and indeed, the cabinet office here, which has kind of custody of the issue of freedom of information in this country. there was bad as, as the others, if not worse, in many ways. and one of the key issues is that this is all regulated by something called the information commissioner's office. and they have a huge backlog. all their resources have been slashed over the past decade and they don't even really to keep up with the complaints as and when they come in, off government promise failing to respond. and the irony is that the government department that's responsible for its budgets and for the, for overseeing the agency generally is the cabinet office. but generally speaking, seamark, i'm ashamed that most of the requests are a lot of them come from journalists. isn't the goal, wouldn't the government face a backlash from the media if it continues like this? well, interestingly, the majority do not come from journalists. they come from a whole array of sources, quite a lot of it is actually commercially related. but nonetheless, perhaps the ones that are regarded more sensitive t

and for the very thing, the agency generally is the cabinet office. number 10 says the consideration of foia requests remains applicant and most defined and the clearing house unit remains fully compliant. but there is growing criticism within westminster labor peer lord clarke of when dimia was instrumental in the becoming a law and is now calling for a government investigation into the controversial yunis, along with politicians across the spectrum. this clearing house is certainly against the spirit of that act, and probably the latter 2 ministers should explain to the house of commons precisely why they continue with this set up in view of the fact that it is contradictory to the whole purpose of freedom of information this is extremely troubling if the cabinet office is interfering in f y requests and seeking to work around their requirements of the act by blacklisting join. they say it is a grave threat to our values and transparency in our democracy. yes, this storm over the law has been brewing since it was past 20 years ago under tony blair's

cabinet office minister michael gove has warned that hospitals in england could become overwhelmed with cases if mps don't back the restrictions. with more, here's our political correspondent, ellie price. teignbridge in devon has one of the lowest infection rates across england, but it will find itself in tier 2 with the rest of the county. it's a similar story across towns and villages in england, which is just one of the things that's been irritating conservative mps about the new tier system. we have just lived through lockdown version two and yet we have vastly more people being moved up a phase, despite being told this is the last push, this is the new panacea. but writing in the times today, the cabinet office minister michael gove tried to address the concerns of wavering mps. he said the tougher tiers are grimly inevitably necessary, not least because the previous system had not been effective enough. and without tougher action, the nhs would be broken. then a challenge. all of us who have been elected to parliament, notjust ministers, he said, must take responsibility for diff

office inquiry was launched in march of her allegations that she belittled colleagues and —— a cabinet officey for civil servants of the home office past and present there a long delay, eight months is intolerable. and in accord with natural justice can administer now confirm that nobody with their personal and political interest will have had any involvement whatsoever in the independent investigation into the behaviour of the home secretary? its report, or the timing of the publication of that report, and that clearly rules out any involvement by the prime minister. i could to confirm that the process is independent. i can only repeat that to attract the interest of all involved the government does not comment on the specifics of ongoing processes. and i repeat the pie minister will make a decision on the matter public was the process has concluded. mr keeps talking as if this is ongoing. it was completed, the review was completed eight months ago. i don't know whether the prime minister is a very slow reader, or whether as laura koontz burke said, this is simply being parked. if it's the m

cabinet office minister michael gove has warned that hospitals in england could become overwhelmed with covid cases if mps don't back the planned tougher tiered restrictions due to come in to force next wednesday. writing in the times, mr gove urged them to take responsibility for difficult decisions ahead of the vote. borisjohnson is facing a rebellion by backbench conservatives over the severity of the restrictions and labour hasn't decided yet whether it will back them. with more, here's our political correspondent ellie price. teignbridge in devon has one of the lowest infection rates across england, but it will find itself in tier 2 with the rest of the county. it's a similar story across towns and villages in england, which is just one of the things that's been irritating conservative mps about the new tier system. we have just lived through lockdown version two and yet we have vastly more people being moved up a phase, despite being told this is the last push, this is the new panacea. but writing in the times today, the cabinet office minister michael gove tried to address the co

it reports cabinet office minister, michael gove, said they offer "hope for families and friends whode many sacrifices" this year. the express carries a warning from the prime minister, borisjohnson, not to throw caution to the wind, as the paper says to "have a merry, but not so many, christmas". the daily mail goes with what it calls the "12 rules of christmas" and says the package of regulations are a rare example of uk—wide cooperation. the paper also notes that only those under 65—years—old will be allowed to leave care to be with family over christmas. the i also leads with the new christmas rules. it reports that the health secretary, matt hancock, has said all restrictions could go once the over—50s are vaccinated next year. repeating what chris whitty said yesterday. finally, the guardian also leads on today's announcement. it notes that there will be no social distancing for the united households — meaning people can hug relatives possibly for the first time in months. welcome back, both of you. lizzy, let's start with you again. the mail, "twelve rules of christmas, 12 day

