are in cornwall, the isle of wight, and the isles of scilly, which will go into tier 1. isles of scilly, which will go into tier1. in all isles of scilly, which will go into tier 1. in all three areas, they have had very low case rates throughout, and i want to thank residents for being so vigilant during the whole pandemic. i know that many other areas would want to be in tier1. that many other areas would want to be in tier 1. i understand that. my in constituency of west suffolk has the lowest case rate for over 60s and the whole country, and i want to thank matthew hicks and john griffiths, the leaders of suffolk in west suffolk councils, and their teams, for this achievement. but despite this, and despite the fact

suffolk overall has the lowest case rate outside of cornwall in the isle of wight, our judgment, rate outside of cornwall in the isle of wight, ourjudgment, looking at all of the indicators, and based on the public health advice, is that suffolk needs to be in tier 2 to get the virus further under control. i hope that suffolk and so many other parts of the country can get a tier 1 soon, parts of the country can get a tier 1soon, and parts of the country can get a tier 1 soon, and the more people stick to the rules, the quicker that will happen. we must make the right judgments guided by the science. the majority of england will be in tier 2, but in a significant number of areas, i‘m afraid, the need to be in tier 3 to bring case rates down. —— they need to be. i know how tough this is, in areas that have been in restrictions for a long time like leicester and manchester, and also areas where cases have risen sharply recently, like bristol, the west midlands and kent. the full allocations have been published this morning and laid as a written ministerial statement just before this statement began. i understand

the impact that these measures will have, but they are necessary, given the scale of the threat that we face. we will review the measures in a fortnight and keep them regularly under review after that. i want to thank everybody who is in the tier 3 areas for the sacrifices that they areas for the sacrifices that they are making, not just areas for the sacrifices that they are making, notjust to protect themselves and their families, but their whole community, and regardless of your tier, i ask everyone, we must all think of our own responsibilities to keep the virus under control. we should see these restrictions not as a boundary to push, but has a limit on what the public health advice says we can safely do in any area. but frankly, the less any one person per passes in the disease, the first week get this disease under control together, and that is on all of us. we must all play our part while we work so ha rd to all play our part while we work so hard to deliver the new technologies that will help us get out of this,

in particular vaccines and testing. the past fortnight has been eliminated by news of encouraging clinical trials for vaccines, first from pfizer and then mode earner, and then earlier this week from the oxford astrazeneca team. if these are approved, the nhs stands ready to roll them out as soon as is safely possible, alongside vaccines, we have made huge strides in the deployment of testing. our relative community testing has been successful because it means we can identify more people who have the virus but don‘t have symptoms and help them isolate, breaking the connection is at the virus needs to spread. as part of our covid—19 winter plan, we will use these tests ona winter plan, we will use these tests on a regular basis, for instance, to allow visitors to regularly see loved ones in care homes, to protect front line nhs and social care colleagues, and to allow vital industries and public services to continue running safely. we seen in

liverpool, where now over 300,000 people have been tested, how successful this community testing can be, and i want to pay tribute to the people of liverpool, both of following the restrictions and for embracing community testing. it has been a big team effort across the whole city, and the result is that in the liverpool city region, the number of cases has fallen by more than two thirds. in the borough of liverpool itself, where mass testing took place, cases have fallen by three quarters. it has not been easy, and sadly, many people in liverpool have lost their lives to covid, but thanks to people sticking to the rules, and a huge effort of community testing, liverpool‘s cases are now low enough for the whole city region to go into tier 2. this shows what we can do when we work together. we can beat the virus. and they want to pay tribute to the people of liverpool, nhs test and

chase, the university, the hospital trust, and the mayorjoe anderson, and so many others who demonstrated so much impressive leadership, responsibility, and a true sense of public service. we are now expanding this community testing programme even further, to launch a major community testing programme honing in on the areas with the greatest rate of infection. this programme is open to all local authorities in tier 3 areas in the first instance, and offers help to get out of the toughest restrictions as fast as possible. we will work with local authorities on a plan to get tests where they are needed most, and how we can get as many people as possible to come forward and get certainty about their condition. the more people that get tested, the quicker a local area can move down through the tiers and get life closer to normal. mr speaker, viruses can take a short time to spread, but a long time to vanquish, and sadly, there is no quick fix. they call upon our determination to

make sacrifices that will bring us to heal, and our ingenuity to make scientific advances that will get us through. hope is on the horizon, but we still have further to go, so we must all dig deep. the end is in sight. we must not give up now. we must follow these new rules and make sure that our actions today will save lives in future and help get our country through this. and i commend this statement to the house. the secretary of state, jonathan ashworth. can i thank him for advance sight of his statement, and i suppose we should all thank him for advance sight of the website, which crashed before we could check which crashed before we could check which tiers we are in. the news of the vaccine is indeed light at the end of the tunnel, but we're still in the tunnel, and we have a significant way to go to die infection rates down and keep our constituency. we understand why tough restrictions are still needed. but let's be clear. today, millions of people trying to survive in the

second lockdown will be forced to endure further local lockdown restrictions. does he accept that these interventions succeed when made in tandem with local communities? because i rememberwhen areas like trafford and bury went into lockdown in the summer, he promised that mps would be involved in the decision. has that commitment now been abandoned? then mps agreed to involve regional leaders but took exception to being challenged by andy burnham. so what role do regional leaders now have in these discussions? 0r regional leaders now have in these discussions? or is it really the pattern that the prime minister imposes from downing street restrictions on communities across the midlands and north, which will have a huge impact on the lives of families and small businesses. christmas, he will know, is vital for pubs, restaurants and entertainment venues across these areas. they will need substantial financial support to get through

this period. will those areas that we nt this period. will those areas that went into tier3 this period. will those areas that went into tier 3 lockdown is before the national lockdown, like greater manchester and south yorkshire, now get backdated economic support for their local small businesses? there are now part of the country like my own city, leicester, like bury, like leigh, like hayward, that have been undera leigh, like hayward, that have been under a form of lockdown for months and months, where families have been forced apart, where grand parents haven't seen their grandchildren. those families tonight will want to know what the exit strategy is and what voice they will have in that strategy. he has outlined five criteria by which local lockdown is will be judged. will he publish clear, transparent rules for areas entering and leaving tiers, a scorecard, if you like, for every area, assessing their covid progress against their criteria, so everyone canjudge that against their criteria, so everyone can judge that quickly? against their criteria, so everyone canjudge that quickly? there were talks of mass lateral flow testing,

