Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the Government to implement a national lockdown across England within the next 24 hours.
In an interview with Sky News on Sunday afternoon, Sir Keir claimed ‘the virus is clearly out of control’. He said,
“It’s no good the prime minister hinting that further restrictions are coming into place in a week or two or three. That delay has been the source of so many problems.”
Sir Keir also said that it is ‘inevitable’ that some schools will not be open on Monday morning and more will close, but he did not want to call for the closures of all schools, saying this should be the last resort.
He said that bringing national restrictions in ‘has to be the first step to controlling the virus’. Currently, 77% of the country is under Tier 4 ‘stay at home’ restrictions, however, retail, gyms and other venues are still open in other areas.
Earlier on Sunday, leaders at Liverpool City Council also urged the government to impose a new national lockdown in order to tackle the new variant of the virus.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday morning, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said restrictions in England are “probably about to get tougher” in order to tackle the rising rates of Coronavirus.
The call by the Leader of the Opposition for a national lockdown comes as the UK reported more than 50,000 new cases of Coronavirus for the sixth consecutive day on Sunday.
