WATCH: Starmer slams consultation on return to work as “thin” and “vague”

Keir Starmer has criticised the government’s consultation paper on returning to work as “vague” and “thin” and urged it to “agree a standard” with trade unions, business and political parties.

In an interview with BBC Breakfast this morning, the Labour leader emphasised the need for any such standard to be “enforceable” to give the “best reassurance we can to the public that need to go back to work”.

Starmer criticised the document published by the government over the weekend, highlighting that it “didn’t have much on protective equipment” but also said that he is “not setting up a rival camp here”.

The comments from the Labour leader follow his call for a “national consensus” to be built around the next steps of the UK’s coronavirus response ahead of talks he is due to participate in with the Prime Minister.

Starmer has confirmed that the party is backing further Covid-19 restrictions and vowed to continue to “work constructively” with the government, setting out seven principles in forming the next part of the country’s strategy.

There have been 190,584 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the UK, but with low levels of testing the true figure is thought to be much higher. There have been 28,734 recorded deaths associated with the virus.