Partygate: Met Police issues 20 fines for lockdown parties in Downing Street and Whitehall

Watch: First 20 fines to be issued over Westminster’s partygate scandal

Twenty fixed penalty notices will be issued for breaches of COVID regulations following allegations of lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street, Scotland Yard said.

The identities of the 20 people being fined has not been made public.

The fines will be referred to the ACRO Criminal Records Office.

In a statement, Scotland Yard said: “The investigation into allegations of breaches of COVID-19 regulations in Whitehall and Downing Street has now progressed to the point where the first referrals for fixed penalty notices (FPN) will be made to ACRO Criminal Records Office.

“We will today initially begin to refer 20 fixed penalty notices to be issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations. The ACRO Criminal Records Office will then be responsible for issuing the FPNs to the individual following the referrals from the MPS.

“We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed and have completed a number of assessments. However, due to the significant amount of investigative material that remains to be assessed, further referrals may be made to ACRO if the evidential threshold is made.”

The force said it will not confirm the number of referrals made from each individual event it is investigating as providing this breakdown at this point could lead to the individuals involved being identified.

Detectives are investigating 12 events, including as many as six prime minister Boris Johnson is said to have attended.

In a statement to a packed but silent House of Commons in January, Johnson apologised for going to an event which invited people to "bring their own booze" to make the "most of the lovely weather".

He said he believed it had been a “work event”.

Watch: Boris Johnson admits he went to No10 party during lockdown

It was also reported a leaving party for the prime minister's former communications secretary James Slack was held, and became so raucous that a swing belonging to the PM's son Wilf was broken, and staff used a suitcase to smuggle alcohol into the building.

Johnson came under intense pressure to quit as a result of the Partygate scandal, but in recent weeks the war in Ukraine has seen MPs rally round the leader at a time of international crisis.

But the Met’s intervention, confirming that laws were broken at the heart of government, could reignite the debate about his leadership.

The Metropolitan Police said more than 100 questionnaires had been sent out to people at the gatherings.

They included a “bring your own booze” event, details of which were emailed to staff at No 10 by the Prime Minister’s principal private secretary Martin Reynolds in May 2020, and a surprise get-together for Mr Johnson’s birthday in June 2020.

Mr Johnson previously admitted he was at the “socially-distanced drinks” organised by Mr Reynolds for 25 minutes – claiming he believed it was a work event – while Downing Street said staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room to mark the Prime Minister’s 56th birthday.

Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the partygate saga had been a “slap in the face” for the public after fixed penalty notices were issued by the Metropolitan Police.

Ms Rayner said: “After over two months of police time, 12 parties investigated and over a hundred people questioned under caution, Boris Johnson’s Downing Street has been found guilty of breaking the law.

“The culture is set from the very top. The buck stops with the Prime Minister, who spent months lying to the British public, which is why he has got to go.

“It is disgraceful that while the rest of the country followed their rules, Boris Johnson’s Government acted like they did not apply to them.

“This has been a slap in the face of the millions of people who made huge sacrifices.“