post pandemic planning joining a reliever johnson's chief planning officer has been defending cumbria council a council in the north of england saying we're going to open up a new coal mine you saying these people. look into the children's eyes and amours jones and just how the young child we're going to open up a pole in the bronx it post rex it goes hand them a creature these are great questions firstly a small correction if i may it's not entirely clear that the current a virus is due to climate specifically evenly the party to blame or the hasn't yet the broader ecological emergency and the destruction of nature and this is all part of the same picture of course yeah absolutely it's completely absurd for the u.k. how can u. k. say that it's going to give any kind of leadership on climate when it's open to new coal mine now they say in response are but this call mine is to steal it's not for power generation i'm sorry that's just not acceptable we're going to have to transform our economy really transform it and not keep it endlessly in this absurd push for so-called economic growth if we

this point deemed safe for them to open, but yes, more councils coming forward, kent county council, cumbria forward today appealing to the department for education to have the department for education to have the schools remained closed when pupils are due to go back tomorrow. in the end, all the government has in its tool box, as you say, is a restriction, closure, possibly expanding the lockdown to more and more parts of england. and ultimately, that is as far as it can go. that makes the roll—out of the vaccine and how quickly and effectively it can be delivered absolutely crucial, doesn't it, to charting any path out of the pandemic? yes, it's the one and only real game changer in response to the pandemic, the successful roll—out of a vaccine or vaccines, meaning that as time goes on, more and more the population are hopefully ultimately immune to coronavirus, or at least far less susceptible to the serious impact it can have on people's health. in the meantime, as the prime minister acknowledged in his interview this morning, government only has so many tools at its disposal and of cou

south—east primary schools will be close to most children, not all, tomorrow, but the county councils in kent, cumbriagovernment to intervene there. that is one part of it, another is union organising themselves together to urge the government to keep primary schools closed to children for the time being, saying that time is not right and it is not safe to do so at this point, so if enough teachers decide that it simply isn't safe or isn't right for them to go to school tomorrow, that could have a big impact on potentially seeing more schools close, otherwise they wouldn't have done, but the prime minister and the government for now sticking to its plan, urging parents to send their children to school, where they are open, and making the case that it is safe to do so. yes, jonathan blake, thank you very much. the us vice—president, mike pence, has welcomed plans by senators to raise objections tojoe biden‘s election victory, in spite of the lack of evidence of fraud. the vice—president will preside over a senate session on wednesday to certify the results of the electoral college. paul hawkins reports

but kent county council, cumbria, a couple of areas asking for the government to intervene there.f it, and another is the unions organising themselves together and urging the government to keep primary schools closed to most children for the time being, saying that it's not right, the time is not right and it's not safe to do so at this point, so if enough teachers decide that it simply isn't safe or isn't right for them to go into school tomorrow, then that could have a big impact and potentially see more schools closed where otherwise they wouldn't have done. but the prime minister, for now, the government, for now, sticking to its plan, urging parents to send their children to school where they are open, and making the case that it's safe to do so. nicola sturgeon has recalled the scottish parliament tomorrow amid a rapid rise in covid infections. the first minister says the increase in virus cases in scotland is of ‘very serious concern‘ and warns of increasing pressure on the nhs. there were no new deaths reported today but there have been another 2,464 positive cases in the

in brighton, cumbria, portsmouth, north—east essex, we are seeing councils telling their primary schoolse. unions seem to be in agreement with some councils. 0ther unions are pressing for data. they want to know the data behind the government decisions. how many teachers have contracted coronavirus since we have gone back? we had data injuly, so we need to see this data and understand how big the problem is in schools to understand the decisions that are being made about it. putting aside government advice and union advice, do you think schools will take this matter into their own hands and make a call as to whether they open this week?” think we are seeing it already. lots of schools have decided that the r rate in their area is too high. they are seeing neighbouring areas have decided to close. they might have teachers and staff moving across those areas to attend their school, taking matters into their own hands and deciding to move to on line learning and only keeping school open for key worker and vulnerable children. when there was no communication and you don't have that strong le