Number 10 is planning to defy the Lords and retable the controversial law-breaking clauses contained in a key piece of Brexit legislation, after Lords voted overwhelmingly against the Government last night.
The Lords voted 433 to 165 - a majority 268 - to remove two sets of international law-breaking clauses from the UK Internal Market Bill after fierce criticism led by Tory former leader Michael Howard and Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke.
Peers went on to inflict a further defeat on the Government by 407 votes to 148, majority 259, stripping out a further contentious clause relating to the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Speaking in the chamber, former Tory leader Lord Howard said the UK would be setting a "lamentable example" if it breaks international law.
Lord Clarke, a former chancellor, said the legislation was "immoral", describing it as "intrinsically ridiculous and deeply damaging".
Former prime minister Sir John Major said the legislation had "damaged our reputation around the world". "Lawyers everywhere are incredulous that the UK - often seen as the very cradle of the Rule of Law - could give themselves the power to break the law," he added.
However Downing Street was defiant, issuing a statement saying the bill "delivers on a clear Conservative manifesto commitment" and the clauses would be retabled "when the bill returns to the Commons".
A spokesperson added: “We’ve been consistently clear that the clauses represent a legal safety net to protect the integrity of the UK’s internal market and the huge gains of the peace process.
“We expect the House of Lords to recognise that we have an obligation to the people of Northern Ireland to make sure they continue to have unfettered access to the UK under all circumstances.”
Follow the latest updates below.
11:22 AM
NHS Test & Trace 'hugely valuable' despite as few as 3pc of people quarantining, says Dido Harding
Dido Harding has insisted that NHS Test & Trace is still "hugely valuable" despite the low rates of people who are self-isolating as a result of the system.
With not all cases providing all of their contacts, and then a large proportion of those not following self-isolation rules, Jeremy Hunt suggested as few as three per cent of those who should be in quarantine actually were staying at home.
He said the proportion was certainly not above 20 per cent but NHS Test & Trace chief Baroness Harding told him: "If it's a tool that contributes to 20 per cent-plus of our fight against Covid, then it's a hugely valuable and important tool.
"I describe it as our second line of defence. Our first line of defence is actually our own behaviour - social distancing, wearing of face masks, washing our hands.
"The harsh reality is that that first line of defence and that second line of defence on their own have not been enough to prevent a second wave, and that is true across the whole of Europe."
11:13 AM
Hawks and doves descend for first Cabinet after vaccine breakthrough
While the morning has been dominated with the Health and Science & Technology committee hearings, behind closed doors Cabinet has been meeting.
Pfizer's vaccine breakthrough is expected to dominate discussions - with the lockdown faultlines resurfacing at the prospect of freedom.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, is the most senior hawk within Cabinet, making it clear throughout that he wants a lighter touch approach to restrictions.
Matt Hancock this morning could barely contain his joy as he confirmed he had asked the NHS "to be ready from the start of December", however it remained his "central expectation" that the "bulk of the roll out" would happen in the first part of 2021.
Michael Gove, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, joins the Health Secretary on the doveish side of Cabinet.
11:05 AM
Dido Harding's Tory MP husband 'living exactly what self-isolation means', she says
Dido Harding has said her husband's self-isolation means her family are "living exactly what that means right now".
John Penrose, MP Weston-super-Mare, was told to self-isolate via the contact tracing app and was doing so despite having no symptoms.
Giving evidence to the Health and Social Care committee, Baroness Harding said: "My husband has been asked to self isolate by the app and duly is.
"We are living exactly what this means right now."
She praised the app's privacy, noting that Mr Penrose had said "'but I don't know who I was close to', and I said 'yes that is exactly the point of the app'."
10:59 AM
Poor compliance with self-isolation because of financial pressures, says Dido Harding
Dido Harding has said people are not complying with self-isolation requirements "because they find it very difficult" to do so financially.
The head of NHS Test & Trace told Jeremy Hunt: "People are not complying with isolation, not because they don't want to but because they find it very difficult.
"The need to keep earning and feed your family is a fundamental element of that, which is why I think the financial support package is a very important thing."
However she was unwilling to comment on whether the support package of £500 should be increased, telling the Health and Social Care committee: "As to the actual sum of money, that is not for NHS Test & Trace - that is for the Prime Minister and Chancellor, not for me."