which we welcome the advances, but over two weeks ago, he announced he was sendingl over two weeks ago, he announced he was sending i think 930,000 of these tests are local authorities, yet only around 8500 are currently being used today. could he explain why that is? he will also be aware, i'm sure that he has studied, that slovakia recently tested over 3 million people every weekend using these tests. they incentivise people to get tested by offering greater freedoms. is that part of the government's thinking for how these tests could be used? evidence from liverpool suggests there was a lower penetration of take—up of these tests in poorer, harder to reach communities. isn't the problem that if people and their contacts feel they will be financially penalised for a positive test, that they will avoid a test? they will switch off the app, not answer their phones to unrecognised call centre numbers. and the reason people just soldier on when ill isn't because of stiff

upperlip, it's on when ill isn't because of stiff upper lip, it's because they can't afford to feed their families otherwise. so surely, after months and months, it is now obvious that low paid people like care workers on zero—hours contracts need better support to isolate. so why didn't the chancellor increase statutory sick pay in the spending review yesterday? the test and trace budget has now increased to £22 billion, more than the annual budget for the police and the fire service combined. yet the 0 br yesterday confirmed that their forecasts are based on the fact that a less effective test, trace and isolate syste m effective test, trace and isolate system necessitates keeping a more stringent set of public health restrictions in place, over the winter. so at what point will he acce pt winter. so at what point will he accept that the current model, that the serco model, has failed? i'm not against using the public sector, but i'm against —— like i'm not against using the private sector, but i'm against throwing public sector money

at failing contracts. areas in tier 3 should be leading this retrospective contact tracing work and should be given the results from day one so they can get on with it. by day one so they can get on with it. by the way, what was there no uplift in the public health plan yesterday? this is a time we should be investing in public health. on the easements for christmas, they will of course be relief for families across the country, but he will understand there will also be nervousness across the nhs. we need a clear public health message, and asking people to be jolly careful is not good enough. he will know that january is an immensely busy and pressured time for our nhs. it's not just the patients filling up covid beds, but the emergency pathway is already running at heart, the immense elective backlog. we know there are less beds because of social distancing, we know staff are exhausted. many have restricted electives or planned operations this winter. what plans are in place to protect the nhs through january,

especially if there is a long, cold wintersnap? especially if there is a long, cold winter snap? how many in elective operations and does he anticipate will be cancelled injanuary? and nobody in this house wants to see a third lockdown, so can he guarantee the measures he has announced today will be enough to bring the r down and sustain it below one for the coming months until the vaccine allows life to return to normal? thank you very much, mr speaker. the goal of the government is to bring bury the —— below one to suppress the virus until a vaccine can keep a safe. —— to bring the r to below one. he asked for an exit strategy. the strategy i outlined is the exit strategy. it is to keep the virus impressed with the minimum possible damage to the economy and education

where we work as fast and hard as we can where we work as fast and hard as we ca n towards where we work as fast and hard as we can towards a vaccine. and the use of community testing, widespread across the piece, to help keep the virus under control. i would have expected him to have welcomed the massive progress in liverpool that has shown that a combination of sticking by the rules and community testing at very large scale can help to bring this virus right under control. instead, he criticised that it doesn‘t get into harder to reach communities. that is exactly where we need to get into, and that‘s why we need to get into, and that‘s why we do it in combination, hand—in—hand with the local authority. and i praisejoe anderson. i would also praise of the local leaders, —— other local leaders, the leader in the tees valley, andy street in the west midlands, dan jarvis and valley, andy street in the west midlands, danjarvis and south yorkshire, here we are working with to get a community testing system up and running in places like

doncaster. i want to see this community testing, which has been successful in liverpool, rolled out right across the tier 3 areas as much as is possible, and i invite all councils to engage. we engage with councils and invited them to engage ahead of the decisions today, and also invited all colleagues from around the house to put their input in. but it is important that we have clear public health messaging, because unfortunately, we did see the impact on the number of cases going up and continuing to go up in those areas where local leaders were not working alongside us, and it was a sharp contrast to what happened, for instance, in liverpool, but also in other areas where the local leadership were so constructive and positive. he asked for a scorecard in terms of the exit strategy. i think that is a good idea. we publish this data. if we can make it into an even more accessible format,

i think that is a good idea. he asked about supporting the nhs. absolutely, and i‘m delighted that yesterday, my right honourable friend the chancellor of the exchequer, with the support of the prime minister, put another £3 billion into the nhs on top of the £6.6 million it is already being invested, and that money starts flowing this financial year, from this winter, and then runs into next year. he also mentioned the need to support people who tested positive. we have put in place a £500 support payment, and on test and trace, i thought from the figures this morning he would have welcomed the fa ct morning he would have welcomed the fact that the majority of in person tests are fact that the majority of in person tests a re now fact that the majority of in person tests are now turned around within 24 hours. really significant progress on the speed of turnaround in testing, for which i am very grateful to my team. there will be further support for local councils that find themselves in tier 3 and

two, to support the action that is needed, but let us come together and work together to get this virus under control and keep it under control so we can get back to life as normal as soon as possible. cani as normal as soon as possible. can i welcome the prime minister back to his splendid isolation? i think from a sedentary position the prime minister said he was happy to see me here. these are difficult decisions... exactly, excited to see me here on the back benches. laughter turning to more serious matters, these are very difficult decisions. and part of the leadership you have to show on the pandemic is telling people unwelcome news, and i want to

salute the whole secretary's cautious approach to christmas, because as much as we all went christmas to be as normal as possible, nothing would be more crazy than to take our feet off the accelerator at this moment and then see a spike in deaths and february. sol see a spike in deaths and february. so i think this saves the right approach. —— ithink so i think this saves the right approach. —— i think this is the right approach. one further bit of good news on top of vaccines amassed testing, which i know he would like to be able to give, enormously welcome, everything a person living ina care welcome, everything a person living in a care home can be sure that they can be visited by a close relative before christmas. i know he wants to do that, but their huge logistical challenges in getting that mass testing technology to work in time. he is urgent to do everything he can because that would make —— can i urge him to do everything he can because that would make a big difference. i hesitate to interrupt

