UK Covid live: Keir Starmer says England heading for ‘summer of chaos and confusion’ | Politics

Matt Western (Lab) asks why the Tory MP Rob Roberts is being allowed to return to the Commons, and not subject to a recall vote. Will the PM allow a vote tomorrow to close the loophole that meant Roberts avoided recall.

Johnson says Roberts’ punishment has come to an end. He says Roberts is no longer a Tory MP.

Caroline Nokes (Con) asks about a diesel spill into the river Test.

Johnson says the Environment Agency is working on this.

Johnson says the government gives hospices £350m a year. And they have had an extra £257m to make up for what they have lost by not being able to fundraise, he says.

Matthew Pennycook (Lab) says the building safety bill published this week will do little to protect leaseholders who face big bills to remove Grenfell-style cladding.

Johnson does not accept that. He says the government has spent £5bn on this. He says people who have suffered as a result of Grenfell will continue to get government support.

Bim Afolami (Con) asks what the government is doing to improve road safety. It is an issue of growing concern, he says.

Johnson says road deaths have been coming down for a long time. But the government is investing in road safety, he says.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Lab) asks why the government is backing the sale of NHS services.

Johnson says he cannot remember a question so wrong. The government is putting the NHS first, he says.

Angela Crawley (SNP) asks if the PM supports her private member’s bill to give paid leave to any woman who suffers a miscarriage before 24 weeks.

Johnson says he feels very sorry for any woman who goes through this. He says the government offers bereavement leave to women who lose a baby after 24 weeks.

David Jones ( Con) asks the PM to confirm that, unless the EU adapts a more proportionate approach to the Northern Ireland protocol, the government will do whatever is necessary to fix it. He says the three-month extension of the grace period for chilled meats was just a “stick plaster”.

Johnson agrees. He says the protocol is being misapplied by the EU, which is following a purist approach.

Tim Loughton (Con) asks if the PM will back calls for a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.

Johnson says the UK has led the way in condemning human rights abuses in China. He will consider the idea, but he is instinctively against boycotts, he says.

Neale Hanvey (Alba) asks why the government has spent money on discredited diagnostic tests to the tune of £3bn.

Johnson does not accept that.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, starts by wishing England luck in the football.

He says the electoral integrity bill is anything but. Why is the government making it harder for people to vote.

Johnson says they need to tackle voting fraud, as happened at Tower Hamlets.

Blackford says there have only been a small number of cases of voter fraud. The bill is tackling a problem that does not exist.

Johnson says people will be able to get photo ID if they need it. He says he does not want to see elections tainted by suspicion of voter fraud.

Starmer says it is obvious what is happening. Johnson is getting flak from his MPs. That is why he has announced this policy. We have been here before.

Isn’t it the case that, instead of a careful, controlled approach, we are heading for a summer of chaos and confusion?

Johnson says if he had followed Labour’s advice, they would never have opened up schools. He repeats his usual claim about how Labour would have kept the UK in the European Medicines Agency, which would have made the vaccine rollout impossible (not true). He says the government vaccinates while the opposition vacillates. And he adds a new slogan. “We inoculate, they invertebrate.”