Public health comes first, Labour says as party confirms it will vote for ‘plan B’

Wes Streeting has confirmed that Labour MPs will back the government in an upcoming vote on the introduction of tighter public health restrictions detailed under the government’s ‘plan B’ for combatting Covid this winter.

Discussing the measures to be voted on next week, and the potential for Labour to inflict a humiliating defeat on the government, the recently-appointed Shadow Health Secretary told BBC Radio 4 listeners that public health comes first.

“Public health has always come first for the Labour party during the pandemic. Despite the trouble the government find themselves in, public health will still come before party politics,” he told the Today programme this morning.

“It is more important for all of us to get ahead of this deadly pandemic and the variant, which is sweeping rapidly through our country and which threatens to overwhelm the NHS, and tempting though it might be to inflict a parliamentary defeat on the government, that would not be the right thing to do.”

Streeting’s comments followed reports that dozens of Conservative MPs are planning on abstaining or rebelling on the vote, prompting fears from ministers that they may have to rely on Labour votes to get the measures approved.

Boris Johnson confirmed at the latest coronavirus press conference on Tuesday that England will return to plan B restrictions due to the “remorseless logic of exponential growth” as applied to the spread of the Omicron variant.

From Monday, everyone is advised to work from home if they can. From Friday, the legal requirement to wear masks will be extended. From one week’s time, the NHS Covid pass will be mandatory for nightclubs and other venues.

Tory MP William Wragg accused the Prime Minister of using plan B as a “diversionary tactic” to deflect attention away from reports that a Covid rule-breaking party was held in Downing Street in the run-up to Christmas last year.

Streeting criticised Johnson for undermining public trust, warning that people’s confidence in “the entire system of government” is “hanging in the balance” following recent allegations of dishonesty levelled at the Prime Minister.

“It goes back to when Boris Johnson tried to destroy the entire parliamentary standard system to get his mate off the hook. We don’t start changing the laws or changing the rules to suit the behaviour of the Prime Minister,” he said.

Johnson sparked outrage when he ordered MPs to reject a sanction of Owen Paterson after the MP was found guilty of an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules that saw him paid more than £110,000 on top of his salary.

Following widespread criticism, ministers U-turned on their support for their backbench colleague. Paterson resigned his position as an MP, triggering the North Shropshire by-election, which will take place later this month.

Streeting added: “The law is the law. It must be applied equally, and this is the thing: Boris Johnson’s character and behaviour starts to undermine a whole series of things, the system of standards in parliament, the way the law is applied in the country and crucially, whether the government can get its message across about public health at a critical time.”

The Prime Minister was accused of dishonesty this week after footage emerged of senior Downing Street staffers joking about the alleged party, which took place last December, after he denied any Covid rules had been broken.

The Electoral Commission also published the findings of its investigation into his Downing Street residence refurbishment this week, throwing into doubt the Prime Minister’s previous statements on what he knew about the issue.

The document said Johnson messaged Conservative peer Lord Brownlow in November last year “asking him to authorise further, at that stage unspecified, refurbishment works”. He told an earlier investigation that he did not know about any payments until February 2021.

The Prime Minister is now facing the possibility of his standards adviser resigning, which would be the second to do so in 13 months. Labour has accused the Prime Minister of lying and called on him to reopen the investigation.

Labour MPs are urging the parliamentary standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, to investigate. Johnson could be suspended from the Commons. Although this would be politically unprecedented, the commissioner does have the power to recommend the suspension of an MP.

Two polls published today in the wake of the allegations have put Labour ahead of the Conservatives. YouGov has Labour up four points on last week on 37% with the Tories behind on 33%, down three points. The opposition is up one point on 40% and the Conservatives down two points on 34%, according to Survation.