It would be “madness” for England to leave lockdown on 2 December if coronavirus rates are still rising, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has warned.
Boris Johnson has made clear that he wants to return to a tiered system of regional restrictions in four weeks’ time when the lockdown – due to start tomorrow – comes to an end.
But at prime minister’s questions today he stopped short of guaranteeing the lockdown will end on 2 December come what may, saying that MPs will decide on the next steps in a House of Commons vote.
Starmer confirmed Labour will back the new restrictions in a vote this afternoon, when 20 or more Tory backbenchers are expected to rebel against the closure of pubs, restaurants and non-essential shops across England.
But the Labour leader accused Mr Johnson of a “huge failure in leadership” in delaying the move to national measures, first recommended by his Sage scientific advisers in September.
And he warned against returning to the regional system if the reproduction rate of Covid-19 – known as R – has not dropped beneath the crucial level of one at which the disease stops its exponential spread.
“We have got to look the public in the eye,” said Starmer. “If the infection rate is still going up on 2 December, it is madness, to come back to the tier system. We know the one thing the tier system can’t cope with is an R rate above one.”
In a recorded speech to the CBI shortly before the weekly session of questions in the Commons, Mr Johnson told businesses the lockdown measures were necessary but would end on 2 December.
“I want to apologise to all of you who are experiencing the frustrations and the nightmare of the Covid world,” said the PM.
“Believe me, we will end these autumn measures on 2 December when they expire.”
However, when pressed by Starmer to spell out what would happen if the R rate remained above one by that date, Mr Johnson told MPs that moving back to a regional system will depend on public compliance with the new restrictions as well as on the Commons vote he has promised ahead of 2 December.
“These autumn measures to combat the surge will expire automatically on 2 December and we will then – I hope very much – be able to get this country going again and get businesses and get shops open again in the run-up to Christmas,“ said the prime minister.
But he added: “That depends on us all doing our bit now to make sure that we get the R down.
“I’ve no doubt that we can, and that we, and that we’ll be able to go forward from 2 December second with a very, very different approach. But, of course, it will be up to the House of Commons, to decide thereafter what to do.”
The Labour leader asked Mr Johnson to use the lockdown to “fix Test and Trace”, adding: “We’ve been going round and round in circles on this. The latest figures show that 113,000 contacts were not even reached and that’s just in one week.
“Only 20% of those who should be isolating are doing so and the majority of people still don’t get results in 24 hours.”
The prime minister praised the Test and Trace system before adding: “I’m perfectly willing to accept the failings of Test and Trace, of course I am, and of course I take full responsibility for the frustrations people have experienced with that system.
“But to go from 3,000 tests a day, 2,000 tests a day to 500,000 is a quite remarkable feat.”
