LABOUR urged the government today to impose a temporary national coronavirus lockdown, warning that more jobs will be put at risk if ministers wait for a U-turn.

During a fiery Prime Minister’s Questions, PM Boris Johnson was grilled by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on why he had rejected experts’ advice to introduce a so-called circuit-breaker lockdown of two to three weeks.

Sir Keir echoed the view of the Sage committee of scientists, saying that “tougher measures are now unavoidable.”

He pressed Mr Johnson to go beyond the regional three-tier system that came into effect in England today.

Sage told ministers three weeks ago that a temporary lockdown could substantially reduce the coronavirus-related death toll.

Mr Johnson said he was ruling nothing out but repeated his wish to avoid the “misery of another national lockdown.”

Sir Keir derided Mr Johnson as an “opportunist all his life” and asked the PM what alternative plan he had to get the current 1.2-1.5 R rate — the number of people an infected person is likely to spread the virus to — to below 1.

Mr Johnson replied that his plan was “the plan that [Sir Keir] supported on Monday” and accused Labour of opportunism and reneging on its support for the tiered system. He urged Labour mayors to support the government’s current plans, telling MPs that he wants “the most stringent measures necessary in the places where the virus is surging.”

During an opposition day debate, Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Labour counterpart Anneliese Dodds referred to reports last month that he had threatened to quit if Mr Johnson imposed a second national lockdown.

She said: “More and more areas will eventually come under localised restrictions until the government is then forced into national restrictions in any case.”

She said that economic uncertainty is costing more jobs as “more businesses go to the wall.”

“The question isn’t whether we can afford a circuit breaker, the question is whether we can continue with a government that ducks making hard choices until its forced into them,” she said.

Bill Esterson, Labour MP for Liverpool’s Sefton Central, said the circuit break was inevitable, adding: “I wonder whether the Prime Minister’s words will come back to haunt him in a couple of weeks’ time as he admits that and does yet another U-turn.”  

In another opposition day debate, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said the government should sack Serco and give money to local public-health teams to test and trace for Covid-19.

“Serco didn’t bid for the contact-tracing contract — they were handed it on a plate with no competition, no rigour and no transparency,” she said.

Health Minister Jo Churchill responded that outsourcing companies were awarded contracts through a “fair and open competition.”

Ms Reeves replied: “I challenge the minister today to name all of Serco’s subcontractors and publish details on how much they have been paid and for what … I fear that the more we know about what is happening in contract tracing under the bonnet, the worse that it gets.”

She accused the government of being “obsessed with a failed model of outsourcing” but added that it is “not too late for the government to change course.”

Meanwhile, campaign group Labour Assembly Against Austerity called for a “post-pandemic plan for the people” which includes full employment through a green new deal, as reported by LabourList.

It is backed by more than 10,000 activists and endorsed by Labour MPs such as Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Rebecca Long Bailey and Richard Burgon.

The group said it hopes the Labour leadership backs the measures.