s***show' and demand it 'get a grip' after its eleventh hour U-turn on face masks in schools as Boris Johnson issues a fresh plea to parents to send their children back to classrooms next week
By Jack Maidment, Deputy Political Editor For Mailonline14:15 BST 26 Aug 2020 , updated 15:02 BST 26 Aug 2020
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Face coverings will now be mandatory for pupils in secondary schools in local lockdown areas in England
Headteachers in non-lockdown areas of the country will have discretion to ask pupils to wear face masks
Face masks will have to be worn in communal areas and when changing lessons but not during classes
Latest Government U-turn has sparked Tory MP anger with backbenchers demanding ministers 'get a grip'
Boris Johnson defended change in policy as he issued a fresh plea to parents to send children back to class
Boris Johnson is facing an increasingly bitter backlash from Tory MPs over the Government's decision to perform a humiliating U-turn over pupils wearing face masks in schools.
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Conservative backbenchers have accused ministers of presiding over an 'utter s***show' as they warned Downing Street it needs to 'get a grip' of its scientific advisers because the public is 'sick and tired' of changing advice.
Tory MPs claimed the Government increasingly seemed to be making up policy 'on the hoof' and that such an approach could not be allowed to continue.
The growing discontent came as Mr Johnson defended the U-turn and issued a fresh plea to parents to send their children back to classrooms in England next week.
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He insisted 'schools are safe' and warned that pupils had 'lost too much time' in the classroom already.
The Government last night announced that face masks will be compulsory in the communal areas of secondary schools in parts of England which are subject to local lockdowns.
A decision on whether to wear masks in non-lockdown area schools will be left to individual head teachers.
The change came after days of ministers and Government experts insisting there were no plans to change the guidance in England which had said masks were not necessary if all other hygiene measures were adhered to.
But Mr Johnson's hand appeared to be forced after Nicola Sturgeon said secondary school pupils in Scotland will be required to wear a mask when travelling between lessons.
Speaking during a visit to a school in Leicestershire today, Mr Johnson said pupils and staff wearing masks in communal spaces in hotspot areas 'does make sense'.
He also appeared to concede that the UK Government had shifted because of action taken in Scotland where schools have been back for two weeks.
Teachers have warned the masks decision could lead to 'mayhem' amid fears of increased bullying, of pupils wearing dirty reused masks and of it being harder to challenge bad behaviour in corridors because it may be unclear which children are responsible.
Teachers also said they had been left 'dizzy from all of the U-turns that have happened this summer'.
Meanwhile, a school leaders' union immediately challenged the Government's approach as it said it will be telling all of its members, regardless of whether they are subject to local lockdown, to ask pupils and staff to wear face coverings in communal spaces.
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