the senior cabinet office minister, michael gove, has warned the measures could be extended.han blake reports. dreary weather and dire warnings set the scene for what in the end seemed inevitable. a national lockdown for england, the prime minister said, was now the only option. we've got to be humble in the face of nature. and in this country, alas, as across much of europe, the virus is spreading even faster than the reasonable worst case scenario. and so now is the time to take action because there is no alternative. the last resort had become the only way forward, he argued, and in a matter of days, tough measures would be imposed, severely limiting people's lives. we will get through this but we must act now to contain this autumn surge. we are not going back to the full lockdown of march and april but i'm afraid, from thursday, the basic message is the same. stay at home, protect the nhs, and save lives. the decision marks a complete change in the government's approach. some had argued it should have come sooner but yesterday, acknowledged there were no easy options. th

defending the new measures, the cabinet office minister michael gove has said the previous tiers weren'ttions were grimly, inevitably necessary. writing in the times, he warns the level of infection is still threateningly high, and the pressure on hospitals severe. it comes as the number of people in hospital with covid—19 in four nhs regions of england reached higher totals this month than during the first peak of the pandemic. the thing that really worries us is that if we get very large numbers of covid patients injanuary, and we have a cold snap, there will be a danger that the nhs gets overwhelmed. labour hasn't yet decided if it will support the new measures, but warns that changes to economic support for businesses will leave local authorities stretched to breaking point trying to help. meanwhile there is some extra advice for the christmas period, when the rules will be relaxed. government scientists say people should consider meeting outdoors where possible. children should share bedrooms with their parents if staying overnight. and quizzes might be a good alternative to board g

the cabinet office minister michael gove said they needed to find a balance between allowing people to and the risks involved. so for five days from the 23rd until the 27th of december people will be allowed to have a christmas bubble. that means that three households can get together. so that families can enjoy something closer to a normal christmas. now we all know that christmas this year won't be as it has been in years past. but all governments agree that we should balance the need to protect public health but also allowing people to be with their loved ones. is there a public health risk and relaxing the rules in this way? well, we have to be careful. and the prime minister emphasised last night in his press conference that it isn't critically important that we recognise that this vibrance is not yet beaten. so a balance needs to be struck. people want to be with their loved ones and those close to them. what is the most important holiday of the year. but at the same time the limits and restrictions we are placing just five days and just three households are a way of seeking to e

but writing in the times newspaper, cabinet office minister michael gove said that politicians need to responsibility for difficult decisions". here's our political correspondent, jonathan blake. preparing for life after lockdown, under much tighter measures than before. kent will be one of the places in tia three of the new system which many conservative mps argue is unfair. why is it that we went into lockdown a few weeks ago in tier one, emerged at tier three? we still have some of the lowest covid rates, not just we still have some of the lowest covid rates, notjust in kent but actually in different parts of west kent, we have some of the lowest rates in the uk. from next wednesday the vast majority of england will be under the high or very high covid alert level. tiers two and three when no household mincing will be allowed indoors. 0nly cornwall, the isles of white and the isles of scilly will be placed under looser restrictions in tia one or medium risk, less than 2% of the population. defending the new measures the cabinet office minister michael gove has said the previous tier

the states in 1967, it could be used to replace him with the vice president by a vote of the cabinet officers. >>> of sen. mitt romney appeared on fox news sunday today, saying that he is not totally opposed to the presidents legal challenges but he is concerned how other world leaders might view these court battles. >> that is essential for our nation to have confidence in our institutions. and for people as i've indicated around the world to recognize the democracy. it is saying from the other than that, it would only be cheer for the chinese and russians and those that want to bring down freedom and bring down marcus he. >> he says he has not seen any evidence of widespread voter fraud, but also says he does not expect president trump to go quietly in the night. >>> police in sausalito say they arrested a stolen car suspect after receiving an alert from its license plate recognition camera. police say that the camera recognize license plate at the toyota tacoma yesterday that was reported stolen in san rafael the day before. the suspect, a 30-year-old patricia fraley of novato, was arreste

