QUOTES OFTHEDAY

“The whole point is to seize this moment now to avoid the misery of another national lockdown – into which he wants to go headlong – by delivering a regional solution”

- Boris Johnson defends his coronvirus approach as he clashed with Sir Keir Starmer over the Labour leader’s call for a short “circuit-breaker” lockdown.

“The cost of doing so are not abstract, they are real. They can be counted in jobs lost, businesses closed and children’s education harmed... The entire country would suffer rather than targeting that support, preventing a lockdown in parts of the country where the virus rates are low”

– Chancellor Rishi Sunak, above, warns a second national lockdown would create significant damage to

people’s lives and livelihoods.

“The hospitals are so much under pressure, the staff feel physically and mentally exhausted. Yet I see people putting two fingers up to those health workers and the people who have had members of their family die. It really was a slap in the face”

– Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson says crowds of people dancing in Liverpool city centre, captured on video on Tuesday night, brought shame on the city.

“The big shifts in everyone’s lives – reduced travel, more online, and the rest – mean shifts in how our adversaries are operating. Fewer crowds mean terrorists look at different targets; online living means more opportunities for cyber hackers; and so on”

– The new boss of MI5, director general Ken McCallum, says terrorists are hunting for fresh targets because there are fewer crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic.