CHRISTCHURCH MP Sir Christopher Chope has said people should "wait and see" if Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak accept fixed penalty notices issued for breaking lockdown rules.
The Prime Minister and Chancellor have been told they will be fined as part of a police probe into allegations of lockdown parties held at Downing Street.
It comes after the Metropolitan Police announced 30 additional fines on Tuesday in relation to Operation Hillman, which is looking into breaches of Covid-19 regulations at the top of Government.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer have today received notification that the Metropolitan Police intend to issue them with fixed penalty notices.
“We have no further details, but we will update you again when we do.”
Sir Christopher told the Daily Echo: “We don’t whether these fines are going to be accepted.
“It is possible if a fixed penalty notice is issued, to appeal against it and I imagine that is what the Chancellor and the Prime Minister will be thinking about.
“Those are the facts. Let’s wait and see if they accept these penalties – that’s the first thing.”
Asked about calls for Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to resign, Sir Christopher said: “This is where the lawyer in me says hang on a minute.
"These fines have only just been issued. These are fixed penalty notices and there is a perfectly legitimate right of appeal.
"Let’s see whether that is exercised and until then I am certainly not going to comment.”
Police have opted not to name those facing fines, citing traditional practices when dealing with out-of-court matters such as speeding fines, but Downing Street said it would confirm if Mr Johnson was among those being penalised.
Scotland Yard said on Tuesday that it had made at least 50 referrals for fixed-penalty notices – up from 20 at the end of March – to ACRO Criminal Records Office, which is responsible for issuing the fines.
Mr Johnson is understood to have been present at six of the at least 12 events being investigated.
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