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 the disease 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 official 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.
Doctors today called for a public inquiry into the UK government’s handling of the crisis to determine why Britain has been worst hit in Europe.
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 conceded at PMQs that the UK’s coronavirus death toll is ‘appalling’
Mr Johnson and Sir Keir faced-off surrounded by empty benches in the usually packed chamber, in their first PMQs since the PM recovered from coronavirus
The PM was put under pressure by Sir Keir Starmer as the pair clashed for the first time at PMQs
Downing Street’s latest statistics suggest the UK’s coronavirus death toll is now the highest in Europe
When the number of COVID-19 patients dying was at its highest in hospitals, around April 8, it was still relatively low in care homes, which then surged in the days and weeks following
The UK now has more confirmed COVID-19 deaths – according to backdated statistics from the Office for National Statistics, National Records Scotland, and Northern Ireland’s NISRA – than any other country in Europe
When and how to ease the current draconian lockdown measures has dominated Westminster for weeks as ministers try to figure out how 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 once 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.’
The government is under growing pressure to agree to an inquiry into coronavirus in the UK.
Official Department of Health data published yesterday showed 29,427 people had died – but those numbers only include people who have tested positive for the virus.
Different detailed statistics also published yesterday suggested that more than 30,000 Britons had died of COVID-19 by April 24 – almost two weeks ago – and the number of victims continues to rise.
Trends suggest more than 40,000 people may actually have died with the illness, the same number of civilians who were killed over seven months during the Blitz in World War Two.
The president of the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association has now said there should be an investigation into the Government’s performance.
Dr Claudia Paoloni said questions must be asked about how quickly Downing Street reacted to the threat, whether lockdown came early enough and why the testing and tracing attempt has been ‘inadequate’.
She told The Guardian: ‘There will have to be a full investigation of the handling of the COVID response in due course – a public inquiry – to understand why we are experiencing such large numbers in comparison to the rest of Europe. ‘