UK’s Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition Keir Starmer slammed Prime Minister Boris Johnson over his alleged slow lockdown response against coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which he said resulted in hundreds of lives.

In a report by The Guardian, Starmer said he cannot forgive the mistakes of the government over its response against the pandemic, as they costed lives and livelihood.

In the middle of October, the Labour leader called on the government to have a two-week break for the country to counter the increasing number of COVID-19 cases, which followed scientific advisers calling for lockdown back in September. The ministers initially rejected this recommendation, but changed their minds after an analysis that showed how COVID-19 casualties over the winter would significantly topple those in the first wave.

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He added that when the experts recommended this lockdown back in September, there were already over 4,000 daily infections and 11 deaths. When Johnson finally decided to announce a national lockdown just four days ago, the deaths have increased to over 300 a day and cases about 22,000.

“That is the human cost of the government’s inaction. It makes me so angry and so frustrated that when the British people – and British businesses – have given so much and made so many sacrifices, they have been let down so badly by the government,” he said.

He added that Johnson has also failed to reach a full Brexit trade deal with the European Union, which could have grave effects on the already battered country against COVID-19 when it departs the organization on December 31 without a final deal.

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