10:50 AM
Dido Harding defends NHS Test & Trace
Dido Harding has defended the performance of NHS Test & Trace, claiming that the system is finding 20-25,000 positive cases per day.
She told MPs the system had found between 40 and 50 per cent of those who contracted the disease since it was launched, and was "at the higher end of that at the moment".
Bu she added: "You are completely right... one of the biggest challenges of this disease is hunting out people who have this disease who don't know it."
Baroness Harding also stressed that last week NHS Test & Trace had found "77.8 per cent of contacts for whom we had contact details", adding: "No system can reach people for whom we don't have contact details."
She acknowledged that it needed to be improved, but said Jeremy Hunt was being "slightly pessimistic" about the number of people the system was reaching.
10:45 AM
UK's R-rate lower 'because NHS Test & Trace exists', claims Dido Harding
Dido Harding has insisted that Test and Trace is increasingly working "more locally and regionally", as she comes under pressure to explain the discrepancy between contacts reached through the central teams.
The head of the system was unable to tell MPs the breakdown of the budget between the two different teams, but stressed she was "very supportive of the locally-led nationally-supported model".
She conceded the system was not a "silver bullet" to holding back the spread of coronavirus, but argued the system was having an impact, noting that the R-rate was about half what it was in the first wave.
That was partly because people are "wearing face masks, washing hands, keeping our distance...but also because NHS Test and Trace exists," said Baroness Harding.
"There is no doubt rate of growth is much lower than it was in the first wave," she added.
10:31 AM
Give people with positive tests 'freedom pass' for three month if they 'behave', MPs told
People who have tested positive and self-isolated should be given a "freedom pass" for three months, MPs have been told.
Sir John Bell said testing would enable "everybody" to get back to normal in some capacity.
Speaking to the Science and Technology committee chair Greg Clark, he said: "My view is you test people, if they have got a positive result you ask them to quarantine for two weeks, and ensure they quarantine for two weeks, and if they behave themselves you give them a freedom pass for three months.
"You say 'you have had the disease, you can go and do anything you want for three months - it is fine'," he added.
People who test negative can have "a couple of days" of freedom, but are tested every other day while being left to "go about their business in the real world", he adds.
10:26 AM
Contact tracing 'massively ineffective', MPs told
Contact tracing has been "massively ineffective - and the people out there know it's massively ineffective", MPs have been told.
Sir John Bell said the relatively low chance of stopping transmission through contact tracing and isolation was struggling and would be "much improved" by quarantining people with a positive test result and symptoms.
That would cut the time and number of people needed to isolate, which would make it "much more effective," he said.
"We have to start to get a bit more pragmatic about what are efficient ways of reducing transmission, because at the moment my view is that contact racing is not very efficient."
Improved technology - particularly rapid tests - means people could be tested without having to quarantine and compliance "would go up enormously" among those who did have to, he said, criticising the "big stick" approach that has been taken until now.
10:20 AM
Pfizer vaccine will require 'bespoke solution' because of 'cold chain', MPs told
The Pfizer vaccine will probably require a "bespoke solution" to the need to store it at -80* until it is used, MPs have been told.
Sir John Bell said the challenges of distributing this particular vaccine have been known and discussed for some time "but now it is game on, we have got to get it in place, so we don't get delayed by distribution when the thing gets approved."
He said while the safety data was yet to come in, regulatory approval was not likely within the next two to three weeks, but by mid-December "we should be ready to go".
Distribution "falls to the Department of Health and Social Care", who would probably rely on the NHS, he added.
"If we get two or three vaccines, which i suspect we will have by new year, I suspect we will have different routes of distribution. Pfizer needs a cold chain at -80* to the bedside, so the idea that will be done through local GPs sounds unlikely."
The bespoke solution would be "absolutely worth it," he added.
10:10 AM
Vast majority of people with Covid symptoms 'hypochondriacs', says Sir John Bell
Sir John Bell has urged against using symptoms of coronavirus as the basis for self-isolation, saying the majority of people who claim to have the virus "are hypochondriacs".
The Regius Chair of Medicine at the University of Oxford said tests were the best way to identify people with "high live virus and in doing so catch the people who are most likely to spread the virus to other people", although noted the tests would not catch everyone.
