OTLEY’S MP has spoken out about the controversy surrounding Dominic Cummings’ lockdown journey.

The decision of the Prime Minister’s chief adviser to drive from London to Durham at the height of the restrictions has attracted widespread criticism. Alex Sobel (Lab, Leeds North West) believes Mr Cummings’ actions, and Boris Johnson’s defence of them, has led to ‘a huge mistrust not only in the Government but in the advice in general’.

The MP said: “This is not an easy time for any of us. I hear from families unable to hold proper funerals for loved ones, from parents who have very little space at home, desperately trying to look after their children.

“They are all making sacrifices and are doing so because their government has rightly stressed the need for these sacrifices to be made in order to save lives. What people need from their government is clarity, consistency and a sense that those sacrifices are being respected by everyone.

“What Dominic Cummings did was wrong. It was every bit as wrong as Neil Ferguson, who did the right thing in the end and resigned for breaking lockdown advice.”