THE Prime Minister has said that if lockdown needs to be reimposed in areas because of the number of coronavirus cases in that district then the Government will act decisively like it has in Leicester.

Answering questions from Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in Parliament today, Boris Johnson said that all local authorities in England had been given the figures for positive tests in their area - specifically mentioning Bradford and Kirklees.

Sir Keir had suggested the council in Leicester had not been given the data from local community swab tests - called Pillar 2 data - for a week causing a delay to lockdown but Mr Johnson disputed this.

He said: "Both Pillar 1 and 2 data have been shared, not just with Leicester but with all authorities across the country and we did in Leicester exactly what we did for instance in Kirklees or in Bradford other in other places where very effective 'whack-a-mole' strategies have been put in place.

"But there were particular problems in Leicester in implementing the advice and getting people to understand what was necessary to do.

"But the Government has acted and he [Sir Keir] wants to know whether the Government will act in future to ensure that we protect the health service for the entire country and I can tell him that we will absolutely."

Public Health England only publishes test results from swab tests in labs, tests in NHS hospitals and health and care worker test results, Pillar 1 data.

But tests performed at testing centres and other swab tests on the general population, Pillar 2 test results, were not included in the published data until today.

Mr Johnson said the Government "acted decisively" and "put on the brakes" in Leicester.

During Prime Minister's Questions, he told the Commons: "Actually the Government first took notice and acted that was going on in Leicester on June 8 because we could see there was an issue there.

"We sent mobile testing units shortly thereafter.

"We engaged actively with the authorities in Leicester, with public health in Leicester, with everyone responsible in Leicester, in the way we have done with other areas that have had similar issues.

"Unfortunately in Leicester, it did not prove possible to get the results that we have seen elsewhere so on Monday we took the decision, which I hope the right honourable gentleman approves of, to go into lockdown in Leicester.

"Because I have been absolutely clear with the House and with the country we are going forward, we have made huge progress but where necessary we will put on the brakes. We acted decisively and I think it was the right thing to do."

Sir Keir Starmer said: "The Prime Minister can't just bat away challenge. These are matters of life and death, other people's livelihoods.

"An example of this, last week the Member for Hove (Peter Kyle) asked the Prime Minister how can seaside towns be expected to cope with likely influx of visitors to beaches and parks during the hot weather?

"The Prime Minister replied, show some guts. Two days later Bournemouth beach was closed with 500,000 visitors, a major incident was declared. Does the Prime Minister now regret being so flippant?"

Mr Johnson replied that he was making it "absolutely clear that as we go forward with our plan, our cautious plan for opening up the economy, it is very, very important that people who do represent seaside communities, places where UK tourists will want to go, should be as welcoming as they can possibly be".

He added: "But it is also vital that people have to behave responsibly and that is why the scenes in Bournemouth were completely unacceptable and that is why we stick to the advice that we have given."

Sir Keir said the issue is a "concern" as there is nationwide lifting of lockdown restrictions this weekend "without an app, without clear data for local authorities or the world-beating system we were promised".

He added: "I support the easing of restrictions but unlike the Prime Minister, I'm not blind to the risks and I don't think anybody else should be."

Sir Keir said: "Of the 22,000 new cases of Covid infections per week in mid June, just 5,000 were reached and asked to provide details. So now three quarters of people with Covid-19 are not being reached. How does the Prime Minister explain that?"

Boris Johnson replied: "As he knows very well the test, track and trace operation is actually reaching huge numbers of people and causing them to self-isolate in ways I don't think he conceivably could have expected a month ago when this system was set up.

Mr Johnson added that the Test and Trace system "has now reached 113,000 contacts, 113,000 contacts who have undertaken to self-isolate to stop the disease spreading".