11 between the prime minister and my predecessor —— to interrupt the love in, buti predecessor —— to interrupt the love in, but i am grateful to their support and essays a set of difficult measures, but i think the public understands why we have to ta ke public understands why we have to take them and why we are necessary. on the point about getting visiting going and care homes, he is absolutely right. sometimes we talk about the tests and the new technology and an abstract way or from a scientific point of view, but it really matters. and it really im proves it really matters. and it really improves people‘s lives. where we can use testing to make visiting safe and care homes, that is an example of the sort of thing that these new technologies can help to get life a little bit back towards normal. of course it has got to be donein normal. of course it has got to be done ina normal. of course it has got to be done in a safe way and of course it is got to be done carefully, but we are now developing the protocols for exactly how that can happen and working hard with the goal that

eve ryo ne working hard with the goal that everyone should have the opportunity to visit a loved one in a care home before christmas. now we go to doctor whitford. thank you, madam deputy speaker. many scientists have expressed concern that the easing of restrictions christmas could lead to another surge of covid cases in january. with cases still over 80% of the level at the start of lockdown, is the secretary of state not worried that allowing outdoor events of 2000 participants and indoor events of 1000 in level two, high—risk areas could actually drive up high—risk areas could actually drive up infection rates ahead of christmas? while it is very welcoming how it increases capacity, the secretary of state previously stated that mass testing in liverpool was a pilot and would be evaluated before being rolled out

elsewhere. as a city has also been under tight restrictions and then lockdown —— as the city, how will the impact of mass testing will be evaluated? how did he plan to counter the lower uptake among deprived communities, the very ones at highest risk, have seen in liverpool? and with no clinical evaluation yet published, how can he justify putting out contract tenders for and justify putting out contract tenders forandi justify putting out contract tenders for and i watering £43 billion and rolling out this approach to 67 other areas? should this strategy not be compared with investing money and energy and getting the traditional test, trace and isolate system working properly? currently over 40% of contacts in england are still not even informed they should be isolating. finally, he knows is not testing, but isolation which stops the spread of the virus. and a people who are infected or could be

carriers are not isolating, no amount of testing will stop viral spread. a study by king‘s college which suggested less than a quarter of people were isolating when advised was incredibly worrying, so what assessment is the government doing to clarify current isolation rates and understand the reasons why people may not follow the advice they are given? thank you very much, madam deputy speaker. we are co nsta ntly madam deputy speaker. we are constantly evaluating the impact of people isolating and how many people isolate when asked to. i would just encourage the honourable lady to look at a broader range of studies then just not one from king‘s college, especially when you look at the self isolation of those who test positive, which does tend to be higher. she asked about the use of

these lateral flow tests to have a negative impact on the number of cases in an area. and of course we have been evaluating this all the way through the study in liverpool, and that is why we can have confidence in rolling it out more broadly across tier 3 areas. i included in my statement a high—level assessment of this, which is that if we look at liverpool city region, the number of cases is down by two thirds, but in the city itself, where the testing took place, it took place out people who look in the city and a people who work in the city and live largely in the wider city region. the number of cases is down by over three quarters, that is one piece of evidence, it is clear that it‘s a combination of people following the rules and the community testing put together with the appropriate incentives to get people to take up the mass community testing. that is what can help to make this work and we went to work with local directors

of public health to understand and to know how this will work effectively in their areas, precisely the hard—to—reach that she mentioned. finally, iwould echo, the request from the honourable lady that we be cautious this christmas. but i would say to her that having and approach across the whole uk, including with the government and administration and edinburgh and with the welsh labour administration and across party ministration in northern ireland, i am delighted there is an approach all the way across the uk because there are so many ties that bind us together, which mean that we are stronger as one united kingdom working together to tackle this virus. greg smith. it is incredibly disappointing news

that buckinghamshire, having entered the national lockdown in tier 1, will emerge from the national lockdown into the more punitive restrictions of tier 2. a decision that will be hard to understand in the rural communities in north buckinghamshire that have relatively low infection rates, and hard to understand given that there has been zero consultation between central government and buckinghamshire counsel, local nhs. appreciating that my right honourable friend has impossible choices to make to control this virus, will he commit to ensuring that buckinghamshire counsel and our local nhs ease he consulted as he steers are reviewed going forward his? the director of public health and buckinghamshire was invited to engage with the team as we were looking at the indicators to making the decisions. these are difficult decisions, he is right, the case rate and buckinghamshire is

138 for 100,000, and positivity is above that 5%, and we will be reviewing these allocations in a fortnight and then regularly thereafter. i look forward to working with my honourable friend and supporting the people of buckinghamshire to do what is right and to get these case rates down and to get buckinghamshire, if at all possible, if it is safe, into tier1 with the lighter restrictions. but it is critical to keep people safe that we take the action that we need to today. a recent ucla study found that with the previous tier system, less tha n that with the previous tier system, less than half the public understood what the rules were for the tiers. so today we have a new tier system, we have a five day relaxation at christmas, we have a government website that has crash this morning, the written ministerial statement that was published with morning has a number of? thegin sent from areas, there has been —— a number of

questions in certain areas, in terms of length of restrictions urban contradictions, so i have a simple request, will the secretary state please ensure there is a very clear, consistent and honest communications campaign to ensure blick trust, compliance —— public trust, and not to raise expectations is not yes, there will be a —— public trust and not raise expectations? yes, because of his on all of us to follow the rules in our local areas, there will bea rules in our local areas, there will be a big campaign for this. with the rules, making sure that all of us behave and responsible way because we all have a in controlling the spread of the virus. now we go to york. thank you, madam deputy speaker. as a government continues to impose further unprecedented restrictions on people cosmic freedoms, it‘s important —— on

people‘s freedoms, it is important to give information, so as your‘s rate continues to fall, can the secretary say outline how we can get to the baseline as fast as possible? and will he publish the assessment and the data which placed us into tier 2 so we can bestjudge how to get to tier1 is mac and when he talks about regular reviews, can i say a weekly review would be much more desirable. i can answer positively on all accounts, we have a regular, weekly session to go through all of these. and i say regular rather than... i am committing to regular rather than weekly because sometimes we have to do it more than weekly if you see the cases shooting up in an area or something similar. on the point about publication, absolutely, we

published today, not just about publication, absolutely, we published today, notjust the data, and will publish more data on each area, but also an exclamation in each area for the reasons the decision that was taken. i know that he and colleagues across york have worked hard, because there was quite a serious spike in york that is coming down at the moment, but overall we still require the whole of north yorkshire to go into tier 2 because the case rates are still elevated right across north yorkshire. and we all need to work together to get them down. and i share my neighbouring colleague, the honourable member‘s concern about clarity over tiers and messages. at one message and one rule that is clear, but is unwelcome, is the 11pm cu rfew for clear, but is unwelcome, is the 11pm curfew for pubs and restaurants. cu rfews failed to curfew for pubs and restaurants. curfews failed to address the issue of crowds in the streets and on

