Sir Keir Starmer tests positive for Covid for a second time

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, Angela Rayner will fill in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has tested positive for Covid for a second time and is now isolating.

His deputy, Angela Rayner, filled in for him at the first 2022 session of Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday.

Sir Keir also tested positive for Covid last October and had to miss the Budget as a result.

And he has previously had to self-isolate four times after coming into contact with others testing positive.

Sir Keir's latest positive test comes after the UK reported its highest number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic, with 218,724 announced on Tuesday.

He will have to isolate for seven days, assuming he tests negative on days six and seven.

Sir Keir is not thought to have experienced any Covid symptoms and the infection was picked up as part of his regular testing routine.

His positive test follows a speech on Tuesday in which he promised Labour would agree a new "contract with the British people", offering "security, prosperity and respect".

His audience of around 20 at Birmingham's Millennium Point conference centre included Labour MPs Jess Phillips, Khalid Mahmood, Jack Dromey, Stephen McCabe and Preet Gill, as well as journalists and party advisers.

Image source, PA Media

Image caption, Several Labour MPs attended Sir Keir Starmer's speech in Birmingham on Tuesday

Sir Keir's positive test also comes as his party leads the Conservatives in the opinion polls, and he is keen to continue his attacks on the government after recent stories of alleged coronavirus rule-breaking in Downing Street in 2020.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalised by Covid in spring 2020, spending three nights in intensive care.

And Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey self-isolated last December after testing positive.