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Daily Record
Daily Record
Politics
Torcuil Crichton

Met Police issue over 100 fixed penalty notices for Downing Street lockdown breaches

Met Police have made more than one hundred referrals for fixed penalty notices over the partygate lockdown breaches in Downing Street and Whitehall.

Police confirmed that they have more than doubled the number of referrals since they revealed last month that over 50 individuals, including the Prime Minister and Chancellor, had been found in breach of lockdown laws.

Boris Johnson is not believed to be among those issued with notices in the latest round of fines being handed out by the Acro, the criminal records office which issues the penalty notice by letter.

Downing Street has promised to reveal if the Prime Minister has been issued with another fixed penalty notice.

The latest fines which are believed to include penalties for guests at the Downing Street Christmas party in December 2020, confirm Downing Street as the biggest covid rule breaking venue in Britain.

The Prime Minister, his wife Carrie and Rishi Sunak have all already received a fine for attending Johnson's surprise birthday bash in No10 in June 2020.

Scotland Yard are investigating 12 rule-breaking gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall during the pandemic, including six events Johnson is believed to have attended.

Fines have already been issued over two boozy leaving dos on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021, where staff filled a suitcase of wine from a local supermarket and drunkenly broke the PM's baby son's swing.

Another leaving do for a senior No10 official in June 2020, which involved karaoke singing and resulted in a drunken brawl, also attracted fines.

In a statement, the Met said: “As of Thursday 12 May, Operation Hillman, the investigation into breaches of Covid-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street, has made more than 100 referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPNs) to the ACRO Criminal Records Office.

“These referrals have continued to be made throughout the period since our last update on Tuesday 12 April and the investigation remains live.”

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Deputy Leader, said Boris Johnson’s Downing Street had “racked up the dubious distinction of receiving more fines on the Prime Minister’s watch than any other location”.

She added: “Boris Johnson made the rules, and then broke them at record-breaking scale. Britain deserves better.”

The SNP's Westminster Deputy leader Kirsten Oswald MP said: "The sheer scale of law-breaking is staggering."

She added: "It's beyond any doubt that while people made difficult sacrifices and followed the rules to look out for each other, Boris Johnson and his Tory colleagues believed the rules they set didn't apply to them as they laughed and partied away.

"Boris Johnson should have resigned a long time ago over the law-breaking parties - it is beyond shameful that he continues to desperately cling on."

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