THE Yorkshire Party leader is calling for the Prime Minister to resign over his ‘mishandling’ of the pandemic.

Bob Buxton, a candidate for West Yorkshire Mayor, is arguing that Boris Johnson should have imposed the lockdown earlier.

He said: “The Prime Minister falsely claimed he has been ‘guided by the science’ throughout the pandemic. But he ignored SAGE scientists when they called for an immediately circuit-breaker lockdown on September 21. He didn’t lockdown for another 45 days.”

“Boris Johnson lurches from one disaster to the next. He refuses to make strong decisions when they are needed, putting popularity before lives – only to U-turn after more damage has been done. It is a complete disgrace that he has let it get to this point.

“The delay and dither has ruined Christmas. He has not even considered allowing keyworkers working on Christmas Day to meet their families on Boxing Day instead – surely that is only fair for those who have given so much?”

Dr Buxton, who lives in Rawdon, was also critical of Keir Starmer.

“People look to the leader of the opposition to speak up for them with passion – at best, he’s anonymous, at worst, he’s a yes man,” he said.

Dr Buxton urged people to obey the law, adding: “It’s not about whether you like this government or this Prime Minister, it’s about saving lives. I don’t blame the Government for cancelling the Christmas relaxation of the rules – I blame them for ignoring SAGE scientists in September and creating the situation which has made it necessary.”

Announcing the lockdown on Monday Mr Johnson said: “Since the pandemic began last year, the whole United Kingdom has been engaged in a great national effort to fight Covid. And there is no doubt that in fighting the old variant of the virus, our collective efforts were working and would have continued to work.

“But we now have a new variant of the virus. It has been both frustrating and alarming to see the speed with which the new variant is spreading.”