the cabinet office said it welcomed the nao's scrutiny and its recommendations for improvement.lly by petrol and diesel will be banned in the uk from 2030. that's just one of the announcements made by the prime minister as part of his ten—point plan to create jobs and address climate change. among other measures in his so—called "green revolution" — greater investment in electric cars — including expanding charging infrastructure and extending grants to make vehicles cheaper. plans to quadruple the amount of offshore wind power — enough to provide energy to every home in the uk. greater investment in nuclear energy, with a focus on smaller—scale nuclear plants. and measures to make homes and public buildings warmer and more energy efficient. while the plan has been welcomed by environmental groups, critics say the £4 billion allocated is far too small for the scale of the challenge and some of the plans, they say, have already been announced. 0ur environment analyst roger harrabin reports. the end of an era for the petrol engine and its planet heating emissions. you will still b

the cabinet office response he just the government purchase not 50 million unusable items, but $180 million and a new report by the office identifies the farthest set of 215 million pounds of faith marks in the us that it can't use. will the prime minister come theme? how many hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayer money has been wasted on equipment that can't be used? >> prime minister. >> 99.5% of the question answered directly instead of 32 billion items this country has secured conformed and higher early to what we checked, of all the lines of attack we heard so far, if you remember, the national pandemic on a scale we hadn't seen before, the government was being attacked by the labour party for not moving fast enough to secure ppe, to unblock the blockages in the system, that is what he said at the beginning of the pandemic and complain we move too slow. >> the prime minister doesn't know how much tax money is wasted or doesn't care. so far harassment leaking taxpayers money. it is not looking good so far. the next one is no perceived conflict of interest. >> let us start on this o

yet the cabinet office failed to document any consideration of any potential conflicts of interest.eing transparent about when these contracts were awarded and what they were doing, it lays the government open to these accusations, whether they are true or not. and, certainly, this weird vip route through, where certain companies got a closer look, because they were recommended by mps, peers... i mean, this is not something mps wanted, and yet it has happened. and the question is — did anyone know about it and put people through that route, and a lot of us would not have known there was a fast track route to recommend certain companies. the nao also confirmed that where ministers' offices, mps or health chiefs recommended suppliers, their applications were fast tracked. public first said it was hired on a pay as you go arrangement that meant it could be fired if it did not perform well. the cabinet office said it welcomed the nao's scrutiny and its recommendations for improvement, but declined to comment on the case of public first. andy verity, bbc news. we will continue with this

the cabinet office said it welcomed the nao‘s scrutiny and its recommendations for improvement. department of health has released its daily coronavirus figures for the uk. a further 529 deaths have been reported. all those people passed away within 28—days of a positive coronavirus test. it takes the total number of deaths in the uk to 53,2711. there were also 19,606 further positive cases recorded. that number is slightly down on yesterday‘s figure. let‘s turn away from coronavirus and talk about the situation in the labour party. sir keir starmer says he won‘t allowjeremy corbyn to sit as a labour mp — despite him being allowed back into the labour party. the party‘s former leader had been suspended for saying that concerns about anti—semitism in the party had been overstated. there is continuing reaction to this. there‘s been reaction to this from len mcluskley, general secretary of unite union — our political correspondent is jessica parker. our political correspondent very our political correspondent powerful figure and clo: of very powerful figure and close ally ofjeremy c

the cabinet office minister michael gove said they needed to find a balance between allowing people toes, and the risks involved. there was a reminder today of those risks. 608 deaths were reported in the latest 2a hour period — the highest since may. now, there may be slight differences across the nations but here's what the new christmas rules will look like. up to three households will be able to mix in each other homes — that does not include hospitality settings, and rules around support bubbles are different between nations. families will be able to cross national borders to celebrate christmas. and these new rules will be limited to a few days either side of christmas. in a moment we'll hear from our health editor hugh pym but first... in the past half hour, downing street has released a video message of the prime minister, speaking from isolation on the agreement with the four nations of the uk over christmas. this year, christmas will be different. many of us are longing to spend time with family and friends irrespective of our faith or background. and yet we cannot afford to

yesterday, we head for michael gove, the cabinet office minister who said mps need to take tough decisions. this morning, it's more of a softly softly approach and we heard from the foreign secretary also this morning. the truth is, we are concerned. we've got the five criteria for which tier you are in and how you progress down the tiers. one of those is pressure on the nhs, we were clear about that from the outset. michael gove is right to warn about that. on the other hand, we are listening and we do understand. colleagues say to me, mps say to me we just want to understand that the measures you are taking take into account, not just the cost and benefit of tackling the virus, but also the non—covid health, economic and social implications. we will publish more analysis on that and we do take seriously the principle of parliamentary accountability. so that was dominic raab talking this morning and if there is a big enough tory rebellion then the government are going to need labour votes, what's the labour position on this at the moment? labour's position has been so far that they haven'

