London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

'Inaction' has led to harder lockdown, says Keir Starmer

'Inaction' has led to harder lockdown, says Keir Starmer

England's lockdown will be "longer and more damaging than it needed it to be" due to government "inaction", Labour's leader has said.

Sir Keir Starmer accused the prime minister of a "catastrophic failure" to follow earlier calls for national action from his scientific advisers.

MPs debated the month-long restrictions ahead of a vote on Wednesday.

Boris Johnson said they were the "only option we face" due to the "latest figures" on the spread of Covid-19.

The PM told MPs that he would "make no apology" for initially trying to avoid a national lockdown by following a regional approach to restrictions.

He added that not to take England-wide measures now would be a "medical and moral disaster" that would see the NHS "overwhelmed".

On Saturday, Mr Johnson announced pubs, restaurants, gyms, non-essential shops would be closed across England from Thursday.

During a debate on the measures in the Commons, a number of Conservative MPs voiced concerns over the new restrictions.

One of them, Sir Charles Walker, warned about an "authoritarian, coercive state," whilst fellow Tory Philip Davies called lockdown a "failed strategy".

Sir Graham Brady, who chairs the Conservatives' backbench 1922 Committee, asked the government to publish a "full impact assessment" on the economic and health consequences of lockdown ahead of the vote on Wednesday.

Some Tory MPs called for more transparency on the scientific data underpinning the decision, whilst others called for a rethink on a planned ban on golf and tennis.


The prime minister hopes to return to a system of regional Covid restrictions after 2 December.


However with Labour supporting the new measures, they are highly likely to pass even if there is a rebellion from Conservative backbenchers.

Mr Johnson promised the new lockdown would be "time-limited" and automatically end on 2 December unless MPs vote to extend them.

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg confirmed MPs will have 90 minutes to debate the new restrictions on Wednesday, ahead of the vote.

He added that "all of the scientific information" underpinning the decision would be published for MPs to examine.

On Sunday, Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said the lockdown could be extended if the spread of the virus is not slowed sufficiently.

Sir Keir accused the prime minister of not having learned the "central lesson" of the first wave of the virus, which he said was the need to act "early and decisively".

He said Mr Johnson had "ignored" the advice of the government's scientific advisers in late September for a short lockdown in England to get cases down.

"As a result, this lockdown will be longer than it needed to be - at least four weeks," he added.

"Rejecting the advice of his own scientists for 40 days was a catastrophic failure of leadership and of judgement".

He called for the government to "fix" its test and trace system, which he said should be taken away from private contractors and handed to local authorities.

Sir Keir had called for a two to three week lockdown in mid-October, whilst the Labour-led Welsh government began a 17-day lockdown on 23 October.


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×