UK coronavirus live: government U-turn on Bolton and Trafford lockdown; Starmer accuses PM of 'wasted summer'

News updates: government abandons plan to relax Covid restrictions in Bolton and Trafford; ONS updates overall UK death toll to 57,310Lockdown reimposed in Greater Manchester areas in latest U-turnWilliamson told of A-level flaws weeks before resultsJohnson backtracks on meeting group for Covid-19 bereavedHealth leaders warn Boris Johnson over PHE axingGlobal coronavirus updates – live 3.01pm BST Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, have both been speaking to the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee this afternoon.Steve Back, a photographer who covers Downing Street and who tweets as @PoliticalPics, managed to get a picture of Sunak’s speaking notes as he was leaving No 11. Breaking: Rishi Sunak leaving No11 this morning holding notes, weird writings for a chancellor “Now this does not mean a Horror show of tax” and more to come!! pic.twitter.com/tPr8ZU7GmjRishi notes, I am embarrassed at the quality as its a massive pull up from a full length pic, my apologies must be getting old !! pic.twitter.com/m9rddBBnx9We will need to do some difficult things, but I promise you, if we [text unclear …] overcome the short term challenges.Now this does’t mean a horror show of tax rises with no end in sight. 2.24pm BST Earlier, when I covered what Boris Johnson said in response to the point of order from Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, complaining about No 10 blaming Blackford for leaking the location of Johnson’s Scottish holiday (see 12.43pm), I did not quote what Johnson said in full, and I missed a section that made Blackford’s complaint sound a bit less justified than it otherwise did. That was not intentional, I just missed the full quote. But here it is.In response to Blackford, Johnson said:However, I just draw his attention … to a tweet by a chap called Torcuil Crichton on August 17 saying: ‘Ferocious midge count in Wester Ross tonight, I hear. Must be bad if you’re fair-skinned and camping’ to which an account, which purports to be (Mr Blackford) but I’m sure it isn’t because of what he’s just said, says ‘I wonder if an education at Eton stands you in good stead for these blighters’.Anyway, I’m happy to accept his assurances and protestations and I think we should leave it at that.I wonder if an education at Eton stands you in good stead for these blighters. https://t.co/LBz8eW5ucs Continue reading…
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