"Everybody you catch is a win, and as a result I think you are making really substantial inroads into finding people who are asymptomatic," he added.
But asked if people with symptoms who got a negative result should isolate anyway, he said the "data was very clear".
"95 per cent of people with symptoms do not have this disease - most people with these symptoms are hypochondriacs," he added. "If you use symptoms as the only way of identifying people you will be locking down a lot of people who shouldn't be locked down."
10:00 AM
People under-reporting contacts to protect friends and family from isolation, MPs told
People are probably under-reporting their contacts to protect their friends and family from having to self-isolate, MPs have been told.
Professor Dominic Harrison, director of public health at Blackpool and Darwen Borough Council, told Jeremy Hunt's Health and Social Care and Greg Clark's Science and Technology committees that the national test and trace system was only getting three contacts per case interview, which seemed "improbable".
He added: "People are reluctant to give their full list of contacts because what they don't want to do is to cause the rest of their family - who perhaps have one low-wage basic income earner in a household - and they don't want to have to trigger them into isolation and lose their capacity to feed their family.
"We feel people are under-reporting the number of contacts they probably really had because what they are doing is protecting their family members and friends from being identified and being asked to self-isolate as close contacts."
09:58 AM
'Two or three vaccines' likely to be ready by new year, says Sir John Bell
Sir John Bell has doubled down on his optimism that there is hope of normality by spring, telling MPs there could be "two or three vaccines" available by the new year.
The Regius Chair of Medicine at the University of Oxford said that until yesterday it was still unclear whether a vaccine could be created.
Noting that distribution and further regulatory processes would throw up problems, it meant that "many of the other vaccines that are at the same immogenicity are likely to also be efficacious, so I wouldn't be surprised if we hit the new year with two or three vaccines, all of which could be distributed.
"That is why I am quite optimistic about getting enough vaccinations done in the first quarter of next year, that by spring things will start to look much more normal than they do now."
He said there was a 70-80 per cent of chance of normality resuming after Easter "provided they don't screw up distribution of the vaccine - that's not my job, but provided they don't screw up we will be fine".
Yesterday Sir John spawned widespread delight with his optimistic take on the Pfizer breakthrough.
"Yes, yes, yes" said the Professor.
World at One presenter @Sarah_Montague reacts to the positive early results of one of the big coronavirus vaccine trials. pic.twitter.com/Gw56tkLTUL— BBC Radio 4 (@BBCRadio4) November 9, 2020
09:51 AM
Contact tracing 'leaky' and insufficient to stop transmission, MPs told
Contact tracing is "always a leaky system" that will not be sufficient to stop transmission, MPs have been told.
Dame Anne Johnson, professor of infectious disease epidemiology at University College London, told a joint session of the Commons Health and Social Care Committee and Science and Technology Committee that "even with the best contact tracing system" the high proportion of asymptomatic cases meant many would go undetected.
"There are losses at every stage of that cascade. People may not get tested if they're symptomatic, they may not isolate, they may not report all their contacts, and so on," the Sage member said.
"And so it's always been a leaky system."
Dame Anne said that contact tracing was "only one part of the system", emphasising the benefits of other non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as face coverings and social distancing.
She added: "We were very clear that the test and trace system is very important, but it's only one part of the many interventions we have to make to keep on top of this epidemic."
09:49 AM
Have your say: Should Boris Johnson quietly park the controversial Brexit bill?
The Government’s defeat in the Lords last night was not unexpected. Indeed for many weeks, ministers have been urging peers to back the UK Internal Market bill, knowing the deeply held reservations so many Tories in the upper house had about the law-breaking clauses.
Many warned that persisting with UKIM risked damaging the reputation of UK plc at a time when the Government should be burnishing our global brand.
The rebellion has been given a further boost by the election of Joe Biden, who has made it clear he takes a dim view of anything that could jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement.
Number 10 has responded with defiance, saying the clauses will be reinserted when the UK Internal Market bill returns to the Commons.
But in breaking the deadlock in Brexit talks, has it already achieved what it was really intended to? Or should Boris Johnson stick to his guns? Have your say in the poll below.
09:43 AM
Record-breaking redundancies recorded in third quarter - before second lockdown
More people were made redundant between July and September than at any point on record, according to new official statistics, as the pandemic laid waste to large parts of the economy.
