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Tag: Boris Johnson

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement at the Climate Ambition Summit

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement at the Climate Ambition Summit

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 12 December 2020.

    Thank you very much Zeinab, thank you Secretary-General Antonio, thank you to my fellow leaders, excellences.

    Good afternoon from London, where we are coming to the end of an extraordinary and difficult year, I think with a sudden surge of scientific optimism.

    Because after barely 12 months of the pandemic, we’re seeing the vaccine going into the arms of the elderly and vulnerable, vaccines that have been products each and every one of them of vast international efforts in laboratories around the world.

    And so my message to you all, is that together we can use scientific advances to protect our entire planet, our biosphere against a challenge far worse, far more destructive even than coronavirus.

    By the promethean power of our invention we can begin to defend the earth against the disaster of global warming.

    And by that I mean that together we can reduce our emissions, we can radically cut our dependence on fossil fuels, we can change our agricultural practices, and in short we can reverse the process by which for centuries, humanity has been quilting our planet in a toxic tea-cosy of greenhouse gases.

    And at the same, we can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, millions of jobs across the planet as we collectively recover from coronavirus.

    If you doubt our ability to do that, let me tell you that when I was a child of six, this country depended on coal for 70% of our energy needs. That coal dependency is now down to 3% or less and since 1990, the UK has cut our CO2 emissions by 43% – more than any other G20 nation – and yet our economy has grown by 75%.

    Today, we’re putting our foot to the accelerator – in a carbon friendly way of course – with a Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.

    We want to turn the UK into the Saudi Arabia of wind power generation, enough wind power by 2030 to supply every single one of our homes with electricity.

    We’re going ahead with massive solar programme, even though we can’t hope to emulate the incredible things being done by India, Australia or Morocco for instance. Hydro of course – we’re liberating the awesome potential of hydrogen, whether for homes or all sorts of uses.

    On electric vehicles we’re going to ban ICEs, new internal combustion engines by 2030, with a very ambitious programme. We’ll continue to develop new nuclear power.

    We want to lengthen the lead of London, the UK, as the natural home of green finance. We want our homes to be emitting progressively less and less CO2 and doing more and more retrofitting of our homes. And wherever the UK may be accused of lagging, we won’t be lagging my friends in lagging.

    We want to encourage all modes of green transport, cycling, walking and so on. We want to use the relatively new miracle of carbon capture and storage actually to take carbon from power generation and industrial processes and bury it in under-sea caverns created by the extraction of hydrocarbons.

    And we’re now consecrating 30% of our waters, 30% of our land surface, to nature, because we think wild nature is the best way and most effective way of retaining carbon in a natural balance.

    We do all these things because they’re right for the world, they’re right for our country – but also because we know that this green industrial revolution will generate as I say hundreds of thousands of high skilled, high paying, good quality jobs for generations to come.

    And we’re going to help our friends around the world by moving away from supporting drilling and mining for hydrocarbons, but putting £11.6 billion of our overseas aid to support green technology and decarbonisation across the planet.

    We want to work with all of you on this call, on this conference – let’s do it together. Let’s make it our collective commitment, as Antonio has just said, to get to net zero by 2050.

    We in the UK, as he says, are going to do our bit, we’re reducing our emissions by 68% at least on 1990 levels over the next decade. And I’m really awed and humbled by the efforts of other countries around the world to set their own targets.

    And I just want to repeat that key message. We’re doing this not because we are hair shirt-wearing, tree-hugging, mung bean-munching eco freaks – though I’ve got nothing against any of those categories, mung beans are probably delicious. We’re doing it because we know that scientific advances will allow us collectively as humanity to save our planet and create millions of high skilled jobs as we recover from COVID.

    So thank you all very much for joining this conference, this Ambition Summit, thank you to Secretary General Antonio, thank you to my co-host Emmanuel Macron, who I know shares my keen interest in protecting the ecosystems of our seas and oceans, and I look forward to seeing you all in Glasgow face-to-face next year.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on the Environment

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on the Environment

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 12 December 2020.

