SHIPLEY MP Philip Davies has said that yesterday’s Sue Gray report update has “clearly damaged trust in the Government and Prime Minister”.

Mr Davies, who has represented Shipley since 2005, was speaking following the publication of the report which revealed Sue Gray was looking into 16 gatherings held during the pandemic, with 12 being investigated by police.

She said there was a “serious failure” to abide by Covid regulations in Downing Street, “failures of leadership”, an “inappropriate” drinking culture among staff, and that some of the gatherings she is investigating “should not have taken place”.

Reacting to the report, Mr Davies said he was disappointed the full report had not been published but it confirmed his fears about a “cavalier approach” by Downing Street to the Covid guidelines they put in place, which he followed despite long being an outspoken critic of lockdown rules and voting against their imposition.

Mr Davies said: “It is very disappointing that the Metropolitan Police only allowed Sue Gray to deliver an update rather than her final report which we still await.

“However, what she has published yesterday still confirms the concerns I have already expressed about the cavalier approach in Number 10 to abiding by the arbitrary, damaging and inhumane rules that they had imposed on everyone else.

“I followed these laws even though I had voted against them and there is no excuse for anyone in government not to have done so too.

“This has clearly damaged trust in the government and in the Prime Minister.”

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