LABOUR leader Sir Keir Starmer took the government to task today over Britain’s “truly dreadful” coronavirus death toll, which he said was “possibly on track” to becoming the worst in Europe.

He faced de facto PM Dominic Raab in Prime Minister’s Questions to say that the Tory government had been slow to react to the crisis and failed to keep the number of deaths below its suggested target.

Mr Starmer said that six weeks ago chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance indicated the government hoped to keep the overall number of deaths below 20,000.

Public Health England announced a total of 26,097 patients who have died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm today.

Mr Starmer said: “We’re clearly way above that number and we’re only partway through this crisis.”

Foreign Secretary Mr Raab said: “This is an unprecedented pandemic, a global pandemic, and I think in fairness we shouldn’t criticise either the CMO [chief medical officer] or the deputy CMO for trying to give some forecast in response to the questions that many in this chamber and many in the media are calling for.”

Mr Starmer also asked why the number of deaths in care homes was still increasing, to which Mr Raab could only say that getting the number of deaths down was a “challenge that we must grip.”

On personal protective equipment (PPE) for NHS and care workers, Mr Starmer said that there had been enough time for the government to import provisions or have them made domestically in order to meet demand.

He asked Mr Raab how ministers were planning to increase supply.

Mr Starmer said: “It is 10 weeks since the Health Secretary declared that there was a serious and imminent threat to life. You’d hope that by now, things would be getting better, not worse.”

Mr Raab acknowledged that there were “challenges on the front line” regarding PPE but failed to answer what the government will do about it.

Mr Raab stood in for Boris Johnson after the PM’s fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth to their son this morning. 

The birth comes after both parents had contracted Covid-19.

Mr Johnson, who returned to work on Monday after recovering at Chequers and in an intensive care unit, is expected to take a short period of paternity leave later this year, a Downing Street spokesman said.