Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner have not been handed fixed penalty notices for allegedly breaching lockdown regulations on a trip to Durham last year, police have said. Both had previously promised to step down if they were found to have broken the rules during a visit to the city in April 2021, ahead of the Hartlepool by-election.
Sir Keir was videoed drinking a bottle of beer over a takeaway curry with colleagues in the offices of Mary Foy MP. It later emerged Ms Rayner was also at the gathering, dubbed “beergate” by some.
At the time, non-essential retail and outdoor venues including pub gardens were open, but social distancing rules – which included a ban on indoor mixing between households – remained in place. Durham Police initially investigated and found there was no evidence of rule-breaking, but looked at the case again following the intervention of North West Durham Tory MP Richard Holden in April.