    Today we have seen what can be achieved if nations pull together and demonstrate real leadership and ambition in the fight to save our planet.

    The UK has led the way with a commitment to cut emissions by at least 68 percent by 2030 and to end support for the fossil fuel sector overseas as soon as possible, and it’s fantastic to see new pledges from around the world that put us on the path to success ahead of COP26 in Glasgow.

    There is no doubt that we are coming to the end of a dark and difficult year, but scientific innovation has proved to be our salvation as the vaccine is rolled out. We must use that same ingenuity and spirit of collective endeavour to tackle the climate crisis, create the jobs of the future and build back better.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Joint Statement with President von der Leyen

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Joint Statement with President von der Leyen

    The joint statement issued by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, and President von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, on 5 December 2020.

    In a phone call today on the on-going negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, we welcomed the fact that progress has been achieved in many areas. Nevertheless, significant differences remain on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries. Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved.

    Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved.

    We are therefore instructing our chief negotiators to reconvene tomorrow in Brussels.

    We will speak again on Monday evening.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement on Covid-19

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement on Covid-19

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 2 December 2020.

    It is almost a year since humanity has been tormented by COVID

    Across the world, economic output has plummeted and a million and a half people have died

    And all the time we have waiting and hoping for the day when the searchlights of science would pick out our invisible enemy

    And give us the power to stop that enemy from making us ill – and now the scientists have done it

    And they have used the virus itself to perform a kind of biological jiu-jitsu, to turn the virus on itself in the form of a vaccine from an idea that was pioneered in this country by Edward Jenner in 1796

    And today we can announce that the government has accepted the recommendation from the independent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for distribution across the United Kingdom. After months of clinical trials, involving thousands of people to ensure that the vaccine meets the strictest, internationally recognised, standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.

    Thanks to the fantastic work of Kate Bingham and the Vaccines Task Force, we purchased more than 350 million doses of seven different vaccine candidates, and the UK was the first country in the world to pre-order supplies of this Pfizer vaccine securing 40 million doses.

    Through our Winter Plan, the NHS has been preparing for the biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK.

    And that is going to begin next week, and in line with the advice of the independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation the first phase will include care home residents, health and care staff, the elderly and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable,

    But there are immense logistical challenges: the vaccine must be stored at minus 70 degrees and each person needs two injections, three weeks apart.

    So it will inevitably take some months before all the most vulnerable are protected.

    Long and cold months. So it is all the more vital that as we celebrate this scientific achievement we are not carried away with over optimism

    Or fall into the naïve belief that the struggle is over. It’s not, we’ve got to stick to our Winter Plan, a comprehensive programme to suppress the virus, protect the NHS and the vulnerable, keep education and the economy going and use treatments, testing and vaccines to enable us to return to much closer to normal by spring.

    Today in England we have ended national restrictions, opening up significant parts of the economy in doing so; but also replacing them with tough tiers to keep this virus down.

    And I know that those tiers will mean continued hardship for many, and it is going to continue to be tough for some sectors but until the vaccine is deployed, our plan does rely on all of us continuing to make sacrifices to protect those we love.

    So please, please continue to follow the rules where you live, remember hands, face, space – and if you live in a tier 3 area where community testing will be made available, please take part in that community testing.

    Together, these steps are for now the surest way to protect yourselves and those you love and by reducing the transmission of the virus, help de-escalate your area to a lower level of restrictions, as vaccines and testing, as I say, take an ever larger share of the burden.

    And as we do all this, we are no longer resting on the mere hope that we can return to normal next year in the spring, but rather on the sure and certain knowledge that we will succeed: and together reclaim our lives and all the things about our lives that we love

    So I want to thank the scientists and all those around the world who have taken part in the trials and got us to this stage.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement in the House of Commons on Winter Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement in the House of Commons on Winter Plan

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 1 December 2020.

    Mr Speaker, I beg to move that these Regulations now be approved.

