The Labour leader has called for teachers to be vaccinated during the February half-term so that schools can be reopened more widely.

Today, during prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons, Labour party leader Sir Keir Starmer said that Boris Johnson should bring forward the time frame for vaccinating key workers - including teachers - to the February half-term.

“Everybody agrees that reopening our schools should be a national priority, but that requires a plan. But the prime minister hasn’t got a plan,” Sir Keir said.

Coronavirus: Give teachers vaccine in half-term, says Starmer

“So, as a first step, does he agree with me that once the first four categories of the most vulnerable have been vaccinated by mid-February, he should bring forward the vaccination of key workers and use the window of the February half-term to vaccinate all teachers and all school staff?”

Mr Johnson responded: “Mr Speaker, of course it follows that all teachers in JCVI [the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] groups 1 to 9 will be vaccinated as a matter of priority, and I pay tribute to the huge efforts that parents are making across the country struggling to educate their kids - I know how deeply frustrating it is, the extra burden that we’ve placed on families by closing the schools.”

He said no one had worked harder than education secretary, Gavin Williamson, to keep schools open.