public transport, which have a risk of spreading infection. so will he commit to meeting with local government... say goodbye now to viewers on bbc two, you‘re watching bbc news. of course we have been engaging with the team who worked across london, and there is a lot of work to do in london, their parts of london where cases continue to rise and we need to get that under control, but they‘re also part where they are falling and things are very much going in the right direction. likewise, there is pressure in some parts of the nhs, but a lot of mutual aid within the nhs read across london. so is there —— so there is a lot of work to do in london to keep it in tier 2 and i look forward to looking with her another london colleagues on that. doctor ben spencer. people living in

my constituency often asked me what base we are subjected to this comment is clear that alongside of data, there other factors, comment is clear that alongside of data, there otherfactors, and i think my right honourable friend for the response to the question that both the reasons and the data will be published. will local hospital bed realisation be part of those reasons published ? bed realisation be part of those reasons published? yes, there are five indicators that we take into account on deciding which tier. one of them is pressure and anticipated pressure on the local nhs, where course bed occupancy rates is a critical part of that assessment. and i note that some people are looking for a cleared numerical boundary between the different tiers, that because we have five different indicators rather than a single one, there is no automatic figure at which a different tier is triggered. we have got to look at

all circumstances, including in terms of outbreaks, because they are some cities that on pure numbers would be in tier 3, but because the outbreak is specific. for example in a care home or at school, they are in tier2, so a care home or at school, they are in tier 2, so you have to look at these localised issues as well. that is why the engagement with local directors and public health is so important. there'll be a bitter disappointment in dorset and the urban area in tier 2, although our infection rates have actually fallen quite rapidly. semi main interest todayis quite rapidly. semi main interest today is finding out how we get out of here to into tier1—— so my main interest today. if we‘re going how weekly reviews, that is great, but if we are stuck in that year for two or three weeks, i went over the secretary of state will consider an appeals process and i wonder whether his minister of state, i wonder how much he might help with this appeals process. we work as a cohesive team

and we all work on covid related issues. i take the gentle chiding from my right honourable friend that he would rather my number to take these decisions, but i‘m afraid he is stuck with me for the time being. of course, on the series point that he raises, we will review these in a fortnight and then regularly, by which he can reasonably take weekly. only have a weekly cycle of meetings, typically on a tuesday, chair meeting, and on a wednesday foran chair meeting, and on a wednesday for an announcement on thursday for any change to the tiers. now we go to swansea. when it comes to air pollution, i would to swansea. when it comes to air pollution, iwould be to swansea. when it comes to air pollution, i would be surprised that the tier 3 areas tend to be the areas of highest pollution, because for every microgram of per metre,

that increases the cobra deaths, and that increases the cobra deaths, and thatis that increases the cobra deaths, and that is on top of the 40,000 deaths from air pollution. so would he agree with me that we need to —— the covid deaths, and we need across all of the actuality and the government report annually, from housing, from transport, what they are doing individually and collectively to combatair individually and collectively to combat air pollution and reduce the overall death rate and the covid death rate. i can see he is nodding sagely, the primacy are, will he add to the report? impressive that he can see the prime minister because he has just left the chamber. laughter i‘m sure he is nodding sagely wherever he is. the honourable gentleman makes a very serious point and an important point on which we ee, and an important point on which we agree, air pollution is a serious health issue, and a lockdowns, air

pollution has reduced. that is one upside to an otherwise damaging thing to have to do, but they are necessary to keep the virus under control and i hope we can continue to work together in evolution after this pandemic. for gloucestershire in tier2, this pandemic. for gloucestershire in tier 2, next to gloucestershire in tier 2, next to gloucestershire in tier3and in tier 2, next to gloucestershire in tier 3 and the welsh border, can the secretary say confirm that there will be no travel restrictions between different tiers or across the welsh border? and could he also, since a government can change tiers without debate, which has a huge impact, especially in the hospitality sector from tier 2 to three, when he yells and confirm when the date with for the tier decisions will be —— will he also confirm when the date for the decisions will be published as mac —— published ?

decisions will be published as mac -- published? the legal decisions on travel whereby the welsh government rather than by the uk government for england, so i cannot comment right now. we take the view that travel restriction should be in guidance, because they are all sorts of public it is circumstances under which people might need to travel. and we have done that when we have been a national lockdown across england as well as locally, so i‘m afraid i am sorry that i can‘t be more clear than that. on the point about renewal and when we review these matters, we are proposing to review firstly on the 16th of december and then regularly thereafter to make sure that we keep the tiered restrictions as up—to—date as possible. now we go to yvette cooper. we are going to leave the house of commons now and go to the scottish parliament where the first

minister is taking part in questions. their 1125 people currently in hospital, 31 if than yesterday and 90 people in intensive care. six more than yesterday. in addition, i am sorry to report that in the past 24 hours, for 51 deaths have been registered of patients who have been registered of patients who have tested positive in the previous 28 days. and again, i want to convey my condolences to everyone who has lost a loved one throughout this pandemic. we will also shortly publish the latest estimate of the r number. we expected that it will show the r number in scotland to be unchanged from last week, which means it is still slightly below one. that indicates that current restrictions are having an effect in curbing transmission of the virus, but we can‘t be complacent, we want infection rates come down further and faster. that‘s why with the exception of east lothian moving from level three to level through, there was no other change in

restrictions this week. we have however confirmed with other governments across the uk that there will be a temporary and very limited easing of restrictions for a five—day period of a christmas, from the 23rd of december to the 27th of december, inclusive, and that is one the development i want to give a brief update on now. the scottish government publish an initial guidance about the christmas period this morning, it is available for a few of the scottish government website. and the guys presiding officer reiterates that —— the guidance presiding offer silly neck officer says that the safest aids in our own house in our own area to celebrate christmas. we are allowing people to meet up in a limited way, but that out of —— that does not mean anyone should do so. so because of how quickly this reds, we are asking people to be careful with these flexibilities. and with a vaccine close, no one wants to take an unnecessary risk with older or

more portable relatives. so we should all consider another alternative way to have christmas contact with those we love, for example, by eating outside, and a family walk or by using technology. however, we recognise reality that it christmas some people will feel the need to be with others, so this guidance that sound advice on how to do that as safely as possible. though it is important for me to stress that the advice, even if fully implemented, will not com pletely fully implemented, will not completely eradicate risk. some of the traveller sections will be lifted across the uk between the 23rd in the 27th of december, but only to allow travel to join a bubble. there should be no more than three households in a bubble, and in scotland, we are asking that this includes no more than one extended household. in general, oradvice includes no more than one extended household. in general, or advice is to give any bubble as small as possible and to have no more than eight people over the age of 12 within it. people other than stu d e nts within it. people other than students who share flats should try to stay in the same flat as each other over christmas, but if they do

