English lockdown wins support from MPs

MPs have voted to support the four-week lockdown for England that starts tomorrow. Boris Johnson warned that, without it, the NHS would face an “existential threat”.

Some 34 of his own backbenchers voted against, with more abstaining – including Theresa May. They object to the curbs on civil liberties, as well as the economic costs of shutting down.

But a stark warning from the head of NHS England put things in focus: there are already enough patients seriously ill with Covid to fill 22 hospitals.