Boris Johnson today admitted the UK’s coronavirus death toll is ‘appalling’ as he said he hopes to be able to start easing lockdown rules on Monday.
Mr Johnson returned to the House of Commons for PMQs at lunchtime for the first time since his recovery from coronavirus as he and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer had their debut clash.
In a series of bruising exchanges Sir Keir accused his counterpart of botching the UK’s response to the outbreak.
He said only last week the government had boasted other countries were looking at the ‘apparent success’ of Downing Street‘s approach to tackling the virus.
But with the death toll now almost at 30,000 and worse than any other country in Europe, Sir Keir asked Mr Johnson: ‘How on earth did it come to this?’
Mr Johnson tried to deflect the criticism as he insisted now is not the time for international comparisons due to differences in the way countries compile their statistics.
Despite the grim death toll Mr Johnson announced he is planning to begin lifting lockdown at the start of next week – if the latest scientific data shows the spread of the disease is sufficiently under control.
The Prime Minister is expected to renew social distancing measures on Thursday before then using an address to the nation on Sunday night to set out his lockdown exit strategy.
Mr Johnson said the Sunday address would prepare people for potential changes on Monday.
Boris Johnson today admitted the UK’s coronavirus death toll is ‘appalling’ as he made his return to PMQs
Sir Keir Starmer told the PM the UK’s death toll is ‘now the highest number in Europe’ and ‘it is the second highest in the world’
When and how to ease the current draconian lockdown measures has dominated Westminster for weeks as ministers try to figure out to get Britain back to work.
Referring to his planned address on Sunday, Mr Johnson told MPs at PMQs: ‘I just want to explain to the House as a courtesy why it is happening on a Sunday.
‘The reason for that is very simple, that we have to be sure that the data is going to support our ability to do this.
‘But that data is coming in continuously over the next few days. We will want if we possibly can to get going with some of these measures on Monday.
‘I think it would be a good thing if people had an idea of what is coming the following day, that is why I think Sunday, the weekend, is the best time to do it.’
His comments came after it was claimed that a ban on exercising more than twice a day outside will be one of the first rules to be lifted.
Relaxing rules around outdoor activities is expected to be one of the PM’s first moves because experts believe coronavirus is less likely to spread outside than it is inside.
The Mail today revealed that a selection of activities will be given the green light to reopen within weeks.
Golf, tennis and angling are on a draft list of sports which will be allowed to resume from a date in June if they can be shown to be done safely.
Mr Johnson last appeared in front of MPs on March 25 when the UK’s lockdown was just two days old.
He spent much of the six weeks since then recovering from his own battle with coronavirus before formally returning to work last week.
He had been due to attend PMQs last Wednesday but stand-in Dominic Raab continued to face Sir Keir because of the birth of Mr Johnson’s son Wilfred.
Sir Keir welcomed Mr Johnson back to the chamber before tearing into his handling of the coronavirus crisis.
‘Can I welcome the Prime Minister back to his place and say that it is good to see him back in Parliament,’ he said.
‘Although I have done this privately, can I congratulate him publicly with Carrie on the birth of their son.
‘When the Prime Minister returned to work a week ago Monday he said that many people were looking at the apparent success of the government’s approach.
‘But yesterday we learned tragically that at least 29,427 people in the UK have now lost their lives to this dreadful virus.
‘That is now the highest number in Europe. It is the second highest in the world.
‘That is not success, or apparent success, so can the Prime Minister tell us how on earth did it come to this?’
Mr Johnson replied: ‘First, of course, every death is a tragedy and he is right to draw attention to the appalling statistics not just in this country but of course around the world.
‘I think I would echo really in answer to his question what we have heard from Professor David Spiegelhalter and others that at this stage I don’t think that international comparisons and the data is yet there to draw the conclusions that we want.
‘What I can tell him is that at every stage as we took the decisions that we did we were governed by one overriding principle and aim and that was to save lives and to protect our NHS.
‘I believe that of course there will be a time to look at what decisions we took and whether we could have taken different decisions.
‘But I have absolutely no doubt that what the people of this country want us to do now is as I said just now, to suppress this disease, to keep suppressing this disease and to begin the work of getting our country’s economy back on its feet.’
There are growing fears among some Tory MPs about how the next few months could play out given the current state of the coronavirus crisis and the scale of the death toll.
Some believe Sir Keir could be well suited to scrutinising Mr Johnson and the government’s response to the outbreak given the former’s previous roll as the director of public prosecutions.
One worried Tory MP told Politico: ‘We are in a completely different world now, in terms of the opposition as well as the virus.
‘Starmer is a prosecuting lawyer, and it is going to be the case for the prosecution every week, with Boris as the accused.’