Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer has accused prime minister Boris Johnson of lying about discussing a task force on school openings over the telephone.
Boris Johnson said he had spoken with Mr Starmer over “a modern device called the telephone” about collaborating on school openings, but Mr Starmer said this discussion had never taken place.
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Speaking in the House of Commons at prime minister’s questions today, Mr Starmer said: “We all want as many children back into school as soon as it’s possible and as soon as it’s safe. What that required for that to happen was a robust national plan, consensus among all key stakeholders and strong leadership from the top.
“All three are missing. The current arrangements lie in tatters, parents have lost confidence in the government’s approach. Millions of children will miss six months’ worth of schooling and inequality will now go up.
He added: “Several weeks ago I suggested to the prime minister that we set up a national task force so everybody could put their shoulder to the wheel. It’s not too late. Will the prime minister take me up on this?”
Mr Johnson responded: “As I told the house before, I’ve been in contact with the right honourable gentleman by a modern device called the telephone in which we’ve tried to agree a way forward which he then seemed to deviate from later on.
“Last week, he was telling the house that it was not yet safe for kids to go back to school, this week, he’s saying that not enough kids are going back to school.
“I really think he needs to make up his mind and since he’s so fond of these international comparisons he should know that there are some countries in the EU where no primary school kids are going back to school, and we are being extremely cautious in our approach, we’re following the plan that we set out, and I think that the people of this country will want to follow it.”
Mr Johnson added that of schools submitting data, 97 per cent had more pupils returning, and that Mr Starmer and the trade unions should be “encouraging” of this.
Mr Starmer said that he and Mr Johnson had never spoken about a task force on opening schools and accused the prime minister of “flailing” on the issue.
“Let’s have this out: the prime minister and I have never discussed our letter in any phone call - he knows it and I know it. The task force has never been the subject of a conversation between him and me one to one or in any other circumstance on the telephone - he knows it. So please drop that,” he said.
“Plenty of other comparable countries are getting their children back to school - Wales is an example, across Europe, there are other examples. We’re the outlier on this. And it’s no good, Mr Speaker, the prime minister flailing around trying to blame others,” he added.
