North East MPs have called on the Prime Minister to resign following his apology in the House of Commons today for breaking lockdown rules.
Boris Johnson addressed MPs for the first time since he was fined for breaching Covid rules making him the UK's first serving prime minister to be sanctioned for breaking the law. Mr Johnson received a £50 fixed penalty notice for attending a gathering to celebrate his birthday in No 10.
Apologising in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said: "As soon as I received the notice, I acknowledged the hurt and anger and I said that people had a right to expect better of their Prime Minister – and I repeat that, Mr Speaker, again in the House now."
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He continued: "It did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the Cabinet Room just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy could amount to a breach of the rules. I repeat that was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly."
Now, North East MPs have called for Mr Johnson to resign, saying his actions have brought shame on the country.
City of Durham Labour MP Mary Foy said: “The Prime Minister has suggested he has made changes in Downing Street, and that we should move on. I am afraid we can only move on when the change in Downing Street is his own resignation.
"It is unbelievable that the Prime Minister believes that the rules should apply to those grieving in isolation while burying loved ones. That they should apply to those who had to wave at family members through care home windows for weeks and months.
"But the Prime Minister believes that those very rules should not apply to him, the man who brought them into force. Faced with a cost of living crisis at home, and Russian tanks advancing in Ukraine, we cannot go on with a Government distracted by its own lawlessness.
"Every day the lawbreaker remains in office he brings shame on our country.”
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Shouts of “resign” could be heard in the Commons while Mr Johnson was speaking, however, the Prime Minister made clear he has no intention of doing that, saying: "My job is to work every day to make the British people safer, more secure and more prosperous and that is what I will continue to do.”
South Shields Labour MP Emma Lewell-Buck called Mr Johnson a "liar" as she called on him to resign.
"It absolutely sickens and worries me because his behaviour, and the behaviour of those MPs who are defending him, impacts on all of us," she said.
"People will judge us [Mps] all the same and they will lose faith in MPs full stop.
"The reality is he is a liar. No one who is a liar can maintain authority as Prime Minister - no one in the country is going to listen to him.
"The Prime Minister should have resigned ages ago. He lied to the House of Commons and he has lied to the whole country and he knowingly did that."
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has confirmed that MPs will vote on Thursday on whether the Prime Minister had misled Parliament.
Gateshead Labour MP Ian Mearns said that the Prime Minister would be "found out in the coming days".
"This is no longer just about his attendance at the plethora of Downing Street 'gatherings' when the country was enduring the family privations of several lockdown occurrences," he said.
"It is as much about the Prime Minister repeatedly coming to the House of Commons and repeatedly denying any wrongdoing!
"He has been found out and will be again in the coming days. I cannot think of any other Prime Minister in living memory or beyond, who would not have already resigned weeks or even months ago!"
Newcastle Central Labour MP Chi Onwurah called the Prime Minister an "embarrassment" and said his actions were an "insult" to those who followed the rules.
"The Prime Minister’s statement was a real insult to all those in the North East who followed the rules, weighing up the personal cost versus the deadly power of the virus," she said.
"He expects us to believe he didn’t know he was breaking the rules he set, that he accepts the fine but won’t say he broke the law.
"His lack of respect for the huge personal sacrifices made by so many is corrupting our political life, with ministers busy protecting him from the law rather than my constituents from the cost of living crisis. He is an embarrassment."