join other bubbles, they should isolate from flatmates for around a week before and after the christmas period. and members of a bubble should not change, you cannot be with you households one day and a different household than x. as well as meeting in each other‘s homes, these bubbles can meet outside or go toa these bubbles can meet outside or go to a place of worship together, but mustn‘t use hospitality or go shopping together. and finally, we are advising that if you want to visit someone and a care home for hospital, you should not form a bubble. meeting someone indoors and then in this setting increases the chance of transmitting the virus within a care home or hospital. we have given careful thought to this guidance and it has not been easy, but i know that some people think they got insides too strict and others will think that any relaxation is —— the guidance is too strict or the relaxation is too

soon. we try our best to balance conflicting priorities and we know that some people decide that the right thing for them it christmas is spending time indoors with friends and family who might otherwise be isolated and alone. so we went to make sure there is clear guidance about boundaries in place, but we also know that the virus will not ta ke also know that the virus will not take a break and indoor gatherings present a high risk of transmission. having people from different generations in particular can be risky. younger people who have to go out to work and can often lived in shared accommodation are more likely to have been exposed to the virus. soi to have been exposed to the virus. so i would urge everyone to consider carefully what arrangements they make at christmas and think about the balance of risks involved. i think for all of us and we can find a different way of marking christmas this year, the fact is that that would be a safer alternative, albeit a very tough one for everyone stop for the moment, this is my final point, i‘m way that all of us can make the christmas spirit of what comes make the christmas spirit of what co m es after make the christmas spirit of what comes after a safety as possible is getting infection rates down as low

possible now. the best way of doing thatis possible now. the best way of doing that is sticking to the rules currently in force, if you have any doubt about the rules in your area visit the scottish government website and using postcode checker. and i will finish with a brief reminder of the keynotes, don‘t visit each other‘s homes except for essential purposes, bye—bye the traveller sections that are now law, and finally —— abide by the travel restrictions, where facemask, clean your hands, keep a two metre distance, self isolated and get tested immediately if you have any covid symptoms. thank you, presiding officer. we are going to turn out to first ministers questions, last year the first minister promises parliament that she would co—operate fully with the inquiry, she said the inquiries would be able to request whatever material they want, and i undertake today that we will provide whatever material they request. yet,

despite losing two votes in the parliament, the government is refusing to handle further legal advice received on the manor. he scottish government officials who could shed light on the affair are being blocked from giving evidence. the s&p can be no the committee is now saying that is being obstructed, the simple question is ace, why has a first minister broken her promise? that is not the case, this whitish government is continuing to co—operate with the inquiry —— government is continuing to co—operate with the inquiry -- the scottish government, nobody is being blocked from giving evidence. i myself have my cell from the decisions in relation to this for the very good reason i think that it is partly my conduct that the inquiries looking at. in terms of legal advice, the deputy first minister set this out very clearly to parliament, this is an issue in the context of this inquiry. ministers have to abide with the terms of the ministerial court. in

the ministerial code says that ministers must not divulge the contents ministers must not divulge the co nte nts of ministers must not divulge the contents of legal advice. paragraph 2.40 recognises that in exceptional circumstances, ministers can consider that the balance of interest favours disclosure. ministers and the deputy first ministers and the deputy first minister is leading this consideration, considering whether that test is met, but if they do consider that it is, they must get prior consent of officers, as a deputy first minister has set out, that process is under way and he will update parliament when that is finished. the blunt fact is ace, the only conceivable reason that she is breaking her promise because she has something to hide. so let‘s try this a different way. i‘ll say with a legal device contained in the first minister can tell me if i‘m wrong —— i will say what the legal advice

contained. the advice warns that the scottish government‘s handling of a sexual harassment allegations were deeply flawed and the judicial review would find fault, as it went on to do. and this was aware of the scottish government before the case collapsed, running up bills in the process , collapsed, running up bills in the process, and failing the women who came forward. so tell the public, which part of that have i got wrong? as ruth davidson knows, if i was to go into the detail, i i would stand here now and i would breach the ministerial code. perhaps ruth david once out to be the case, but i‘m not going to do that. at the ministerial code, i‘m going to quote directly from it, it sets out a process that ministers have to go through, should legal advice be divulge. and to

remind the chamber and others watching, the starting point in the ministerial code is that ministers must not divulge the contents of legal advice and less open test are fulfilled —— in less certain tests are fulfilled. and we are going through process right now consideration for those tests, that isa consideration for those tests, that is a right and proper way to do this and once that process have concluded from the deputy first minister will update parliament about the outcome of it. the cynical obfuscation that we have seen... well, let‘s leave those first ministers questions in holyrood there. we heard nicola sturgeon making a statement a short while ago about the relaxation of and change to restrictions over christmas in scotland. groups of up to eight people from up to three households will be able to meet indoors.

children under 12 do not count towards that total. veering away from questions about coronavirus, and ruth davidson asking some fairly critical, pertinent, probing questions of nicola sturgeon regarding holyrood‘s enquiry into alex salmond. well, as you have heard, health secretary matt hancock has given mps details of the new tiered coronavirus restriction framework. reaction in a minute, but let‘s hear what he had to say. framework. reaction in a minute, but let's hear what he had to say. the majority of england will be in tier 2, but i‘m afraid in a significant number of areas, they need to be in tier 3 to bring case rates down. i know how tough this is, both are areas that have been in restrictions for long times, like leicester and manchester, but also for areas where they have risen sharply recently like bristol, the west midlands and kent. the full restriction to this

morning and laid as a written ministerial statement just before statement began. —— the full restrictions have been published this morning. i understand the impact these measures will have, but they are necessary given the scale of the threat we face. we will review the measures in a fortnight and keep them regularly under review after that. the health secretary matt hancock. the health secretary matt hancock. the mayor of greater manchester andy burnham, a part of the country which will be in tier 3 from next wednesday, has criticised the possible lack of business support there will be available to areas that are in tier 3. he said greater manchester‘s infection rate is still lower then much of the country. he says we will be asking the government to remove our region into tier 2 government to remove our region into tier2 in government to remove our region into tier 2 in two weeks‘ time. we believe it is completely wrong for the government to have decided to provide no additional business support for areas in tier 3 than those in tier 2, where obviously,

