PM Avoids Commons Speaker's Fury With COVID-19 Compromise

The House of Commons will suspend its deliberation on the Report Stage and Third Reading of the Police, Crime, Sentancing and Courts Bill at 1700BST today to allow a statement from Health Secretary Sajid Javid on the planned end to COVID-19 restrictions in England on 19 July.

• This unusual event comes as part of a compromise between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
• Hoyle has expressed his anger that major announcements on COVID-19 policy are delivered either to journalists in secret and then leaked or via press conferences, rather than to MPs in the Commons as would usually be the case with major policy changes.
• The gov't has argued that the changes to COVID-19 policy need to be delivered to the widest possible national audience in the clearest manner possible, which they argue is via a televised press conference.
• The simultaneous announcement of the end to lockdown in parliament and in a presser should provide some salve to relations between the PM and the Speaker, which had deteriorated significantly as of late.