Around 314,000 redundancies were registered during the three months, up by 181,000 from the quarter before, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The data suggests that unemployment in the UK reached 4.8 per cent in the three months to September, with 1.62 million people being unemployed.
It is an increase of 0.7 percentage points on the quarter before, and 0.9 percentage points from a year ago.
09:41 AM
ICYMI: Sir John Major attacks Government's 'corrosive' Brexit legislation
Former prime minister Sir John Major has warned that Brexit may be "even more brutal than expected" due to the UK's negotiating "failures".
In a pre-recorded lecture at Middle Temple, the former Conservative party leader said the UK's "inflexibility" and "threats" towards the EU would make future trade "less profitable".
And he warned of the "corrosive" impact to the UK's reputation of a proposed law giving ministers the power to over-ride aspects of the Brexit agreement.
Sir John, who was an outspoken critic of the UK's exit from the EU on 31 January, said the UK Internal Market bill "was a slippery slope down which no democratic government should ever travel".
Watch the speech in full below.
09:38 AM
Government will hand GPs £150m to support vaccine roll out
Matt Hancock has said the Government is to provide £150 million to support GPs in the roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine.
The Health Secretary said that once it becomes available, the vaccine will be delivered through care homes, GPs and pharmacists as well as "go-to" vaccination centres set up in venues such as sports halls.
"We will be working across the NHS with the support of the armed forces seven days a week, over weekends, over bank holidays, to get this rolled out into people's arms as quickly as possible," he told BBC Breakfast.
He said the exact model would depend on which vaccine was adopted.
"The Pfizer vaccine needs to be held at minus 70C until the last few hours before it is deployed, which obviously makes things more complicated. The AstraZeneca vaccine is a bit easier to deploy logistically."
He said the vaccine would not be required for children and that uptake would be voluntary.
"We are not proposing to make this compulsory - not least because I think the vast majority of people are going to want to have it," he said.
09:36 AM
Regulator to approve Pfizer vaccine in 'weeks', says Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock has said it will be "most likely weeks" for Pfizer's new vaccine to be approved by the UK's regulator, but it was possible some vaccine could become available before Christmas.
"That is absolutely a possibility. My central expectation is that the mass roll-out of this vaccine - if it comes good - will be in the first part of next year," he said.
But His "central expectation" is that the mass roll-out of a coronavirus vaccine would take place in the first part of 2021, the Health Secretary told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
Mr Hancock said the next step was for the safety data to be published and cleared by the regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
"We are talking most likely weeks. It happens at the speed of the science. It is not an administrative decision when this data gets published," he said.
08:28 AM
Storing and administering Pfizer vaccine has 'enormous complexity', warns Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock has stressed the "enormous complexity" in storing and administering the Pfizer vaccine, which needs to be kept in cold storage of around minus 80C.
The Health Secretary noted that keeping it at such a low temperature was "obviously very complicated," particularly for care homes.
"Also, you can't take it out of that freezer more than four times on its journey from the manufacturing plant into the arm of patients... so that brings its complications," he added.
"I'm sure that the NHS is going to rise to this challenge of deployment, and we've been working on it for four months now.
"What I'd say is this is a promising step, but there's many steps still to come."
Mr Hancock said he did not know when their first data would be released from the vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca,
"We're not exactly sure when further news will come from the Oxford trial," he said. "But we're working again to ensure that that can be deployed, should it come off."
08:25 AM
NHS braced for vaccine roll out from start of December, says Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock said he had told the NHS to be ready to begin vaccinating people from the start of December.
The Health Secretary told Sky News that no vaccine will be deployed until the Government is "confident" of its safety.
He added: "I have asked them [the NHS] to be ready from the start of December.
"Of course, there are many hurdles that still need to be gone over and we haven't seen the full safety data, and obviously that is critical.
"We won't deploy a vaccine unless we can be confident in its clinical safety, but we also do need to be ready should a vaccine be licensed and get through all those hurdles and be ready to roll it out."
08:24 AM
Vaccine breakthrough 'one step of many' before we return to normality, says Matt Hancock
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said that while latest trials showing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 90 per cent effective were "very promising", there were many more steps to be taken before it is rolled out.