    And I want to begin by telling the House that I was hugely encouraged by a visit I paid only yesterday to a vaccine plant in North Wales where I saw for myself the vials of one of seven vaccines backed by the UK Government that could turn the tide of our struggle against Covid, not just in this country but around the world.

    It is the protection of those vaccines that could get our economies moving again, and allow us to reclaim our lives.

    And that one plant in Wrexham could produce 300 million doses a year and yesterday was the momentous day when it began to manufacture the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine.

    And it was a very moving moment Mr Speaker when I talked to one of the brilliant young scientists there,

    And she described the extraordinary moment for her in her life,

    to be part of an enterprise that was she thought truly going to offer humanity a route out of this suffering.

    But Mr Speaker, we have to be realistic,

    And we have to accept that this vaccine is not here yet, no vaccine is here yet

    and while all the signs are promising

    and almost every scientist I’ve talked to agrees that the breakthrough will surely come

    we do not yet have one that has gained regulatory approval.

    We can’t be completely sure when the moment will arrive

    and until then we cannot afford to relax,

    especially during the cold months of winter.

    The national measures which are now shortly ending in England

    have eased the burden on the NHS and begun to reverse the advance of the virus.

    Today, the R is back below 1

    and the ONS survey is showing that signs of the infection rate are levelling off

    and Imperial College London has found that the number of people with Covid has fallen by a third in England since 2nd November.

    But while the virus has been contained, it has not been eradicated.

    The latest ONS figures suggest that out of every 85 people in England, one has Coronavirus; far more than in the Summer

    between 24th November and yesterday, 3,222 people across the UK lost their lives;

    and despite the immense progress of the last four weeks,

    our NHS remains under pressure, with hospitals in three regions – the South West, the North East and Yorkshire – all treating more Covid patients now than at the peak of the first wave.

    So we can’t simply allow the current restrictions to expire for the reason he gives with no replacement whatever.

    With the spread of the epidemic varying across the country, there remains a compelling case for regional tiers in England and indeed Mr Speaker a compelling necessity for regional tiers.

    But I hope the House is clear what I am not asking for today.

    This is not another lockdown,

    nor is this the renewal of the existing measures in England.

    The tiers that I am proposing would mean that from tomorrow

    everyone in England

    – including those in tier 3 –

    will be free to leave their homes for any reason.

    And when they do, they will find the shops open for Christmas,

    the hairdressers open,

    the nail bars open,

    gyms and leisure centres, swimming pools open,

    churches, synagogues, mosques and temples will be open for communal worship.

    Organised outdoor sport will resume,

    and in every tier you will be able to meet others in parks and in public gardens subject to the Rule of Six.

    And every one of those things has been by necessity restricted until today.

    Every one of them would be allowed again tomorrow.

    Of course I accept that this is not a return to normality. I wish it were so.

    But it is a bit closer to normality than the present restrictions.

    And what we cannot do is lift all of the restrictions at once, or move too quickly, in such a way that the virus would begin to spread rapidly again.

    That would be the surest way of endangering our NHS and forcing us into a new year lockdown, with all the costs that that would impose.

    We all accept that the burden on the hospitality sector has been very great.

    We feel this deeply, because our pubs, our hotels, restaurants they are in many ways the heart of the communities

    And part of the fabric of our identity as a country

    And everybody can see that the hospitality industry has borne a disproportionate share of the burden in this crisis. There’s no question about it. And that is obviously because we want to keep schools open Mr Speaker and we have to take such measures as we can.

    I would just remind the House however, that we are not alone in this.

    In France bars, restaurants and gyms will not reopen until 20th January at the earliest.

    In Germany, the hospitality sector will remain closed in its entirety over Christmas.

    But we will do everything in our power to support our hospitality sector throughout this crisis.

    We have already extended the furlough scheme for all businesses until the end of March,

    We’ve provided monthly grants of up to £3,000 for premises forced to close,

    and £2,100 for those that remain open but have suffered because of reduced demand.

    We have allocated £1.1 billion for local authorities to support businesses at particular risk.

