Covid: Starmer suggests Sunak and Johnson's 'inaction' over circuit break 'cost lives'

England is about to enter a four week lockdown. Credit: PA

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has levelled a stinging attack at Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, suggesting lives have been lost due to their "inaction" over coronavirus.

Sir Keir, speaking at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference said the prime minister and the chancellor "have failed" to learn lessons from the first wave of Covid-19 and a "catalogue of mistakes" have "cost lives and livelihoods".

Meanwhile, Business Secretary Alok Sharma, who was speaking at the same event, admitted a fully functioning vaccine "may never materialise".

Sir Keir pointed to advice from the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) on September 21 - at which point there were just 11 daily coronavirus deaths and just over 4,000 daily infections - that a national lockdown was "urgent".

"The prime minister failed to heed that warning," said Sir Keir, and "40 days later – when he finally decided to announce a longer four-week national lockdown – those figures had increased to 326 deaths a day and 22,000 Covid cases. 

"That is the human cost of the government’s inaction," Sir Keir told the CBI conference - the PM earlier dropped out from appearing at the same event.

Sir Keir, who has been calling for a new national lockdown for weeks, said the tools the government had put in place to tackle coronavirus - Test and Trace plus local restrictions - had been "swept away by the second wave and shown to be totally inadequate".

He said ministers had "ignored" lessons from the first wave that acting early is the only way to tackle the virus.

He directly blamed Chancellor Sunak for the "severe" economic cost of the late lockdown.

"Make no mistake, the chancellor’s name is all over this," he said.

"His decision to block a circuit breaker, to dismiss it as a 'blunt instrument' and to pretend that you can protect the economy without controlling the virus will now mean that businesses have to close for longer, more people will lose their jobs, and the public finances will be worse than they needed to be."

He urged Mr Sunak to outline a full package of support equivalent to what was announced in March to help people through the first lockdown.

The four week lockdown "must be used to fix test, trace and isolate – and to give control to local authorities; to get a grip on messaging and rebuild public trust; and to provide a clear and transparent roadmap to protect businesses and the NHS over the months to come," he said.

His comments come after the prime minister announced a four week lockdown in England, due to begin on Thursday.

Under the new lockdown, people will be allowed to exercise and socialise in public spaces outside with their household or one other person, but not indoors or in private gardens, and will be able to travel to work if they cannot work from home.

Yet unlike in the lockdown during the first wave of the pandemic, schools, colleges and nurseries will remain open.

Mr Sharma, who was a late replacement for Prime Minister Johnson at the CBI conference, acknowledged that the second lockdown in England was "regrettable" after warnings that it could have a devastating impact on firms.

But he insisted the government would continue to support struggling businesses and workers, and he promised that ministers had a long-term plan to build a more resilient economy as the country emerges from the pandemic.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma speaking during the CBI annual conference at ITN Headquarters in central London Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Mr Johnson highlighted the prospect of "many millions" of rapid coronavirus tests being used with results available in 10-15 minutes, as he announced England's second lockdown which is due to start on Thursday.

Mr Sharma said there would be a "steady but significant" deployment of the tests.

He said that while there was "brilliant" work being done on a vaccine, a treatment which "fully eliminates the virus may never materialise".

The only illness in history to have been eradicated is smallpox. For example, there is a vaccine for mumps that works well, but the virus has not been eliminated.

Mr Sharma told the CBI: "We plan to also protect the country in other ways.

"As the Prime Minister set out on Saturday, we have the immediate prospect of using many millions of cheap, reliable and rapid-turnaround tests.

"Over the next few days and weeks, we will plan a steady but significant deployment of these tests.

"There are paths out of this current predicament to eventually get business fully on its feet and the economy firing on all cylinders."