Boris Johnson is being told to resign as prime minister after the Met Police issued 30 more fines for lockdown parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.
This more than doubles the 20 fines sent out last month as a result of the police probe.
The Met Police say officers have now made more than 50 referrals for fixed penalty notices to the ACRO Criminal Records Office, who will ultimately issue the fines.
Opposition parties and campaigners are now calling once again for the prime minister to step down in the wake of the scandal.
‘Significant’ investigation
In a statement the Met Police said: “The investigation into allegations of breaches of Covid-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street continues to progress.
“As of Tuesday April 12 we have made 50 referrals for fixed penalty notices to the ACRO Criminal Records Office for breaches of Covid-19 regulations who, following the referral, issue the fixed penalty notices to the individual.
“We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed, this includes continuing to assess significant amounts of investigative material from which further referrals may be made to ACRO.”
Scale of rule-breaking ‘staggering’
Following the announcement by the Met Police, calls for the prime minister to resign have ramped up once again.
Kirsten Oswald, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, said: “These latest partygate fines expose once again Boris Johnson’s pathetic defence that no parties were held or that the rules were followed is a lie.
“The sheer scale of rule-breaking at the heart of Downing Street is staggering.
“People will be looking on in horror as those that set the rules blatantly broke them – making it clear that it’s one rule for the Tories and another for everyone else.”
She adds the public will want the prime minister to be held accountable, and said: “Boris Johnson should have resigned a long time ago over the rule-breaking parties, but his ego and lack of dignity has led him to desperately cling on.
“The reality is that the longer he stays in office the more lasting the damage will be.”
Johnson unfit for office
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “Over 50 fines for the Tories who partied while people suffered.
“The evidence is clear – the law has been broken and the prime minister tried to claim it wasn’t.
“Boris Johnson is unfit for the office of prime minister and every single Conservative candidate in May’s local elections now must explain why they decided to put their name next to his party’s logo.
“People are right to be upset and angry.
“They should take out their anger with Boris Johnson’s Tories on the 5 May – at the ballot box.”
The leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said: “These fines expose the shocking scale of the criminality in Boris Johnson’s Number 10.
“The police have now completely shredded Johnson’s claims that no laws were broken.
“He cannot be trusted and cannot continue as prime minister.
“No other leader in any other organisation would be allowed to continue after law-breaking on this scale.
“If Boris Johnson won’t resign, Conservative MPs must show him the door.”
‘Unbelievably painful’ reality
Elsewhere the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group has reiterated its call for the prime minister to resign.
Co-founder of the group Matt Fowler said: “There you have it – it’s now indisputable that whilst bereaved families were unable to be at their loved ones’ sides in their last moments, or stood at their funerals alone, the people responsible for protecting us in Downing Street were partying and rule breaking en masse.
“It’s a reality that is unbelievably painful for bereaved families like mine to face as we try and move forward with our lives.”
He said it is “plan as day” there was a “culture of boozing and rule-breaching at the highest level of government” while up and down the country the public made “unimaginable sacrifices” to protect their loved ones.
Mr Fowler continued: “The man responsible for that culture is the prime minister.
“The same man that looked bereaved families in the eye last year and told us that he had done ‘everything he could to protect their loved ones’.
“If Boris Johnson had any decency he would do the right thing and resign immediately.”
Why haven’t the people fined over partygate been identified?