    And today Mr Speaker we are going further with a one-off payment of £1,000 in December to wet pubs – that is Mr Speaker pubs that do not serve food as the House knows

    recognising how hard they have been hit by this virus in what is typically their busiest month.

    We will also work with the hospitality sector in supporting their bounce back next year.

    Mr Speaker I want to stress, that the situation is profoundly different now because there is an end in sight.

    And I am not this afternoon seeking open-ended measures.

    On the contrary, these regulations come with a sunset clause at the end of February, sorry at the end of the 2 February I should say Mr Speaker.

    At that point we will have sufficient data to assess our position after Christmas,

    and though I believe these types of restrictions will be needed until the Spring,

    they can only be extended beyond 2 February if this House votes for them Mr Speaker.

    These are points that have been made with great power as I say by Hon Members on all sides of the House.

    We will review the allocation of tiers every fourteen days, starting on 16th December. I just want to make an important point to my Rt Hon friend and to all members who are rightly concerned about the position of their constituencies, our constituencies, in these tiers.

    Hon Members have it in their powers, in our power to help move our areas down the tiers,

    by throwing their full weight Mr Speaker, our full weight as leaders in our communities behind community testing,

    and seizing the opportunity, seizing the opportunity to encourage as many people as possible to take part.

    Of the kind we’ve seen in Liverpool Mr Speaker

    where since the 6th November over 284,000 tests have been conducted,

    and together with the effect of national restrictions,

    the number of cases fell by more than two thirds. This is the model that I would recommend.

    We are now proposing that from tomorrow Liverpool City Region and Warrington should be in tier 2, where as previously obviously they were in tier 3.

    And we want other regions and other towns, cities, communities to follow this path,

    And that is why – with the help of our fantastic armed forces –

    we will be offering community testing to tier 3 areas as quickly as possible.

    Mr Speaker let me just say, I find it extraordinary that the Official Opposition –represented by the gentleman opposite – currently have no view on the way ahead and are not proposing to vote tonight.

    I do think it is extraordinary that in spite of the barrage of criticism that we have no credible plan from the party opposite. Indeed, we have no view on the way ahead. It’s a quite extraordinary thing Mr Speaker that tonight to the best of my knowledge

    The RHG Opposite who has always said he will ‘act in the national interest’ has told his party to sit on its hands and to abstain in the vote tonight Mr Speaker.

    And I think the government has made its decision, we’ve taken some tough decisions Mr Speaker and the Labour opposition has decided tonight heroically to abstain Mr Speaker

    And I think when the history of this pandemic comes to be written, I think the people of this country will observe that instead of having politicians of all parties coming together in the national interest they had one party taking the decisions and another party heroically deciding to abstain

    Mr Speaker, in the story of 2020, I think there are two great feats in which we can take a great deal of comfort.

    First, our country has come together in an extraordinary effort that has so far succeeded in protecting our NHS and in saving many lives.

    And while our scientists have been zeroing in on the weaknesses of Covid,

    telescoping ten years of work into ten months,

    and now their endeavours are about to deliver the means as I say to rout the virus. That is clear.

    The Government is backing not one potential vaccine, but seven.

    We have ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, that is now seeking regulatory approval.

    We have ordered 7 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, which has almost 95 per cent effectiveness in trials.

    And Mr Speaker, we have ordered 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which

    if approved by the regulator –

    could start being administered before Christmas.

    In total, Mr Speaker our Vaccines Task Force has secured more than 350 million doses,

    more than enough for everyone in the UK, the Crown Dependencies and our Overseas Territories.

    All we need to do now Mr Speaker is to hold our nerve until these vaccines are indeed in our grasp,

    and indeed being injected into our arms.

    So I say to the House again let us follow the guidance, let us roll out mass testing, let’s work to deliver mass testing to the people of our country, let’s work together to control the virus and it is in that spirit that I commend these regulations Mr Speaker I commend these regulations to the House.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Medicine Fund

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Medicine Fund

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 30 November 2020.

