Inside Politics – Coronavirus special: Boris Johnson mulls measures to ease lockdown

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Tuesday 28 April 2020 07:56 BST

Johnson compares coronavirus to 'unexpected and invisible mugger' as he says says too soon to ease lockdown

Boris Johnson isn’t the only one returning to work. Some Arsenal, Brighton and West Ham players are back on the training ground, as excitement builds over the Premier League stepping up its plans to kick off again this summer. The so-called “Project Restart” could see televised matches begin on 8 June. The prime minister is busy on a project restart of his own. Johnson is holding discussions about ways to ease the lockdown and boost the economy – as he prepares to move the country into the “second phase” of the crisis. I’m Adam Forrest, and welcome to The Independent’s daily Inside Politics briefing during the coronavirus outbreak.

Inside the bubble

Our senior political commentator John Rentoul on what to look out for today:

MPs will ask questions of attorney general Suella Braverman and housing, communities and local government secretary Robert Jenrick. Then the Commons will actually deal with some legislation, giving a second reading to the domestic abuse bill. There can’t be a vote on it because the procedures for remote voting won’t be ready until next week. So either the bill will pass unopposed to the stage of line-by-line scrutiny, or a vote will be delayed.

Daily briefing

BUBBLING UNDER: Boris Johnson will join a minute’s silence held at 11am to commemorate the key workers who have died from the coronavirus. He will hold a series of meetings aimed at finalising an outline of lockdown easing plans, and is reportedly set to share some details with the public by the end of the week. Speaking outside Downing Street, the PM promised his decisions would be taken with “the maximum possible transparency”. According to The Times, No 10 is considering allowing people to expand their “bubble” and meet some friends and family. It looks like Nicola Sturgeon will continue to share her own thinking, independently, as it were. Scotland’s first minister said she would issue guidance on wearing face coverings on Tuesday.

SHIFTING TARGET? Matt Hancock told the Downing Street press briefing the government is still “on track” to meet its target of 100,000 daily coronavirus tests by the end of the month. Not everyone is so confident. Appearing to back off from the big number, the PM’s spokesman said yesterday it would be “difficult” to know if the target had actually been hit by the Thursday deadline. Hancock revealed the government will pay £60,000 to the families of NHS and social care staff workers who have died from the virus. He also said NHS hospitals will start restoring non-urgent treatments for conditions like cancer and heart disease on Tuesday. It comes as the number of deaths in hospitals fell to 360 – the lowest in a month. Despite the encouraging sign, England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty cautioned that “we are definitely not consistently past the peak across the whole country”.

ODDS AND SODS: Michael Gove insisted it’s still possible to conclude a trade deal with the EU by the end of the year – telling MPs on the Brexit committee the odds of a deal are “better than two to one”. Promising the government’s legal text for a proposed agreement would be made public “in a matter of weeks”, Gove also claimed the EU had set aside some of its principles during the coronavirus outbreak – citing border restrictions and “economic interventions”. Speaking of which, the chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced small businesses will be eligible for new “bounce back loans” worth up to £50,000 from Monday next week. Sunak said more than four million jobs in the UK have been furloughed since the crisis began. Could it eventually lead to more radical interventions? A new YouGov poll found 51 per cent of the public support a universal basic income, while 74 per cent back rent controls.

NOT MY FAULT: No surprise, perhaps, but Donald Trump is refusing to take any responsibility if Americans inject or ingest disinfectant. Asked about the state of Maryland’s emergency hotline receiving hundreds of calls seeking guidance about the president’s now notorious comments on disinfectant, Trump said: “I can’t imagine why.” Maryland governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, blamed the president for the spike in such calls after the state was forced to issue an alert against the consumption of disinfectant. Trump once again attacked Beijing over the pandemic – “we are not happy with China” – and denied he wanted to delay this year’s presidential election.

RETURN TO SENDER: India’s federal medical research agency has asked state governments to stop using coronavirus antibody tests brought from China because of conflicting results. More than half a million antibody kits (aimed at checking whether someone has previously had the virus). But the Indian Council of Medical Research said “the results have shown wide variation in their sensitivity” – and said they would now have to be sent back. India’s relatively low death rates from Covid-19 continues to puzzle scientists. There has been speculation the draconian lockdown and youthful population could help explain why the country has seen just over 800 deaths so far.

UNHOLY ROW: Italian bishops have attacked the country’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte after he said some lockdown measures would be relaxed from 4 May – but church services would remain prohibited. Demanding the ban is lifted, bishops said they “cannot accept to see the exercise of freedom of worship compromised”. In France, restoration work at the Notre-Dame cathedral has resumed, with construction workers returning to the Paris landmark. In New Zealand, around 400,000 are believed to have headed back to work after the strictest lockdown level was lifted. And in China, students returned to schools in Shanghai and Beijing.

On the record

“This is the moment when we have begun together to wrestle it to the floor.”

Boris Johnson compares the coronavirus to a ‘invisible mugger’.

From the Twitterati

“Good to see @BorisJohnson back at the helm!”

Tory MP Robert Halfon tweets a gif of a roaring lion...

“What’s this Tory MP trying to say here: Boris Johnson is an animal driven by primitive instincts rather than reason who poses a grave threat to human life?”

…but Owen Jones is unimpressed.