good morning. With ministers increasingly focused on the Covid rules that will be in place over Christmas, and to what extent families will be allowed to meet, Gordon Brown, Former Prime Minister, joined the debate, urged Boris Johnson To accept England now needs stricter rules now to allow restrictions to be eased over Christmas.

Brown told Sky News:

I found that being prime minister should be two steps ahead of events. You cannot be behind the curve. You should always expect the following problem. And what Boris Johnson has to do is say, “Look, if there’s any doubt about whether we can lower the restrictions on Christmas, we have to act now.”

He told Good Morning Britain on ITV.

Establish procedures now for the next few days that enable us to make a logical decision about what to do this Christmas week. I think you have to act now. Talking about what happens after Christmas is not as good as talking about what Boris Johnson can do today.

If he’s worried that we won’t be able to relax at Christmas, he should ramp up action now. Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Boris Johnson need to come together and find a basis by which we can establish common rules so that, if possible, people can travel to see their loved ones in different parts of the country.

Government scientific advisers have publicly stated that any easing of restrictions during Christmas will have to be matched by stricter rules at another stage. But Brown appears to be advocating stricter rules now, or in early December, the way Nicolas Sturgeon in Scotland announced a near-closed lockdown of part of the country in part to create more space for looser rules at Christmas.

Ministers are set to announce next week what will happen when the nationwide lockdown ends on December 2, and when they are asked to confirm that what comes next must be tougher than what was in effect before the lockdown began, they claim it is also early to make that decision. . Brown says they have to keep it up.

Here is today’s agenda.

9.30am: The Office for National Statistics is publishing its regular figures on Covid and the economy.

11 am: NHS Test and Trace is publishing its latest performance figures.

Around 12 noon: Boris Johnson makes a statement before the MPs announcing A four-year £ 16.5 billion increase in defense spending.

12.20 pm: Nicola Sturgeon answers the prime minister’s questions in the Scottish Parliament.

About 1.30 p.m.: Nigel Huddleston, Sports Minister, makes a statement to MPs about financial aid for sport.

2 p.m.: Public Health England publishes its weekly report on Covid surveillance.

5pm: Downing Street is expected to hold a press conference.

Politics Live is now doubling as a coronavirus live blog in the UK, and given the way the Covid crisis is overwhelming everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we’ll also cover political stories not related to Covid, like the defense announcement, and when it looks more important or more interesting, it takes precedence.

This is our global live blog for Coronavirus.

I’m trying to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a straightforward question then include “Andrew” somewhere and I’m likely to find it. I try to answer the questions, and if they are of general interest, I’ll post the question and take it over the line (ATL), although I can’t promise that for everyone.

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