New restrictions loom for West Yorkshire

Report from ITV Calendar's Political Correspondent Harry Horton:

There’s speculation in parliament that new restrictions could be imposed in West Yorkshire on Friday.

Parts of the region - in particular Kirklees, Bradford and Calderdale - have now seen their infection rates rising for several weeks. More concerning is that their rates are higher than in parts of the North East where tough new lockdown measures were imposed on Thursday.

I understand an emergency briefing for MPs and council officials in Kirklees took place late on Thursday to discuss what new measures government want to bring in to try and get the rise in coronavirus cases under control.

Earlier on Thursday in the House of Commons, Health Secretary Matt Hancock once again faced questions on the strains facing the UK’s testing system.

West Yorkshire MP Yvette Cooper raised the case of an NHS worker constituent and her husband who have both developed coronavirus symptoms but have been unable to get a test since Friday. She said the system was “not just chaotic, but dangerous”

The Health Secretary said all NHS workers should be able to get a test through their workplace and testing was at record capacity.

Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney asked about “speculation about new local restrictions in West Yorkshire”. His Colne Valley constituency was lifted out of local restrictions three weeks ago.

Matt Hancock responded: “I was very pleased that we were able to take his constituency out of the local action in West Yorkshire. However, we have seen case rates go up, and we will be guided by that data.”

On Friday we’ll get the latest government review of local restrictions in our region. Whilst many will be hoping to see restrictions lifted, the data is going in the wrong direction, and the speculation in Westminster is all about what new restrictions might be imposed.