PMQs returns for first session since local elections

Boris Johnson is rattled by Keir Starmer's line of questioning at PMQs - Credit: Jessica Taylor/House of Commons

Boris Johnson is to face Labour leader Keir Starmer for Prime Minister’s Questions for the first time since the local elections and the Queen’s Speech.

The prime minister could face pressure to clarify the confusion around international travel rules after one of his ministers said all international trips were “dangerous”.

Would-be holidaymakers were left with their plans for a summer break up in the air after ministers appeared to contradict themselves over where the public is permitted to travel abroad.

With a new traffic light system brought in on Monday to allow some foreign travel to resume again after months of coronavirus lockdown, the prime minister stressed countries on the so-called “amber list” were “not somewhere where you should be going on holiday”.

Johnson’s official spokesman, during a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, said holidays and leisure travel should still be restricted to the limited number of countries deemed safe by ministers, such as Portugal, which feature on the quarantine-free “green list”.

But two cabinet ministers appeared to offer a different reading of the rules, with environment secretary George Eustice telling broadcasters people could go to amber-listed countries as long as they observed quarantine rules on their return.

Labour is also tabling a motion to require the government to publish lessons learned from the pandemic to protect the plan to scrap all Covid-19 restrictions by June 21.

It follows the publication of a report by the National Audit Office (NAO) which found that the pandemic had “laid bare existing fault lines within society and has exacerbated inequalities”.

Starmer could also ask about the resignation of a nurse who looked after Johnson when he was hospitalised with coronavirus last year.

She has made front pages after announcing her resignation over the government’s 1% pay offer and its lack of respect for the profession.

Elsewhere in the Commons, the government will be pressured into learning the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic so far.

Labour will look to capitalise on the findings in the final debate on the Queen’s Speech with the opposition party tabling a humble address calling on the government to publish its internal review of the handling of the pandemic to ensure lessons can be implemented in the race against the Indian variant.