Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was a theme to his exchanges during Prime Minister's Question with Boris Johnson in which the Prime Minister “dodges the question”.

He highlighted how two previous answers from the PM about a decrease in absolute child poverty and relative child poverty were judged “mostly false” by the office of the Children’s Commissioner for England, while another claim about fewer families living in poverty was also deemed “false”.

Sir Keir went on: “He’s been found out. He either dodges the question or he gives dodgy answers.

“No more witnesses, I rest my case. Will the Prime Minister do the decent thing and correct the record in relation to child poverty?”

Mr Johnson replied: “I’m happy to point out to my learned friend that actually there are 100,000 fewer children in absolute poverty and 500,000 falling below the thresholds of low income and material deprivation.”

The PM defended the Government’s spending record before pressing Sir Keir to encourage children back to school.

Sir Keir also highlighted the concerns of local authorities that they will not have the powers to implement local lockdowns quickly in the event of outbreaks.

He said: “The real concern amongst council leaders is that they don’t have the powers or guidance to implement lockdowns quickly if needed.”

Sir Keir added: “Can the Prime Minister tell us when local authorities will get the guidance that they need?”

Boris Johnson responded: “Everybody understands and we’ve seen it already, when there are local outbreaks, for instance in Weston-super-Mare or GP surgeries in north London, there have been local lockdowns, local crackdowns.

“We have a very effective cluster-busting operation which is designed to ensure that we keep those outbreaks under control.”

Directors of Public Health and council leaders have expressed their concern over the term local lockdowns, and said they were in the dark about what it meant.

PM accused of dodging the question and giving 'dodgy answers' in Parliament