restrictions are lighter, the same goes for tier 1. the new tier 3, he says will hit the hospitality sector extremely high, while there are gra nts extremely high, while there are grants for businesses forced to close, there are no extra support for businesses that supply them, like security, catering and cleaning. this will cause real hardship for people whose jobs are affected and the risk of loss to many businesses. let‘s talk to our political correspondent chris mason, who is at westminster and has been listening to what the health secretary said. notable that very, very few areas of england are going to be in tier 1. just three places. yes, that‘s right. cornwall, the isles of scilly and the isle of wight in tier1, isles of scilly and the isle of wight in tier 1, and very rough estimation as england‘s population is concerned means that round about 98% of the population of england is in tier2 or 98% of the population of england is in tier 2 or three. that matches up with what we were being led to believe in the last couple of days

and the overall message from matt hancock, the health secretary for england, for saying that the return of the tiers and the regionalised approach comes with a beefing up of the restrictions we briefly got ucb for the imposition of the national restrictions in england a couple of weeks ago. what we are now getting, and you brought us a flavour of that with the words from andy burnham, the labour mayor of greater manchester, is the response to this new regionalised approach and the sense of injustice that inevitably lies in any approach that involves putting relatively arbitrary lines in relatively arbitrary places. yes, the government says it has thrown a lot of different factors in weighing and measuring which areas should be in which tiers, but it is an inevitability of a regional approach that in the end, you have to draw lines on maps and you have to decide what forms within, say, tier 2 verses tier 3. with that will come perceived injustices where people

can look across the road or river at a different county area and see very different measures, and of course, for some that will have profound consequences in terms of lives and livelihoods and liberties. you will begin to see that argument playing out. you have heard it from mr bain. i see the labour mayor of bristol marvin rees has made a similar statement as far as his city is concerned at the impact on the hospitality industry there. also in tier 3. and they have been strong arguments made from mps in kent and also in lincolnshire, both in tier 3, but the argument made by sam is that they are big and complex counties as far as their geography and case rates are concerned. —— the argument made by some. they want to see a more subtle local picture. the instinct from the government is to go for a more regionalised approach. that is the inevitable argument around a system the government says it is better than england wide restrictions that would take no account of their variability of the case rate, demography, risk profile

and the various other contributory factors that inform how different areas are put in different tiers under this model. birmingham also tier 3, chris. the leader of birmingham city council ian ward, amongst other things, has said we need a clear road map out of these restrictions on a meaningful package of support for jobs and restrictions on a meaningful package of support forjobs and businesses, especially in hospitality. a road map out of these restrictions. that is also something we had jonathan ashworth, the shadow health secretary, comment upon in a question in the commons. that's right, and i think there‘s an awareness within government and certainly amongst opposition mps and backbenchers that because we now into the slog of this, there is no novelty or newness to any of this now, they are variations in restrictions we have been used to since march, that in the long, hard slog of winter, particularly for those areas put in the highest tier, there has to be some sort of pathway

to its being able to escape that. the government will point towards the liverpool city region, the focus of those discussions a couple of weeks back when the highest restrictions were imposed there and there was that argument that went on between the city region and the government, and ever since, boris johnson has been heaping praise on the two meas in liverpool and the broader region. —— the two mayors. matt hancock, as you head there, said the government will review this ina said the government will review this in a couple of weeks, with a view to hoping that in some areas they can be an easing of restrictions, but particularly for hospitality in that highest tier, disproportionately affected by the restrictions there. this is such a crucial time of year, when a huge amount of revenue they can sustain businesses to the leaner months of january and february is normally gathered, and bluntly, this year, will be able to. and we have

seen this morning the announcements from a number of hospitality groups, pub groups, about how difficult this year has been, for obvious reasons, andi year has been, for obvious reasons, and i now staring at a situation in certain parts of the country where the grim reality of this pandemic continues. for the moment, thank you very much, chris mason at westminster. one area entering tier 3 is kent and medway. sir roger gale is the conservative mpfor sir roger gale is the conservative mp for north thanet, and he along with others, wrote a letter to the health secretary yesterday calling for restrictions to be at a borough or district level. thank you very much forjoining us. how much of a shockis much forjoining us. how much of a shock is it to your constituents to find themselves in tier 3?|j shock is it to your constituents to find themselves in tier 3? i don't think it is a shock to the people of thanet, because it was anticipated, because the incidence of covid—19 is too high in thanet. i think it is a shock to the people of kent, the whole of kent, because there are some areas in the county, which is very big, of course, that are that much lower.

that is why even though i knew it would be potentially bad for my constituents, i nevertheless held that it was right to support the call for a district approach rather than a county approach. where do you draw the line? where does kent. ? is beckenham in kent? well, kentish men will tell you it is, but most people regard it as being part of london. is dartford? regard it as being part of london. is dartford ? well, regard it as being part of london. is dartford? well, yes, but down the road, you are back in london. so these lines are very arbitrary indeed. how, then, would you organise it along district or borough lines? we are told that parts of the country in tier 3, with this broad brush approach, too complex. there is too much movement between these areas, and that is why tier 3 is a quite broad. the pandemic doesn‘t understand county boundaries, does it? and there is no

logic to this really at all. but insofar as you can draw a line, i would say, for example, that if you hived off east kent, and my collea g u es hived off east kent, and my colleagues in canterbury and dover will not thank me for saying this any more than my colleague in south thanet will, but if you took off east kent, you can separate out most of east kent from central kent and west kent and probably draw a line, but then you have stood at the medway towns, where there is another high incidence of the disease. so it is very difficult indeed. and when you have got people commuting, and a lot of kent people commute to london, of course, for work, they are travelling backwards and forwards. inevitably, some of those will be carrying the disease with them, so as i said, the whole system is pretty arbitrary. i think i come back to the point that the first minister of wales made yesterday very clearly, that no regulation is worse then too harsh a regulation, or some regulation, because if it is

too harsh, people will ignore it. if it doesn‘t exist at all, then the disease will spread, so you are better off drawing some lines and accepting the fact that most people will be responsible and some won‘t then having no control at all. how useful, then, do you believe community testing will be? that is one of the measures we heard the health secretary say is going to help areas particularly under tier 3 restrictions get out of them, because obviously, many politicians and business leaders will want to know what the exit strategy is. perhaps that is one of the ways out of it. absolutely, and as far as i'm concerned, on behalf of my constituents, i‘d like the whole of thanet constituents, i‘d like the whole of tha net tested constituents, i‘d like the whole of thanet tested as quickly as possible. i think it would be a very good thing indeed, because if you know who has got the disease, you can do much more to eliminate it. it looks as though it has worked quite dramatically in liverpool, and if you can do it any place the size of that, i guess you can do it in a