    This new £20m fund will significantly increase the capacity and resilience of our medicines and diagnostics manufacturing supply chains and equip us to fight future health crises.

    Throughout the pandemic we have seen a coming together of British scientific industry and innovation and this new fund will enhance the UK’s manufacturing capabilities even further.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Press Conference on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Press Conference on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    The press conference statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 23 November 2020.

    [NB, the statement from Downing Street is reproduced below with the punctuation errors uncorrected]

    It seems that almost every week we learn of some new scientific breakthrough to help us beat Covid

    last week it was good news about the vaccine from Pfizer BioNTech

    and then Moderna

    This morning we heard the fantastic news that the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine has been highly effective in clinical trials

    there are more tests to be done, but the signs are that this vaccine

    financed partly by British taxpayers, working in partnership with a great British company –

    This vaccine could be both affordable and easy to use and highly effective

    We have ordered 100m doses

    and thanks to the work of the Vaccines Task Force we have secured more than 350m doses of potential vaccines of all kinds

    but we are not out of the woods yet

    we can hear the drumming hooves of the cavalry coming over the brow of the hill

    but they are not here yet

    Even if all three vaccines are approved, even if the production timetables are met and vaccines notoriously fall behind in their production timetables

    it will be months before we can be sure that we have inoculated everyone that needs a vaccine

    and those months will be hard

    they will be cold

    they include January and February when the NHS is under its greatest pressure

    and that is why when we come out of lockdown next week we must not just throw away the gains we have all made

    So today we have published out Covid Winter Plan which sets out a clear strategy to take the country through to the end of March

    We will continue to bear down hard on this virus

    we will use tough tiering – in some ways tougher than the pre-lockdown measures and details of those tiers are on the gov.uk website later this week when we have the most up to data and we will be sharing details of which tier your area is going to be in

    I should warn you now that many more places will be in higher tiers than alas was previously the case

    and we will simultaneously be using the new and exciting possibilities of community testing – as they have done in Liverpool

    and there will be a clear incentive for everyone in areas where the virus prevalence is high to get a test, to get one of these rapid turnaround lateral flow tests and do your best for the community

    get a test to help to squeeze the disease and reduce the restrictions that your town or city or area has endured

    and that way – through tough tiering and mass community testing

    we hope to let people see a little more of their family and friends over Christmas

    Now I know that many of us want and need Christmas with our families

    we feel after this year we deserve it

    but this is not the moment to let the virus rip for the sake of Christmas parties

    tis the season to be jolly but tis also the season to be jolly careful

    especially with elderly relatives

    and working with the Devolved Administrations we will set out shortly how we want to get the balance right for Christmas and we will be setting this out later this week

    Christmas this year will be different and we want to remain prudent through Christmas and beyond into the new year

    but we will use the three tools that I have described to squeeze the virus in the weeks and months ahead

    tiering, testing and the roll-out of vaccines

    employing all three techniques together so as to drive down R and drive down the infection rate

    and I really am now assured things really will look and feel very different indeed after Easter

    and that idea of and end goal or date is important because at last – if the promise of the vaccines is fulfilled – we do have something to work for

    a timescale, a goal around which businesses can begin tentatively to plan

    and with luck and with hard work we will be seeing improvements before then

    but for now the problem is not a shortage of hope

    or a lack of optimism

    not with the amazing news that we are getting from the laboratories in this country

    the challenge now as we face this difficult winter ahead

    is to fight down any over-optimism

    to master any tendency to premature celebration of success

    that success will come all the faster if we work together to follow the guidance

    maintain the basic disciplines as people have done so heroically over the last few months

    hands, face, space and get a test if you have symptoms

    because that is the way we will beat it together.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Statement on Covid-19 Winter Plan

    The statement made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the House of Commons on 23 November 2020.

    Mr Speaker, thank you very much and with your permission, I will make a statement on the Government’s COVID-19 Winter Plan.

    For the first time since this wretched virus took hold, we can see a route out of the pandemic.

