Prime Minister's address to the nation as Third Lockdown for England is announced
The Transcript of the Prime Minister’s Speech made this evening at 8pm is as follows:-
Since the pandemic began last year, the whole United Kingdom has been engaged in a great national effort to fight Covid.
And there is no doubt that in fighting the old variant of the virus, our collective efforts were working and would have continued to work.
But we now have a new variant of the virus. It has been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading.
Our scientists have confirmed this new variant is between 50 and 70 per cent more transmissible – that means you are much, much more likely to catch the virus and to pass it on.
As I speak to you tonight, our hospitals are under more pressure from Covid than at any time since the start of the pandemic.
In England alone, the number of Covid patients in hospitals has increased by nearly a third in the last week, to almost 27,000.
That number is 40 per cent higher than the first peak in April.
Brexit deal details explained: what was agreed and what it means for the UK
Running to around 1200 pages, the deal agreed between Britain and the EU will form the bedrock of our future relationship for many years to come.
But what exactly has been agreed across trade, fishing, security and other areas of cooperation? Who has given ground and in which areas? And what will the deal mean for millions of people whose lives and livelihoods are interconnected with that of our largest neighbours and trading partner?
Level playing field
One of the unique aspects of the agreement, reflecting Britain’s former EU membership, its economic size and close geographical proximity is the so-called level playing field mechanism.
It commits both the UK and EU to maintain equivalent and common standards on social, labour and environment regulation. However, the deal does not force the UK to match every new EU regulation like-for-like and standards are not defined in reference to EU law, which was a key demand of the British. Instead, the deal contains something called a “rebalancing clause” that is designed to resolve disputes between the two sides. This novel element has two parts and has not been used in free trade treaties before.
The first is that if one side believes that the actions of the other have distorted fair competition then they can apply to a neutral arbitration committee to impose limited tariffs to redress the balance of unfair competition and “level the playing field”.
We all know what happened in 2020, but what did we learn?
The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that no institution or individual alone can address the economic, environmental, social and technological challenges of our complex, interdependent world. The pandemic has accelerated systemic changes that were apparent before its inception. The fault lines that emerged in 2020 now appear as critical crossroads in 2021. The time to rebuild trust and to make crucial choices is fast approaching as the need to reset priorities and the urgency to reform systems grow stronger around the world. (World Economic Forum)
it is the time of the year when we look back and reminisce on the good and not so good that happened in 2020 is no different, however, we had absolutely no idea what this year would bring. We can focus purely on the negative, but we will let the national press deal with that element.
What did we learn?
New terminology entered our every day vocabulary - Pandemic, Furlough, Unprecedented, Working From Home, Self-Isolation, Social-Distancing, R-Number, Lockdown, Flattening the Curve, Zoom, Coronavirus along with Covid-19. Our conversations were regularly peppered with these references as we came to grips with the impact and subsequent consequences of the virus.
Updated Information from Government throws Christmas Plans into Turmoil
I am sorry to report that the situation has deteriorated since I last spoke to you three days ago. Yesterday afternoon, I was briefed on the latest data showing the virus spreading more rapidly in London, the South East and the East of England than would be expected given the tough restrictions which are already in place.
I also received an explanation for why the virus is spreading more rapidly in these areas. It appears this spread is now being driven by the new variant of the virus, which we first learned about earlier this week. Our advisory group on New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats – NERVTAG – has spent the last few days analysing the new variant. There is no evidence the variant causes more severe illness or higher mortality, but it does appear to be passed on significantly more easily.
NERVTAG’s early analysis suggests the new variant could increase R by 0.4 or greater. Although there is considerable uncertainty, it may be up to 70% more transmissible than the old variant. This is early data. It is subject to review. It is the best we have at the moment, and we have to act on information as we have it because this is now spreading very fast. The U.K. has by far the best genomic sequencing ability in the world, which means we are better able to identify new strains like this than any other country.