The number of deaths registered in England and Wales from confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reached 44,401 by 22 May, according to the latest ONS data.

When combined with the latest figures from Scotland and Northern Ireland, the total number of deaths has now surpassed 50,000.

Tory MP says ‘arsonists and looters have it coming’

A Conservative MP has replied to a constituent asking him to condemn Donald Trump’s response to US protests, saying: “Arsonists and looters have it coming”.

The remarks from Desmond Swayne came in an email from a New Forest West constituent asking him to “condemn Trump’s use of force against his own citizens” and support Black Lives Matter.

The correspondence, seen by The Independent, went on: “I am sure you have been troubled as I have with the news and activities coming from the US amidst the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement across the globe.”

The reply from the MP – posted on Twitter – read: “Thanks. Sorry to disagree. Arsonists and looters have it coming.”

Our correspondent Ashley Cowburn has more details:

PM claims alert level allowed him to ease lockdown – despite it stating ‘current restrictions’ must remain

Boris Johnson claimed his “alert level” system for coronavirus allowed him to lift restrictions – despite it stating they should have remained in place.

Under pressure in the Commons – after it was revealed he overruled the chief medical officer, who said it was too early to cut the level from 4 to 3 – the prime minister denied breaking his own rules.

“He knows perfectly well that the alert level does allow it,” he told Keir Starmer.

However, health chiefs said the level should remain at 4, meaning transmission of coronavirus is “high or rising exponentially” – and carrying the instruction: “Current social distancing measures and restrictions.”

Starmer calls queues to vote to end remote voting ‘shameful’

Sir Keir Starmer has said scenes of MPs queuing around the parliamentary estate to vote was “shameful” and claimed it was a clear case of indirect discrimination under the Equalities Act.

Urging the prime minister to restore the so-called “hybrid parliament” and online voting, the Labour leader said: “The scenes yesterday of MPs queuing to vote and members being unable to vote were frankly shameful.

“This should not be a political issue. Members on all sides know this is completely unnecessary and unacceptable. If any other employer behaved like this it would be a clear and obvious case of indirect discrimination under Equalities Act. A clear and obvious case.”

Johnson replied: “He needs to consider what is going on throughout the country where ordinary people are getting used to queuing for long periods of time to do their shopping or whatever it happens to be.

“I must say I do not think it unreasonable that we should ask parliamentarians to come back to this place and do their job. I know it’s difficult, I apologise to colleagues for the inconvenience.

“I apologise to those with particular difficulties because they are shielding or they are elderly and it’s vital they should know the changes we are making today they should be able to vote by proxy.”

Follow our PMQs verdict on YouTube

‘Of course black lives matter,’ says Johnson

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has also asked about the police killing of George Floyd. He asked Boris Johnson what he has said to Donald Trump, and whether he agreed that “black lives matter”.

Johnson replies that “of course black lives matter” – and repeats his reservation that the US protests must be peaceful.

Keir Starmer asks: ‘Who’s been in control?’

The Labour leader has asked Boris Johnson: “The Telegraph is reporting this morning that the prime minister has decided to take direct control of the government’s response to the virus. So an obvious question for the prime minister, who’s been in direct control up until now?”

Starmer cites Dido Harding, in charge of the new test and trace system, who has said it won’t be fully ready until the end of June.

He also quotes the head of the UK Statistics Authority, who has criticised the government’s use of testing figures – and asks the PM whether he sees “how damaging” that is to public trust.

Johnson challenges Starmer to say whether he supports the government’s plan.“I really do not see the purpose of his endless attacks on public trust and confidence,” said the PM.

“Boy he makes it difficult to support this government,” Starmer replied.

Starmer ‘surprised’ Johnson hasn’t commented on George Floyd death

Labour leader Keir Starmer begins by expressing his “shock and anger” over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

“I’m surprised the prime minister hasn’t said anything about this yet,” said Starmer, adding that he hopes the PM will raise concerns the next time he speaks to Donald Trump.

Johnson said Floyd’s death was “appalling” and “inexcusable” and added: “I also believed protests should take place in a peaceful way.”

PM: Government takes BAME deaths report ‘very seriously’

Boris Johnson has told the Commons he takes “very seriously” the Public Health England report finding black and minority ethnic people are at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus than white people, and said the government wants to protect “all our country” from coronavirus.