we had from michael gove, the cabinet office minister who said mps needed to ta ke office minister who to take tough decisions alongside ministers. we had from the foreign secretary also this morning. the truth is, we are concerned we have the five criteria for which tier you are in. one is pressure on the nhs. on the other hand we are listening and we do understand. colleagues and mps say to me we just want to understand that the measures you are taking, take into account notjust the cost benefit of tackling the virus, but also the non—covid effect. that was dominic raab talking this morning and if this is a big enough tory rebellion, they will need the labour votes, what is labour's position on this at the moment? they haven't decided, it is quite telling that they haven't so farsaid quite telling that they haven't so far said they would vote against the government. looking at the context of this, there was a sizeable rebellion when conservatives were voting on the mini lockdown in england and 40% of mps voted against the government but to pass because they had support from labour. i

the cabinet office minister michael gove has warned that hospitals in england could become overwhelmedith new covid—19 cases if mps don't back the planned restrictions in a vote in the commons on tuesday. writing in the times, mr gove urged them to take responsibility for difficult decisions, ahead of the new rules coming into force next wednesday. england will be split into three tiers from december 2nd — medium, high and very high. areas have been put into tiers depending on the total number of cases, the number of cases in people over 60, and pressure on local nhs services. 99% of england will enter the highest two tiers, with tight restrictions on bars and restaurants, and a ban on households mixing indoors. some conservative mps are unhappy about how the tiers have been allocated, and labour hasn't yet said if it will back the plans. with more, here's our political correspondent, iain watson. teignbridge has one of the lowest infection rates in the country, and yet from next week it will be in tier 2, not tier 1, because the same restrictions are imposed across the whole of devon.

cabinet office minister michael gove has warned that hospitals in england could become overwhelmed with writing in the times, mr gove urged them to take responsibility for difficult decisions ahead of the vote. borisjohnson is facing a rebellion by backbench conservatives over the severity of the restrictions, and labour hasn't decided yet whether it will back them. with more, here's our political correspondent ellie price. teignbridge in devon has one of the

it's not quite finalised, but in a statement, the cabinet office said there was a shared objective tod additional household bubbling for a small number of dates. but the public will be advised to remain cautious and wherever possible, people should avoid travelling and minimise social contact. but it's not just christmas that minimise social contact. but it's notjust christmas that ministers in england have to think about. before that on december the 2nd, national restrictions will end. but with coronavirus still spreading, many measures will have to stay in place. we will be going back into a more localised approach, a tiered system, which i think most will welcome. tougher system? yes, and we learn more as we go through this crisis. and as we get more data, more information, we can see what works well, what doesn't and evolve our response to make sure it's as effective as it can be. after complaints from many scientists, the new tiers will be tougher than before and more areas will be at the higher levels to keep the virus under control. at 70 of boris johnson's own mps have written

there have been no firm indications from government yet, i understand the cabinet office is looking veryht have to actually be put in place, they are going to look very carefully at the case data, has the england wide lockdown actually had a big impact? they'll know by the end of this week 01’ they'll know by the end of this week or early next of cases are falling, then they'll have to work out what areas would go into water tiers, but theissue areas would go into water tiers, but the issue of christmas is a very sensitive one. —— what tiers. meanwhile, nicola sturgeon has indicated that tomorrow some council areas might be moved to scotland's highest level, level 4 with tough restrictions, in her own words to see if it is then possible to have some sort of easing over christmas. 0k, some sort of easing over christmas. ok, thank you, hugh pym, our health editor. the prime minister, borisjohnson, and six other conservative mps along with two political aides have all been told to self—isolate after a meeting in downing street last thursday. one of the mps has since tested positive for coro

they are not happy that the cabinet office minister michael goes has been trying to sort of get everybodyne by saying the nhs is going to be overwhelmed. meanwhile, nadine dorries, also a minister, says the nightingale hospitals will not be used because they are dark and dingy but she has denied those words subsequently. i speak to you as does nigel who incidentally from tier 3 or we will be from next week. so there is an absolute fury of lots of tory mps saying the lock down and the tier system system is unfair. what boris johnson is doing is trying to assuage those fears and criticisms, but obviously they are deploying ministers like michael gove to try to get mps on side. which is not working and which is why the prime minister has written to mps tonight in fact. but there is always the argument about whether the nightingale hospitals are being used and some apparently are for non—covid patients. but we all know that if you suddenly get a spike in coronavirus cases along with everything else, you will put pressure on the nhs. nigel. all of thatis pressure on the nhs. nigel. all of that