Over the weekend I received hundreds of emails from constituents expressing their concern, outrage and confusion about Dominic Cummings’ breach of the lockdown rules. I will reply to you all in due course, but in the meantime I thought it would be useful to set out my response here.

I’m sure you will not be surprised to hear that I join my fellow Labour MPs, other colleagues from across the House and people up and down the country in condemning the actions of both Mr Cummings and the Prime Minister.

Mr Cummings has stated that he made what he believed to be the right decision in difficult circumstances. Yet one quick glance at my email inbox or social media will give you many, many examples of people who, finding themselves in similar or more difficult circumstances, did as the Government had advised and stayed at home to protect the NHS and save lives. This includes countless people who were unable to visit dying relatives.

At his press conference yesterday, the British people were looking for at least an apology from Mr Cummings, but they got none.

Perhaps even more shockingly, the Prime Minister has defended Mr Cummings and he remains in his job.

The message from this Government is clear: it’s one rule for Boris Johnson’s closest adviser and another for everybody else.