Rethink 10pm curfew and consider staggered closing times post-lockdown, Starmer says

'It didn’t work and we saw people crowding out at 10 o’clock,' Labour leader says

Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government to “look again” at the 10pm curfew on pubs and restaurants, as Boris Johnson plans a return to the tiered system of restrictions when England’s national lockdown ends in December.

The Labour leader said the prime minister should consider staggering times for closures so that scenes of people crowding streets and public transport are not repeated if the curfew policy is retained next month.

The issue became a major flashpoint between No 10, hospitality businesses and Conservative MPs, who called for the curfew to be scrapped before the government imposed a national lockdown last week – closing all social venues until 2 December.

Documents released by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) also showed last month they had warned curfews are “likely to have a marginal impact” on reducing the growth of the epidemic.

“I do think we get the chance to look again at the 10pm curfew,” Sir Keir told LBC Radio. “I can understand what the government was trying to achieve to be honest, but it didn’t work and we saw people crowding out at 10 o’clock.”

Echoing calls from the London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has previously called for a re-think of the contentious policy, he added: “There’s a smarter way of doing this and I think that if you were to stagger that time differently, so people left at different times, it would be far better.

“When this came up in parliament – we had a straight what you call up, down vote, which is you either you vote for it or against it. You can’t change it.  A number of Tory MPs think this needs to be reviewed.”

Sir Keir also welcomed the election of Joe Biden at the weekend following the US election in which Donald Trump was defeated in his attempt to seek a second term at the White House. He said there was “lessons” for the Labour Party in the former vice president’s victory, “on coalition building and looking to people who haven’t voted Labour and listening and engaging in a different way”.

He said: “When people don’t vote for you you don’t look at them and say you’re wrong, you actually look at them and say can we have a discussion because if we lost an election as badly as we did last December, we need to look at ourselves rather than the electorate.”

The Labour leader also suggested Mr Biden would bring a “degree of clarity” on Brexit as London and Brussels continue to struggle to thrash out a future trading agreement and avoid the possibility of a disorderly break with the EU next month.

“I think he brings a degree of clarity on Brexit actually because he’s very strong on the Good Friday Agreement and as we go into the final few days of negotiation, just a bit of focus on that might actually help both sides,” he said.

“We do want a deal and I think a deal is possible, but the fact we know exactly where he stands on that actually helps the process.

“He believes on the world stage you pull countries together, you cooperate, and build bridges and that’s the opposite of what Donald Trump felt – America first.”