Met Police confirm they are referring 20 fixed penalty notices for Downing Street lockdown breaches

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it has referred an initial 20 fixed penalty notices over the Partygate investigation.

A statement from the Met said: "We will today initially begin to refer 20 fixed penalty notices to be issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations. The ACRO Criminal Records Office will then be responsible for issuing the FPNs to the individual following the referrals from the MPS.

"We are making every effort to progress this investigation at speed and have completed a number of assessments.

"However due to the significant amount of investigative material that remains to be assessed, further referrals may be made to ACRO if the evidential threshold is made.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is alleged to have attended as many as six of the events
Aaron Chown

"As it has for all fixed penalty notices issued during the pandemic, the MPS will follow the College of Policing Approved Professional Practice for Media Relations which states that 'Identities of people dealt with by cautions, speeding fines and other fixed penalties – out-of-court disposals – should not be released or confirmed.'

"We will not confirm the number of referrals from each individual event subject to our investigation as providing a breakdown at this point may lead to identification of the individuals."

The investigation is looking into 12 separate events, including as many as six that Boris Johnson is said to have attended.

These include a “bring your own booze” gathering in May 2020 and Mr Johnson’s birthday celebrations in June 2020.

Mr Johnson has previously admitted to attending the “bring your own booze” event for 25 minutes, adding that staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room for his birthday.