Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to apologise to the public after the prime minister dramatically cancelled the Christmas plans of millions just days after saying to do so would be inhuman.
The Labour leader accused the prime minister of “gross negligence” for failing to act sooner to control a rise in coronavirus cases, saying the “alarm bells had been ringing for weeks”.
Sir Keir told an online press conference: “I think the prime minister should apologise. This is not just one mistake when he has otherwise got things right. It is the same mistake over and over again.
“At the heart of the problem here is a Prime Minister who simply doesn’t want to be unpopular and therefore won’t take the tough decisions that are necessary, until he is forced into them at the 11th hour.
“We can’t go on like that. I think that it is very important that the Prime Minister does apologise to people for his handling of this episode of the pandemic.”
Labour last week urged the government to amend its plans to ease coronavirus restrictions over Christmas amid fears over rising case rates.
In response, the prime minister accused Sir Keir of wanting to “cancel” Christmas.
But on Saturday Mr Johnson was forced to announce a strict new lockdown in vast swathes of southeast England and London.
He issued an order to “stay at home”, closed shops with just a few hours’ notice and banned gatherings in areas inside the new tier 4.
Across the rest of England, the prime minister also said he was dropping the planned five-day relaxation of the rules between 23 and 27 December.
Households will now only be allowed to form Christmas “bubbles” for a single day, on 25 December.
Within hours both Scotland and Wales announced they had adopted the same policy.
Wales also announced it was entering an immediate lockdown, amid fears of rising case numbers there.
Health secretary Matt Hancock blamed the restrictions on new information about a different strain of coronavirus in the south east of England.
But doctors accused the government of not following the science, even before it emerged that the new variant is up to 70 per cent more contagious.
Mr Hancock also suggested the new Tier 4 restrictions could last months, as ministers battle to bring the pandemic under control.
