Keir Starmer to miss first PMQs of 2022 after testing positive for Covid again

Keir Starmer is set to miss the first day back in parliament after Christmas and the first Prime Minister’s Questions of 2022 as he has tested positive for coronavirus today for the second time.

The Labour leader tested positive for Covid this morning, which means Labour’s deputy leader and Shadow First Secretary of State Angela Rayner will be stepping in for the opposition leader at PMQs.

It is understood that Starmer has been doing a rapid lateral flow test every day and that the test he did today came back positive. The Labour leader was in Birmingham to deliver a speech yesterday.

Starmer has already had Covid, having tested positive in October on ‘Budget Day’. Ed Miliband replaced him at PMQs that day and Rachel Reeves stood in for him in responding to the Budget and spending review.

The Labour leader had already isolated due to close contact with a positive Covid case four times before: in September and December last year, and in January and July earlier this year. This will be his sixth isolation period.

With Starmer testing positive twice in three months, it has been speculated that he had the Delta variant last time and Omicron now. Between 10 and 15% of Omicron cases are reinfections, Professor Neil Ferguson has said.

Boris Johnson confirmed at a press conference on Tuesday that the government is not reintroducing stricter Covid rules at the time. He said there is a “good chance” of getting through this wave without more restrictions.