The speaker of the House of Commons has criticised Boris Johnson for his no-show in parliament after announcing a national emergency caused by the Omicron variant.
On Sunday night, the prime minister gave a pre-recorded address to the nation where he announced a new deadline of jabbing everyone over 18 by the new year amid surging cases of the new strain. The UK’s first Omicron linked death was announced a day later.
Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle made his disquiet plain on Monday on the PM not announcing the plans to parliament first.
Ahead of a Covid update from health secretary Sajid Javid, Hoyle told MPs: “Before I call the secretary of state for health and social care I want to put on record my disappointment the prime minister is not here to make this statement.
“Can I say, last night when the secretary of state called me to say that the prime minister felt the need to make the announcement to the country yesterday, I am surprised that he did not therefore think it appropriate to come to this house to answer questions to announce it today.
“I have got to say I have respect for the secretary of state for health but I am really, really disappointed that once again this house has become second runner-up to TV news.
“Not acceptable. If this is a game we are going to play, we are going to have to play hardball.”
Johnson has refused to rule out tighter restrictions ahead of Christmas as at least one person in the UK has died with the Omicron variant.
It came after Javid said the government will “throw everything at” the booster programme to tackle Omicron, which is spreading fast across the UK.
There has been confusion over whether people will be guaranteed a jab by December 31, with NHS England saying everyone will have been offered the chance to book a booster.
In England a booster is available to everyone aged 18 or over from this week as long as the second dose was at least three months ago.
Over-30s can already book a booster online and, from Wednesday, this will be extended to over-18s.
Earlier, Javid said there were 10 people in hospital in England with Omicron, but warned that cases, hospital admissions and deaths will rise.
The UK Health Security Agency said the 10 are spread around the country and their ages range between 18 and 85.
The majority have received two doses of a vaccine though it is unclear whether any of those affected have underlying health conditions.