MP GUY Opperman has said the world is facing far greater challenges than 'individuals' civil fixed penalty notices for £50.'

It comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have been fined over lockdown parties at Downing Street. The Prime Minister's wife Carrie Johnson has also been fined for breaching Covid-19 regulations.

This is the first time a Prime Minister has broken the law, leading to resignation calls from grieving families who lost loved ones to Covid and opposition parties.

Like many people across the country, MP Guy Opperman spent Covid shielding. In 2020, he could not go to hospital with his wife as she cared for their children. The Conservative MP was only allowed into hospital as his twins were dying.

"We have to accept that the findings against political leaders, and many others, for breach of lockdown rules does matter", he said.

"Covid was an awful time in many ways, and many of us are still trying to come to terms with loss, bereavement, and sadness.

"It is patently clear that the police consider that the behaviour of many of the hundreds of people who worked in the Number 10 complex of buildings in Whitehall was unacceptable. We are lucky to enjoy an independent police force and rightly everyone appears to accept their decision, whatever the circumstances, and is paying the civil fines, and apologised unreservedly."

Mr Opperman, who told the BBC in January he wanted to see new support staff and a greater focus on consequences in Number 10, added: "I know that Vladimir Putin would rejoice were we to indulge in a three -four-month leadership election midway through the greatest threat to world peace since the Second World War.

"The Ukraine conflict, the problems of recovery post-pandemic, the joint impact on global cost of living, the challenges all western countries and their citizens now face, and the stability of NATO far exceed the importance of individuals' civil fixed penalty notices for £50. And that applies whether you support, or do not support, the PM, the Chancellor, or the dozens of civil servants who appear to have been similarly fined.

"I am clear that the priorities of the UK people and its representatives should be on supporting the Ukrainians in their fight, grappling with the need to support their displaced people, and tackling the consequences of the pandemic and this Ukrainian conflict and their joint impact on cost of living. The PM, the Chancellor, and Defence Secretary have my full support to do that. And I will do what I can as a local constituency MP to assist in those endeavours.”

Glen Sanderson, the Tory leader of Northumberland County Council, declined to comment to the Local Democracy Reporting Service when asked about the fines.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness said on the day of the Downing Street party, Northumbria Police investigated 229 incidents of Covid breaches.

"There cannot be one law for Downing Street and another for the rest of us", she said. "And we simply cannot be allowed to become a country in which the Prime Minister breaks the law and stays in office.”