MP Daisy Cooper is calling on the Prime Minister to work with schools to provide better support amid the pandemic and says his recent behaviour has failed St Albans children.

Since October, the MP has tried to encourage the government to develop a planned and supportive approach which both safeguards school communities and education, she said.

She told this newspaper today: "Throughout this pandemic, Boris Johnson and his Conservative Government have delayed taking the necessary action to get ahead of the virus.

"In October, I asked for them to consider producing a plan to keep schools open safely, but they failed and COVID cases were left to rise and rise.

"In November – with so much variation in how much teaching students had received – I called for the cancellation of 2021 exams, but they failed to act then."

She is annoyed that two months later, they have made another U-turn. In December Daisy called for them to confirm changes to the schools re-opening plan at least a week ahead of pupils going back.

With growing calls to delay the re-opening after Christmas, they then encouraged schools to open despite the Prime Minister admitting on Monday night that schools help spread the virus.

Daisy said: “This isn’t good enough. Our students, parents, and school staff, deserve certainty not eleventh hour announcements that wreak havoc on people's lives.

“The Government is failing our children. I'm asking the Prime Minister and this government to develop a comprehensive plan to re-open schools safely, when the pandemic allows."

She said that she believes the government must work with schools striving to educate students who are at home. She added that support should be given to parents who have been left again to carry the burden of home-working and home-schooling: "They must invest in our children whose education will soon have been disrupted for a whole year."