    The breakthroughs in treatment, in testing and vaccines mean that the scientific cavalry is now in sight

    and we know in our hearts that next year we will succeed.

    By the Spring, these advances should reduce the need for the restrictions we have endured in 2020

    and make the whole concept of a Covid lockdown redundant.

    When that moment comes, it will have been made possible by the sacrifices of millions of people across the United Kingdom.

    I am acutely conscious that no other peacetime Prime Minister has asked so much of the British people

    and just as our country has risen to every previous trial,

    so it has responded this time, and I am deeply grateful.

    But the hard truth, Mr Speaker, is that we are not there yet.

    First we must get through Winter without the virus spreading out of control and squandering our hard-won gains,

    at exactly the time when the burden on the NHS is always greatest.

    Our Winter Plan is designed to carry us safely to Spring.

    In recent weeks, families and businesses in England have, once again, steadfastly observed nationwide restrictions

    and they have managed to slow the growth of new cases and ease the worst pressures on our NHS.

    I can therefore confirm that national restrictions in England will end on 2nd December, and they will not be renewed.

    From next Wednesday people will be able to leave their home for any purpose,

    and meet others in outdoor public spaces, subject to the Rule of Six.

    Collective worship, weddings and outdoor sports can resume,

    and shops, personal care, gyms and the wider leisure sector can reopen.

    But without sensible precautions, we would risk the virus escalating into a Winter or New Year surge.

    The incidence of the disease is, alas, still widespread in many areas,

    so we are not going to replace national measures with a free for all, the status quo ante Covid.

    We are going to go back instead to a regional tiered approach,

    applying the toughest measures where Covid is most prevalent.

    And while the previous local tiers did cut the R number, they were not quite enough to reduce it below 1,

    so the scientific advice, I am afraid, is that as we come out is that our tiers need to be made tougher.

    In particular, in tier 1 people should work from home wherever possible.

    In tier 2, alcohol may only be served in hospitality settings as part of a substantial meal.

    In tier 3, indoor entertainment, hotels and other accommodation will have to close, along with all forms of hospitality, except for delivery and takeaways.

    And I am very sorry obviously for the unavoidable hardship that this will cause to business owners who have already endured so much disruption this year.

    Mr Speaker, unlike the previous arrangements, tiers will now be a uniform set of rules,

    That’s to say we won’t have negotiations on additional measures with each region, it’s a uniform set of rules

    We have learnt from experience that there are some things we can do differently

    So from the 10pm closing time for hospitality we’re going to change that to so that it is last orders at 10 with closing at 11.

    In tiers 1 and 2, spectator sports and business events will be free to resume inside and outside – with capacity limits and social distancing –

    providing more consistency with indoor performances in theatres and concert halls.

    We will also strengthen the enforcement ability of Local Authorities,

    including specially trained officers and new powers to close down premises that pose a risk to public health.

    Later this week we will announce which areas will fall into which tier, I hope on Thursday,

    based on analysis of cases in all age groups, especially the over 60s,

    also looking at the rate by which cases are rising or falling,

    the percentage of those tested in a local population who have Covid,

    and the current and projected pressures on the NHS. I am sorry to say we expect that more regions will fall – at least temporarily – into higher levels than before,

    but by using these tougher tiers

    and by using rapid turnaround tests on an ever greater scale

    to drive R below 1 and keep it there, it should be possible for areas to move down the tiering scale to lower levels of restrictions.

    By maintaining the pressure on the virus, we can also enable people to see more of their family and friends over Christmas.

    Mr Speaker, I can’t say that Christmas will be normal this year,

    but in a period of adversity, time spent with loved ones is even more precious for people of all faiths and none.

    We all want some kind of Christmas,

    we need it,

    we certainly feel we deserve it.

    But what we don’t want is to throw caution to the winds and allow the virus to flare up again, forcing us all back into lockdown in January.

    So to allow families to come together, while minimising the risk,

    we are working with the Devolved Administrations on a special, time-limited Christmas dispensation,

    embracing the whole of the United Kingdom, and reflecting the ties of kinship across our islands.

