Starmer demands Johnson “keeps his side of the bargain” in Covid lockdown

Keir Starmer has demanded that Boris Johnson “keeps his side of the bargain”, with all four nations of  the United Kingdom now under lockdown, by using this time to provide support and focus on Covid vaccine roll-out.

The Prime Minister addressed the House of Commons this morning as MPs were urgently recalled to vote on the new strict coronavirus restrictions announced on Monday that amount to a fresh national lockdown in England.

Johnson described the vaccines as “an available means of escape” and his plan as “aimed at saving the most lives in the fastest possible time”. He added that over 1.1 million people in England and 1.3 million in the UK had been immunised.

He also promised “maximum possible transparency” in the effort to accelerate the vaccination programme, with daily updates on numbers appearing online from Monday, allowing everyone to “scrutinise progress”.

The Prime Minister did note, however, that the new mutation of the virus is “spreading with frightening ease and speed” and restrictions would have to kept in place “until we can take the most likely out of its path with vaccines”.

Johnson said: “Emergence from the lockdown cocoon will not be a big bang but a gradual unwrapping.” He specified that there would be continuous review of the rules with a statutory requirement to review them every two weeks.

In a message perhaps aimed at Tory MPs, he said the Covid legislation runs until March 31st not because lockdown will continue until then but “to allow a steady controlled and evidence-led move down through the tiers on a regional basis”.

He told the House of Commons that the country will be “carefully, brick by brick as it were, breaking free of our confinement but without risking our hard-won gains”, and concluded that “every needle in every arm makes a difference”.

Responding to the update, Starmer said: “This is the third time the country has been asked to close its doors. We need to make sure it’s the last. We will support the Prime Minister and government in these measures.

“We will carry the message and do whatever is asked of us. But we will demand that the Prime Minister keeps his side of the bargain – use this lockdown to support families, protect businesses and get the vaccine rolled out as quickly and safely as possible.”

On the vaccination programme, he added: “The vaccine is now the only way out, and we must all support the national effort to get it rolled out as quickly as possible.” He called for a more detailed plan, and for volunteers to be able to help.

A Labour source told LabourList today: “We want the government to succeed in getting to the February target… That includes recruiting an army of volunteers who could help run vaccinate centres, organise the logistics and give NHS staff space to administer jabs.”

Johnson has set a target of giving a first jab by mid-February to everyone in the top four priority groups. This is around 13 million people: all care home residents and staff, NHS staff, people aged 70 and over, and the extremely clinically vulnerable.

Starmer also raised the issues of the three million excluded from financial support, inadequate sick pay, the pay freeze for key workers, the “huge damage” caused by closing schools and the need to address the digital divide among pupils.

He reiterated Labour’s call for BTEC exams to be cancelled. Asserting that the quarantine system for travellers coming to the UK “isn’t working”, he called for extra measures at the border to be implemented quickly.

Johnson’s statement on Monday evening instructed people in England not to leave home except for a few “limited reasons”, such as shopping for essentials, exercising, getting medical treatment and escaping domestic abuse.

The new restrictions to halt the spread of the virus include a U-turn on closing schools, as well as colleges, with the Prime Minister now conceding that they “act as vectors for transmission, causing the virus to spread between households”.

Labour-affiliated unions UNISON and GMB have called on the government to also close nurseries to all except vulnerable children and those of key workers, warning that leaving them open “puts staff and communities at risk”.

Starmer welcomed the national lockdown this week and confirmed that his party would support the restrictions in parliament. He emphasised the seriousness of the situation facing the country and urged people to “pull together”.

The opposition leader used his own televised address on Tuesday evening to call for a “round-the-clock” vaccination programme. He challenged the government to ensure that this country is “the first in the world to get our country vaccinated”.