A Scottish MP is trying to change the law so Boris Johnson would have to reveal if he is issued any lockdown fines by police.
It comes as Lib Dem analysis suggests the prime minister would be forced to hand over £12,300, if he’s found to have attended six lockdown-busting parties.
The prime minister faces growing pressure to resign over at least 16 gatherings held on government premises during lockdown.
An update on senior civil servant Sue Gray’s long-awaited report into the allegations revealed earlier this week that 12 of the events reached the threshold for criminal investigation and are being looked into by police.
If Mr Johnson does receive a fine over the gatherings, there is currently no legal mechanism to force him to reveal this to the public.
MP wants the PM to come clean
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, drew up a new “ministerial disclosures bill” to change that law.
It will be debated in several weeks time before MPs decide whether to approve it.
Analysis by the Lib Dems found Mr Johnson could face fines of up to £12,300 for the six gatherings investigated by the Metropolitan Police that he is suspected of attending.
Mr Carmichael has also written to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority calling on them to rule out the possibility of the prime minister using taxpayer-funded expenses to pay any potential fines he receives.
He said: “First Boris Johnson lied about the lockdown parties – now he’s refusing to tell the British public whether he broke the law.
“It shows he holds the British public with deep disdain and is taking them for fools.
“We’ve never needed a legal mechanism to force ministers to reveal if they’d received fixed penalty notices because we’ve never had a leader as shameless as Boris Johnson.
“He not only flouts the laws he asked us all to follow, but then repeatedly lies about it.
“Conservative MPs have no excuse – they know that this man is not fit for public office.
“They should back my bill so Boris Johnson is forced to come clean.
“If Johnson is found to have broken the law and fined by the police, he will surely have no choice but to resign.”
How do the Covid fines work?
People can be fined £100 for a first time breach of Covid rules in England, which is lowered to £50 if it is paid within 14 days.
They will be fined £200 for a second offence and then amounts double for each subsequent offence up to a maximum of £6,400.
Mr Johnson is reported to have attended a “bring your own booze” event in the garden of No 10 on May 20 2020, a birthday party organised by his wife, Carrie, on June 19, and two gatherings on November 13, the day Dominic Cummings was sacked.
A gathering to mark the departure of a No 10 official on November 17 and a further gathering on January 14 2021 to mark the departure of two private secretaries were also allegedly attended by the prime minister.
Initially Mr Johnson’s official spokesman would not confirm if the public will learn of any penalties handed to the Conservative leader.
However, he later said: “Obviously we are aware of the significant public interest with regard to the prime minister and we would always look to provide what updates we can on him, specifically.”
Asked if that meant No 10 would say if he was given a fixed penalty notice, the spokesman said: “Hypothetically, yes.”