place the of thanet. in terms of what has happened, then, the benefits are kent of this national lockdown, england has been underfor four weeks, how beneficial has it been to kent? you wear under much lower restrictions before, now you are going to be in the highest tier of them all. too early to say, is the answer. you are quite right. the whole of kent and much of the south east of england was the last to go into lockdown. in fact, we didn‘t go in until everybody went into lockdown. i think perhaps we are paying a price for that in the sense that people, given an opportunity, so closure coming and went out and mixed in large numbers, particularly in places like thanet, and otherwise, we have a higher spread of the disease and we might have had. my view is that we should have shut down a fortnight earlier and we

should have shut down harder, but my people in the hospitality business, and thanet lives on its hospitality business, the pubs, the restaurants, the little cafe is, the small shops, they are not going to thank me for saying that i want them closed. i don‘t want them closed, i want them open. but i want them safely open for as long as possible. the last thing any of us to go into yet another spike after christmas. that‘s the real danger. another spike after christmas. that's the real danger. so, finally, what is your message to people across kent, not just what is your message to people across kent, notjust in your constituency, as they face the toughest restrictions of all? bite the bullet, take every possible advantage of all of all of the measures that rishi sunak has put in place to try and help you, get in touch with your members of parliament if you feel you need help thatis parliament if you feel you need help that is not being offered. we might not necessarily be able to assist, but we will certainly try. look for the vaccinations in the spring, and move forward. and in the meantime,

stay safe, and as far as is possible, obey all of the regulations and live in your bubbles and stay at home if you can. sir roger gale, mp for north thanet, thank you very much. we will stay in kent now. helena wilkinson is in fab mission. what about the reaction there? well, people here are digesting the news that people in kent as a county and here in faversham in the district of swale, they are digesting the news that they are digesting the news that they will be put into the toughest of tiers, tier 3. you can probably see just of tiers, tier 3. you can probably seejust behind me, we have been told by one woman that this is normally a very busy area. it is very empty indeed, with just a handful of people out. to give you a sense of just how handful of people out. to give you a sense ofjust how quickly the infection can increase rapidly, kent asa infection can increase rapidly, kent as a county was before the second

lockdown under tier 1. it will now be moved into tier 3, and we have had a bit more from the government in terms of the rationale behind why this county is going to be put into tier 3. one of the reasons is that case rates are continuing to rise. the government says that with large case rates in almost all areas in the last seven days, and also for kent, some of the highest rates in the country have been seen in kent, and in particular, in swale, the latest data shows that swale is now the area with the highest rates of infection in england. so it has been a really big problem recently, and they had an emergency meeting on monday with the borough council leader and were trying to work out exactly why the infection rates were so high here. one reason was that certain people work in

manufacturing, for example. difficult for them to work from home. also, the council leader of swale borough council had also pointed the finger at some people living in this area, saying it was the wilful disregard of the rules by some people. he was saying the majority of people and businesses we re majority of people and businesses were sticking to those rules, but some were not. so i don‘t think it isa some were not. so i don‘t think it is a surprise that this area is under, or going to be under it, tier 3, but what i think is that there will be some frustration locally in different areas in kent, because there are other areas where infection rates vary significantly and are much lower than this area in particular. so there will be people asking and there lower infection rate areas why they need to be grouped in with places like swale here, which will be going into tier 3, the whole of kent county going

into tier 3. helena, thank you very much for the moment. helena wilkinson in faversham in kent. phil mackie is in sandwell in the midlands, where they are also digesting the news that the new restrictions will apply. what are they saying, phil? they have just gone into tier 3 before the current lockdown, so i don‘t think people are surprise that they will come back into tier 3. there are some parts of the west and east midlands that were in lower tier is going on that were in lower tier is going on that will come back out into higher tiers. unfortunately for them, that means much higher restrictions. the reason birmingham and the black country are staying in tier 3 is that case rates are improving, according to the government, down 8.3%, but remain very high across the region, 390 per 100,000 people. asimilar the region, 390 per 100,000 people. a similar trend for positivity. the number of people who test positive is going up, and they say the pressure on the nhs remains particularly high. we know there have been a lot of hospital

admissions in increasing numbers of deaths in this part of the country over the last couple of weeks. the good news is that the infection rates have been falling. sandwell‘s has been very high even since the first lockdown. it has been one of those areas stuck in higher infection rates. they probably did well not to be in higher restrictions like places like leicester before this particular lockdown, but they know they will come back into tier 3. i spoke to some shoppers and traders earlier on, particularly the traders. there isa on, particularly the traders. there is a market open on the high street here every day. normally, it would be filled with many hundreds of people shopping. only the fruit and veg market park can open today. not many were about, and i talk to one trader who has been back open for about four weeks, and she said if it stays in tier 3 and people remain afraid to come out, unfortunately, she willjust not be able to pay her rent, so they will be looking for more economic help here and hoping that the numbers keep going down, but there is not much chance of this

particular part of the country being reduced in terms of its restrictions, may be falling into a lower tier, certainly till the new year. how many politicians locally have been asking for it to be on a more borough level in terms of the restrictions, rather than this very large part of the country that we are seeing under tier 3? if you head away from the urban areas, they have had the highest rates of infection, and most were heading into tier 3 ahead of lockdown were already there, so i did and there is much surprise from there, though some politicians, may speaking up for their particular area. for instance, coventry is much lower rates than here. they might have hoped to go into tier 3 and not tier 2, but when you go out of the cities and into some of the counties, for instance, in worcestershire, malvern hills, one of the district count is there, has one of the lowest infection rates in the whole uk, really low rates, but because other districts within

worcestershire have higher rates, the whole county is in tier 3, and similarly gloucestershire and other areas as well, in some rural areas. very few places in the whole of the west and east midlands are in tier 2. worcestershire is one of them, but certainly not in tier 1, and i think they will be this strong argument from some of the mps that represent some of those areas with very low infection rates where there aren‘t very many hospitalisations, that they are quite cut off from other places as well, that would definitely press the government to hopefully relax the rules and let them into tier1 before christmas. thank you very much, phil. martin hill is the leader of lincolnshire council and also the chairman of east midlands councils. he is also chair of the lincolnshire councils engagement board. lincolnshire has been put into tier 3. thank you forjoining us. lincolnshire, very big county, very

