While forces say little about the investigation in public, a police source said it would be very difficult for officers to act differently on beergate, an allegation that Sir Keir violated Covid’s regulations by drinking beer and eating curry with Labor.
The source said: “The power was very clear when dealing with Dominic Cummings that everyone should be treated the same.
“The problem with this policy is that if the forces decide to send Sir Keere Starmer a fixed sentence notice, they will be accused of treating him differently from Mr Cummings and everyone else. This can be a real headache for those leading the investigation. “
Sir Kear said he would resign if fined, but would not resign if reprimanded by police.
Sources close to the Labor leader and one of his shadow cabinet members suggest that issuing a flat-out sentence is a test of whether the law has been broken and that any other police action will not be a matter of resignation.
“The law for violating Covid’s regulations is that you receive a fixed notice of punishment,” said a senior party source. “We can only talk to the law about it.”
On Tuesday, Bridget Phillipson, secretary of shadow education, repeatedly denied that Sir Keir had broken the law. But she added: “The way in which you have been found to have broken the law is when you are fined and found to have broken the law.
“This is the punishment for violating Covid, so he is clear that if he is found to have broken the law […] he takes it extremely seriously. “
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