Why is No. 10 snubbing the Commons?

The Speaker was annoyed again today when the government only offered the Commons a Covid update after the Health Secretary’s press briefing yesterday. Labour hauled vaccines minister Maggie Throup to the chamber for an urgent question. Before she had a chance to answer, Lindsay Hoyle scolded her superiors.

‘This is not acceptable and, as I have warned the government, in those circumstances, I will allow the House the earliest opportunity to hear from a minister: in this case by an urgent question,’ he said. He added that Sajid Javid should not have been speculating about whether MPs should wear masks without coming to talk to MPs themselves in the Commons: ‘I understand that yesterday the Secretary of State made an announcement, not just about important policy matters but he also set out his views about how members should behave in this Chamber — that is to say whether they should wear a mask.