Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the prime minister to ensure teachers are tested in time for the proposed school re-openings on March 8.

Mr Starmer said he didn’t want to see a situation where lots of pupils and teachers were back at home the following week because “everybody’s self-isolating again”.

He told reporters: “The prime minister said he’s aiming for March 8 - he needs to keep to that. We do need to get our schools open.”

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“The preparation is critical here: get the testing in, get the equipment in. Get the testing of the school staff because what I don’t want is the schools to open on 8 March and, by the 15th - the week after - we’ll have lots of children back at home because everybody’s self-isolating again.

“That disruption is not success. I want schools open - the planning needs to be in and the prime minister needs to hold to that promise he has given to families and children.”

Sir Keir repeated his call for teachers and school staff to be vaccinated, along with the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s (JVCI) priority groups five-to-nine.

He added: “What we saw back in the autumn was, although schools were open, lots of the time children were out because they were self-isolating, because 25,000 teachers were self-isolating within the first few weeks.

“We need to avoid that chaos.”

As yet, the JVCI has not made its recommendation about which will be the next priority groups. However, health secretary Matt Hancock said teachers were in with “a good shout”.