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Boris Johnson faces demands from the Labor Party to explain his proposal to use the Army to help support the police amid the new coronavirus lockdown rules.
He faces Sir Keir Starmer in Prime Minister’s Questions just hours after his television broadcast in which he warned of harsh repression if people continue to break the rules.
And ahead of the PMQs, Labor’s shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds has written to Home Secretary Priti Patel demanding answers about Johnson’s announcement on the use of the Army.
Pub goers watch Boris Johnson’s speech to the nation
In his dramatic television address to the nation, the prime minister said: “We will put more police in the streets and use the army to fill in if necessary.”
And earlier, in his Commons statement, he told deputies that there would be a greater police presence on our streets “and the option of resorting to military support when necessary to free the police.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman later said: “This would imply that the army performs certain functions, such as office functions and surveillance of protected sites, so that police officers can enforce the response to the virus.”
“This is not about giving additional powers to the military, or about them replacing the police in enforcement functions, and they will not impose fines. It is about releasing more police officers.”
But shadow Home Secretary and Starmer ally Thomas-Symonds has written to Ms Patel asking for an explanation of what duties the military will perform, whether they will stand up to the public and how much her role will cost.
“The fact that the military may be needed to support policing shows the extraordinary pressure the police have been subjected to as a result of the thousands of officers lost under this government,” he wrote.
“These last sets of COVID-19 the steps should not have been a surprise, so it is vital that assurance is provided that proper planning has been done.
“In my discussions with high-level figures in the police, I have been concerned to hear that there has not been enough consultation on this important announcement.”
Labor’s defiance came when Johnson delivered a lively and sometimes passionate television speech, calling on the public to obey the rules or face much stricter blackout rules.
“Never in our history has our collective destiny and our collective health depended so completely on our individual behavior,” he said.
“Now is the time for all of us to summon the discipline, determination and spirit of unity that will accompany us.
“I am deeply and spiritually reluctant to do any of these impositions or infringe on someone’s freedom, but unless we take action, the risk is that we will have to take tougher action later, when deaths have already increased and we have a large number. of cases of infection like the one we had in the spring. “
But in Scotland, Prime Minister Nicola Sturgeon told viewers on her television broadcast that her government at Holyrood was already going further than Johnson’s government at Westminster.
“Starting tomorrow, we are all being asked not to visit each other’s homes because we know that this is often how the virus spreads most easily from one home to another,” he said.
“But overall, if we stay out of other people’s homes for now, we give ourselves the best chance of getting COVID back under control.”
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, responding to Johnson’s television address, said: “The prime minister must take responsibility for what has gone wrong and apologize for the chaotic failure of his ‘worldwide’ test-and-trace system.
“It is inexcusable that this vital test and trace operation has been totally overwhelmed in recent weeks.
“Ministers should detail the practical steps they are taking to fix the test and trace system as quickly as possible. This is the only way to avoid further restrictions.”
