Mike Amesbury has urged the Prime Minister to take urgent action and get the country's test, track and trace system working to prevent further damaging lockdowns.

Boris Johnson has announced a national lockdown just a matter of weeks after he ridiculed Labour's calls for a national 'circuit breaker', a suggestion that had been made by the government's own scientists but ignored.

My thoughts on the government's handling of this crisis are well known, they've been a shambles quite frankly with people right around our constituency fearing not only for their health, but their livelihoods all over again.

The country bought the government precious time with its sacrifices earlier this year, but instead of using that time productively to build an effective test, track and trace system, that system is not fit for purpose.

Other countries around the world have proven that this virus can be brought under control and we've learned no lessons from them at all, just continued to throw money at the private sector with nothing to show for it.

By ignoring the pleas of Labour to listen to its own scientific experts which would have seen a shorter circuit breaker lockdown while children were off school, now we face a much harder and longer lockdown with potentially devastating consequences for both health and jobs.

Boris Johnson must use this time to do what he should have before, sort the testing system so we can avoid these damaging lockdowns in the future.