Prime Minister Boris Johnson has apologised in the House of Commons this evening for breaching Covid lockdown rules.

This comes shortly after the Prime Minister was issued a fixed-penalty notice for ignoring the restrictions that were implicated across the country.He said: "I paid the fine immediately and offered the British people a full apology.""As soon as I received the notice, I acknowledged the hurt and the anger and I said that people had a right to expect better of their prime minister – and I repeat that again in the house now."

He added: "It did not occur to me then or subsequently that a gathering in the cabinet room, just before a vital meeting on Covid strategy, could amount to a breach of the rules. That was my mistake and I apologise for it unreservedly." Johnson urged MP's to remain focused on pressing issues such as the conflict in Ukraine. Claiming that the "hurt and anger" that Britain feels has given him "an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people, and to respond in the best traditions of our country to Putin's barbaric onslaught on Ukraine".

The Prime Minister's apology received heated responses, with Labour Leader, Sir Keir Starmer saying: "What a joke. Even now, as the latest mealy-mouthed apology stumbles out of one side of his mouth, a new set of deflections and distortions pours from the other." On Thursday, MP's will vote on a motion to refer Boris Johnson to the House of Common privileges committee over the claim that the Prime Minister lied to parliament about lockdown gatherings.Because Johnson told MP's that "all guidance was followed" in December, the ministerial code could mean that the Prime Minister must offer this resignation. This is because it is expected that ministers who "knowingly mislead parliament" resign.