    But this virus is obviously not going to grant us a Christmas truce, it doesn’t know it’s Christmas Mr Speaker and families will need to make a careful judgement about the risk of visiting elderly relatives.

    We will be publishing guidance for those who are clinically extremely vulnerable on how to manage the risks in each tier, as well as over Christmas.

    As we work to suppress the virus with these local tiers,

    two scientific breakthroughs will ultimately make these restrictions obsolete.

    As soon as a vaccine is approved, we will dispense it as quickly as possible.

    But given that this cannot be done immediately, we will simultaneously use rapid turnaround testing, the lateral flow testing that gives results within 30 minutes,

    to identify those without symptoms so they can isolate and avoid transmission.

    We are beginning to deploy these tests in our NHS

    and in care homes in England,

    so people will once again be able to hug and hold hands with loved ones, instead of waving at them through a window.

    By the end of the year, this will allow every care home resident to have two visitors, who can be tested twice a week.

    Care workers looking after people in their own homes will be offered weekly tests from today.

    And from next month, weekly tests will also be available to staff in prisons, food manufacturing, and those delivering and administering Covid vaccines.

    We are also using testing as the House knows to help schools and universities stay open,

    and testing will enable students to know they can go home safely for Christmas and indeed back from home to university.

    But there is another way of using these rapid tests,

    and that is to follow the example of Liverpool,

    where in the last two and a half weeks over 200,000 people have taken part in community testing, contributing to a very substantial fall in infections.

    So together with NHS Test and Trace and our fantastic Armed Forces,

    we will now launch a major community testing programme,

    offering all local authorities in tier 3 areas in England a six week surge of testing.

    The system is untried and there are of course many unknowns,

    but if it works, we should be able to offer those who test negative the prospect of fewer restrictions,

    for example, meeting up in certain places with others who have also tested negative.

    And those towns and regions which engage in community testing will have a much greater chance of easing the rules, the tiering, that they currently endure.

    Mr Speaker, we will also use daily testing to ease another restriction that has impinged on many lives.

    We will seek to end automatic isolation for close contacts of those found positive.

    Beginning in Liverpool later this week,

    contacts who are tested every day for a week will only need to isolate if they themselves test positive.

    If successful, this approach will be extended across the health system next month,

    and to the whole of England from January.

    And, of course, we are working with the Devolved Administrations to ensure that Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland also benefit as they should and will from these advances in rapid testing.

    But clearly the most hopeful advance of all is how vaccines are now edging ever closer to liberating us from the virus,

    demonstrating emphatically that this is not a pandemic without end.

    We can take heart from today’s news, which has the makings of a wonderful British scientific achievement.

    The vaccine developed with astonishing speed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca is now one of three capable of delivering a period of immunity. We don’t yet know when any will be ready and licensed, but we have ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford vaccine, and over 350 million in total, more than enough for everyone in the UK, the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories.

    And the NHS is preparing a nationwide immunisation programme, ready next month,

    the like of which we have never witnessed.

    Mr Speaker, 2020 has been in many ways a tragic year when so many have lost loved ones and faced financial ruin.

    This will be still a hard Winter,

    Christmas cannot be normal,

    and there is a long road to Spring.

    But we have turned a corner: and the escape route is in sight.

    We must hold out against the virus until testing and vaccines come to our rescue and reduce the need for restrictions.

    Everyone can help speed up the arrival of that moment

    by continuing to follow the rules,

    getting tested and self-isolating when instructed,

    remembering hands, face and space,

    and pulling together for one final push to the Spring,

    when we have every reason to hope and believe that the achievements of our scientists will finally lift the shadow of the virus.

    Mr Speaker, I commend this Statement to the House.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Article in Financial Times on Green Jobs

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Article in Financial Times on Green Jobs

    The article by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, in the Financial Times on 18 November 2020.

    Slowly but surely humanity is taking the upper hand in the fight against the virus. We have not won yet. There are still hard weeks and months to come. But with better drugs, testing and a range of vaccines, we know in our hearts that next year we will succeed.