Speaking on Sky News, he warned that people still had to follow the current restrictions until the vaccine is found to be safe and licensed for use.
Mr Hancock added: "This is very promising news but it is one step of many that we need to take to get out of this and to tackle this pandemic once and for all.
"I think it is absolutely reasonable for people to see this as a step forward but we have got to know this is one step amongst many that we collectively need to take.
"The critical thing is that for all your viewers is that we all keep our resolve on measures that are currently in place now because it will still take some time for this good news that the Pfizer vaccine is around 90% effective, to proving it is safe, being able to licence it, and then the vast task, which obviously we have been working on for some time, of making sure that everybody in the population can get the jab."
08:24 AM
People urged to maintain social distancing despite vaccine breakthrough
Matt Hancock has said that it is important to maintain social distancing until a coronavirus vaccine becomes available.
The Health Secretary told Times Radio: "I want life to be back as close to normal as soon as possible. This is clearly a promising step but there are many steps to come.
"We are all really so pleased to see some light at the end of the tunnel but it is absolutely crucial that in the meantime we all hold our resolve.
"We have always said our strategy is to suppress the virus until the vaccine can make us safe. That has come one step closer."
08:22 AM
Vaccine roll out will be 'colossal exercise', says Matt Hancock
Matt Hancock has said it will be a "colossal exercise" to roll out a new coronavirus vaccine should it become available.
The latest trials showing the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was 90% effective were "very promising", the Health Secretary said.
The NHS is now working with the armed forces to ensure they were ready as soon as a vaccine was cleared for use.
"What is absolutely critical right now is that as soon as a vaccine becomes available we are ready to deploy it," he told Times Radio.
"That is the job that will be led by the NHS. I have tasked them to be able to deploy this vaccine into people's arms - according to priority that is set by clinical need - as quickly as the vaccine becomes available.
"It will be a colossal exercise. The work has been going on for months to get this in place should this happen."
08:12 AM
Vaccine hopes threaten to expose further fault lines in Cabinet over calls to reopen economy
The fault lines over how quickly to reopen the economy are expected to resurface when Cabinet meets this morning, after Pfizer's vaccine breakthrough was announced yesterday afternoon.
The hawks who have longed pushed for lighter restrictions are expected to make the case for the economy to be fully reopened as soon as possible, coming up against those who urge caution until the drug has passed all the final safety hurdles and the roll out programme is well underway.
Last night Boris Johnson appeared to fall into the latter camp, pleading with the public not to take the foot off the peddle and stick with the lockdown rules until they come to an end on December 2.
However Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, has made it clear he prefers a lighter touch approach in a bid to protect consumer spending.
Matt Hancock this morning confirmed he had asked the NHS "to be ready from the start of December", however it remained his "central expectation" that the "bulk of the roll out" would happen in the first part of 2021, with the prioritisation list focusing on the elderly and health and social care workers.
He said it would be a "colossal exercise".
Mr Hancock's former special adviser Jamie Njoko-Goodwin last night tweeted that the Government "faces a thorny political challenge: namely, what is the risk appetite for reopening the economy ahead of the vaccine? Last thing ministers will want to do is move too fast and risk an unnecessary third wave when the end is in sight."
07:49 AM
Peers overwhelmingly reject 'Trump like' Brexit bill
The House of Lords voted resoundingly to remove controversial clauses from Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation on Monday night, as peers accused the Government of behaving like a “third world dictatorship”.
In a major defeat for the Prime Minister, peers sought to expunge sections of the Internal Market Bill which ministers admitted would break international law in a “very specific and limited way”.
Peers voted by 433 to 165 to strip out the clauses which would allow the UK to renege on its obligations in the Withdrawal Agreement.
During the debate, Tory grandee Lord Clarke warned that the legislation was a “rather Donald Trump-like gesture” and urged peers to join him in voting against the Government. “I’ve never heard anybody describe any particular proposal that is being forced upon us in these negotiations by Brussels which should have such a horrendous and catastrophic consequence that we need to be allowed to behave like the government of a third world dictatorship,” he said.
The former chancellor said that no government he served in would have “contemplated for one moment” proposing the powers set out in the Bill. “It would have been rejected as incompatible with the way we govern this country, so it is the duty of this House to reject it,” he said.