Boris Johnson news – live: ‘Incompetent’ PM in blunder over own Covid rules as Gavin Williamson told to ‘get a grip'

Boris Johnson has set out a new lifelong learning guarantee for those without A-levels, saying that government “cannot, alas, save every job” but can help discarded workers to retrain.

Labour again branded the prime minister “grossly incompetent” after he appeared confused over his own restrictions in northeast England, while city leaders in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester warned of “huge levels of redundancies", “mass market failure” and “boarded up high streets” unless local lockdown rules are amended.

Meanwhile, education secretary Gavin Williamson was told to “get a grip” as thousands of students remained locked down in their university accommodation due to outbreaks dubbed “completely avoidable” by the the University and College Union, which Labour warned could result in “huge” student dropout rates.