rural and parts. can you understand the rationale for your being in tier 3?i the rationale for your being in tier 3? i can't understand the rationale for the whole of the big rural area being put in the same tier. it is true to say parts of lincoln should you have high rates, but other parts of lincolnshire, huge areas of lincolnshire, actually have lower rates in the national average, so it does seem very perverse to put the whole area into tier 3, and also, that will mean businesses and families and individuals will be suffering far more restrictions than is really necessary for their area. quite a few people, particularly on social media, have been saying, if we are still going to be in tier 30 put to the first time into tier 3 after a national lockdown, what was the point of the lockdown, or how much worse might it have been if we hadn‘t had this for weeks of restrictions in england? that's something we don‘t know, and in lincolnshire, even in the worst areas, the rates are coming down quite quickly now, so again, we are wondering whether the decision might

have been more reflective of the current situation. i think we also have to acknowledge that shops and lots of other things are going to now open even in tier 3, but of course, it means that particularly the hospitality industry is going to really ta ke the hospitality industry is going to really take a hit, and i would say in some areas, large areas of lincolnshire, it is in unnecessary hit. i would lincolnshire, it is in unnecessary hit. iwould be lincolnshire, it is in unnecessary hit. i would be interested to see what the government is going to do to support those businesses who, through no fault of their own, are ona through no fault of their own, are on a more difficult position that they thought they would be. what information do you want regarding an exit strategy out of tier 3? we know the government is going to review it every fortnight, so what we would like to do is notjust go on a whole area basis. certainly, there are large rural areas. but look at it more and a district council area or something like that, so it is not necessary to be in tier 3. you have

the ridiculous situation where you have a village in the south of lincolnshire in tier 3, but a mile over the border, and they are in tier 2. i don‘t think the virus really understands boundaries like that, it will be very difficult for places like stamford, there is a lot of hospitality in tier 3, and over the border in rutland, they are in tier 2. it doesn‘t make any sense, and it is another example where things are being imposed nationally when we believe a lot of these decisions should be made more locally where there is a greater understanding of the local circumstance. yes, that is a refrain we have heard quite a lot over the last eight months or so. councillor martin hill from lincolnshire county council, thank you very much for joining us. as we‘ve been hearing, the new tier system will be stricter than the previous one and more local authorities will be in higher tiers. here‘s our health correspondent laura foster with the details.

the new three tier system in england is tougher than it was last time. tier 1, that‘s medium risk. here, you have to stick to the rule of six and keep your distance from everyone, unless you live with them, you are in a bubble with them, or you are in a serious relationship with them. you should continue to work from home where you can. you can do an exercise class or play sport outdoors, but indoors the rule of six applies. gyms, shops and things like beauty salons and hair dressrs can be open. up to 4000 fans can gather and watch a match or a competitive event, whether indoors or outdoors. at pubs, restaurants and hospitality venues, last orders will be 10pm, but you have until 11 to finish your drinks. in tier 2, that‘s a high risk area, the same rules as tier 1, but you are no longer allowed to mix indoors with other households unless they are in your bubble. but you can still meet people outdoors while sticking to that rule of six. you can only exercise indoors with other people if you are in the same household or bubble, and only 2000 fans can

gather to watch any live event or sports match. pubs and bars must close completely unless they can operate as restaurants. tier 3 is for very high risk areas. the same rules as tier 2 apply, but you are still not allowed to mix indoors with other households unless you are in your social bubble. when meeting people outdoors, you can see them in a public space like a park or at the beach, but you cannot meet in private gardens. pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues can only be opened as takeaways. indoor entertainment, including hotels, have to close. mass testing will be used to help stop covid from spreading. at 3.30 this afternoon, we‘ll be putting your questions on the new tiered system to clinical and public health specialists. you can get in touch on twitter using the hashtag #bbcyourquestions and you can email us on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. the next few days look generally dry, but there‘s probably going to be more cloudy, grey sort of weather across the uk.

today there has certainly been some sunshine, particularly once that early mist and fog are lifted we‘ve had some blue skies through parts of the midlands, the home counties for example. but we have got a few weather fronts on the scene, this one anchored by low—pressure near spain is bringing more cloud in the southeast corner and a few showery bursts of rain. this weak weather front is moving into the northwest, bringing more cloud into scotland and northern ireland as we head through the night. there‘s that rain just clipping the far southeast of england. in between, we‘ll have those clearer skies, no wind, that‘s where we are going to find some fog forming across england and wales in particular. and with that fog forming, there is still the risk of some pockets of frost around as well come the end of the night. as we look ahead to tomorrow, it looks a little bit different from today. for a start, we‘ve got more that fog around across england and wales. it will tend to lift slowly, but it‘s going to be a cold day for many parts of the country. we‘ve still got a bit patchy rain coming into the northwest of scotland. a lot of cloud, scotland and northern ireland, still the threat of a bit of rain

in the far southeast. but in between there will be some sunshine coming through, northern england, wales around the far southwest perhaps, but through the midlands towards lincolnshire, down towards the west country, the home counties. with that fog lifting to low cloud, it is going to be cold, i suspect. the temperatures only 4 or 5 degrees. as we head into this weekend, we are expecting cloudy skies across many parts of the country. but it‘s not going to be as cold and there won‘t be as much fog either. the centre of the high pressure, which is where the fog is sitting under, is drifting out towards scandinavia. and so we‘ve got a bit of a breeze actually coming up from continental europe. that pushes the really colder air away and brings us some milder conditions from the south. but with a lot of cloud and it may produce a little drizzle in that cloud is well as it works its way northwards. but still, we‘ve got some sunshine after a cold start in scotland. here the temperatures perhaps no better than 5—6 , we may get some sunshine developing across more southern parts of england, where temperatures will be 11 or 12 degrees. now, with light winds overnight, that will tend to fill in with low

cloud, maybe some mist and fog. so quite a grey picture for many areas on sunday. best of the sunshine in scotland, this time more towards the northeast of the country. in the southeast of england, we may get some sunshine around some western coasts.

more than 23 million people in england will be living under the most severe coronavirus restrictions when lockdown ends next week. greater manchester, birmingham, leeds and sheffield will be among places in the highest tier, level 3, says the health secretary. liverpool and london will be tier 2. only three areas are in the lowest tier. to keep people safe and to keep the gains that are being made, more areas than before will be in the top two tiers. this is necessary to protect our nhs and keep the virus under control. business owners say it‘s more dreadful news for the hospitality industry. we‘ve all agreed it feels like the

government