Partygate: Met Police issue 30 more Downing Street lockdown fines

12 April 2022, 13:14 | Updated: 12 April 2022, 13:15

Police investigating allegations of lockdown parties held in Downing Street and Whitehall have now made more than 50 referrals for fines.

At least 30 more fixed penalty notices will be issued by the ACRO Criminal Records Office, the Metropolitan Police said in its latest update on Operation Hillman today, which is looking into breaches of Covid-19 regulations.

This is up from the 20 referrals for fixed-penalty notices (FPN) the force said had been made at the end of March.

Scotland Yard said it was "making every effort to progress this investigation at speed", with the possibility of more fines to come.

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The identities of people issued with FPNs have not been disclosed publicly by the Met, nor the event a fine relates to.

However, Downing Street has said it will confirm if either Boris Johnson or Cabinet Secretary Simon Case are handed a fine.

No 10 has been approached about whether the Prime Minister or Mr Case have been notified about an incoming fine as part of the latest batch of referrals.

Mr Johnson is understood to have been present at six of the at least 12 events being investigated.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the additional fines "expose the shocking scale of the criminality in Boris Johnson's No 10".

The former cabinet minister added: "The police have now completely shredded Johnson's claims that no laws were broken.

"He cannot be trusted and cannot continue as Prime Minister.

"No other leader in any other organisation would be allowed to continue after law-breaking on this scale.

"If Boris Johnson won't resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door."

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said: "This is just the latest example of a distracted out-of-touch government, guilty of breaking the law never mind enforcing it."

Matt Fowler, co-founder of Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said the FPN referrals were "indisputable" evidence that there was "rule breaking en masse" in Government while families were "unable to be at their loved ones' sides in their last moments".

"If Boris Johnson had any decency he would do the right thing and resign immediately," he said.

ACRO Criminal Records Office, the body responsible for issuing the penalties, will now deal with the latest tranche confirmed by police on Tuesday.