UK government has no plan for COVID statement to parliament - speaker

LONDON - Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has not asked to make a parliamentary statement on potential changes to COVID-19 rules, the speaker of the lower house of parliament, Lindsay Hoyle, said on Wednesday.

"I can confirm that I've had no request from the government to make a statement. Of course, I am open as soon as the government wishes to come forward to say that it is going to make a statement," he told the opposition Labour Party's health spokesman, Wes Streeting, when asked about media reports of a possible news conference.

Hoyle repeated his long-standing request for the government to announce changes to COVID rules first in parliament, rather than in a news conference.