Today is going to be a beast of a day in the Commons. PMQs followed by two Labour opposition day motions designed to cause Tory MPs as much pain as humanely possible - one on financial support for jobs in tier 3 and another on free school meals.

PMQs kicks off in ten minutes. You can watch it here. https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/9953142c-b63e-4140-9912-db2bf9f0597e

There's then a ministerial statement on covid in South Yorkshire and a ten minute rule motion. Then the first of Labour's opposition day motions.

This calls for a "fair one nation deal" for Tier 3 areas. Crucial wording that. Tory MPs rejecting it, particularly in Red Wall seats, are being pushed into voting against a 'fair deal' of financial support, which will be used against them.

Also calls for furloughed workers to get 80% of salaries, not the current 66%, and "clear and fair national criteria for financial support".

This isn't just a clever political game. The government's approach to regional support has been utterly opaque. Jenrick now says the formula is £8 per head for track and trace & £20 per head for business support.

But this isn't acceptable. As @LucyMPowell pointed out here https://twitter.com/LucyMPowell/status/1318828455061037057

The basic fact is this: The current support is less generous than the support in Spring. Why? Nothing has changed. Covid destroys people's livelihoods.

The reason is that right-wingers in the party claim that the national finances cannot handle it. This is wrong utterly muddle-headed.

We need to spend now to support people and help them do the things which reduce covid spread. If we leave them to suffer, the economic hit will be *more* severe and it'll ultimately be harder to pay back national debt.

Second motion calls for calling for government to provide free school meals to eligible children during the holidays. Tory MP Robert Halfon, a former minister, has already said he will vote with Labour.

PMQs starts. Boris Johnson starts - astonishing really, except it isn't because it's him - repeating the idiot claims of his London mayoral candidate that Sadiq Khan "bankrupted" TfL.

Starmer up. How do areas going into Tier 3 get out of those restrictions? Johnson: Get the R down to 1 or below.

Starmer: If R is not below 1 will it be possible in any circumstances for area to leave Tier 3?

Johnson: R is "one of the measures we look at". Interesting. Answer clearly yes.

Starmer: "I'm now confused. If it's not the R rate under 1, what is it?" Points out scientific advisers to govt say the Tier 3 plan doesn't work alone.

"It's the worst of all worlds. It beings significant economic harm without bringing the virus sufficiently under control to exit Tier 3."

Waffle from Johnson - situation improving, thanking local leadership, "incoherent" of Starmer to "attack local lockdowns".

Starmer: "If the R rate isn't below 1, then the infection rate is still going up, and the numbers are going up... and the deaths are going up. Is the PM seriously saying he'd take a Tier 3 area out of Tier 3 with the R above 1? I don't think so."

It's waffle vs scalpel.

Johnson says Burnham was offered £60m "which he turned down" - and now says he will distribute the cash anyway.

So there it is. Johnson, alarmed by media reaction to the decision not to hand Manchester the money, suddenly backs down.

If this was the plan all along he'd have confirmed it during the press conference yesterday. He had plenty of opportunities.

Johnson's second attack on Starmer for wanting a "full national lockdown". Really dangerous area for Johnson - defining himself against a position with more popular support than his own.

Starmer ignores it. Infections are up in all regions. "Regions in equivalent of Tier 2 moving into Tier 3. If they are moving into Tier 3, Tier 2 hasn't worked. So Tier 2 goes into Tier 3. Tier 3 has no end, because there's no prospect or confidence in the R rate coming below 1."

I know that looks like mad nonsense written down, but read it closely. It is hard to argue with. The Tier system is a conveyor belt to Tier 3 and there is no scientific basis to think that Tier 3 can ever end.

Last chance for a circuit break, Starmer says, given half term starts on Friday. "The PM was too slow in the first phase of this pandemic, he's being too slow again."

Waffle from Johnson. No point transcribing it. Just no content.

Andrea Jenkyns fuck my life.

EU is not "treating us an an independent state, they're not acting in good faith" and therefore "under international law" we can leave the withdrawal agreement. Gibbering paranoid hogwash, like some mad drunk shouting at the windows of a closed pub.

Johnson repeats his line about a "black hole" in TfL finances which is "entirely the fault" of Sadiq Khan. This is a lie.

TfL was not bankrupt before covid hit. It was hit - in a way which is of course obvious - by the fact people *stopped using it* because of covid.

It should have been obvious the moment Shawn Bailey started running a noticeably post-truth electoral campaign, that Johnson would throw his whole weight behind it.

Labour MP Rupa Huq asked if he'll back Labour's second motion on free school meals. Johnson: "I want to make sure we continue to support families throughout the crisis". So no he won't.

Lib Dem Daisy Cooper: "On June 16, the PM agreed to provide free school meal vouchers after claiming 24 hours beforehand he was completely unaware of the campaign calling for it." Now people are calling for it again. "Can the PM confirm he is indeed aware of these announcements?"

Johnson waffles and lies.