    We will use science to rout the virus, and we must use the same extraordinary powers of invention to repair the economic damage from Covid-19, and to build back better.

    Now is the time to plan for a green recovery with high-skilled jobs that give people the satisfaction of knowing they are helping make the country cleaner, greener and more beautiful.

    Imagine Britain, when a Green Industrial Revolution has helped to level up the country. You cook breakfast using hydrogen power before getting in your electric car, having charged it overnight from batteries made in the Midlands. Around you the air is cleaner; trucks, trains, ships and planes run on hydrogen or synthetic fuel.

    British towns and regions — Teeside, Port Talbot, Merseyside and Mansfield — are now synonymous with green technology and jobs. This is where Britain’s ability to make hydrogen and capture carbon pioneered the decarbonisation of transport, industry and power.

    My 10 point plan to get there will mobilise £12bn of government investment, and potentially three times as much from the private sector, to create and support up to 250,000 green jobs.

    There will be electric vehicle technicians in the Midlands, construction and installation workers in the North East and Wales, specialists in advanced fuels in the North West, agroforestry practitioners in Scotland, and grid system installers everywhere. And we will help people train for these new green jobs through our Lifetime Skills Guarantee.

    This 10 point plan will turn the UK into the world’s number one centre for green technology and finance, creating the foundations for decades of economic growth.

    One — we will make the UK the Saudi Arabia of wind with enough offshore capacity to power every home by 2030.

    Two — we will turn water into energy with up to £500m of investment in hydrogen.

    Three — we will take forward our plans for new nuclear power, from large scale to small and advanced modular reactors.

    Four — we’ll invest more than £2.8bn in electric vehicles, lacing the land with charging points and creating long-lasting batteries in UK gigafactories. This will allow us to end the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans in 2030. However, we will allow the sale of hybrid cars and vans that can drive a significant distance with no carbon coming out of the tailpipe until 2035.

    Five — we will have cleaner public transport, including thousands of green buses and hundreds of miles of new cycle lanes.

    Six — we will strive to repeat the feat of Jack Alcock and Teddie Brown, who achieved the first nonstop transatlantic flight a century ago, with a zero emission plane. And we will do the same with ships.

    Seven — we will invest £1bn next year to make homes, schools and hospitals greener, and energy bills lower.

    Eight — we will establish a new world-leading industry in carbon capture and storage, backed by £1bn of government investment for clusters across the North, Wales and Scotland.

    Nine — we will harness nature’s ability to absorb carbon by planting 30,000 hectares of trees every year by 2025 and rewilding 30,000 football pitches worth of countryside.

    And ten, our £1bn energy innovation fund will help commercialise new low-carbon technologies, like the world’s first liquid air battery being developed in Trafford, and we will make the City of London the global centre for green finance through our sovereign bond, carbon offsets markets and disclosure requirements.

    This plan can be a global template for delivering net zero emissions in ways that creates jobs and preserve our lifestyles.

    On Wednesday I will meet UK businesses to discuss their contribution. We plan to provide clear timetables for the clean energy we will procure, details of the regulations we will change, and the carbon prices that we will put on emissions.

    I will establish Task Force Net Zero committed to reaching net zero by 2050, and through next year’s COP26 summit we will urge countries and companies around the world to join us in delivering net zero globally.

    Green and growth can go hand-in-hand. So let us meet the most enduring threat to our planet with one of the most innovative and ambitious programmes of job-creation we have known.

  • Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan

    Boris Johnson – 2020 Comments on Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan

    The comments made by Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, on 14 November 2020.

    As we build back greener we’re taking new steps to expand and enhance our landscapes – creating and retaining thousands of green jobs in the process which will be crucial to my Ten Point Plan for delivering a green recovery.

    Britain’s iconic landscapes are part of the fabric of our national identity – sustaining our communities, driving local economies and inspiring people across the ages. That’s why with the natural world under threat, it’s more important than ever that we act now to enhance our natural environment and protect our precious wildlife and biodiversity.