PMQs gets under way

Boris Johnson has told the Commons he will host the global vaccines summit on Thursday, describing it as “the moment the world comes together” to fight the coronavirus.

‘The government wants you to think parliament is broken’

Jess Phillips has described the images of the huge queues snaking around the Palace of Westminster – as Commons’ leader Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted MPs form a giant socially-distanced line to vote for an end to voting from home – as a “ridiculous” embarrassment. 

But in her latest article for The Independent, the Labour MP urged people not to lose faith in the system.

“The government want you, the general public to look at the queue which they devised and think that politics is broken. They want you to hate the establishment, well the bit of the establishment that puts them in their place.”

Read more here:

BBC considering drama based on Cummings lockdown scandal

The BBC has now expressed an interest in producing a drama based on Dominic Cummings’ controversial breaching of lockdown rules.

Piers Wenger, the controller of BBC drama commissioning, was asked by the Radio Times whether the broadcaster would consider purchasing the rights to a drama adaptation.

“In the right hands, yes,” he responded.

He also said that the BBC had already received pitches from writers who were keen to adapt the story.

Poll finds Cummings’ trip factor in decline in lockdown compliance

A fifth of Britons are following the lockdown rules less strictly than before – with a third of those citing Dominic Cummings’ actions as a factor, a survey has indicated.

The YouGov poll suggested that the vast majority – some 73 per cent – followed the lockdown rules last week as strictly as they had in the previous week.

But of the 21 per cent who said they followed the rules less strictly, 32 per cent mentioned the adviser who drove to Durham as one of the reasons for their breaches.

The YouGov poll suggests that in total 7 per cent of Britons may have used Cummings’ actions as their justification for their own breaches of lockdown rules.

The survey found that younger Britons were the most likely to have adhered less strictly to the rules than in the previous week.

BAME people more likely to be arrested under coronavirus laws

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people were nearly 50 per cent more likely than white people to be arrested in London using coronavirus laws, new figures suggest.

The total number of Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) handed out by the Metropolitan Police between 27 March and 14 May was almost a fifth higher for those from non-white communities.

Black people make up 12 per cent of the population but received 26 per cent of the 973 fines handed out by police and accounted for 31 per cent of arrests. Asian people, who account for 18 per cent of London’s population, were handed 23 per cent of fines and were subject to 14 per cent of arrests.

The UK’s largest police force admitted “higher proportions of those in black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups were issued with FPNs or arrested across London as a whole”.

But the Met said the reasons “are likely to be complex and reflect a range of factors”, adding: “This includes interactions between the areas subject to significant proactive policing activity targeting crime hot-spots and both the variation in the age-profile and geographical distribution of ethnic groups in London.”

Vulnerable children ‘may never return’ to school, MPs told

Head teachers fear many vulnerable children will never “come back” to school, with up to eight million pupils set to be at home for six months, MPs have been told.

Children’s Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said school leaders feared the numbers staying away will grow with “more distractions” in the summer months, with primaries set to stay shut for some year groups.

“They stay up worrying if those children will ever come back, because the leap that will need to get them back in school will be so vast,” she has told the Commons education committee.

Longfield also warned ministers had only a “two-week window” to organise the summer schools she says are desperately needed to help struggling pupils.

‘We’d never known food poverty until coronavirus’

The number of families with children receiving emergency food parcels in the UK has almost doubled in a year, according to the latest figures from The Trussell Trust.

April was the busiest month ever for Trussell Trust’s food banks, with an 89 per cent increase in emergency food parcels compared with the same month in 2019.

And the number of parcels provided for children has more than doubled, while almost twice as many families with children are receiving them (a 95 per cent rise).

The Independent has spoken to some of the families suffering from jobs losses and falls in income during the lockdown, as they seek emergency help from charities for the very time.

Will quarantine plan be ‘three-week wonder’?

As holidaymakers and the travel industry wait to hear home secretary Priti Patel’s detailed plans for 14 days of self-isolation for arriving travellers, two warring cabinet ministers appear to have confirmed that the quarantine will be a “three-week wonder”.

In a joint article for The Daily Telegraph, both Patel and transport secretary Grant Shapps signal that a series of so-called “air bridges” – bilateral no-quarantine deals – could soon be brought in to allow tourists to avoid the self-isolation rules.

The expectation is that the air bridges will take effect when the policy is first reviewed, on 29 June.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has more details: